Make-Over Marriage. Sharon Kendrick

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СКАЧАТЬ on, then,’ she responded, in a shocked, low voice.

      He drew in a great breath of air. ‘Don’t you ever feel that we’re in some kind of rut?’

      ‘A rut?’ she echoed in disbelief.

      ‘Sure.’ He saw the bewildered look on her face and his mouth softened as he put a hand out to touch her, but she pushed him away.

      ‘I thought you wanted to talk,’ she said coldly.

      He nodded. She was right. Sex had already distracted them from the subject once. ‘Anna, you grew up in this flat,’ he sighed. ‘We’ve spent all our married life here. We brought up our three babies here and now we’re running out of space. I think we’ve outgrown it.’

      His words had a chilling finality about them, as though that area of their life was now over, and Anna felt a shiver of apprehension ice its way down the entire length of her spine. She swallowed down the fear which had risen thickly in her throat like bile.

      ‘I hear what you’re saying, Todd,’ she told him quietly.

      ‘Well, that’s good,’ came his cautious reply.

      Tears threatened to spring up behind her eyes. ‘And you’re admitting to me for the first time ever what we’ve both always known—that I trapped you into marriage by getting pregnant! If you’d never met me, you would never have found yourself in this supposedly terrible situation—and you could have gone ahead and married your beloved Elisabeta!’

      His grey eyes narrowed into splinters of slate. ‘Please don’t say things in the heat of the moment that you might later regret, Anna!’

      But she noticed he didn’t deny her words. ‘In that case, I’d better not say anything else at all,’ she told him flatly.

      He opened his mouth to reply, but the loud ringing on the front doorbell heralded the arrival of the triplets and he decided to let the subject drop. For the moment.

      As Anna prepared to walk past her husband he made a conciliatory attempt to catch her in his arms, but she stood clear of his embrace, still wounded by the implications of what he had said to her.

      ‘Just think about everything I’ve said, Anna,’ he urged her as the ringing increased in volume and in frequency. ‘That’s all I ask. Just consider it. Will you do that for me?’

      Put that way, how could she refuse?

      Anna risked a quick glance in the mirror as she followed Todd out of the bedroom. She looked absolutely frightful! Her hair was mussed and her cheeks were a giveaway red, and she became acutely aware that she had put her navy blue knickers on back to front! Still, none of the girls was about to notice that! She grabbed an elastic band, then scraped her hair back in its habitual ponytail.

      Todd opened the front door and there was a whirl of green uniforms and flying blonde curls as three young girls entered the flat like dervishes and began speaking excitedly at the same time, as they had been doing ever since they’d first learned to talk.

      ‘Mummy, Hannah Phipps who writes those horse books is visiting our school after Christmas, and I’m to present her with a bouquet of flowers!’

      ‘Mummy, they’ve given me the part of the wicked witch in the summer play and I’m supposed to give you a list of what I need for costumes—but I’ve lost it!’

      ‘Mummy, I sat an extra Latin paper, just for fun, only I got the whole thing right, and Mrs McFadden is seriously pleased with me!’

      ‘That’s sad!’

      ‘It is not sad—Mrs McFadden says I’ll probably get a Headmaster’s Accommodation!’

      ‘Sadder still!’

      Anna’s mouth softened into a wide smile of loving pride as she surveyed her triplet daughters—identical to look at, but so very different in character. They had inherited their pale, freckle-dusted skin, their cobalt eyes and golden hair directly from her, but whereas her hair was straight, theirs was a mass of uncontrollable curls. They were tall for their age, and their rangy, athletic build came straight from Todd. ‘Hello, darlings!’ she beamed as she hugged each one fiercely in turn. ‘What clever girls you all are!’

      Natalia, Natasha and Valentina were known affectionately as Tally, Tasha and Tina. Tally and Tasha had been born late on February 13th, but their sister hadn’t joined them until two minutes after midnight on St Valentine’s day. So she never did get christened Nerissa, which had been her parents’ original intention, but everyone who knew her decided that ‘Tina’ suited her loving and slightly scatty personality far better than Nerissa would have done!

      ‘Daddy, why are you home from work so early?’ asked Tasha curiously, her intelligent eyes flicking from her mother to her father with interest.

      ‘I...sort of...took the afternoon off,’ explained Todd lamely, and Anna had to try very hard not to smile, their angry spat temporarily forgotten. Rarely, if ever, had she seen her husband look quite so much at a loss for words!

      ‘Oh. I see. And why is your shirt on inside out?’ Tasha added innocently.

      ‘Er...juice and biscuits for three hardworking and worn out girls, is it?” enquired Todd hurriedly.

      ‘Oh, yes, please, Daddy!’ trilled the three in unison.

      ‘And for you, darling?’ Todd looked directly at Anna.

      Their eyes met over three silky blonde heads and the unmissable look of determination in her husband’s grey eyes made Anna dread the resumption of their talk.

      ‘Tea, please,’ she told him calmly, grateful for a bit of breathing space.

      There was a lull while Todd clattered around in the kitchen and Anna brushed the triplets’ wayward hair and exclaimed over offerings brought home from their art class.

      And, although she tried very hard not to think about it, her words came back to haunt her as she realised that for the first time ever she had had the courage to speak the truth during her row with Todd.

      She had never meant to, but facts were facts, and, yes, she had trapped Todd Travers into a marriage he had never intended...

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