She then picked up the string of pearls and snipped her way along it until they rolled like marbles all over the tiled foyer. She gave a satisfied little sigh as the last one rolled underneath the hall stand.
It would probably take him months to retrieve them all.
Mia ferried her bags over to Gina’s and, leaving her car there on the final trip, caught a taxi back to Bryn’s house to dress for the evening. She was ready and waiting when Henry arrived, and, quickly closing the door behind her, followed him out to the car.
‘You look very beautiful this evening, Mrs Dywer,’ he said as he helped her settle inside the car. ‘Mr Dwyer is going to be knocked sideways when he sees you, I’m sure.’
She gave him a sugar-sweet smile. ‘That’s the plan. I can’t have him thinking he married a woman with no taste or style, now, can I?’
‘You are the perfect wife for him, if you don’t mind me saying,’ he said once they were on their way. ‘Mr Dwyer has had a hard time of it but since you came into his life I’ve noticed some real changes. He would never have coped so well with his great-aunt’s death without your help. You’re good for him.’
‘Thank you, Henry,’ she said softly, desperately trying to control the urge to cry.
The restaurant was on the harbour in Rushcutters Bay and although it was crowded the table Bryn had booked for them was tucked away in a quiet corner.
She was sitting at the table with a glass of champagne in front of her, mentally rehearsing her performance, when Bryn arrived. She watched him exchange a few words with the maître d’ before looking in her direction, his dark blue eyes meshing with hers.
She watched as every head turned as he wove his way through the restaurant to where she was sitting, bending his head to place a soft kiss to her forehead before he took the seat opposite. She held her breath as his gaze dipped to her unadorned neck.
‘Did you get my gift?’ he asked.
‘Yes, thank you. They were…beautiful.’
‘You’re not wearing the pearls.’
‘I had trouble with the clasp,’ she said. ‘I thought I might lose them if I didn’t do it up properly.’
He seemed satisfied with her answer and smiled as the waiter approached with the menu and wine list.
‘How did your meeting go?’ she asked once the waiter had taken Bryn’s request for a bottle of cabernet sauvignon.
‘It was fine,’ he answered. ‘I had some papers to sign, that’s all.’
‘How about your meeting with your producer this morning? Was that productive?’
He waited until the waiter had poured their wine before answering. ‘Yes…it was.’
Mia watched as he toyed with his glass, staring into its blood-red contents as if wondering how they came to be there.
‘I had a phone call from my ex-agent today,’ she said into the silence.
‘Oh?’ He took a sip of wine.
‘Yes; apparently she’s found some work for me. Isn’t that nice?’
His eyes fell away from hers as he leaned back in his chair for the waiter to place some hot bread rolls on the table.
‘And here I was, thinking she thought I was hopeless,’ she went on once the waiter had gone. ‘I lost so much confidence when she and Theodore dropped me but it seems she thinks I have some measure of talent after all.’
‘There’s never been any question of your having talent,’ Bryn said, meeting her eyes. ‘I should never have written the review in the first place. God knows I’ve regretted it ever since.’
‘No, you shouldn’t,’ she said. ‘But then there are a lot of things you shouldn’t have done, aren’t there, Bryn?’
He held her gaze for a tense moment, his throat moving up and down slightly.
‘Mia, the reason we are here now is because I have a confession to make. I should have told you in the first place but I had no idea I would end up feeling this way. I didn’t see it coming. I should have but I didn’t. I guess I didn’t want to.’
Mia waited for him to continue, her fingers tightening around her untouched glass of red wine, her anger building so steadily she hardly took in what he was saying. She just wanted to say her piece and get away before he had the chance to hurt her further.
‘I don’t think it’s fair to continue our relationship on the terms I laid down,’ he said. ‘I think it’s time I told you the truth about how I engineered our marriage.’
It was just the cue she’d been waiting for. ‘You mean about how you insisted Theo drop me from the play?’
He frowned. ‘So you know about that?’
‘Yes, and I also know how you told Roberta to stop finding me work so you could force me to act your little role for you,’ she continued. ‘It had nothing to do with your ratings, did it, Bryn? It had more to do with you wanting to secure a fortune for yourself. It was clever, I admit, and if I were the gullible, innocent fool you seem to think I am I would have fallen for it.’
He stared at her speechlessly as she went on, ‘You see, Bryn, I knew what you were up to. I decided to teach you a lesson. You thought I couldn’t act to save myself but in the end I completely fooled you and everyone else as well with my convincing performance.’
His eyes narrowed slightly. ‘What do you mean?’
She gave him a cat-that-swallowed-the-canary smile. ‘I’m not really in love with you, Bryn. And I wasn’t a virgin either. How was that for a performance? Brilliant, don’t you think? You fell for it hook, line and sinker. God, how I was laughing at you the whole time! You thought I couldn’t act but boy, did I show you.’
His features became rigid and white-tipped with anger, his eyes like dark blue diamonds as they clashed with hers. ‘You bitch. You lying little bitch. And here I was, feeling guilty for using you.’
She gave him a cold look of disdain. ‘You didn’t use me, Bryn. I used you. I got the leg-up to fame I needed. People are stopping me for my autograph now. How cool is that? And all because of you. I guess I should be thanking you for giving my career the boost it needed, but do you know what, I think I’ll make a toast to you instead?’ She got to her feet and raised her glass of red wine. ‘Here’s to the end of our temporary marriage.’ She gave him an imperious smile. ‘Cheers, Bryn. Thanks for the memories—I’m going to be dining out on those for years,’ she said and tipped the contents of her glass into his lap.
As exits went it was one of her best. She wove her way through the tables with a smile of victory plastered to her face, raising her hand to him in a tiny fingertip wave as a taxi pulled into the kerb outside the restaurant.
Her last sight of him was the absolute look of incredulity on his face as he got to his feet, the red wine over his groin looking as if someone had stabbed him.
The taxi driver looked at her in the rear-view mirror. ‘Hey, don’t I know you? I think I saw you in the paper the other day. You’re famous, right?’
Mia gave him a tight little smile. ‘Yes, I am. But guess what? It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.’ And she promptly burst into tears.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘WOW, an audition at last!’ Gina crowed with delight the following afternoon. ‘This is just what you need to take your mind off you-know-who. What’s this one for?’
Mia put the final touches to her pixie costume, marvelling yet again at the pointy silicone ears which looked so real. ‘Roberta organised it for me.’
‘But I thought she wasn’t representing you any more.’
‘Yes, well, maybe she had a twinge of conscience, because she rang and told me she had an audition lined up for me. She told me I was perfect for the role.’
Gina peered at Mia’s ears. ‘A pixie?’
‘Not just any old pixie,’ Mia said. ‘If I get the job I’m going to be officially known at the Pain Pixie.’
‘The Pain Pixie?’ Gina wrinkled her nose. ‘That sounds a bit weird.’
‘No, it’s a fabulous idea,’ Mia said. ‘The Pain Pixie visits sick kids in hospital, reading to them and ente
rtaining them to take their minds off their pain. I’ve even got a pot of pixie dust, see?’ She sprinkled some in the air. ‘And a wand.’ She waved it about for a moment, privately wishing it could bring about the miracle she wanted in her own life.
‘You’re right, that does sound fabulous,’ Gina said. ‘What time is your audition?’
She glanced at her watch. ‘I’m going now. Wish me luck.’
Mia knocked on the door of the church hall half an hour later and was greeted by a woman who asked her to stand on the stage and read from a well-known children’s book.
She did as she was told, reading in a clear, animated voice.
‘Thank you, that’s great,’ the woman said before Mia had even finished the page. ‘You’re perfect for the role. You can start this afternoon. I’ll give you the schedule with all the contact times. You will be paid a wage plus travel expenses.’
Mia stepped down from the stage and took the sheet the woman handed her. ‘Is that all you want me to do?’ she asked. ‘I mean, I can do accents and tell jokes and that sort of stuff.’
‘No, you’re fine. You’ve got the job. You came with very high recommendations.’
As auditions went it was certainly the easiest Mia had ever experienced, she thought as she made her way back to Gina’s.
‘How did it go?’ Gina asked.
‘I got the job,’ she said with a little frown.
‘What’s wrong? You don’t seem all that thrilled. Isn’t it what you were expecting?’
‘I don’t know…’ she said. ‘I’m just getting a funny feeling about this.’
‘What do you mean? Don’t you like the sound of the work?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s a dream job. I get paid to make kids happy. I can’t think of anything I’d like better, but still…’
‘You’re still thinking about him, aren’t you?’ Gina said softly.
‘I’m trying not to…’
‘I heard him on the radio,’ Gina said.
Mia felt herself tensing. ‘Was he his usual cutting self?’
‘Actually, no, he wasn’t.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Nothing much, he just played a whole lot of soppy romantic songs instead of that usual stuff he plays.’
Mia gave a little snort. ‘He’s just trying to make his listeners feel sorry for him. No doubt it will lift his ratings to an all-time high.’
‘You could well be right because his ratings have toppled Maxwell Murdoch’s from the rival channel for the first time in years,’ Gina said. ‘But it’s funny in a way because I read in the paper that Bryn is not renewing his contract at the station.’
Mia’s lip curled cynically. ‘That’s because he’s so filthy rich now he’s got his hands on his great-aunt’s estate.’
‘Not according to his column in this morning’s paper,’ Gina said. ‘He said he’d given the whole proceeds of his great-aunt’s estate to a well-known children’s charity. It was finalised with his lawyers yesterday.’
Mia stared at her flatmate for several heart-stopping seconds. ‘Do you still have the paper?’
‘It’s here somewhere…’ Gina began to search for it, finally unearthing it from beneath the sofa cushions. ‘Here.’ She pressed it out flat for Mia to read.
Mia read the column, her heart beginning to thud unevenly in her chest.
‘What’s wrong?’ Gina asked. ‘You look like you’re about to faint.’
‘No…no, I’m fine…’ She forced a smile to her stiff lips. ‘I’m just nervous about my first session at the hospital.’
Mia turned up at the hospital as arranged and was led to the children’s ward, where she spent an enjoyable hour or two reading and playing with the young patients. She couldn’t believe how rewarding it was to see each child’s face light up when she came in. It was the most rewarding role she had ever played and she didn’t want it to ever end.
If only someone could sprinkle some pixie dust over her and take her own pain away, she thought as she made her way to the next child’s bedside.
‘Are you really a pixie?’ a little boy with wide, dark brown eyes asked.
‘Of course I am,’ Mia insisted. ‘See my pot of magic dust? This is what I sprinkle around to take pain away. It has special magic powers.’
He gave her a sceptical look. ‘Does it really work?’
‘How’s your pain been while I’ve been here?’ she asked.
He smiled at her, showing his missing front teeth. ‘I haven’t even thought about it.’
‘See?’ She gave him a grin. ‘That’s what I’m here for.’
She went next to a little girl who’d had extensive chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukaemia. The sight of the frail seven-year-old with no hair struck at Mia’s heart and she sat down by the bed and started talking to her. She found out the little girl’s name was Ellie, the very same as her sister’s.
‘It’s short for Eleanor,’ the little girl informed her. ‘But I still have trouble spelling it so I much prefer Ellie.’
‘I can’t say I blame you,’ Mia said. ‘I have an adopted sister whose name is Eleanora. That’s even harder to spell. We’ve always called her Ellie.’
‘I don’t have any sisters,’ the little Ellie said. ‘I have a brother but he’s only two.’
‘This must be tough for you in here,’ Mia said. ‘I’ve heard your parents live in the country on a farm. It must be hard not having regular visitors.’
‘It’s nice that you’re here,’ the little girl said. ‘Is it true you have magic powers?’
Mia felt like the biggest fraud in history but something about the little girl’s dark blue eyes reminded her of Bryn and she found herself confessing, ‘I have the ability to take pain away with the wave of my magic wand. That’s why I’m called the Pain Pixie.’ She pulled out her wand and waved it in the air. ‘But I have to let you in on a little secret. It only works if the patient really wants to get rid of the pain.’
‘I’m not in pain right now but I feel sad that my parents can’t always be here with me,’ Ellie said. ‘Do you think your magic wand can help with that?’
Mia felt as if her heart was being clamped by an industrial-strength vice. ‘I can be here as often as you need me to be here,’ she said, fighting back tears. ‘I can read to you, watch DVDs with you or sit and talk to you as long as you want.’
‘Really?’ The little girl’s eyes lit up like bright little diamonds.
Mia smiled and, reaching out, squeezed the little girl’s hand ever so gently. ‘That’s what the Pain Pixie’s job is all about. I’ll be here for you whenever you need me and if I’m off with another patient you have only to tell the nurse on duty so I can get back here as soon as possible.’
‘I feel better already,’ little Ellie said. ‘I’m so happy you’ve come to visit me. I don’t miss my mummy so much now.’
Mia bent forward and pressed a soft kiss to the little girl’s forehead. ‘You know something, Ellie? I’m a whole lot older than you but I still sometimes miss my mum. You’re a very brave girl.’
‘I’m not really very brave,’ Ellie confessed. ‘I cried heaps last night.’
It was on the tip of Mia’s tongue to confess the same but somehow she stopped herself in time.
A few minutes later a nurse came over to her to inform her of a patient in a private room who particularly needed her attention.
‘I’m afraid this is a very tragic case,’ the nurse said in grave tones. ‘I’m not sure you’ll be able to do much to help the poor darling boy but it’s worth a try.’
‘What happened to him?’ Mia asked in an undertone.
‘Heart trouble,’ the nurse answered, shaking her head sadly.
‘Is it a congenital condition?’ Mia asked, thinking of the heart murmur her father had had since birth.
‘He’s had it since he was a little boy, I believe,’ the nurse said and indicated the door of the private room. ‘But evidently the problem has become more serious of
late. Go on in, he’s expecting you.’
Mia gave the door a little knock and opened it to find Bryn sitting on the edge of the single bed. She stared at him for several moments, her mouth opening and closing in shock.
She took a step backwards but he sprang off the bed and captured her before she could get away, closing the door so no one could listen in. ‘No, don’t go, Mia. I want to talk to you.’
‘Let me go, you…you…’ She was so furious she couldn’t think of a bad enough word to flay him with. ‘I should have known you’d be behind this! How could you? I really love this job and now I find, like everything else to do with you, it’s all a stupid act!’
‘I had to see you,’ he said. ‘I need to tell you how much I love you. And this job is genuine. It’s yours as long as you want it.’
She stared at him with wide eyes, her heart beginning to hammer unevenly. ‘You’re…you’re sure?’
‘Yes, Mia, I’m sure. The job’s yours.’
She moistened her mouth, her eyes still focused on his. ‘I—I mean about the…the I-love-you bit…’
He smiled as he drew her closer. ‘I fell in love with you the very first day I met you but I was too stupid to see it. I guess I didn’t want to admit it. I hated feeling so vulnerable. But believe me, Mia. I love you. I can’t imagine life without you. When I went home after our dinner I was so angry at what you’d said it took me a while to realise the clues you’d left behind that made me realise how you really felt.’
‘You mean the roses and the pearls?’
His eyes glinted with amusement. ‘Agnes is probably turning over in her grave at what you did to her precious pearls.’
‘Oh, my God!’ She put her hand up to her throat. ‘They belonged to your great-aunt?’
‘She left them for you in her will. They’re worth a small fortune, or at least they will be when I finally find them all and have them restrung.’
She gave him a shamefaced look. ‘I was so angry. I thought you were giving them to me as a consolation prize to mark the end of our temporary marriage.’
‘Can you ever forgive me for what I did?’ he asked. ‘I was wrong to have you dropped from the company, and as for getting Roberta to stop representing you…well, all I can say is I’m deeply ashamed of myself. I didn’t stop to think of how you would be affected. I just wanted you so badly I was prepared to put aside every other consideration so I could have you. As for my great-aunt’s estate, I never wanted it for myself but I just couldn’t bear the thought of giving it to the man who had killed my parents. My great-aunt was right, though; it is time I learnt to let go of the past and forgive the poor man. He didn’t do it intentionally and has paid for that one error of judgement all of his life.’
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