Page 68 of A Riviera Retreat
‘Doesn’t matter who I am. Get off the property now. Or we’ll call the gendarmes.’
‘All right. I’m going.’
As Kevin turned to leave, Simon gave Amy’s shoulder a brief squeeze before following Kevin out of the villa and onto the drive.
Amy had collapsed shaking onto a chair at the kitchen table when Simon returned less than twenty seconds later.
‘Pierre’s frogmarching him down the drive,’ he said. ‘Are you all right? Want a hug?’
Amy nodded and slid off the chair into Simon’s arms. ‘I’m okay. Just can’t believe he feels that he has a right to a share of Belle Vue. Or that I owe him anything after the way he treated me.’
‘Do you want to talk about it? Like I said earlier, I’m a good listener.’
Amy hesitated for a second. Could she tell Simon about the biggest mistake of her life? Did she want to? Some things were still too hurtful, too painful to even think about without crying tears for the future life she’d lost. She knew instinctively though, that Simon wouldn’t judge her, that he would feel her pain – maybe even help her come to terms with it.
‘Yes. I think I would. But not here. Somewhere we can be a bit more private.’
Five minutes later, they were sitting up in the summer house, a bottle of water and two glasses on the table before them.
‘Thank you for coming to my rescue back there,’ Amy said. ‘How did you know I needed help?’
‘Chelsea told me Kevin was here and I jumped to the right conclusion.’
‘I love your daughter,’ Amy said. ‘I always wanted a daughter – one like Chelsea would have been perfect.’
‘She likes you too,’ Simon said.
‘After Chelsea, did you and Naomi want more children?’
‘Yes, but complications with Chelsea’s birth scared Naomi so much. I was frightened for her too, so we didn’t push it,’ Simon shrugged. ‘We adored Chelsea and by the time she was at school, life had morphed into a comfortable routine, so we settled for being a one child family. I know Chelsea wishes she had a sister.’
There was a short silence before Simon spoke again.
‘You were going to tell me your tale of woe.’
Amy suppressed a smile. A perfect description of her story.
‘I’m not sure where to begin,’ she said, pouring them both some water.
‘You accused Kevin of lying to you,’ Simon said quietly. ‘Maybe start with that.’
‘Kevin lied to me from day one. It turned out our whole relationship was based on a major lie. Promise me, if we are to be,’ she hesitated, ‘friends, you will never, ever lie to me?’
Simon took hold of her hand. ‘I promise I’ll never hurt you or lie to you, okay?’
Amy smiled gratefully at him.
‘Kevin first came into my life when I was in the corps de ballet and he was the choreographer. I was twenty-four years old and flattered by his attention. Of course, he should never have got involved with me, it was against all the company rules, so for a couple of years he convinced me to keep our affair a secret.’
Amy took a sip of water and tried to curb the nausea that was threatening to overtake her as she remembered Kevin’s actions.
‘Then he was offered a job with a famous ballet company as head choreographer. He suggested I went with him as his PA and his wife.’
‘Not as a dancer?’
Amy shook her head. ‘No. He told me bluntly that I wasn’t good enough to make principal dancer, I would always be the understudy, so I might as well marry him and give it up. And I was foolish enough to believe him.’ She bit her lip. ‘I was in my late twenties by then and dancers retire notoriously early – bit like footballers are past their prime at thirty! So I gave it up to marry Kevin and start the next phase of my life – having a family. Three months after we married, I learnt the real reason I’d never made principal dancer with the company was because Kevin had vetoed it. I had been good enough after all. But it was too late to turn the clock back for me.’
‘Did you confront him about it?’
