'Dance with me', Bryan said softly to Sharon, sensing her unhappiness.
' I don't want to dance'. For some reason, she felt belligerent, close to tears, her emotion in turmoil.
'You are going to anyway. It is expected of us', he told her in a clipped voice. His face brooking no argument as he took her in his arms. As they moved to the music, Sharon let her head rest on his wife shoulder. She felt the hard strength of his body against her own and a dizzying weakness filled her. Did they look like a couple deeply involved with each other? she wondered painfully. Did they look like lovers? The idea was too attractive to be in any way amusing and she stopped her thoughts in their tracts, letting her mind drift and her body move instinctively with Bryan's to the soft music.
The party drifted on and Sharon drank too much champagne in an effort to get through it in one piece. She began to feel lightheaded, even happy and began to fall into the spirit of the party.
On her way down the polished strait case, after checking her hair and make up, she suddenly found Devon blocking her way. Neither girl smiled. Devin had obviously just arrived, a black woolen coat slung over her arm. She was beautiful, Sharon had to admit. Her black hair pulled back from her sculptured face and held in a diamond clip, her dress a black chiffon that revealed every curve of her perfect figure and long legs.
As the silence lengthened, Sharon decided that she had to break it. 'Hello Devon', he said coolly. 'How are you?'
Devin did not answer. Her eyes on the wedding band on Sharon's finger.
'I suppose you think that you've been very clever', she finally said. Her face full of hatred, her voice heavily accented in anger.
Sharon saw that hatred and recoiled from it 'What... what are you talking about?' she asked faintly. To be confronted with such intense hostility had thrown her off balance.
'You... I am talking about you, managing to trick Bryan into marriage'.
'Now, wait a minute...' Sharon began but Devon managed to cut her off.
'How did you do it?' She demanded, her black eyes burning. 'How on earth could you have managed it? The oldest trick on the book perhaps. Have you told him that you are pregnant?'
She had hit on the truth purely by accident but Sharon found herself flushing and giving herself away.
Devin laughed. A high hysterical laugh. 'You won't get away with it. You won't last five minutes, Bryan belongs to me'.She said, misinterpreting Sharon's reaction.
'Excuse me'. Sickened by the venom she heard in Devon's voice, Sharon tried to walk away but the other girl caught her arm, her long red nails sinking spitefully into Sharon's skin. 'Dont make yourself too comfortable here', the other girl advised viciously. 'I did it once and I'll do it again. You will be out of this house within the month, I can promise you------ '. She stopped, her eyes focusing over Sharon's shoulder. 'Bryan darling....'. She let go Sharon and rushed towards Bryan who was strolling towards them. She flung her arms around his neck, her mood completely different, smiling as she reached up to kiss his mouth.
Sharon watched wide eyed, astonished. From spitting fire one second, Devon had changed, now warm and smiling as she stared up into Bryan's black eyes.
'You are kate', he said indulgently, untangling her arm around his neck and gently pushing her away.
'I know. Forgive me. I was delayed'. Her voice was sweet and pleading, childlike.
'You called the newspapers, didn't you?' Bryan said but there was no anger in his voice.
'Did I?' Devon laughed, pleased with herself.
Sharon turned away in disgust. Obviously, Devon was still in love with Bryan even though Sharon believed him that they were no longer lovers. She heard Bryan calling her name as she wandered back into the party but she ignored him, her mind spinning with Devon's threats, her vicious anger. To Sharon, she had seemed unbalanced, on the verge of a breakdown. She could feel sympathy but she still couldn't like her.
She knew that Deborah was safe with Gabriel but it occured to her that if they would be staying in Bryan's house now that they were married, she would have to be careful so that she does not harm her daughter in any way or the little one when he is born. It was going to be a very tricky situation. Living with a man who does not live her and having to deal with a friend of his who was not balanced. What had she got herself into? Sharon wailed inwardly.
'There you are', Brenda said cheerfully. 'I have been searching for you for ages. Where Is Bryan?'
'He is in the hall with Devon's, she said, trying to keep her voice expressionless.
'Oh but...' she seemed about to say something then thought better of it. She took Sharon's arms, squeezing affectionately. 'I am very happy for you both'. Her smile grew confidential. 'And I have got a confession to make'.
Sharon found herself smiling too. 'What is it?'
'My birthday party. I was matchmaking', she said without remorse.
'Really? I'd never have guessed'. Sharon said laughing at the irony of it all.
'I had to tell you', she said her eyes very bright. 'You were obviously meant for each other and you were both miserable.
Sharon could not believe that Bryan was ever miserable without her. Brenda was obviously an incurable romantic.
'What about you?' she asked changing the topic.
'There isn't anyone special', she said. 'But I haven't given up hope.
There was an untouched kinging on her face and Sharon thought sadly, I must have looked like that once.
The party broke up late and it was almost midnight before the last person drifted away.
Alone with Bryan in the lounge, having put Deborah to sleep, Sharon stared into the flames of the roaring fire and felt her heart beating quickly. It was a beautiful room with pale magnolia walls, thick jewel -- bright carpets and sofas covered with lightly patterned chintz.
In the centre of the room stood a coffee tray one of the servants had brought in five minutes ago. The silence was broken only by the ticking if the old wooden clock on the mantle piece and the cracking if the logs in the fire. The tray had been left beside Sharon and leaned over it now.
'Do you want coffee?' she asked, her voice sounding high and breathless.
Bryan looked at her, his eyes very dark. 'Yes, thank you'.
Sharon poured from the pot. 'Cream, sugar?' she asked unnecessarily.
The black eyes held hers. 'You know how I take my coffee', he said quietly.
Without saying anything, she handed him the delicate china cup. Yes, she knew how he took his coffee, strong black with no sugar, he drank gallons of the stuff. She remembered everything she had ever learnt from him. Every tiny detail and that depressed her. She drank her own coffee, her fingers shaking around the cup.