My Husband's Wife(97)

After that, they made love whenever and wherever they could. Hotels were best, Ed said. More private.

Yet he seemed to get more satisfaction than she. Ed was not the lover Carla had imagined he would be. Naturally, she’d had some experience. At university, finally free from Nonno’s rules, she would flirt with boys who were likely to take her to dinner. Sometimes she would let it go further. A new dress perhaps in return for a weekend in Sorrento. Always, she took precautions. Not just with her body but her mind. ‘I wish to concentrate on my studies – not fall in love,’ she had told them all. But the truth was that she didn’t want to get into trouble like Mamma had done. It was the financial stability of marriage she wanted. Not the role of a mistress.

And yet here she was, being just that.

‘I’m going to leave Lily,’ Ed always promised. ‘I simply need the right time to tell her. This is more for me than just sex.’

I can help with that, Carla told herself.

One day, a few weeks after they’d started to sleep together, Carla made a call from the hotel room to the twenty-four-hour hotline of a celebrity gossip magazine while Ed was in the shower. The woman at the other end was very interested in what she had to say. Carla spoke quickly. Then she put down the phone, without giving her name.

And shortly after that, Lily found them.

It was strange. Despite everything coming together, Carla didn’t feel the expected satisfaction of revenge.

Instead, she felt cheap. Dirty.

Lily’s face was white under the street lamp. Her glaring eyes belonged to a wild animal. Carla was scared. Ed saw that. He put his arm around her protectively, even though she could feel his body shaking too. ‘We love each other,’ he kept saying to Lily. ‘We want to be with each other for ever.’

‘We couldn’t help it,’ Carla stammered.

Lily snarled. Yes! Snarled. ‘Of course you could.’ Then she began to weep, which was worse. ‘I’ve helped you so much. Is this how you repay me?’

‘Repay?’ Carla’s voice rose into the night air and a passer-by turned to look. ‘You were the one who should have repaid me. I heard you in Devon telling Ed that you ignored my letters from Italy.’

‘I –’

‘Don’t deny it. Don’t try any of those lawyer lies on me, because I know them all myself.’ She was sweating now with indignation. ‘If you hadn’t told Larry to leave my mother alone, we would have been all right.’

Lily’s laugh was brittle. ‘Is that what you really think, you silly little girl?’

‘I’m not –’

‘Listen to me.’

For a minute, it looked as though Lily was going to grab her by the neck. ‘If Tony could deceive his wife, don’t you think he could have deceived you and your mother as well?’

Carla had a flashback to the woman in the car with the bright lipstick.

‘I did you both a favour. Trust me. Just like you’ve done me a favour – both of you.’ Then she swung round to face Ed. ‘If it hadn’t been for Tom, I’d have left you years ago. Take this child,’ she gesticulated towards Carla, ‘and go.’

Then she swivelled round to face Carla again. ‘You’ll soon find out what he’s like. And if you think you’re going to get any money out of this, you’re mistaken.’

Ed’s hand tightened on hers. They were as strong as the waves of fear that were tightening her chest. ‘I’ve heard enough of this. Come on, Carla. We’re going.’

‘No.’ Lily’s voice was stronger than she had ever heard it. ‘I’m the one who’s going. Do you think I really want to go back to that house, knowing that you two have probably been at it like rabbits when I’ve been working? Besides, it will only have to be sold now anyway. Here.’ She tossed the keys at Carla. ‘Take my set too. I’ll be in touch about my things. Just get out of my sight. Both of you.’

Hang on, Carla wanted to say. This isn’t how I thought it would be. But Ed had gripped her hand so tightly that it almost hurt. Then he hailed a taxi and they went home. ‘Where will Lily go?’ she asked as they opened the front door to be greeted by Lily’s belongings everywhere: her white coat hanging on the hook in the hall; her heels neatly positioned by the door.

‘She’ll be all right,’ said Ed, drawing her to him. ‘She’s tougher than she looks. Look how she had us followed.’

‘Really?’ Carla tried to sound innocent.

‘How else do you think she found us?’

But Carla could not sleep for worrying. Supposing Lily did something stupid like jumping off a bridge, like some poor man had done only a week ago? What do you care? Mamma might have said. Yet for some reason, she did. For the first time, Carla wondered if Lily had been right when she said she’d done them a favour in pushing Larry away. Then there had been that final throwaway line. If you think you’re going to get any money out of this, you’re mistaken.

All night, Carla tossed and turned. When she woke in the morning, to find Ed’s head on her chest like a child in need of comfort, Carla felt another flash of misgiving. Then he woke, smiled and stretched out in the wide bed as the sun streamed in through the cream shutters.

‘Isn’t this amazing?’ he said, tracing her breast with his forefinger. ‘We were meant for each other. And now we’ll be together for ever.’