Page 46 of The Rest is History

Elodie

S ix is actually amazing. The weather is boiling, and the Hampton Court Summer Festival brings the palace to life.

We spend a heavenly Sunday evening drinking plastic tumblers of rosé and eating crepes from the stalls lining the pathways to the Great Fountain.

We all buy Sorry not Sorry t-shirts and put them on, screaming and clapping our way through the performance.

The show blows our minds, and not just because the outdoor stage is set up right in the beating heart of the palace, in Base Court. It’s so smart, so sassy, and so filled with incredible female energy that it’s a baptism of sorts for me.

Yes, I came to the palace at Charlie’s suggestion, and I fell head over heels for this man playing my king, and I opened myself up to him so fully that I allowed him to cut my heart wide open when he walked away.

But Six reminds me that I can change the narrative. The queens make it clear that this is their story, not Henry’s story, and that the tales they have to tell are as valid, as important, as his.

This is not just Charlie’s story. It’s easy to feel like I’ve been a puppet, cast aside and powerless.

But that’s not how I choose to see things.

Not anymore.

This is my story, and having my heart broken by Charlie Vaughan is not how it ends. It’s merely the start of a new chapter for me.

I can do this.

I walk into Philly Willy’s office. He smiles broadly from behind his desk.

‘Elodie. Thanks for coming. Have a seat.’

‘Of course,’ I say. I have no idea why he’s invited me in here.

I’ve had surprisingly little interaction with him, and I’m happy to keep it that way.

He’s a lovely guy, but I’m painfully aware he’s a close friend of Charlie’s, and it’s mortifying to think he may see me as the woman Charlie chewed up and spat out.

He leans forward, palms on his desk. ‘I’ll cut to the chase. I’d like to offer you a permanent position next year, if you haven’t made alternate arrangements.’

I blink. I was not expecting that. My mind’s reeling.

‘Is Amanda not coming back?’ I ask.

He shifts in his seat. ‘She is, as far as we know. The thing is, Charlie’s decided to move on.’

I gape.

‘He hasn’t mentioned it to you?’

‘Er, nope. Is he taking the deputy head role?’ We’ve discussed it in the past, but Charlie’s been reluctant to make the move.

He grimaces. ‘Sadly not. I couldn’t persuade him. No, he’s taken a role at the palace, I believe. As an historian.’

I’m lost for words. Charlie will love that. He will be in his absolute, geeky element, surrounded by all that history day after day.

‘That’s great,’ I squeak.

‘Which leaves his role free. And by that, I mean head of department.’

‘Head of department?’

I’m not selling myself here, but I’m totally blindsided.

He nods. ‘Yeah. You have more teaching experience than Amanda or Zara, so you’d be the obvious candidate.

I’ve been seriously impressed with Charlie’s reports on your efforts this year.

Despite what’s gone down between you two, he speaks glowingly of your gifts as a teacher.

And he tells me you’d far rather teach the sixteenth century A Level class than the nineteenth century one. ’

My face has broken out into the most enormous smile. This is the dream.

A promotion.

The opportunity to teach what I’m most passionate about.

The chance to stay close to Grace and Olive (and, I suppose, my parents).

I get to make a mark. To establish a worthwhile career in an amazing school that nurtures its teaching staff.

But Charlie won’t be here. That’s bittersweet.

Helpful, and healthy, but bittersweet. It won’t be the same without him here.

Sitting at his desk, walking in his shoes as department head won’t feel as vindicating as it should.

And while I know his new role will be a dream come true for him, I can’t help but feel like the damn man has just played fairy godfather to me again.

I sit there and chat through how things may work. As I’m pulling myself up to leave, Phil holds up a hand.

‘Oh. One more thing. Augie Fisher’s mothers have requested a meeting with you. Can you set it up with Rita for sometime this week?’

That’s weird. Augie doesn’t have any issues, as far as I’m aware. He’s a spirited kid, definitely, but he seems happy enough. ‘Of course,’ I tell Phil as I take my leave.

A couple of mornings later, I usher Emmy and Stacey into a conference room. It happens to be the same room Charlie interviewed me in. He was so hostile that day. So different from the beautiful man who, all too briefly, opened himself up to me and made me fall in love with him.

I can’t help but remember his confession in the stationery cupboard. I’ve been thinking about how exquisite you might taste since the first time I laid eyes on you. The ravenous look in his eyes when he admitted it.

I mentally shake myself. Not helpful, Elodie. I force myself to sit and smile at the two women opposite me with a cheeriness I don’t feel.

‘How are you two doing?’ I ask them. ‘Is everything okay with Augie?’

They glance at each other with guilty smirks, and I have a sudden inkling that this meeting may not be about Augie.

Stacey turns and looks me squarely in the eye, clasping her hands in front of her.

She’s confident and gorgeous, and I suspect she gets everything she wants in board meetings.

Today she’s in one of her usual super-fitted shift dresses, in the dreamiest sparkly cream tweed, and she looks a million dollars.

‘Emmy and I are staging an intervention, honey,’ she says sweetly.

I freeze. ‘Oh no.’

‘Oh yes. Because our brother-in-law is a masochistic idiot who, like most guys, doesn’t know what’s good for him.

And yes, it’s a major breach of his trust. And he may never forgive us if this doesn’t work out.

But we know from past experience that men sometimes need to be saved from their own godawful stubbornness. Right, Em?’

Emmy grins. She’s in full yoga-bunny mode today, in pale pink and grey athleisure wear that showcases her incredible figure, and she looks as though she’s had twelve hours sleep. This woman brings new meaning to the term glowing .

‘Definitely.’ She jerks her thumb in Stacey’s direction. ‘Stace had to intervene with my darling husband to tell him to get his head out of his arse and forgive me for making the teeniest error in judgement by not telling him I was pregnant. And look at us now.’ She beams.

‘I’m happy for you,’ I say faintly, ‘but honestly, I don’t know about this. Charlie seems very intent on not having a future with me.’

‘Bullshit.’ Stacey slaps her palm on the table, and I jump. ‘Charlie is too wrapped up in his own misery and insecurity to be a remotely good judge of what he deserves in life. Em tells me he hasn’t told you why he doesn’t think he has a future with you.’

I narrow my eyes. ‘That is correct.’

‘Tell her, Em.’

‘No, you tell her. You’re the one who was there for the whole thing.’

My eyes jump between them both as I scramble to work out what the hell is going on.

‘Okay,’ Stacey says. ‘I’ll give it to you straight. Charlie’s crazy about you. It doesn’t take a genius to see that. But he can’t have kids.’

Oh my God. Oh my God. I gasp.

‘Charlie’s infertile?’

‘Yeah. Totally infertile. He and his ex went through, like, so many rounds of tests. They tried to get pregnant for a year or two, and eventually they did the tests, and it was him. They were told there was zero hope of him getting her pregnant, and she went fucking nuclear. Told him he was pathetic, that he wasn’t a real man?—’

My eyes widen in horror. ‘She said what ? ’

‘I know, right? I think she’d convinced herself the problem lay at her end, and when they found out the problem was Charlie, it was like she projected all that grief onto him.

They’d been together since college, so she accused him of wasting years and years of her life, and she left him, like, pretty much immediately.

Told him she couldn’t lose anymore time trying to find a guy who could give her what she wanted. ’

I clamp my hands over my mouth, my eyes filling with tears. Charlie . My poor, gorgeous man. What must it feel like to have the person you love put all of their unhappiness onto you?

Unbearable.

That’s how it must feel.

‘Why didn’t he tell me any of this?’ I ask no one in particular. ‘He told me he didn’t want a family. That he didn’t want to get married again.’

Stacey cocks her head. ‘Are you sure, sweetie? Because I’d guess he’d have said he didn’t see himself having a family.

I can’t ever imagine he’d say he didn’t want one.

He’d seriously love to have kids, but he’s had to live with the guilt of letting Adeline down for years, even if she was a total fucking witch about the whole thing, if you ask me. ’

‘You’re right,’ I say in wonder. ‘That’s what he said. He didn’t see himself with a family in his future. Oh my God. Do you think that’s why he broke up with me?’

They glance at each other again.

‘We know that’s why he broke up with you,’ Emmy says softly. ‘Jack and I went round there and confronted him, that day after I saw you at school and you told me he’d finished things with you. We called him out on it, and he admitted it.’

‘But why not tell me? That’s what I don’t understand.’

‘Because he didn’t want you to have to sacrifice anything,’ Stacey says.

‘He was worried you’d choose him, and he saw that as you having to give up everything you’ve ever wanted.

I think seeing you with Aurelia that day sent him over the edge.

You’d make such a great mom, and he wants you to have everything. ’

‘But I don’t get Charlie in that scenario,’ I practically shout. ‘He’s the only thing I actually care about—he’s all I want. What a stupid fucking idiot—why can’t he see that?’

They grin at each other. Emmy has tears in her eyes when she looks back at me.

‘Then you’d better get the hell over there and tell him that.’