Crystal’s face lit up as though someone had switched on a floodlight inside her and she hugged her daughter in a rare display of physical affection. ‘That’s wonderful, darling! It’ll be a challenge to organise a wedding that fast, but I agree that it would be unwise to wait any longer. Look at what happened to me!’
Tally resisted the temptation to remark that her mother had been the leading light in her own downfall and quietly removed cups from a cupboard to make tea. ‘If Sander does change his mind, I won’t hold it against him. Marriage is a very big step.’
‘So is having a baby. Why should Sander change his mind?’ Crystal demanded sharply as she withdrew a bottle of vodka from another cupboard. ‘No, don’t make me tea. I’m going to celebrate this news with something stronger.’
‘You’ll probably think I’m being stupid but I really don’t want Sander to feel that he has to marry me because I’m pregnant,’ Tally confided in a rush.
‘What does it matter?’ Crystal countered impatiently and then a Cheshire cat grin flashed across her mouth again. ‘Oh, darling, I can’t believe you’ve actually pulled it off!’
Tally’s brow furrowed. ‘Pulled what off?’
‘You’ve caught yourself a multi-millionaire and you’re going to be a respectably married wife. I never got to be a wife!’ her mother pointed out bitterly. ‘I never got the big wedding either, but you’re going to—’
‘Sander doesn’t want a big wedding and he doesn’t want anyone to know about the baby yet,’ Tally cut in uncomfortably, wishing the older woman weren’t quite so impressed by Sander’s wealth but rather touched by her excitement. ‘Mum, I was really shocked when he proposed and I’m worried that he hasn’t really thought it through.’
For an instant, Crystal fell oddly still and veiled her eyes. ‘That’s silly. Why do you always look for problems?’
‘I just don’t think I’m sufficiently beautiful or important enough to marry someone like Sander,’ Tally told her with pained honesty. ‘He’s gorgeous and rich and very successful—’
‘And he’s the father of your child, so you deserve a ring!’ Crystal interrupted forcefully. ‘Why should you struggle for years to bring a kid up on your own?’
‘Lots of other women do.’
‘I want you to have what I never got!’ the older woman declared emotively.
In the days that followed Tally focused on her revision for her final exams and distracted by Sander taking off on a business trip to Brazil and only rarely phoning her, eventually realised in dismay that her mother was living her dream rather than her daughter’s. Once Anatole had been told about the forthcoming nuptials—though not yet about the baby—Tally’s father had confirmed that he would foot all the bills, even though he would not be attending his daughter’s wedding. Crystal hired a top-flight wedding planner and went into action. From that moment on, every bridal extravagance seemed to be in the pipeline, including the appearance of two cousins Tally barely knew to act as bridesmaids in concert with a school friend. In vain did Tally remonstrate with the elaborate arrangements her headstrong parent was making. Even so, it did not occur to her that there might be more widespread repercussions until Sander turned up unannounced at the house the week before the wedding.
‘I didn’t know you were back in London.’ In answer to Binkie’s call, Tally came downstairs. She wished she had known he was coming because she was murderously uncomfortable, greeting him clad in comfortable track pants and a shapeless sweatshirt.
Predictably, Sander looked amazing in a sharply cut navy designer suit and a blue and white striped shirt. His strong jaw line roughened with dark stubble, he trained his dark deep set eyes on her, metallic gold dancing like fiery sparks in his irate gaze, his stunning cheekbones taut below his bronzed skin.
‘What’s wrong?’ Tally prompted instantly, tension gripping her.
‘I believe you had a Save the Date card and a request for a guest list of two hundred people sent to my parents last week—they didn’t even know I was getting married!’ he launched at her in wrathful condemnation. ‘They’ve only just chosen to tell me.’
Tally settled aghast eyes on his lean strong face. ‘You still haven’t told your parents about us?’
In the face of her disbelief, Sander’s lean muscular frame went rigid. ‘It not the sort of announcement you make on the phone. I’m flying home this evening to speak to them.’
‘You should’ve told them the minute we set the date,’ Tally countered defensively, demoralised by his admission that he had yet to discuss his marital plans with his parents. Was he ashamed of her? Or simply trying to forget the fact that he would soon be a married man with a wife and a child on the way?
‘You didn’t warn me that a virtual circus would be kicking off back here in London!’ Sander slung back at her between gritted teeth. ‘I told you I wanted a quiet, quick ceremony. I don’t like superficial show and fuss.’
‘Since you’ve taken absolutely no interest in anything to do with our wedding and have not asked one single question about the arrangements I can’t see why it should matter to you!’ Tally snapped back, the resentments she had squashed for the sake of peace now leaping out to stand toe to toe with his. ‘Do you realise that it’s five days since you even bothered to phone me?’
‘Well, if you think I’m going to start checking in with you all the time like a truant schoolboy you’re in for a big disappointment!’ Sander fired back at her in glowering challenge. ‘Don’t start telling me what I’m supposed to be doing!’
‘Would anyone like coffee?’ Binkie proffered very quietly from the kitchen doorway.
‘Not for me, thank you,’ Sander pronounced stiffly, jerking round to acknowledge the presence of the older woman. ‘I have to get to the office and catch up before I head to Athens, Tally. I doubt if I’ll see you before the wedding now.’
Filled with a disappointment she was determined not to parade for his benefit, Tally folded her arms, her soft pink lips settling into a naturally mutinous pout. ‘I’ll survive.’
‘Tally!’ Binkie pronounced reproachfully as soon as the younger woman had closed the door in Sander’s imperious wake. ‘What’s got into you?’
Tally swallowed hard and veiled her eyes, making no answer. She did not trust herself to speak. Sixth sense was sending streamers of growing apprehension sliding through her but she did not want to acknowledge her secret fears. She did not want to be forced to ask herself whether or not she ought to be marrying a guy as detached from their approaching wedding and from her as Sander currently appeared to be …
Instead, Tally listened to Binkie’s comforting conviction that few men had any patience with bridal extravaganzas, but just at the point when she was tying herself into even deeper mental knots about her bridegroom’s lack of enthusiasm, a special delivery was made.
Taut with lively curiosity, Tally tore open the gift card first to stare down at Sander’s signature before opening the packaging of the small parcel and extracting a jewellery box. She lifted the lid to reveal a glittering diamond ring.
In a daze of surprise, Tally slid it onto her engagement finger and then she phoned Sander, who was already on the way to the airport.
‘Thank you—it’s gorgeous,’ she told him truthfully.
‘You should ditch the exams and come out to Greece with me,’ Sander responded.
That suggestion meant even more than the gift of the ring to Tally and she beamed with happiness and relief. She would have so much enjoyed accompanying him and getting the chance to meet his parents before the wedding. ‘I’d have loved to do that, but I’ve put in three years of hard work at college and I want to graduate this year,’ she told him ruefully.
Everything was really all right between them, Tally persuaded herself that night while she lay trying to get to sleep. The ring had been a thoughtful present, calculated to make her feel more like a normal bride. She needed to stop worrying and concentrate on what was really important. And what was really