Victoria’s expression hardened.
‘I don’t think you’re right for him. There’s a difference,’ she said in a quieter voice.
Ros felt her back stiffen. She knew how easy it was to be intimidated by these people, but she was not going to let it happen.
‘And why would that be, Victoria? Am I too Jewish? Too working class? Too opinionated for a trophy wife? How do I not quite fall into your very narrow view of what is good marriage material?’
‘I don’t care who you are or where you came from,’ said Victoria, keeping her tone light. ‘Tony was a butcher’s son, born in the slums of New York, but he has made his mark in society in spite of where he came from.’
She took Ros’s hand and wrapped both of hers around it, her self-assurance softening to concern.
‘You excite Dominic, Rosamund. You madden him, you intrigue him. You are as exotic as the jungle and as familiar as the girl next door, and believe me, that is quite an intoxicating combination. But you are just too different to make it work. I mean, do you ever socialise with his friends?’
‘Like who?’
‘His friends! These people?’
‘I’ve seen them,’ she said stiffly.
‘Occasionally, by all accounts.’
Ros knew they were both aware that it had happened just a handful of times.
‘Ros, there is a difference between a marriage of opposites and an incompatible partnership. Dominic keeps his worlds separate, you and them, because he knows you just don’t mix. He will never let go of his friends, so his solution is to keep you apart. But how is this anything other than a temporary solution? At some point he will have to make a choice. And even if he does choose you, which I suspect he will, there will be a part of him that will be forever resentful. I should imagine the same goes for your friends. How much do they like hanging out with Tory boy? They don’t, and so never the twain shall meet.’
‘We love each other, that’s what counts.’
‘Does it? I thought you of all people wouldn’t have such a rose-tinted view of life.’
‘What are you saying, Victoria? What are you really saying here? That I shouldn’t marry Dominic?’
‘Have you set a date?’
‘Not yet, no.’
‘Well, I wonder why,’ said Victoria, taking a glass of champagne and wandering off into the crowd.
Not even another couple of
glasses of champagne, downed in rapid succession, could calm Rosamund.
‘I’d say the party’s a success,’ said Dominic, slipping his hand around her waist.
Ros nodded and smiled with as much enthusiasm as she could manage. But whilst she knew she had no loyalty to Victoria Harbord, she could not tell her fiancé about the conversation they had just had and how much it had upset her. For a moment she was reminded of an episode with bullies she had experienced at school; for weeks she had been too scared to speak out against the girls who had tormented her for being too ethnic, and too smart. Even though she had stuck up for herself in the playground, it was only when she spoke out and canvassed support around her, teachers and other pupils, that the bullies went away.
And yet still she could not tell Dominic about Victoria. He loved his friends, she knew that, and she didn’t want to create a wall between them.
‘Right, I want to meet some of your friends,’ said Dominic, taking hold of her hand. ‘Sam. Where’s Sam? I want to introduce her to my friend Edward.’
‘She’s definitely on her way,’ said Ros, scanning the room. The party had started at 7.30, and all of Dominic’s friends seemed to have arrived by eight o’clock, yet none of the people Ros had invited – Sam, Alex, George, the manager of the café where she used to work and three new Primrose Hill friends – were yet here.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her parents standing awkwardly at the door, the first of her fashionably late contingent. Her father was in his smartest suit; her mother was wearing something that resembled a saucer on her head.
‘Mr and Mrs Bailey,’ said Dominic, squeezing Ros’s fingers as they went over to greet them.
‘Dominic, what a beautiful place,’ said Valerie, almost speechless as she looked around.
‘Sadly it’s not mine,’ said Dominic, making sure they had drinks.