Page 68 of An Enchanted Moment on Ever After Street
‘Not until you say you’ll marry me.’
Threats and blackmail. Always a healthy start to a marriage. ‘Never. Because I have self-respect. I have standards. I don’t want to marry a man who I once caught sullying the romance section by shagging my shop assistant!’
‘Self-respect, really?’ Rick’s face becomes angrier than a lightning fork in a stormy sky. ‘Because I don’t think it’s very self-respectful to be kissingthat.’ His outraged eyes flick to Darcy behind him.
‘Rick…’ I say warningly. Now there’s not just a delusional man on the stage, but a delusional and extremely angry man, and I have no idea how to get him down from there.
‘Well, to be fair to the monster, none of us would be here without him.’ Rick’s menacing eyes lock onto mine. ‘You see, Marnie, I’m good friends with Mr Rowbotham. I have a lot of money and sway on my side and it tends to make people open to talking to me. I happened to be passing his office earlier this week, and he let me in on a few, shall we say, trade secrets. He let me see the name of the person who logged a complaint against you – the reason that we’re all here. I didn’t think muchof it at the time. It was a name I didn’t recognise…’ He does an exaggerated nonchalant shrug. ‘Until tonight, whenyoutold me who that name belongs to. So, with that in mind, ladies and gentlemen…’ He gets to his feet with a bow. ‘It’s my pleasure to introduce both The Unknown Author,and, Marnie, your complainer, Mr Darcy O’Connell.’
I refuse to give him the satisfaction of being shocked. I don’t want to believe him. But then I think of what Darcy’s just said.A couple of months ago, I made a mistake. I did something cruel and vindictive.And then there was what he said earlier.Not on my watch. Not on his watch because he’d withdrawn the complaint. Because he told Mr Rowbotham that he was mistaken. And it conveniently doesn’t suit Rick’s narrative to mention that bit.
I fold my arms and stare him down defiantly. He isnotgetting the reaction he wants from me.
‘Aren’t you even the slightest bit surprised?’ Rick demands.
I watch Darcy. He’s protecting a stressed-out Mrs Potts with his arms as he sits forward, looking like he’s about to stand up, but I’m probably the only one who knows how much effort it takes Darcy to get up after sitting for any period of time. I start making my way to the side of the stage, intending to at least take my cat out of his arms so he doesn’t have to worry about her.
And maybe I can shove Rick off too, with a bit of luck. ‘I’m surprised you thinkthisis the way to get what you want.’
‘Oh, I know exactly what you want. I know whateveryonehere wants.’
I see what he’s going to do seconds before he does it. ‘Rick, don’t you dar—’
It’s too late. In one swift move, he darts across the stage, his hand coils into the brown fur of the Beast hood and he rips the mask from Darcy’s head.
It’s like the world goes into slow motion. No one realises what has happened for a few long moments. Darcy is sitting there, unmasked for all to see.
Under the bright light, his skin looks so pale that it makes the darker pigment of jagged scar lines stand out in contrast. His hair is light brown and chaotic from having the mask pulled off. Blue eyes I know so well blink at the crowd in front of him… and he’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.
And then time turns to super-speed as it catches up again and everything happens all at once.
I see the shock cross his features. The absolute fear and horror as his panicked eyes shoot around the room, taking in the hundreds of people, the gasps of shock, the phones held up, camera flashes and the beep-beep of video being recorded, but it takes a few moments for him to register what’s happened.
He stands bolt upright, but in doing so, he releases Mrs Potts, who is now clearly terrified, and she jumps from his lap and races straight for the open door. I try to intercept her but I’m not near enough, and she disappears out into the pouring rain, her lead flapping behind her.
‘You monster!’ At first I think it’s someone shouting at Darcy but I spin back around to see Darcy has turned on Rick. ‘How can anyone who is lucky enough to look like you be so rotten on the inside? I will never understand what Marnie saw in you – she deserves so much better!’
‘What, like you, Beast? How could anyone ever lov—’
He’s cut off by Darcy punching him square in the face.
It sends him sprawling onto his backside with blood pouring from his nose, and the crowd lets out a cheer as though this is free entertainment provided by the book festival.
‘You had that coming,mate.’ Darcy glares down at him, and I can’t help feeling a little bit of vindictive glee. I’ve never hadanyone defend my honour before, and to be fair, Rick really has been asking for that for a long while now.
‘Darcy…’ I step closer and hold a hand out to him, but he shakes his head. His hands fly up to cover his face, and he jumps from the front of the stage and bolts for the open door too.
The entire room is now staring at the doorway in shock. Witt, who was standing nearby as an unofficial doorman, makes a hand gesture to indicate he’s going to follow them, grabs a coat, and also disappears out into the stormy darkness.
Thunder claps overhead, so loudly that it shakes the foundations of the castle. Oh my God, Mrs Potts. She’s going to be terrified in that. She hates thunder when she’s inside in front of a warm fire. I should never have brought her tonight. What was I thinking?
‘What on earth was all that about?’ I hear mutterings of the people around me. The visitors, the strangers who don’t know Darcy, who don’t understand why he hides.
‘What a lot of drama,’ another one says.
‘Was that really necessary?’ someone else says.
I don’t know if they’re talking about Darcy’s reaction or Rick’s despicable actions, but I round on the man in question, who’s getting back to his feet on the stage, clutching his bloodied nose but still managing to look thoroughly pleased with himself.
