I hand Edward my phone and try to find a tissue as they talk. “Yeah,” Edward says, pulling out his pocket square and handing it to me. “She’ll be fine. She’s made of strong stuff. Yes. Yes. I know, Marcus. I’ll sort it, don’t worry.” He sighs. “Yeah okay. See you later. I will.” He ends the call. “He’s going to call you after his meeting with the PM finishes.”
I stare at him. “Oh no, was he in the middle of the meeting?”
“Yeah, he just nipped out.”
“Oh my God.”
“It’s fine. He’ll fly back afterward.”
“Oh… he doesn’t need to do that…”
“My dear, hordes of elephants wouldn’t be strong enough to stop my son when he puts his mind to something.” Edward frowns. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
I dab my eyes, then blow my nose on his handkerchief. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course.” He gives me a firm look. “You’re family now. I’d do anything for you.”
That just makes more tears trickle down my cheeks. This man knows about the arrangement I made with Marcus, and he’s still being so kind to me.
“I’d like to say something,” Edward says.
I nod, wiping my face, waiting for him to say he hopes I won’t hurt his son, or something along those lines.
Instead, though, he says, “On your wedding day, I was wondering… I’d be honored if you’d let me walk you down the aisle.”
I stare at him.
Then I burst into real, uncontrollable tears.
“Oops,” he says, “probably should have waited until we got home to say that.” But he smiles and puts his arm around me, while I sob into his handkerchief and wonder who on earth I was in a previous life to deserve such kindness like this.
Chapter Twelve
Marcus
The moment our private jet lands in Auckland, I unbuckle my belt, and I’m the first out of the door onto the tarmac. I stride out of the terminal to the area where Tane is waiting in Dad’s Mercedes and get in the car, then curse and fidget while we wait for Caesar.
“Come on,” I bark as he gets in.
“You forgot the luggage,” he snaps as an assistant loads it in the boot.
“I didn’t want my case anyway,” I grumble.
Caesar frowns and says, a little more gently, “She’s all right. Tane saw her, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” the driver says. “She was a little shaken up, but she was okay.”
“She was shaken up? Dad didn’t tell me that.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Caesar says, glaring at Tane, who pulls a face. But now I won’t be pacified. I need to see her for myself and make sure she’s okay.
I’m tired—the meeting with the PM went on for two hours, and it was pretty intense, and then the flight back took over an hour, and now we have to wait in the slow traffic to cross the Harbour Bridge. I take off my jacket, irritable and hot. I should have asked them to prepare the helicopter, but it’s too late now. Instead, I stare out of the window, lost in thought, until the car pulls up outside the house.
Before Tane has even turned off the engine, I’m out and striding up to the front door. It opens as I approach, and Dad says, “Well, hello.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s all right,” he says. “She’s given a statement to the police, and she’s fine. Stay calm.”
