Page 62 of A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street
‘Oh, spare me the excuses, Sadie.’
He hardly ever calls me by my full name. I can hear his voice breaking, the stutter coming out even more as his distress grows, and I desperately want to go back to earlier and hold him in my arms again and dosomethingto prevent this.
I feel so guilty. I should have put a stop to this from the moment I realised who he was, and I didn’t. Ebony’s words have played straight into his insecurities and made everything that’s happened between us seem twisted and underhanded. Yes, the publicity has been great, but once I got to know him, the only reasons for not telling him were my own lack of confidence, and the fact I’ve fallen head over heels in love with him and was too scared of losing him to be honest.
‘Tell me one thing.’ Instead of their usual warm twinkle, his eyes are icy when he looks at me. ‘Did youknow? Is that why you’ve got close to me? All the leading questions you’ve asked me… the inside information you’ve tried to wheedle from me. You’ve known who I am all along? This was all part of some grand plan to stop the castle being sold?’
‘No. How could I possibly have known you were the estate agent overseeing the sale?’
‘The estate agent?’ He scoffs so hard that it makes him choke. ‘I’m not— you know what, never mind. Thank you for proving what I’ve always known – that love is a con, and nothing is ever given freely without an ulterior motive. People only love someone else if there’s something in it for themselves.’ His voice is broken and his hands are shaking as he takes the key off the counter, rams it back into his pocket, and storms out.
I stare at the rattling door in a daze.
‘What’s going on?’ Moments later, Scarlett comes in the door that’s still juddering in its frame. ‘Why does Witt look so angry? I’ve never seen him look angry before; he’s like the least angry person in the universe.’
‘Ask her,’ I snap in Ebony’s direction.
‘Oh. Oh. Ohhh,’ Scarlett says in three different tones as she spots the ‘glass slipper’ in her mum’s hand.
‘I have to go after him. Don’t go anywhere,’ I tell Ebony. ‘You’ve got some explaining to do, but he is way more important right now.’
When I get outside, he’s gone. Of course he has. His legs are the height of a double-decker bus, and he can cover ground at a similar speed. I shout his name, but it does nothing but earn dirty looks from nearby shoppers.
He’s tall enough to be easily spottable in a crowd, but there’s no sign of him anywhere. Where would he have gone? The castle is the obvious answer, and as I run along the wide path through the woods, the spring sunshine that’s dappled through the trees disappears behind a cloud that’s so heavy, it turns the sky navy, and the heavens open.
Behind me, there are the shouts of shoppers making a dash for the shelter of shops, but a bit of rain isn’t as important as losing Witt.
The downpour is so heavy that it gathers in the grooves of the brick walkway as I run towards the castle, splashing high up my legs and drenching every part of me.
There’s no sign that he’s at home. No lights on. No way of telling if he even came back here. Probably not, considering he undoubtedly knew it would be the first place I’d look. But there are no other options.
I huddle under the narrow gate arch. The portcullis gate is still raised, but the heavy wooden gates on the other side of it are shut tight. I knock loudly. ‘Witt, let me in, please!’
Nothing.
‘We need to talk. Please let me explain.’
Still nothing. I’m huddling in the gateway where my mum and dad met, yelling at a man who either isn’t there, or can’t hear me, or is ignoring me if he is there. But I have to dosomething, even if it’s just shouting at an empty castle.
‘Scarlett never saw the dress. She never knew it was mine until it was too late. It wasn’t meant to be there – I’d shoved it onto that rail to hide it when my aunt arrived, and then I forgot about it. You were never meant to find it.’ I sigh and look upwards, and regret it when a big raindrop drips from the brickwork and plops straight into my eye. ‘But I’m glad you did, because it brought you into my life. As you, not as some Prince Charming in a mask. Getting to know you has been the best thing that’s happened to me in years. When I’m ninety and looking back on my life, these past few weeks will be one of the highlights. When I’m decrepitly passing on my wisdom to the younger generation, I’m going to tell my grandkids to find a partner who makes them feel even a fraction of how you make me feel.’
I bang on the door again, but I know Witt well enough to know he’d want to be alone, need to be alone, and I’m probably not helping matters here.
‘Witt, if you do nothing else, please listen.’ I’m shouting louder to be heard over the pounding of the rain. ‘The only thing I thought about that morning was putting the dress in the window. I didn’t expect all the publicity that would come from it or how invested people would get, and once it started, I didn’t know how to stop it without standing up and announcing that I’d gone against the wishes of everyone I’ve worked with for years, and now I really, really wish I’d been brave enough to do that, because it would’ve been better than hurting you. If I could go back in time, I’d ignore the chime of midnight and stay in your arms. I’d remove both our masks and kiss you properly. You deserve better than someone who can’t be honest with you, but please,pleaseknow that, although this started off as trying to save the shop, it became so much more than that, and theonlyreason I didn’t tell you was my own lack of courage and fear of havingthisconversation without losing you.’
I’m drenched. The rain has gone straight through the loose-knit holes in my crochet tunic and plastered the white vest underneath to my skin, and my hair has taken on the appearance of a mop, but it feels wrong to just give up. I look around. I got out of this castle all those weeks ago – maybe I could follow the same route through the grounds, and up over that wall into the secret garden and get backin? I’m not sure I’d ever find the way again, but it might be worth a try… and the breaking and entering conviction that would surely follow. If he’s there, he’s not going to be happy about me inviting myself in when he’s clearly shut me out, and if he’s not there… well, the police probably wouldn’t be too happy about it either.
The rain has eased to a drizzle, and the sun has the nerve to peek out over the distant hills, and I go back to the door and knock on it again. ‘Just so you know, I was thinking of breaking and entering, but I won’t. I don’t want to walk away, Witt, but I think I could stand here until a week next Friday and it still wouldn’t make you come out, so I’ll go. But please listen. The one and only reason I didn’t tell you immediately was because I didn’t think you’d like me as myself, and I wish more than anything that I’d been brave enough to take that risk because you’re the only person who’s made me feel worthwhile in a long time, and I should’ve extended you the same courtesy. And this is the worst timing but I refuse to walk away without saying it. I’ve fallen in love with you. You’re the best human I’ve ever met, and I’m sorry that I put the business before you because The Cinderella Shop is just a shop, and I’d rather loseitthan you.’
I step back and look up at the castle. It stares hollowly back at me.
‘Pass on the message, will you?’ I pat its brick wall as I go to leave. Witt talks to inanimate objects, he’d understand. Or I just poured my heart out to a castle and told it I loved it. Which I guess I do, just not in quite the same way that I’ve fallen in love with him.
I traipse back with an overwhelming feeling that life as we know it on Ever After Street is over.
17
Scarlett and Ebony are having a row when I drip my way back to the shop as the sun reappears, making damp cobblestones glint as the air fills with the smell of wet concrete after a rainstorm.
