Despite the hotel receptionist’s best attempts, there were no taxis available until past midnight. Dad had been drinking so he couldn’t drive me, and Hannah had already left. With limited choices, I booked a taxi for 7 a.m. so I could hopefully make my escape before anyone else arose. I’d get the driver to detour via Hedgehog Hollow so I could feed Tabby.
Dad wanted to accompany me to my room but I was adamant that he should return to the party, reassuring him I would be fine staying watching TV. Reluctantly, he agreed, but only after I let him arrange for room service for me.
Saying goodbye to Dad and retreating to my room, I felt confused and numb. I kept trying to put myself in Chloe’s shoes but I was struggling to comprehend her reaction. Yes, I’d lied, but it had been to make her happy. Yes, I held a torch for James, but he’d been my boyfriend for nearly a year first so she knew I cared about him. What difference did it make that I still loved him when the feelings clearly weren’t reciprocated? James and I weren’t even close friends anymore – more like acquaintances. I wasn’t any sort of threat so her reaction made no sense.
A plate of sandwiches and savouries were delivered after thirty minutes. Despite barely eating all day, my appetite had vanished and the food remained untouched.
An hour later, Dad checked on me. Sitting on the edge of the bed beside me, he reported that everything seemed normal, Chloe was happy being centre of attention on the dance floor, and nobody was talking about me.
‘I believe everything but the last point,’ I said. ‘But I won’t ask you what they’re saying. I’d rather not know.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said, squeezing my hand.
‘Me too.’
‘Do you want to talk about you and James?’
I shook my head and sighed. ‘Not tonight, but I would like to know about Great-Aunt Agnes. What she did tonight was bang out of order.’
‘What do you want to know about her?’
‘Why does she have it in for me? She said to ask you.’
His shoulders slumped wearily and he shook his head slowly. ‘Haven’t you had enough negativity for one evening?’
I shrugged. ‘I can’t feel any worse than I do already.’
Dad shifted position so he could see me better. ‘It’s not you. It’s me she hates but she’s a small-minded, bitter woman and I imagine she feels powerful taking it out on you.’ He shook his head. ‘The reason’s so stupid and I can’t believe she’s still holding it against me. I thought Bella had sorted things years ago.’
I frowned. ‘Sorted what?’ Bella – Great-Aunt Agnes’s only child – was Mum’s cousin and they were close, often calling and emailing each other. I’d never actually met her because she lived in Florida with her partner, Chanise.
‘I knew Bella from college,’ Dad said. ‘There were rumours circulating round Bella’s family about her sexuality. Agnes, being Agnes, hated that and you can imagine the sort of homophobic tripe she spouted at Bella.’
I nodded. Hateful woman.
‘Bella hadn’t come out back then although she knew she was gay. We were coming up to our A levels and Bella was desperate for good grades so she could go to university and get away from her mum. Agnes kept going on at her about dating boys and it was getting Bella really anxious. I wasn’t seeing anyone and had no desire to get into a relationship before leaving for university so I agreed to be her fake boyfriend to give her a break.’
‘That was sweet of you,’ I said, smiling at him. ‘Although you shouldn’t have had to do that.’
‘I know. I felt really sorry for her. I still do, having a mum like Agnes. Anyway, there was a family wedding for another cousin. Bella asked me if I’d be her plus one so I went along. And, much to Agnes’s disgust—’
‘That’s where you met Mum.’ I remembered him telling me they’d met at her cousin’s wedding.
‘Exactly. Even though I didn’t want any ties back home, I fell for your mum and, while I was studying to be a vet, we made the distance work. Bella also headed off to university, found her freedom, found a girlfriend and never returned home. They moved to Florida but split up after a year or so, then Bella met Chanise and they’ve been together ever since.’
‘I don’t understand what this has to do with you, though, and why she hates me.’
Dad raised his eyebrows. ‘Because I supposedly broke Bella’s heart by running off with your mum, which made her hate men and seek solace with another woman.’
‘No way! She thinks you turned her?’
‘I told you it was stupid.’
‘Wow! This day gets stranger and stranger. So you’re really saying that Great-Aunt Agnes hates me because she blames you for her own prejudices in not being able to accept a gay daughter?’
‘That’s about the size of it.’
‘Well, no wonder Bella was desperate to escape and no wonder she’s barely spoken to her mother since.’ I shook my head and sighed. ‘Thanks for filling me in, Dad, but I think it’s time you went back to the party.’
‘I don’t like to leave you.’
‘Go. I’ll be fine.’
He slowly stood up and glanced towards the untouched food on the dressing table, the drop of his shoulders telling me exactly how devastated he was that I was hurting. ‘I’ll check on you in another hour,’ he said.
‘I might go to bed so I’ll see you at home at some point tomorrow.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said as he opened the door.
‘I know. Good night.’ I slipped off the bed and locked the door behind him, pulled the chain across, then leaned against it, shaking my head. Poor Bella. And what a fool Great-Aunt Agnes was for behaving like that. Her husband – Bella’s father – had died when Bella was fourteen so Great-Aunt Agnes had no other immediate family. Couldn’t she have found a way to work beyond her prejudices to stay in Bella’s life? But people were often like that: quick to make decisions or jump to conclusions and too stubborn to say sorry and ask for forgiveness. Would Chloe be like that?
I sat on the edge of the bed, replaying the evening over and over. I’d get over James one day, hopefully, but I wouldn’t get over the loss of my cousin. Why had Great-Aunt Agnes done that? She’d lashed out at me, but she’d also hurt her favourite in the process.
Ten minutes passed. Fifteen, perhaps. I didn’t even have the energy to remove my dress. Sighing, I lay back, staring at the deep pink roses on the wallpaper, wondering how it had come to this: me banished to my room on my cousin’s wedding day. I was her only bridesmaid, I was her best friend and we’d been through so much together. We should be on the dance floor right now, giggling, hugging, toasting her future. I’d have been thrilled to do that for my cousin, even though her future was the one I’d hoped for myself.