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faint. ‘What can we tell everyone? What will they think? The scandal!’ she shrieked.
    â€˜Who cares?’ Matt asked, picking up the telephone directory, ready to thumb through it for the hospital number.
    Zoe heard enough of his ensuing conversation to know that it was all true. As he replaced the receiver Matt said, ‘A broken leg and two cracked ribs. His condition isn’t causing anyone concern but Tony, who won’t be feeling too comfortable. He’ll only be kept in for a matter of days.’
    He might have sounded callous, but Zoe knew that his calm acceptance was to cool Nerissa’s hysteria. She seemed to regard having to cancel the wedding as a personal shame. As Matt got on with phoning all the people who had to be informed, Zoe divided her time as best she could between finding the relevant numbers for Matt and trying to soothe a distraught Nerissa, who moaned continuously about all her beautiful arrangements coming to nothing and the degradation of it all.
    When they did finally arrive at the hospital it was to find a very sorry for himself Tony, his left leg encased in a cumbersome plaster cast, suffering from an outsize headache, and in pain from his ribs. That he was suffering was obvious from his strained face, which had gone a peculiar shade of gray.
    He complained about his rotten luck, and Zoe hadn’t the heart to remind him that he himself was responsible for his predicament—with some help from Matt!
    It was evening when Matt drove them back to the house.
    â€˜What are you going to do, Zoe?’ Matt inquired.
    â€˜You’re welcome to stay here,’ Nerissa offered.
    Strange as it might have seemed, until that moment Zoe hadn’t considered her own plight. She had given up her job and, as of the end of the month, her apartment. Most of her things had already been transferred to the new apartment where, on their return from their honeymoon, they had planned to start their married life.
    â€˜Thank you. It’s kind of you, but I’ll be all right where I am . . . until the end of the month, at least. Perhaps by then? . . .’ She shrugged.
    Matt said, ‘I wasn’t looking that far ahead. I was thinking more about now. That’s not a bad idea of Nerissa’s. Why don’t you take her up on it, if only for tonight?’
    â€˜I’ll be all right. Really.’
    â€˜Anyway, surely you’ll stay for something to eat?’ he persisted.
    They had existed all day on snatched sandwiches and cups of coffee, but Zoe said, ‘I’m not hungry,’ even if that wasn’t quite true. ‘For goodness sake, stop fussing!’
    â€˜Okay. Suit yourself.’
    She was doing just that. She’d had a surfeit of Nerissa. If Zoe heard any more of Nerissa’s weepings and wailings, she’d go berserk.
    They had gone to the hospital in Matt’s car. Hers was still outside, where she’d parked it that morning. She automatically assumed that she would drive herself home and toyed idly with the notion of stopping off somewhere for something to eat. She had a hollowness inside her that wasn’t altogether due to the traumatic happenings of the day. If she didn’t get sustenance soon she would keel over. Because she was fighting a feeling of nausea, she wasn’t too aware of what was going on.
    â€˜Stay put,’ Matt instructed. ‘I won’t be a second.’
    His absence gave Nerissa another opportunity to moan. ‘What a dreadful day! My poor boy. What a thing to happen. There’s no justice in this life. Some people seem to lead a charmed existence, while others . . .’ Her eyes filled with tears.
    â€˜Please don’t distress yourself, Mrs. Talbot,’ Zoe said wearily, feeling that if anyone should be screaming at injustices and kicking up a fuss, it ought to be her.
    Matt returned not a moment too soon. Zoe never thought to question the large carrier bag in his