A Lady Under Siege(91)
“No.”
“There you go. No action taken. So in the meantime you’ll still be in her head, he’ll still be in my head, you’ll still get to see each other.”
“Or maybe he really does want me out of her head.”
“If he wants you out of her head, it’s easily done.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your therapist suggested it. She gave you a prescription, remember? All you have to do is take some pills and you’ll stop dreaming. End of story.”
Meghan felt a chill run through her. “Oh God,” she said.
“You told me about it, so he knows about it,” said Derek. “The fact that he didn’t suggest it to Sylvanne means he wants to carry on with the status quo, don’t you think?”
“Or else he didn’t think of it because it didn’t register when he heard about it, or he’s forgotten about it.”
“Well now he knows. Thomas, my man, there’s a readymade plan. It’s up to you to accept or reject it.”
She clenched her hands together tightly and brought them to her chest. A sudden pain had seized her, a premonition of heartbreak.
“What is it?” Derek asked.
“Nothing.
“Should I come over?”
“No. I told you Betsy’s here.”
“I’m offering comfort, not anything out of bounds.”
“Thank you. But comfort would be more physical than I want her to see between us right now. We had a talk—it’s all been a bit much for her with the separation, and her dad springing the idea of a new wife and baby on her. She wants me to herself right now. I don’t think she’d like to see us hugging.”
“That’s cool. Wouldn’t want her running into traffic again.”
“No, definitely not.” She relaxed a little, and reached down to put her hand on his, atop the fence. “Comfort can come from just holding hands,” she said.
He didn’t say anything.
“You’re very patient,” she said.
He shrugged. “You’re not?”
“No. I’m just—I can’t wait for the night. I want to see what he does.”
47
Sylvanne wanted to be married as soon as possible, and Thomas, taking her at her word, decreed a mere two days from proposal to ceremony. The wedding would thus be a hurried, intimate, nearly private affair. Daphne appointed herself Mademoiselle In Charge Of The Bridal Gown, but there was no time to sort through rolls of fabric or consult with dressmakers. Here Sylvanne’s practicality came to the fore, and the former farm girl settled for what was at hand, a kirtle of pale green silk she found in Daphne’s mother’s wardrobe, which she then transformed by adorning the neckline and bodice with embroidered pink flowers from one of her own dresses. “Would it trouble your father if I wore this?” she asked Daphne, and the girl said not to worry, for in the first place she had never seen her mother wear the dress, and secondly, even if her father knew of it, he would never recognize it with the lovely floral addition.
Well pleased at having so effortlessly fixed on the bride’s attire, the two of them retired to Daphne’s room for a far more thorny undertaking—to choose a dress acceptable to a twelve-year-old girl. Sylvanne passed the better part of the afternoon helping Daphne into all sorts of gowns and kirtles, some the girl’s own, some her mother’s, and some Sylvanne’s, but no matter how she tucked and reshaped them to suggest how they could be altered to fit to perfection, none met with Daphne’s wholehearted approval. Among an ever-more frantic scattering of dresses they were found by Mabel, who poked her head in for a surprise visit. “I heard the wonderful news and just couldn’t stay away,” she gushed.
“This is fortuitous—we’re in need of a third opinion to break the tie,” Sylvanne told her.
“No no, Madame, any such major decision must be unanimous,” Mabel insisted. Daphne modeled several of the leading candidates, while Sylvanne pinned them to improve their lines, but still the girl stubbornly refused to make up her mind. “Such a parade of lovely fabric overwhelms my head and makes it ache,” Mabel said gruffly. “This is turning more arduous than I expected. Daphne, run down to the kitchen and get us some dandelion tea, there’s a good girl. Have them put a bit of brandy in it.”
“I’ll get one of the maidservants to go,” Daphne replied.