Page 18 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

‘And if I promise to come really early and not interfere in anything bridal, can I please come and see my grandchildren tomorrow morning?’ Bianca continued winningly. ‘I’m just gasping to meet them, but I didn’t want to be too pushy and wait at Nic’s house today for the opportunity.’

‘You’re not being pushy at all,’ Lexy assured her. ‘You will be very welcome.

‘I like your mum,’ she murmured to Nic as they took their seats at the formal dining table.

‘She’s lovely, isn’t she?’ Jace’s wife, Gigi, volunteered cheerfully. ‘Next to Yaya, she’s a favourite. Neither of them judge or criticise or bitch.’

‘Electra Diamandis is a lady from head to toe. She has bred-in-the-bone class,’ Angeliki interposed crushingly from across the table.

Gigi rolled speaking eyes at Lexy and she almost giggled at the blonde’s snobbish intercession. The foolish woman didn’t seem to grasp that it was an insult to exclude Nic’s mother from such a compliment. ‘And Bianca is simply pure charm and warmth,’ Lexy commented.

The meal proceeded at a stately pace and Lexy noted that Angeliki rarely removed her attention from Nic, regularly addressing little witty comments in excluding Greek to him while studiously ignoring Lexy’s existence. No, definitely not friendship material.

It was a longish evening. There was a lot of meeting and greeting after the food was eaten. Lexy was flagging by the time Nic intimated that it was time to leave and she had gone out to the hall to retrieve her evening wrap when Angeliki approached her. ‘It won’t last—you and Nic,’ she spelt out thinly.

‘And I want your opinion because...?’ Lexy countered.

‘He only wants those children. I’m warning you that you’ll lose them if you go ahead tomorrow,’ Angeliki announced with the sweetness of a viper.

Lexy merely nodded and turned away to unfurl her evening wrap and cloak her bare shoulders. But her tummy had turned over at that warning and she told herself off for being affected by a woman who very obviously wanted Nic for herself. So much for this particular female best friend, a relationship that could only work if there was a lack of attraction on both sides.

‘You seem troubled,’ Nic commented as he tucked her back into the car after a long trail of goodbyes.

‘Not at all,’ Lexy said stoically, resolved not to run telling tales, which would likely be poorly received. Unlike Angeliki, Lexy could read people, and Angeliki might want Nic but she could see that Nic did not want her back, in spite of her beauty and her lithe, shapely sexiness. ‘It’s just been a long day and I’m very tired.’

The next morning was Lexy’s wedding day and she was still tired because she had lain awake a long time worrying that there was truth in Angeliki’s nasty suggestion. How far could she trust Nic in believing that he would not try to remove her children from her care in their eventual divorce? And in truth, that was not yet an answer she could give. Yet, bearing in mind her financial struggles over the past eighteen months, she did not believe she had a choice because it was her duty, just as much as it washis, to ensure that their children had a more stable, secure home. But she could not credit that Nic would want to risk hurting his children by depriving them in any way of their mother.

She found Bianca Diamandis down on her knees in the nursery playing with the triplets and sensibly clad for the occasion, so she wasn’t too bothered about wearing a dressing robe herself. Sitting down on the rug with Bianca, she helped Ethan, Ezra and Lily get to know their grandmother. As she returned to her room, she met Nic in the corridor, tall and darkly handsome in a cotton sweater and tight jeans.

He held a finger to his wide firm lips in a silencing gesture. ‘Bride and groom aren’t supposed to see each other before the church,’ he told her.

Lexy flushed and disappeared into her bedroom again, deciding that so far she wasn’t doing very well in the ‘faking it’ stakes because until now the concept of such traditions had passed her by. Mel awaited her, having ducked out of the dinner the night before because she had said she wouldn’t be comfortable in such lofty company. But Lexy was tempted to tell her that she had felt perfectly comfortable, with the single exception of Angeliki’s shrewish approach.

Her beautiful gown hung awaiting her but a small procession of professionals was due first to do her hair, her make-up and her nails.

‘So, how do you feel about this now?’ Mel prompted, for her best friend was not entirely sure she should trust Nic enough to believe that he would only do right by her and his children.

‘Moderately hopeful,’ Lexy confided. ‘He’s making an effort and I can see it. It may be happening a bit late in the day, but you can only applaud a guy brave enough to say that he’s quite happy for me to marry him for his money.’

‘Either that or he’s a very devious character,’ Mel remarked, predictably less tolerant as a lawyer, having stood by Lexy during her worst experiences during the crucial eighteen months of Nic’s absence.

The bridal preparation team arrived then and there was no time for further personal conversation. Within a couple of hours, Lexy was viewing herself with Bianca’s diamond tiara anchoring the short veil she wore to the back of her head, letting her dress, which she loved, do its thing without further embellishment. She had reasoned that it might well be her only wedding gown ever and, with cost no object, she had shopped for her fantasy. Fashioned of sequinned silk tulle and delicate embroidery, it had the slender silhouette of an Edwardian tea dress with a fitted boat-shaped bodice and long tight sleeves, shaping her figure without burying her in loads of fabric that would only accentuate her lack of height.

‘You look stupendous,’ Mel told her dreamily.

As Lexy paused at the foot of the aisle in the large village church, she viewed the packed pews and lifted her head high. One of Jace’s uncles had offered to fill in for her absent father, whom she had not bothered to invite, but Lexy had politely declined the offer because she was giving herself away, not depending on some male figure to take charge of her.

But as Nic turned his proud dark head to look at her, she felt a reaction she knew she shouldn’t feel to the seemingly stunned appraisal he was dealing her. Gosh, he was good at faking it, she thought in admiration. Really,reallygood...

CHAPTER SIX

THEWEDDINGCEREMONYwas formal and relatively brief.

‘You look very beautiful,’ Nic murmured in the sunlight on the steps afterwards while the photographer snapped pictures.

‘You don’t need to fake it in private,’ she assured him out of the corner of her smiling lips.

‘You can’t accept a compliment like any other woman?’

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