A Whirlwind Marriage

CHAPTER THREE

THIS really was a case of from the sublime to the ridiculous! In spite of the circumstances there was a thread of dark amusement in the thought as Marianne glanced around the dingy bedsit in Hackney.

When she had left the apartment the night before she had checked into a small hotel a few blocks away, knowing she couldn’t walk the streets all night. Beyond that she hadn’t been thinking at all; she couldn’t—it hurt too much.

She had gone straight to bed and amazingly slept all night, waking early in the morning to driving icy rain against the windowpane and with no knowledge of where she was for a disturbing moment or two. And then she had remembered.

She had burrowed into the comfortable hotel bed for some minutes, finding the hours of deep, restful sleep had cleared her mind and brought some sort of clarity to the situation.

She didn’t want to bring anything with her out of this marriage; Zeke could keep his money, the car he had bought her, the jewellery, everything. No doubt people would say she was mad but she didn’t care; she didn’t want a thing from him. However, that presented immediate problems. Not the least being how she was going to live and eat until she sorted herself out and decided what she was going to do with the rest of her life. A life without Zeke.

She had cried then, for over an hour, until she’d made herself physically sick and told herself enough was enough. She had showered in the small, neat en suite bathroom, got dressed, brushed her hair and then called her father.

He had answered immediately and she’d been able to tell he was frantic. ‘Annie, thank God! Oh, thank God,’ he’d said brokenly. ‘Where have you been? Zeke’s out of his mind.’

‘Zeke? Zeke’s been in touch with you?’

‘Of course he has. What do you expect when you disappear like that? He’s here now—’

And then there had been the briefest of pauses before a familiar male voice had said huskily, ‘Marianne? Where are you?’

She’d almost dropped the phone, her heart jumping up into her throat where it had set her whole being pounding as panic flooded every nerve and sinew. She hadn’t been able to speak, hadn’t even been able to breathe such had been her shock.

‘Marianne, are you there? Talk to me,’ he’d said thickly. ‘I’ve been thinking all sorts of things since I came back last night and found that note. What’s happened to make you behave like this?’

What’s happened? The fury at his duplicity had burnt up the weakness the shock had caused in a moment and put acid in her voice as she’d spat, ‘Liliana de Giraud has happened, Zeke! Remember her? Your little playmate down in Stoke?’

There had been a moment of silence and then he’d said quickly, ‘I can explain.’

‘I don’t want you to explain, Zeke. I just want you out of my life,’ she’d said hotly.

‘You don’t mean that,’ he’d said tersely. ‘You’re hysterical.’

‘No, I’m not hysterical,’ she had said, more calmly. ‘For the first time in months I’m thinking clearly, as it happens.’ She’d taken a deep breath and stated quietly, ‘I want a divorce.’

‘Over my dead body.’

‘The way I’m feeling right now I’ll willingly arrange that,’ she’d snapped back before she even thought about it.

It had shocked him, she knew it had shocked him, because his voice had actually been verging on soothing when he’d said, ‘Tell me where you are and I’ll come and collect you, then we can talk.’

?

?The time for talking is over,’ she’d said sadly. ‘Don’t you understand even that? Can you deny you took Liliana with you to Stoke and she stayed at your hotel with you?’

‘I took her to Stoke, yes, and she did stay at the hotel, but not with me in the sense you mean.’

‘I’m not a fool, so don’t treat me like one,’ she’d said tightly as a new flare of anger had brought every muscle tensing. ‘You were with her last night.’

‘Last night I was searching the streets and ringing everyone we know to find out where you were,’ he’d bitten out forcefully.

‘You came back to London?’ she’d asked confusedly. ‘Why?’

‘Why do you think?’ Normally the furious, grim tone of his voice would have intimidated her, but not today. Today she hadn’t cared how mad he got. ‘When we got cut off I tried to ring you back and the phone was constantly engaged. I knew something was wrong. I didn’t know if someone had broken in, whether you’d had an accident, banged your head—anything. And so I jumped in a taxi and came home.’

How very noble. ‘That must have ruined Liliana’s plans for the evening,’ Marianne had said cuttingly.

‘Hell, Marianne, listen! Liliana came up to Stoke with me because she’d got some business there, that’s all. You’re paranoid about her.’