Aunt Bessie's Holiday by Diana Xarissa Read Free Book Online Page A

get you some champagne,” she said, dashing
away.  
    “It looks like we’re first,” Bessie
murmured.
    “Ah, Doona, there you are,” a loud voice
shouted from the back of the restaurant.
    Bessie stared at the man who was now
hurrying towards them.   He was tall
and almost plump, with brown hair that was definitely thinning on top.   His face was lit up with a broad and
welcoming smile.   Beside her, Doona
griped her arm tightly.
    “It’s Charles,” Doona whispered.
    “Charles?”
    “My second husband.”

 
    Chapter Three
    “Ah, Doona, it’s so good to see you again,”
the man said as he grabbed Doona’s hands.   “I’ve missed you so very much.   You can’t imagine.”
    “No, I probably can’t,” Doona replied dryly.   She pulled her hands
away and took a step backwards.   “I
think we’ll be leaving now,” she said.
    The man’s face fell.   “Oh, darling Doona, don’t be like that,”
he said imploringly.   “I invited you
here so that I could apologise and we could start again.   At least give me a chance to explain.”
    “Explain?” Doona echoed.   “You cheated on me.   You really only married me in a pathetic
attempt to hide your affair with a married woman.   We’ve been apart for over two
years.   There’s nothing for you to
explain.”
    Charles chuckled.   “There, you see, it’s all so black and
white with you.”   He turned to
Bessie.   “That was part of our problem,”
he said in a confiding tone.   “Doona
never saw the little grey areas.”
    “I hardly think there are grey areas when it
comes to cheating,” Bessie said coolly.   She knew too much about how the man had treated her dear friend to be
anything more than barely civil to him.
    He flushed.   “You could be right,” he said, giving
Bessie a sad smile.   “All I really
want is two minutes of your time, though.   Surely you can give me two minutes?” he appealed to Doona.
    “Two minutes,” Doona said, holding up her
watch and staring at the second hand.
    “I don’t even know what happened,” Charles
began.   “I mean, one day I was
working hard and looking forward to the weekend, when I would fly over and get
to see you, and then out of the blue, your solicitor rang me up and told me we
were through.”
    “I received a letter,” Doona said, her voice
icy cold.  
    “Accusing me of cheating, I assume,” he
said.   “And you believed it, without
even taking the time to discuss it with me.”
    “There were photos,” Doona told him.
    “They could have been old photos,” Charles
defended himself.
    “You were wearing the wedding ring I gave
you in the pictures,” Doona replied.
    Charles flushed and shook his head.   “You should have given me a chance to
explain,” he argued.   “I loved
you.   I haven’t stopped loving
you.   Do you know how hard I worked
to get you here today?”
    “I didn’t win a contest, did I?” Doona
demanded.   “You set this all up.”
    “I did,” Charles said proudly.   “I’m managing the holiday park now and I
just knew if I could get you here I could win you back.”  
    He took a step forward and
grabbed Doona’s hands again.   When her eyes met his, his face became pleading.   “Give me a chance, please.   It isn’t what you thought it was.”
    Doona pulled her hands away.   “You’ve had over two years to make your
explanations,” she said tightly.   “I
don’t know what your game is, but I’m not playing it.”
    Charles shook his head.   “It isn’t like that at all.   I was so hurt when your solicitor told
me you wanted a divorce that I threw myself into my work.   I got myself sent away to manage some
new properties on the continent and I was there for over eighteen months.   Once I got back I realised that I can’t
keep running away.   You were the
best thing that I ever happened to me.   I know I made some mistakes, but I can explain, truly I can.   Just give me a chance.”
    “No,” Doona said