Page 29 of Infamous

He unlocked the door as Eddie tried to shuffle inelegantly out of view, and then paused for a second.

‘Edie. Do come to the house, won’t you? And when you’ve finished that novel of yours I’ll have a read of it and send it to my editor, and see if we can’t do something about getting your name in print.’

The door swung open.

‘There you are, you miserable bastard,’ said an unfamiliar voice. ‘Half the party is looking for you – come on.’

Nash glanced back at Eddie with an apologetic expression on his face – as if he had anything to apologise for, when he had just spoken the most beautiful words Eddie had ever heard in her life – before being dragged quite forcefully from the room. She heard cheers go up from the corridor, and then Nash’s voice, raised to meet them.

‘All right, all right – tell me, who here wishes to be rid of the idea of God?’

Eddie was too elated to mind his sudden departure. Nash wanted to show her book to hiseditor. Nash thought she might actually bepublished, and soon.It was too much to comprehend; too much feeling to contain. Eddie had to find someone, tell someone – shout it from the rooftops. She forgot to be clandestine as she left the room and made her way to the hall, but luckily nobody was looking in her direction now that Nash was out in the crowd. Watching him go, Eddie’s eyes alighted on a familiar face deep in conversation, with an even more familiar head of glossy dark curls just visible at his side.

Eddie pushed her way towards Rose and Albert Rednock, her heart brimming over with her news. She was irritated by the number of people who seemed determined to hamper her progress, but when she finally neared her friend, she stopped dead.

One of Albert’s acquaintances was talking to him, his wife leaning in to listen, and when Albert responded to his query, the man cheered and clapped him on the shoulder. His wife took Rose’s hand and was clearly bestowing congratulations on her; for her part, Rose looked quietly pleased, her smile tentative but genuine.

Suddenly Eddie didn’t want to be there anymore. She knew why they had come; what Rose would tell her when she saw her. It was childish, ridiculous, but maybe if she could just postpone the moment she heard those words, then for a while longer they wouldn’t be true. Time would stand still. Rose would still be hers.

Eddie turned to leave, hoping the crowd would suck her back in and swallow her whole, ignoring Rose calling her name. It was only when she felt a hand on her shoulder that she did finally stop, a reluctant grind to a halt to allow herself a moment to arrange her face before turning.

Rose’s chin was lifted defiantly, braced and ready. She had to raise her voice to be heard.

‘Well?’

‘What do you want me to say?’ said Eddie.

She was knocked sideways by somebody passing with a bottle of wine in each hand, but managed to stay upright, looking down at Rose and biting her tongue harder than she ever had in her life.

‘You could at least congratulate me.’

Eddie could hear cheering somewhere behind her, and wanted to disappear into the wall of sound. But Rose had her pinned at the boundary, and no matter how fast or far she ran away from this moment, the facts remained: Rose would go on being engaged. Their childhoods would be over, forever. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Eddie nodded, and let the hurt come flooding in.

‘Congratulations.’

Chapter Twelve

‘Amelia, have you seen my winter hat from last year?’

Amelia looked up from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor reading a book and considered.

‘Trix was using it for a boat.’

‘She can’t fit inside it,’ said Eddie, dropping the pelisse she was carrying onto an armchair and frowning. ‘And it doesn’t float.’

‘It wasn’t for her. And I think she found that out quite quickly,’ Amelia said, returning to her book and turning the page without reading the one she had abandoned, as if she might prefer what she found on the next one anyway. ‘She also discovered that frogs can swim, although I could have told her that .?.?.’

‘Couldn’t she have used a bucket? Or .?.?.anythingother than my hat?’

‘A bucket would not have befitted the occasion. You can borrowmywinter hat, if you’d like.’

Eddie couldn’t restrain herself from ruffling Amelia’s hair.

‘Thank you, Ames, but then whatever would you wear when it gets cold?’

Amelia had dropped flatly to the floor to avoid any further hair-ruffling.