it’s fine,’ Bella cut in.
‘It’s not fine at all! I’ve messed things up for you. Look. I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning.’
Bella smiled. ‘I already told him I’d do that, and I said I’d pay for valeting the taxi as well.’
‘My mess, my bill,’ Grace said. ‘I’ll pay.’
‘Gracie, just shut up and eat your porridge. I don’t want to hear another word from you, young lady, until that bowl is empty.’
‘You sound like Mum,’ Grace muttered.
‘Good,’ Bella retorted. Usually Grace was the one who sounded like their mother and Bella was the one hanging her head in shame.
She made Grace eat every scrap and drink two more glasses of water before she resumed her interrogation. ‘Right. Now tell me—what happened?’
‘I can’t marry Howard.’
It was the last thing Bella had been expecting. Her older sister had been engaged for the last four years. OK, so Howard was a bit on the boring side, and his parents were nightmares—Bella had dubbed them Mr Toad and Mrs Concrete Hair with good reason—but if Grace loved him then Bella was prepared to be as sweet as she could to them. ‘What? Why not? Don’t you love him any more?’ And then a nasty thought struck her. ‘Is there someone else?’
‘Of course there isn’t anyone else.’ Grace shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t do that to him.’
‘Not deliberately, no, but you can’t help who you fall in love with,’ Bella said. She’d fallen for Mr Wrong enough times, and Kirk had shattered her trust for good. She’d never trust another man with her heart again, no matter how attractive he was. It had taken her six months to rebuild her life—and she was still angry with herself for being so naïve and trusting. Why hadn’t she been able to see that he was stringing her along?
‘I love Howard, but I’m not in love with him,’ Grace said. ‘There’s a difference.’
‘I know.’ Bella squeezed her hand. ‘And it’s a big difference. A deal-breaking difference.’
‘He’s never made me feel breathless and dizzy, as if he’d swept me off my feet.’
Not surprising: Howard was cautious and sensible. Which wasn’t a bad thing, Bella thought, but the occasional bit of spontaneity wouldn’t have hurt. And it might have made her sister’s world complete—which clearly hadn’t happened. On paper, Grace and Howard were the perfect match—both sensible and cautious—but there was a little thing called chemistry. Without that, life would be miserable. ‘You can’t spend the rest of your life with someone who doesn’t make your world light up.’
Grace bit her lip. ‘I think you’re about the only person who’d understand that. Mum’s going to be so disappointed in me.’
‘No, she’s not, and neither is Dad—they both want you to be happy, and if marrying Howard wouldn’t make you happy then you definitely shouldn’t marry him,’ Bella said firmly.
‘I’m not sure if he was in love with me, either,’ Grace said.
‘Of course he was—you’re gorgeous and you’re clever and you’re nice. What’s not to love?’ Bella demanded, cross on her sister’s behalf.
‘I think we both loved each other,’ Grace said softly, ‘but not enough. I mean, we’ve been engaged for ever—who stays engaged for four years in this day and age?’
‘A couple who’s saving up the deposit for a house?’ Bella suggested.
‘Apart from the fact that we already have enough money for that between us, you know what I mean—if we’d really wanted to be together, we’d have got married years ago rather than waiting. We don’t even live together,’ Grace pointed out.
‘Mainly because Cynthia of the Eagle Eyes and Concrete Hair wouldn’t let her little boy shack up with someone,’ Bella said. ‘Is that why you got drunk tonight?’
‘No. That was the cartoon you drew for me,’ Grace said. ‘Fifty Shades of Beige.’
Bella winced. ‘Sorry. I meant it as a joke, to make you laugh and relax a bit. I knew you weren’t looking forward to the golden wedding party.’
‘But it was so accurate, Bel,’ Grace said. ‘I was the only woman there not dressed in beige.’
Bella couldn’t help laughing. ‘Ouch. I didn’t think it’d be quite that bad.’
‘Oh, it was,’ Grace said feelingly. ‘I really didn’t belong there. I drank three glasses of champagne straight down to give me courage and I didn’t even feel them, Bel.’
Which was really un-Grace-like. She always stopped after one glass. Sensible, reliable Grace who looked after everyone else and was usually the one mopping up, not the one throwing up.
‘I was just numb. And that’s when I realised,’ Grace said, ‘that I was walking into a life I didn’t actually want. In fifty years’ time, I don’t want to be sensible Grace Sutton, whose heart has never once skipped a beat, and whose mother-in-law directed the whole of her marriage.’
‘If anyone could live until well past the age of a hundred, marbles intact and with an iron fist, it’d be Mrs Concrete Hair,’ Bella said feelingly. ‘You’ve done the right thing, Gracie. It’s much better to call a halt now than to wait until after you married Howard and then have all the mess of a divorce to go through.’
‘Really?’ Grace didn’t look convinced. She looked guilty and miserable and worried.
‘Really,’ Bella said firmly, ‘and Mum and Dad will back you, too.’
‘I just feel that I’ve let everyone down—all the work that’s gone into arranging the wedding.’ Grace swallowed. ‘Not to mention the money.’
‘But you haven’t let anyone down,’ Bella said. ‘Well, except you should have told me all this a lot sooner, because I’m your sister and of course I’m going to support you. I hate to think that you’ve been miserable all these months when I could’ve listened to you and made you feel better. You’re doing the right thing, Gracie. And cancelling the wedding won’t be that hard.’ This was slightly surreal; it felt almost as if she and Grace had swapped places and it was her turn to be the sensible, super-organised one instead of the one who needed rescuing. ‘Just give me a list of the names and contact details of the people you’ve invited and your suppliers, and I’ll ring them all and explain the wedding’s off.’
‘I can’t make you do that!’ Grace protested.
‘You’re not making me do it. I’m offering. That’s what sisters are for.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Have you told Howard?’ Was that why her no-longer-future brother-in-law had been so conspicuously absent?
‘No. I’m going to do that tomorrow.’
A nasty thought struck Bella. ‘Does he actually know you’ve left the party?’
Grace nodded and winced. ‘I told him I had a migraine
