The Way to a Woman's Heart (49 page)

Iris Freckles and her girls congratulated them warmly too. Then Tom presented Poll with the cheque and Gabby handed the trophy to Ash, then everyone kissed everyone else’s cheeks.

Poll was openly weeping in Billy’s arms.

And still the audience cheered.

They’d won. Ella tried the words out for size. They’d actually bloody won.

She really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so ended up doing a little of both as she and Ash grinned stupidly at each other over the huge crystal trophy.

‘You’ve got a restaurant,’ she said. ‘You’ve actually got your own restaurant.’

He nodded. ‘I know… No, that’s not true. I still don’t believe any of this.’

‘Press call tomorrow.’ Gabby barged between them, talking very loudly above all the noise, as seemingly hundreds of people crowded on to the stage, more glittery stuff exploded from the roof, and champagne corks popped along with the flashbulbs. ‘At your place. Berkshire. They like you in situ. Already organised. Celebratory five-star meal on the programme makers tonight – Denise and Anthony have all the details – then back to the hotel for more champers for all of you.’

‘Well done,’ Tom, looking more like a wildly dishevelled Heathcliff than ever, said gruffly to Ella. ‘I’m so glad you won.’

‘Thank you.’ Ella blinked back the tears. ‘I actually can’t take it in.’ She stared out into the auditorium and at the vast audience, who were now noisily unpacking their after-the-show goodie bags of Gabby and Tom cook books and prettily wrapped treats, as if seeing them for the first time. ‘I can’t believe we’ve actually done it. And thank you so much for changing our lives.’

‘And thank you for changing mine,’ Tom said, solemnly shaking her hand, then drifting away through the ever-growing crowd.

Ella stared after him. Why on earth had he said that? Was he more drunk than he admitted? Was he just as shell-shocked as everyone else about the professional Dewberry split? Poor, poor Tom.

And now she couldn’t see Ash at all. The noisy, laughing
crowd had swallowed him up. In fact she couldn’t see anyone she knew.

Then she blinked. Surely that wasn’t… ?

Surely that wasn’t Onyx standing in the wings?

She squinted, then pushed her way through the throng.

‘Onyx? Onyx! But Ash said you wouldn’t be here and –’

‘Ella! Oh, I’m so happy for you!’ Onyx, in skintight jeans and a very tiny vest and even taller in her killer heels, leaned down and hugged her. ‘Isn’t this just wonderful? And congratulations! You were all totally brilliant! Oh my God, I’m so pleased for you all! Now everything – absolutely everything – is going to be just perfect, isn’t it?’

Well, no not quite everything, Ella thought, but she kept smiling.

‘Yep. Ash’ll have his restaurant, Poll’s got the money she needs to enlarge her home from home for the homeless – although she says we all have to have a share of it too, which is lovely – and she and Billy can come out of the darn closet about being in love.’

She couldn’t quite bring herself to say, ‘And you and Ash can live happily ever after.’

She just couldn’t.

‘Ash is over there somewhere, talking to Gabby and a million other people, shall I try and find him and tell him you’re here?’

‘No, he knows.’

Of course he does, Ella thought. Silly me. There’d been that phone call that he’d left the green room to make, hadn’t there?

‘I’m not here to see Ash anyway.’

‘Well, no, hopefully you’re friends with all of us, but surely it’s Ash who you most want to see? Tonight of all nights?’

‘Oh, yeah, I’ll congratulate Ash later.’ Onyx smiled gently. ‘But actually, I’m here for him.’

Ella turned and looked over her shoulder. There was no man in sight. Well, only Tom, who was talking to Iris Freckles. And Onyx couldn’t mean
him
, could she?

‘Who?’

‘Tom,’ Onyx sighed dreamily.

‘TOM?’ Ella practically screamed the name. ‘TOM! Er, sorry, have I missed something? You – and
Tom
?’

‘Me and Tom.’ Onyx’s huge eyes were dreamy. ‘Lust and love at first sight. Mutual lust and love at first sight.’

Onyx and Tom? Ella frowned. No way! Surely not…

It was like someone had torn the middle pages out of a book she was reading and the story now bore no resemblance to the one she’d started.

Ella shook her head. ‘No, that can’t be right. No, sorry, that’s just wrong on so many levels. You mean, you and Tom have been having an affair? And that even tonight when you
have
to be with Ash because it’s the biggest night of his entire life, you’re going to go swanning off with Tom? Sorry, Onyx, but –’

‘I’m not having an affair with Tom. And why on earth should Ash knowing about it matter to him? And…’

‘But, you and Ash? You’ve been a couple for years. And –’

‘Whoa!’ Onyx held up her hands. ‘Where the heck did you get that from? Yes, Ash and I have been best friends
since uni and shared everything. But not
that.
We have never, ever been a couple. Yes, he’s completely gorgeous, but he’s not my type any more than I am his. We don’t even slightly fancy one another. We’re
friends
. Truly, just good friends. Dear God, thinking about sleeping with Ash would be about as incestuous as contemplating sleeping with my brother Jet.’

Ella, her head swimming, exhaled. ‘Really? No, I can see… Um… OK, right, I might have misunderstood… I might have got it all a bit wrong somewhere along the way.’

‘A bit?’ Onyx shrieked with laughter. ‘Only about two hundred and ninety per cent of it!’

‘But
Tom
?’

‘Tom Dewberry is a lovely kind man. A lovely kind very unhappy man.’ Onyx smiled gently. ‘And absolutely my type. We met at Hideaway that first time and we talked, and afterwards we texted, and then we met up secretly a few times more and talked a lot more, and we fell in love. End of.’

‘Beginning of,’ Ella corrected, still stunned. ‘You said you weren’t having an affair.’

‘We’re not. You can call me old-fashioned, but I’ve been brought up by my parents’ strict moral code. Much as I’m madly in lust and love with Tom, I haven’t slept with him. I’d never have a relationship with a married man. Nor could I give Tom an ultimatum. I mean, him and Gabby might be desperately unhappily married, but they’re linked together by more than their wedding vows. The business is huge. I was never going to ask him to give either of them up for me.’

‘But now he has?’

‘Of his own volition, yes.’ Onyx practically fizzed with
happiness. ‘What Gabby didn’t say tonight – but the press will tomorrow – is that the Dewberry partnership split is professional
and
personal. They’re getting a divorce.
He’s
divorcing
her
. And he’s told her about me.’

‘Really?’ Ella’s jaw dropped. ‘Ohmigod – and she’s not going to kill you?’

‘Couldn’t care less, apparently. Gabby’s not only a cruel-mouthed cow, she’s also a serial cheater. She’s got plenty of Tom-replacements lined up in reserve.’

Oh, God, Ella thought, Ash was definitely one of them…

Onyx sighed. ‘She’s been unfaithful to him for years and years. But Tom’s a decent man – and he took her back time after time.’

‘But now he hasn’t, er, isn’t? And he’s divorcing the business as well?’

Onyx nodded. ‘I didn’t – couldn’t and wouldn’t – have asked him to do it. He had to do it because it was what he wanted, not because I was making demands. I had to know that he did it for his own future happiness, not just mine.’

Blimey. Ella shook her head again. It was all far too intense for her to take in. Then she suddenly grinned. ‘So, the cookery stuff you asked me about – that was to impress Tom?’

‘Got it in one. We’d talked and talked about everything under the sun,’ Onyx said, nodding. ‘But I felt such an ignoramus not knowing anything about his business and I so wanted to be able to talk to him on all levels. I mean, I’d hung around Ash for years and loved what he cooked but
knew nothing about the inner workings of how the food arrived on the plate. And I couldn’t ask Ash to teach me, because at that time no one on earth knew about me and Tom, and I was sure, knowing me so well, Ash would guess.’

‘Wow! So, what happens now? I suppose this is the end of the belly-dancing classes in Hazy Hassocks village hall? I suppose you and Tom will be shacked up in some ritzy London penthouse?’

‘Wrong on both counts!’ Onyx grinned. ‘Tom’s a country bloke at heart. Grew up on a farm. Loves the countryside. We’re going to find a place locally – in one of the villages. I’ll continue dancing until I feel I really have to get a teaching job, and he’s going to take some time off to write some more cookery books and potter in our own little garden and grow stuff and just recover from being a celeb, which he absolutely hated, poor love. And maybe, one day, when all the dust has settled, he and Ash might join forces in the restaurant business – who knows…’

Who knew indeed? Ella took a deep breath. It was all too much to take in. Suddenly she felt very, very tired. There was no way on earth she could go out on the town and carry on celebrating into the small hours. She really just wanted to go home.

‘But Ash knows now? About you and Tom?’

‘Oh, yes. I texted him tonight. Once I knew Tom and Gabby were going public, then I knew it was OK for me to do it, too. He was dead happy for me.’ Her smile increased and her smile softened as Tom joined them. ‘Hi.’

Tom looked deep into her eyes. ‘Hi, yourself. Have you been telling Ella?’

Onyx nodded.

‘Um, congratulations,’ Ella murmured. ‘I think it’s wonderful. I’m so pleased for you both, and I honestly hope you’ll be very happy together.’

‘Oh, we will be,’ Tom said softly, discreetly holding Onyx’s hand. ‘We will be.’

He was a lovely man, Ella thought, and Onyx was clearly equally besotted. But who in their right mind would honestly fancy the large and shaggy middle-aged Tom more than the divine and delectable and oh-so-sexy Ash?

How very strange love was…

She bit her lip. ‘Actually, I wondered if you could do something for me?’ Tom nodded. ‘I’ll certainly try.’

Ella nodded towards the middle of the studio where Poll, Billy and Ash were being plied with champagne and surrounded by a huge noisy crowd. ‘I wondered if it would be possible for you to apologise to everyone, and explain to Poll and the others that I really can’t cope with anything more tonight, or even staying at the hotel or anything, please.’

‘Of course I can. I hate all the after-the-show luvvie stuff myself. But why do you want to go? Are you not feeling well?’

‘I don’t know how I feel, honestly. I think I just need some peace and quiet to sort my head out. It’s all been a bit overwhelming.’

‘Understatement,’ Onyx said. ‘But I can’t imagine you
wanting to turn down the opportunity of an all-night celebration after being in the wilds of the country for so long.’

‘Normally, no. I guess I must be getting old. You can just call me a party pooper – again.’ Ella smiled. ‘But I really do want to go home to the wilds of the country. Now.’ She looked at Tom again. ‘And I wondered if you could tell me how to find my way out of here so I could get a cab to Paddington?’

Tom smiled gently. ‘There’s no need to worry about getting a cab. I’ll arrange for one of the show’s drivers to take you home to Hideaway straight away if that’s what you want.’

‘It is,’ Ella said gratefully. ‘Thank you so much. Right now, it’s what I want more than anything in the whole world. Well, almost.’

Hideaway Farm loomed dark and silent in the still, humid July night. As the
Dewberrys’ Dinners
car disappeared along Cattle Drovers Passage, Ella just lifted her face to the black sky and inhaled the sweet-scented air.

She was home – and it was sheer bliss.

The outside security lights clicked on, one after the other, as she walked slowly round the side of the farmhouse and into the garden. Moths danced in and out of the misty beams. Somewhere an owl hooted and small nocturnal creatures rustled unseen through the tinder-dry grass.

Ella smiled to herself as she sank down on the canopied swing seat and kicked off her sandals in the stifling heat. How much had she changed? Not so long ago, those night noises would have had her gibbering with fear. Now tonight London had exhausted her, and Berkshire was home. She’d become countrified.