Page 94 of Wife After Wife

“Back in the nineteen seventies,” he began, “my sweet little seven-year-old sister proposed to my nineteen-year-old best friend.”

There were “aaahs” and chuckles.

“Charles’s response was, ‘Ask me again in a few years.’ Some twenty years later, she did. And here we are...”

Harry’s speech was funny and full of affection, and as he finished, he wiped a tear from his eye, as did most in the room. Harry had charmedeveryone, as per. He hadn’t mentioned Ana at all, hadn’t looked her way. She tried not to care about that either.

The dancing began, and Megan and Charles swayed together to “Love Is All Around.” Harry led his daughter onto the dance floor, and people smiled as he made a big show of twirling her around.

Ana turned her back and made her way to the restrooms. She walked slowly, looking out the windows to the tennis courts, remembering the time she’d played doubles here. It had been the big Charles and Megan reunion, when it all kicked off. And Harry hadn’t taken his eyes off Ana all evening. She tried not to compare then with now.

In the restrooms she took her time touching up her makeup, tucking stray hairs into her chignon. Two aunt types briskly came and went, giving her tight little smiles.

The door opened again, and Katie came in with Maria.

“Oh,” Katie said, hesitating.

“Look, Mummy,” said Maria. “It’s like a bathroom in a palace!”

“Yes, isn’t it lovely,” said Katie.

Maria disappeared into a cubicle.

“Be careful with your dress!”

Katie sat down in an armchair. “Hello,” she said. “We’ve never properly met, have we?” Her voice was calm; there was no undercurrent.

“No. How’s life in Wales?”

“Good. It’s beautiful where we are, really peaceful. I expect that sounds awfully boring to you, but we get a lot of people staying who need time out from their stressful lives, and it’s great to be able to help them.”

“You’re a counselor?”

“Yes. And you? You’re living with Harry, I hear.”

“Yes.” She decided to bite the bullet. “We want to get married, of course, but... Katie, I understand you’re reluctant to divorce Harry. Would you consider...?”

“I know it must be hard, Ana. I’m sorry, but I can’t go against myfaith. In God’s eyes, we’re still married. The law says Harry can divorce me and there’s nothing I can do about that, but I’m not going to agree to it. Like I said, I’m sorry, truly.”

“Look, Katie. Why make our lives difficult, when it’s going to happen anyway? If it’s because you think I stole—”

“No, this isn’t about revenge or bad feeling. It’s about my beliefs. And anyway, you didn’t steal Harry. I had depression, and his way of dealing with that was to look elsewhere for... love. At the time, I blamed myself. But being away from him has made me realize, Harry was the one at fault. He could have helped me through it, but he didn’t. He buried himself in his work and found women who were easier to be with—you know about Bennie? And your sister, obviously.”

Ana nodded.

“The place Cassandra and I run, it’s for women who need time out from modern life.”

It looked like she was about to launch into “New Age bollocks,” as Harry called it.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned through working there, it’s that women blame themselves. I did. We’ve got to stop doing that. Look at the people here today. So many—especially the women, actually—have been offering sympathy for my marriage breakdown, and guess who they’ve been blaming?”

“Me?”

“Yes. Apparently you’re a husband stealer.”

“Well, they would blame me, wouldn’t they? But I don’t care.”

“They’re wrong. You’re not a husband stealer. Harry betrayed me. Twice that I know of, maybe more. But is anyone saying how badly he behaved? No. Harry can do no wrong—everyone loves Harry. So, Ana, I’m not blaming you. I know how hard it is to resist Harry when he turns on the charm. No doubt he told you his marriage was over, and you weren’t going to turn Harry down out of loyalty to a woman you didn’t know, were you?”