Chapter 17: Lydia
Brandi’s voice on the other end of the phone brought a surge of memories to my mind. How long since the return from the vacation in the Caribbean? Weeks? A month or two? I hadn’t given myself the opportunity to measure the time. Each hour without Brian still felt like a monstrous ordeal.
I hadn’t spoken to Brandi since she had departed for London. Now we tried to catch up when Brandi had called me at the office where I worked in a management role for my father’s company.
Finding out how much trouble the company’s finances had been in all this time that I’d been blissfully ignorant, had made me feel like I’d been such a blind fool.
But I never let on about my inner turmoil to Brandi. I spoke and laughed with forced gaiety as we chatted. Brandi went on about how freezing the weather had become in London with all the December snow. I told her it was just as cold in Seattle which then led to Brandi reminiscing about the perfect weather we’d had back at the resort.
To quickly change the subject, I decided to bring up the wedding which was taking place the next month.
“I’d already planned to call you this week to see how to send your invitation. I really want you to be here,” I had told Brandi sincerely.
“Whoa! That’s fab news! But...I’m almost afraid to ask who the lucky guy ended up being,” Brandi said humorously.
I closed my eyes briefly in pain, before saying brightly, “Who else could it be? My fiancé of course – Theo Clayton. Remember?”
There was a surprised silence from the other end for a few moments before a soft, “Oh.”
And then almost immediately, Brandi added, “Well, congratulations! You’ll have to fill me in on all the preparations. Why don’t we talk when I fly in, say next week? Something tells me we have loads to catch up on.”
Brandi’s tone was kind and I held back the urge to burst into tears. I was grateful that Brandi hadn’t brought up Brian’s name though I had no doubt it would be a topic for a more appropriate time when we saw each other again.
Whatever the case, I was touched by the prospect of even a pinch of sympathy from anyone. Not even my family and certainly not Theo had shown any for me lately. No one seemed overly concerned about my feelings or condition – everyone else too busy planning for the wedding that the society columns were already tagging a dream wedding.
I had been glad to leave the main planning to my mother and sisters, preferring to take a backseat. Theo was already pouring so much unnecessary cost into the preparations, right up to ordering the designer dress to be made, plus the imported wedding cake and other over-the-top expenses that left me feeling shocked and dismayed.
Couldn’t anyone tell how desperately unhappy I was?
Didn’t anyone care?
Now that I knew Brandi was going to be present, it somehow lifted the gloom. After that phone call, I got back to work with far more enthusiasm than I’d shown all through the week, especially as the wedding date drew closer.
And even when, an hour later my assistant buzzed in to tell me Theo had arrived to see me, I felt composed enough to put up a calm front. He walked into my office moments later, his broad, handsome face all smiles.
“How’s my loving bride doing? Hopefully not working her pretty hands to the bone,” he said half-humorously, while critically viewing me after I’d given him a dutiful welcome kiss on the cheek. “You’ve been looking kind of sickly these past several days. And you’ve definitely lost weight. Obviously you really have been pushing yourself too hard at this job you insist on holding on to. Your father assured me he wasn’t burdening you with too much workload.”
I sighed impatiently, turning away to stand by my desk. “You don’t expect me to simply sit at home doing nothing. I’d be crawling up the walls.”
He closed the gap between us again in a few short strides and drew me back into his arms. “But once we’re married, I won’t allow you hold down some stupid job. Your one and only career will involve pandering to my every little whim.”
He laughed heartily when I scowled. I could tell he simply loved baiting me.
“Well we’re not married yet,” I snapped as I pulled out of his embrace.
Theo merely raked his eyes over me with a look that was starkly possessive. “Always the wildcat,” he said with a mocking smile. “That’s what makes you so enticing.”
And then he curtly informed me I was to accompany him to a function the following evening and gave instructions as to how I was to dress and what time. Even when I told him I’d made other plans, he told me in brusque, no-nonsense terms to cancel them.
When he left it was with that smug look on his face which told me he liked that he had this hold over me, the ability to control every facet of my life. But once he strode out and the door closed behind him, my cool finally snapped and I sent a glass paperweight flying at the door frame which saw it shattering to pieces on impact.