Lessons in Love (17 page)

‘So?’

‘So what? I’ll tell him the good news on Monday.’

‘That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!’

The rest of the day was spent in pleasant relaxation, as they returned to the beach house, and Andrew cooked a barbecue for the family, bringing the food inside to eat out of the chilly autumn air.

They spent the evening playing board games, a pleasant diversion from the usual watching of television on a Saturday night, and Emily went to bed feeling happier than she’d been in a very long time.

On Monday morning Emily entered her office with a great weight in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t yet had a chance to tell Nicholas of her decision, and couldn’t tell Mark what was going on yet, but not being able to do so filled her with guilt. She felt as though she was deceiving her boss; although Sonya had been right in saying that Emily’s first duty was to herself, not Mark. But she was determined to be cheerful for Mark’s benefit.

‘Hi Mark,’ she said, breezing into the office as if she didn’t have a care in the world, and was surprised to see her boss looking happy for the first time in ages. ‘What’s happening? You look like the cat who’s caught the canary!’ What had changed over the weekend? Obviously something big!

‘Oh, I’m more than that. I’m the cat who got set loose in an aviary full of them!’ He shook his head in bemusement. ‘You won’t believe who called me first thing this morning.’ Emily’s heart swelled with a sudden hope.

‘Nicholas?’ she asked, her tone brightening as Mark nodded vigorously. ‘And he’s not buying out the company?’ she asked, even more hope in her voice.

‘You’ve got it in one, babe! He’s going to help us out by paying off our creditors with the two hundred thousand dollars that we should have received from Trefold. It won’t be an easy time though, Emily. I’ll have to pay back every single cent with interest. However, the added bonus is that Nicholas is still interested in the new project I had planned, and hopefully that way will lie expansion, and we’ll be able to build to greater heights than before.’ He let out a deep breath and grinned.

‘How about I take you and Lisa out to lunch. Heck, and why not Nicholas too! See if you can get us a table for four at
Bayani’s
on short notice. The meal is on me!’ Brightened considerably by his mood, Emily grinned and walked into her office to make the phone call. But the thought of seeing Nicholas under these circumstances sent her crashing back to earth with a thud. She needed to tell him of her decision, and she needed to do it in private. She chewed a lip nervously and then called into Mark’s office.

‘Mark! Would you like me to give Nicholas a call as well?’

‘Thanks, Emily. That’ll give me a chance to get my lovely wife ready.’

Emily grimaced slightly as she dialled Nicholas’s office.

‘Hello, Nicholas here,’ his familiar voice answered, and her heart thudded at the sound.

‘Nicholas? It’s me, Emily. How are you? And how’s your dad?’

‘Thanks for asking. I’m OK, considering the circumstances, and Dad’s coming along nicely. Fortunately the attack was quite minor, and although he’s still under observation he should come out of it all right. Of course, he’ll have to start taking things a bit easier from now on, and Mum’s promised to cook him healthier food in future.

‘I guess you’re at work? Has Mark told you the news?’

‘Yes, and I’m so glad, Nicholas. You’ve got no idea.’ Relief washed through her voice. It would be so much easier to do what she had to now. But Nicholas was silent on the other end of the phone, and she wondered whether she’d said the wrong thing. ‘Mark wants us to get together for lunch. To celebrate. He’d love it if you could come.’ Still no reply. ‘At
Bayani’s
. I’ve booked a table for one o’clock.’

‘Is that the only reason you called?’ he asked, his voice slightly chilly.

‘N…no. I promised I’d ask about your father and…and there’s something else I wanted to discuss with you.’

‘Oh? Let me guess. You’ve decided to accept my proposal.’ Her heart thudded uncomfortably at the coldness of his voice.

‘W…well…ah…yes…’ she stammered.

‘I see.’ He said no more.

‘Will you come to Bayani’s?’ She bit her lip at the tremor in her tone. Why was she always saying and doing the wrong thing?

‘Don’t worry. I’ll be there. I wouldn’t want to let Mark down. I’ll see you then.’ And the phone went dead in her ear. She put the receiver down slowly and sank into her chair. It was not supposed to have gone that way!

‘Oh no!’ she muttered, and thumped her elbows down on the table, holding her head in her hands. ‘How stupid am I?’ she asked rhetorically, knowing the answer exactly. No wonder Nicholas had been so cold! He thought she’d only accepted his proposal in light of his reversal over his decision regarding Overington Industries. It hadn’t been like that at all! But in the mood he was in now, how could she convince him otherwise?

Nicholas was coldly polite as she greeted him in the foyer of the expensive restaurant. ‘Emily,’ he said, nodding to her, before greeting Mark and Lisa effusively.

‘You’re glowing, Lisa,’ he complimented the radiant woman, who blushed like a teenager.

‘Thank you,’ she replied demurely. Mark laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

‘Thanks for coming on such short notice, Nicholas. If it weren’t for you…’ Nicholas nodded in understanding.

‘Let’s sit down. Then we’ll talk.’ Emily trailed behind the other three, feeling left out. She was seated across from Nicholas, reminding her all too well of the night they’d had dinner at Luigi’s. And if she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought Nicholas’s opinion of her hadn’t changed one whit in that time!

The waiter came by immediately with drink menus, and Mark ordered a bottle of expensive French champagne. Emily raised an eyebrow, which was echoed by Nicholas. She couldn’t help wondering what he thought of the extravagance now he’d just agreed to loan Mark two hundred thousand dollars.

‘A toast!’ said Mark, once their drinks were poured. ‘To Nicholas Cavanaugh, Rutherford’s, and hopefully a prosperous partnership with Overington Industries!’

‘Here! Here!’ the others chimed in simultaneously, and for a moment Emily was carried away by the excitement, but Nicholas abruptly brought her back down to earth.

‘Now that’s out of the way, I wanted to clarify a few points regarding our new agreement.’ Mark raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by this business talk at their celebratory lunch. ‘Perhaps now isn’t the best time, but I’ve learned not to put the facts off for too long. You know there will have to be some changes, don’t you Mark? I didn’t want to burst your bubble, but that loan doesn’t come without its own stipulations.’

‘Oh honestly Nicholas!’ Emily snapped, unable to contain herself. ‘This is supposed to be a celebratory dinner! You can talk shop with Mark later. Let’s try and enjoy ourselves!’ Surprisingly Nicholas looked slightly abashed, and then smiled good-humouredly, but Emily saw the quick flicker of annoyance in his eyes that the others didn’t seem to notice.

‘The lady’s got a point. I won’t ruin the meal by boring you with details.’ And from then the entire atmosphere at the table picked up again. Nicholas engaged Lisa in conversation, while Mark told Emily excitedly of his plans for the future. All in all it was a satisfactory meal, but like all good things, it eventually came to an end.

Emily had driven to the restaurant from work, having a lecture straight after lunch. Fortunately her recalcitrant Volvo was now back in working order, albeit several hundred dollars later, and while she’d parked some distance from Mark and Lisa, she soon realised she was just three cars from Nicholas’s BMW.

After bidding Mark and Lisa a fond farewell, she walked beside Nicholas to their respective cars.

‘Nicholas!’ she called, as he walked away from her without a word and reached for the door handle on his car. He turned to look at her, his expression unreadable.

‘Yes?’ he asked blandly. She took a deep breath and walked over to him.

‘A word?’ she asked. He shrugged lightly.

‘Jump in. We’ve got a while before the lecture begins.’ She climbed in his luxurious car beside him, reflecting on the remarkable differences in their modes of transportation.

‘First of all, I’m sorry that you misinterpreted my phone call earlier,’ she began.

‘I did? I thought I interpreted you all too clearly.’

‘No. You didn’t,’ she said firmly. ‘For starters, I’d already decided to accept your proposal
before
Mark told me. That was just the icing on the cake as far as I was concerned. I won’t pretend I’m not happy about it, Nicholas, I am. But that wasn’t why I changed my mind.’

‘Then why did you?’ His voice was softer, probing her for the right answer.

‘I changed my mind because I realised you were right. Our child needs both parents. A mother and a father who are together, not apart. I didn’t get that as a child, and I longed for it.’ Nicholas nodded, a slightly distant expression on his face. ‘I thought you’d be happier,’ she said wryly. Nicholas sucked in a deep breath of air and paused before continuing.

‘I am happy. I’m not over the moon, but then again, under the circumstances how could I be? But we’ll make this work, Emily. I’m determined of that, at least.’ And the firm set of his jaw confirmed his words. She nodded.

‘I know. So am I. I’ll do what I have to, as long as you do, too.’

‘We’ll discuss specifics later then. It’s time I got to the university. I’ve still got the class notes to go over.’ And with that Emily knew she was dismissed. She walked away from his car feeling bittersweet. They’d do the best they could, she thought, but would it be enough?

Now that she’d agreed to become Nicholas’s wife, she owed her brother and sister some major explanations. It probably wasn’t fair that she’d kept them in the dark for so long, and she felt bad about it. But at the time, there hadn’t seemed much choice. She sighed. Unfortunately, things didn’t always go the way one planned.

‘Guys, I have something to tell you,’ she said, bracing herself as they sat down together at the dinner table.

‘What?’ Veronica asked, frowning slightly. Emily’s heart thudded uncomfortably in her chest. The choices she’d made were going to affect her brother and sister almost as much as they affected her, and she hoped they’d come to understand her position and why things had to be this way.

‘Get on with it, Emily,’ Steven continued.

‘OK. This will probably come as a shock to you. I wish I’d told you earlier, but the time hasn’t been right.’ They stared at her with identical expressions of apprehension. She took another deep breath. ‘Nicholas Cavanaugh and I are getting married.’ For a second her siblings stared at her, stunned, but then Steven snickered and began to laugh, and in response Veronica did the same.

‘That’s funny, Emily! You almost had us going there!’ She shook her head slowly.

‘No joke, Steve, Verri. It’s real.’

‘I don’t understand. You hardly even know him! And I didn’t think you even liked him all that much. Besides, you sound like your best friend just died, not like a person who’s about to get married. What gives?’ Emily steeled herself. Now came the hardest part of all, and she wasn’t sure they’d understand. She’d done her best to educate Steven and Veronica wisely when it came to sex education. She’d cautioned them to wait until they were well and truly ready before having sex, and to always be careful about contraception. Although they were still only young, and far too young to even be considering sex in Emily’s opinion, she’d heard too many tales of youngsters getting involved with each other sexually because of peer group pressure and inadequate education. Now everything she’d taught them would seem like a lie.

‘We’re getting married because…I’m going to have a baby.’ There she’d said it. Steven’s mouth dropped open, followed by Veronica’s, and then two faces both went very red, Emily’s unfortunately following soon after.

‘But how?’ wailed Veronica.

‘You know how, Veronica!’ Steven snapped derisively. Emily looked down at her hands. ‘But what about everything you’ve told us?’ He turned to Emily, scowling angrily at her. ‘I thought you were supposed to be in love before…you know. And I thought you were supposed to be careful. At least, that’s what you’ve always said!’ The anger in her brother’s voice was unmistakable, and Emily didn’t blame him a bit. She had to be very careful about what she said to them from now on.

‘I made a mistake,’ she confessed softly. ‘And I hope…I really, truly hope…that you both can learn from this not to make the same mistake yourselves.’ There was nothing more she could say, the tone of her voice and sadness on her face said it all.

‘I’m sorry, Emily,’ Steven finally said, knowing instinctively how bad she felt. ‘It’s just…what about us? What are we going to do when you get married? Will Nicholas be moving in here?’

‘No. He’s bought a big house near the lake. It’s much nicer than ours, and in a wonderful location. There’s plenty of room for all of us.’

‘But I don’t want to move!’ Veronica exclaimed belligerently. Emily smiled at her softly.

‘Neither do I, really. But it’s a lovely place Verri. You’ll come to be very happy there. I know you may not be ready to believe me, but I’m sorry. I’m sorry to both of you for this. This wasn’t something I planned.’

‘But Emily, how can you marry him if you don’t love him?’ Steven asked. Emily smiled wryly.

‘I do love him,’ she replied simply. ‘I think, perhaps, I always have. But…he’s my lecturer, and right from the start I was determined not to have feelings for him. And I guess…he felt the same way about me.’ She didn’t want to confess to her brother and sister that Nicholas didn’t love her, that he was marrying her for the sake of their child. She didn’t want to shatter their illusions that much. She’d already done far too much damage, and only time and patience would help repair the rifts she’d made in their relationship.