A Winter's Wedding by Sharon Owens Page A

okay. I know you understand.’
    ‘Sometimes these things just come to a natural end. Nobody is to blame. The feelings just go away of their own accord.’
    ‘Is that what happened with you and Alex?’ Arabella said gently.
    ‘Yes, our relationship came to a natural end all right. A grinding halt, more like. Pity he didn’t tell me until the day of our wedding. Oh, don’t get me started on all that business; it makes me feel like such a loser. But anyway, I don’t think Alex and me actually got it right to begin with,’ Emily said. ‘It was a massive, all-consuming teenage crush; and then it became a habit and a crutch. It was never true love.’
    ‘I’m sorry for bringing him up,’ Arabella said guiltily.
    ‘It’s okay.’
    Arabella opened a fresh packet of cigarettes. Emily briefly thought of suggesting that Arabella might have a better chance of conceiving if she gave up smoking and took some gentle exercise instead. And found another man to be the father, of course. But she didn’t want to become a bossyboots. Emily had always found bossy people very tiresome herself. Also, all the magazine articles she had ever read advised strongly against taking ownership of someone else’s problems. You could console and listen and hug and support and sympathize endlessly, but you should never try to take over.
    ‘Emily?’ Arabella said quietly.
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘What would you do if you were me?’
    ‘Please don’t ask me that.’
    ‘No, really – would you beg David to come home?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Or would you send him flowers?’
    ‘Really, I don’t know.’
    ‘Or would you have a crazy, unsuitable affair? Get your confidence back by seducing another man?’
    ‘I doubt it. That would only complicate everything. What if you ended up having feelings for both of them?’
    ‘No, only men say that! Would you go to a lawyer and tell him to hang David out to dry?’
    ‘Arabella, please don’t ask my advice. This is serious. It’s not a magazine quiz.’
    ‘Or would you look for a sperm donor?’
    ‘Um …’
    ‘One-night stand or clinic … ?’
    ‘I really wouldn’t know where to start.’
    ‘Or would you do something else entirely?’
    ‘I really don’t know, Arabella. It depends on what you want – and what he wants – doesn’t it?’
    ‘Would you be aloof and mysterious? Yes, you’d play hard to get, wouldn’t you? Do nothing at all for a year and see if he comes crawling back to you. Trouble is, I don’t really have a year to spare.’
    ‘Listen, Arabella, is that the time? I’ll think about this later, but I have to dash now. I’m meeting a reader this afternoon over on the other side of the city. I’ll call you this evening. Don’t do anything silly. Promise me now?’
    ‘I promise,’ Arabella said, smiling at Emily through a fog of cigarette smoke. But it was already too late to promise not to do anything silly because she was going to do something silly that very evening.
    When Emily had gone Arabella went to the bathroom and locked the door behind her so nobody else could barge in. She took a long blonde wig out of her large handbag and combed it with shaking hands. She tried the wig on. The effect was pretty natural. Then she tried on a short denim jacket, a long white T-shirt and a pair of lurid purple leggings. A pair of bug-eyed sunglasses and a pair of flimsy flat pumps completed the look. In two minutes flat she’d gone from Wealthy-Socialite-About-Town to Lowly-Cleaning-Lady. She was average height and average weight. David wouldn’t recognize her in a million years. Nor would any of their friends and colleagues. Quickly she put her own clothes on again and folded the other things back into her bag.
    Now all she had to do was hang around the office until five o’clock. Then she’d go and change into her disguise in the big bathroom on the ground floor, where nobody would take any notice of her.
    At six o’clock precisely David came out of his office wearing