After breakfast, I sit down with Helen, Arthur, Geoffrey, and Fiona. Emmy, Tess, and Ace are there as well, as my moral support, but they think my confession is centered on my marriage.
When the real confession is about the fake engagement.
“Is everything all right, Claire? I know yesterday was hard for you, with Landon gone. I hope you aren’t unhappy with us,” Helen says, generously.
“Oh, I couldn’t be more pleased with you. All of you, really.”
I look down at my hands, not wanting to see the look of betrayal across my friends’ faces when they hear how deceptive I’ve been.
“The truth is,” I admit, “I’m already married. And my engagement with Landon isn’t real. He didn’t really propose, he just wanted you to believe he had, so that you’d think he’d grown up. So that he could have a chance at being your successor, Arthur.”
They all have questions, of course; shame spreads across my face, floods my eyes. They ask why, they shake their heads, they don’t understand.
And I try to explain.
Finally, once I’ve laid it all out there—the marriage, the motives, the apologies—I look up, hoping they will see me as something besides the way I see myself: A cheat. A liar. A disgrace.
“I understand why Landon would put you up to this, why he’d think it would work. And I can let that go because, honestly, he seems happier right now than he’s ever been. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t get a divorce a long time ago, Claire?” Arthur asks. “You seem like such a smart girl.”
I suck in my breath, squeezing shut my eyes. When I open them, I make sure to meet everyone’s gaze. “Has anything ever happened to you, that you were so ashamed of? So embarrassed by, that you’d rather pretend to be something else entirely than deal with the facts?”
I don’t expect anyone here to understand. Landon’s family is this proper English clan, put together in ways I could never dream of being.
I see Helen and Fiona struggle to make sense of my story, and I just want someone—anyone—to say something. Emmy and Tess can’t even seem to look at me.
But Ace catches me off guard when he’s the one who speaks up.
“Claire, I understand. Completely. I spent five years hiding, pretending to be someone I wasn’t. And my friends forgave me, my wife forgave me. Hell, you forgave me. I wasn’t honest because I was fucking pushing away the demons of my past. It’s okay, Claire. That’s why you have us. We forgive you, of course, but mostly we’re just sorry you went through all that.”
Emmy laughs softly. “He’s right, of course. We’re really sorry, Claire.”
Fiona tilts her head at me, her face lined with confusion. Geoffrey sits beside her, gripping her hand, though none of the story seems to surprise him.
“Do you love him?” Fiona asks. “I know this whole thing was fake, but ... it seemed so real.”
“It really did,” Tess agrees. “Like, insanely real.”
I swallow, hard, blinking away tears. Because so much of this trip has felt like the absolute truth. Landon’s proposal in the airport. Sliding a ring on my finger. The way he held me all night long, the way he touched my skin, my heart, my soul. The way he said I love you. The way I said it back.
“I do love him.”
Helen pulls in a sharp breath. “Oh, love,” she says, waving a handkerchief. “Arthur, do you hear her? She really loves our boy.” Helen grips her husband’s hand, and I feel so lucky to be in the presence of such generous people.
Because I need this. After everything before ... I need to see with my own eyes that love is real. Love exists. The way Arthur and Helen, Ace and Emmy—even Geoffrey and Fiona, in their own weird way—love one another.
I’m reminded that my love with Landon, while new, is real.
And I don’t ever want to lose it.
I want it forever.
But I don’t know if he feels the same way.
“So ... no double wedding?” Fiona asks. “Because I made an appointment at a bridal shop tomorrow for our gowns. The flowers are ordered. The guest list is completed, right, Helen?”
Helen nods.
“And the date is set, for next Saturday, at five o’clock in the evening.”
“You have been busy,” I say, unable to hide my shock.
“Well,” Emmy says. “Last night you were a bit put out, and since I have some experience with putting together a wedding in short order, I helped. So did Tess and Helen. You said you didn’t care about the details....”
“Right.” I cringe. “I’m really sorry. I should have told everyone the whole truth yesterday. I was just so upset. And now you’ve done all this.”