The Venetian House by Mary Nickson

Author:Mary Nickson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409006596
Publisher: Random House

Chapter Twenty-eight

A journey provides time for reflection, and flying some thirty thousand feet above ground level, suspended in the sky between Greece and England, between Vrahos and Kirkby Knighton – between Victoria and Rachel – Patrick did some serious thinking.

He was well aware that his marriage was in serious trouble – had actually been in trouble for longer than he cared to admit. It had been easy to blame the arrival of Posy as the catalyst for the deterioration in their relationship – and certainly that had played a part – but Patrick knew it was not the whole truth. He blamed himself for not being more assertive from the start, but the threat of nervous collapse can be a powerful tool for manipulation, and it was one Rachel had never hesitated to use. I should never have let it get to this stage, thought Patrick. When did I cross the divide between cherishing the ravishingly pretty, hypersensitive girl with whom I fell so deeply in love and over-protecting the demanding and neurotic woman she seems to have become? When did it become a habit to shield her from anything she perceived to be threatening, not because she really needed it but because it made life more peaceful for everyone else, including me? When, he asked himself, did I start to be so irritated by Rachel – to fall out of love with her? It was not a comfortable question.

Then there had been the arrival of Bronwen, who had wormed her way into their lives to such an alarming degree that Rachel now seemed incapable of making any move without reference to her. ‘Bronwen thinks’ and ‘Bronwen says’ had become words that set his teeth on edge. It had come home forcibly to Patrick over the last week just how much his two older children – Sophie in particular – distrusted and resented Bronwen. And, of course, there was Posy – a pocket version of her mother to look at, though no one could describe her as nervous. It’s time I took much more part in her upbringing, whatever Rachel wants, decided Patrick. I love her too much to let her become a monster child whom everyone dislikes – and he made up his mind that he must force some sort of a confrontation on his wife.

But before he could do this he knew he had to examine something else – his feelings for Victoria Cunningham, because he was aware that for the first time he was now also in the throes of a really serious temptation. If I’m to start issuing ultimatums to Rachel in an effort to save our marriage, he thought, I owe it to her to try to banish Victoria from my mind – but he thought this might be impossible, and a part of him did not even want to try.

He wondered if he was leaving Corfu in the nick of time before his emotions got out of hand, while he could still recognise the

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