The movie was set to begin at seven and at five minutes to Edward knocked on Bella's cabin door. He was nervous and excited and his hand shook as he tapped.

He hadn't checked with any of the other members of their little group to see if anyone else wanted to go and he was happy to admit he didn't want to know and didn't care if they did want to join them. He'd asked Bella specifically and he wanted it to be just the two of them.

He had no trouble admitting to himself that he found her fascinating and beautiful.

What he had issues with was the ring on her finger.

Emmett had no intention of attending the movie night. He couldn't sit still through a whole film anyway. He got bored easily and if the theatre was quiet or the movie too serious he was likely to make a fool of himself fidgeting or taking the piss out of the poignant scenes. No, movies weren't for Emmett.

Instead he had a date with a barstool in town. He liked the little pub and he'd made a few acquaintances already. So when Ed said he was off to the movies with Bella he left them to it and hopped it to town.

Tapping his coaster for a refill he balanced his stool on two legs and looked around the room. It was the only pub in town so it was pretty packed with drinkers and with those looking for a meal. Spotting a couple of likely looking lads he snatched up his new drink and made his way over to their table.

"Hey, I'm Em. You guys play pool?" he asked.

"Mark," the big guy replied and stuck out his hand. "I'm game," he said, getting to his feet.

"Dave," the smaller of the two said, also getting to his feet and offering his hand. "Five bucks says I wipe the table with your ass," he chuckled and slapped a bill on the table.

"Make it ten and you're on," Em laughed and matched the bet.

Nope, movies weren't Emmett's thing.

They weren't Rosalie's either. From her table in the back corner she watched Emmett introduce himself bold as brass to the two guys she knew to be bricklayers from one town over. She'd already talked to them about giving her a quote for the repairs to the storeroom.

Dipping a piece of her steak into her favourite mushroom sauce she watched as the three guys made their way to the pool tables. One hung back as the other racked up the balls and offered Emmett the first break.

The game looked like fun. All three laughed and talked smack as one by one the balls were sunk into the pockets. Emmett snatched up the money off the table at the end of the first game and then they racked the balls up for another.

She did her best to keep her eyes on the bookwork she'd brought with her but Emmett's laughter distracted her often. He seemed to make friends so easily. He was charming in a brutish sort of way and it looked as though he could engage with all walks of life.

Normally Rose would eat her meal and drink her single glass of red and go back to her cabin, but this night she decided on another drink. She raised her hand to catch the waitress's attention and then settled back into her chair to watch the next game.

The trio were joined by three more locals and soon a turn-for-turn game got under way. The group got louder and louder but still it was Emmett's voice she heard the most clearly.

He was regaling them with stories from his days at university and they were all enraptured. Not by what he was imparting but with his sense of humour and his friendly demeanour.

She didn't think he would make a good doctor but it was obvious that he had people skills.

She watched him for another twenty minutes, her paperwork completely forgotten, and when he excused himself from the table and began to walk towards her her body stiffened in panic. She didn't want to be seen.

He turned just as he was nearing her section where the dining tables were and shouted for the guys around the table to set them up again while he took a piss. Cringing at his choice of language Rose turned slightly in her seat as he passed her by and went behind her towards the gents.

She gathered her papers and threw them hastily into her satchel and asked Kelly behind the bar to add her dinner and drinks to her tab, and then she beat a hasty retreat before she could be seen.

Emmett caught sight of her as she went through the pubs front doors. He was sure it was her from the blonde hair and sensual gait but it was the curve of her ass that confirmed it for him. He'd stared long and hard at that ass quite a few times over the preceding days and he knew it well. Especially in skin tight jeans.

Why hadn't she said hello?

Settled into their seats with a bucket of popcorn and a soda each Edward and Bella spoke quietly as the opening credits rolled over on the screen in the gym.

"Have you seen Sabrina before?" Bella asked in a hushed whisper.

"Not the Harrison Ford one, no," Edward replied before shoving another handful of popcorn into his mouth. He was like a little kid as he sat there twitching with excitement.

Bella noticed. Bella noticed everything about him. He'd been shifting back and forth on his feet when he'd come to collect her and he'd still been doing it as they'd waited in line for the popcorn. He hadn't stopped grinning since they'd sat down and he was eating the popcorn so fast he'd be done with his bucket before the first lines were spoken at the rate he was going.

Patting his forearm she nodded at the bucket in his lap. "You can get more," she giggled. "Slow down or you'll be sick."

Grinning around another mouthful he nodded. "Sorry, I just love this stuff," he grinned. "Have you seen this version?" he asked with a nod towards the screen.

"Heaps of times," she admitted. "It's one of my favourites."

The movie began properly then and both sets of eyes went back to the screen. Munching happily on their popcorn and taking occasional sips of their drinks their concentration seemed to be wholly for the movie playing out in front of them.

But neither was one hundred percent engaged in the film. Both could feel the others body heat in the seat beside them. With Bella on his right Edward caught the glint off her engagement ring every time she moved her hand and it was beginning to make him angry and distracted.

She hadn't chosen this Jake guy and he was mad as hell that her parents thought that they could choose for her. Why hadn't she told them no? Why hadn't she made it clear that she didn't want to get married? As soon as the questions formed in his brain it threw up the answers for itself.

She hadn't said a damn word because she was just like him. Stuck in a never ending world of rules and parental domination. Her feet were just as set in the concrete world of her parents wants and needs as his were. She hadn't said no and he knew that he wouldn't have said no either. And that just made him madder as the light caught that fucking diamond again.

Opening his legs a little wider he pushed his popcorn bucket lower into the seat and held it with his thighs. He slid his right hand over her left and stilled it before wrapping his fingers over hers.

Beside him Bella stiffened at the contact but didn't take her eyes off the screen.

When she didn't withdraw her hand Edward left his there. When she curled the tips of her fingers and clutched at his he smiled to himself and went back to thinking about the movie. He'd done it to shield himself and his peripheral vision from the rock on her hand but she'd run with it on her own. He hadn't meant to actually hold her hand but she'd kept his in hers anyway.

Bella couldn't see anything wrong with holding his hand despite the fact that on her finger, below his, was an engagement ring. She hadn't put it there by choice. The little she did know about the man who'd put it there she didn't like anyway.

She had three months. Three months to live her life the way she wanted to. Twelve weeks to experience all that she could before she gave up her hopes and dreams and went home to live the life expected of her.

If a beautiful man with jade green eyes wanted to hold her hand then she'd let him.

Emmett told his new friends he'd sit the next pool game out but that he'd be back for the next before he ran out into the street. He spotted her standing beside a tiny emerald green car. Calling for her she seemed to take an extra second before turning around to face him.

She knew who had called her and to Emmett it didn't seem as though the interaction was going to be a welcome one.

"Why didn't you say hello to me in the pub?" he demanded a little more harshly than he'd wanted actually wanted to.

With a hand to her hip Rose drew in what looked like an exasperated breath before replying, "I didn't see you," she said firmly. Rose didn't socialise with her guests despite the fact that Emmett seemed to want to socialise with her.

"I saw you so you saw me," he chuckled though that too sounded harsh rather than friendly.

"Do you need a ride back?" she asked, thinking that's what he'd run outside for.

He took a quick look at his watch and said no thanks. "You want to come back in and have a drink with me?" he asked instead.

"I have work in the morning and if I have any more to drink I can't drive back myself," she told him, thankful that the excuse was legitimate.

"So have a Coke," he countered.

"I have to work in the morning," she reminded him.

"So you're going back to go right to sleep?" he asked, convinced she was full of shit and didn't have the balls to outright refuse him.

Rolling her eyes Rose pressed the alarm button on her car, opened the driver's door and set her bag inside before turning back to him. "Look, it's nothing personal, but I don't date guests," she told him.

"I said have a drink not marry me and have my babies for Christ's sake," he muttered darkly.

"Why?" she asked. It had slipped out before she'd had time to truly think about it. "Why do you want me to have a drink with you?"

"Because it'll be fun," he grinned. "You like having fun, right?"

"I like fun," she agreed.

"So come back in. I'll have a beer, you have a soft drink, I'll make you laugh and then you can go back and get eight hours sleep before work tomorrow," he grinned, his dimples crinkling up at the edges of his mouth.

Closing her eyes to avoid having to see those sweet little dimples Rose caved. "Fine," she muttered so it wouldn't like she was agreeing too readily.

She could use a laugh after the week she'd had.

After she'd retrieved her bag they walked back to the bar. He left her at a small table by the door and ordered a beer for himself and a Coke for her. His dimples were still on show when he brought their drinks back to the table two minutes later.

Bella left her hand in Edward's as they walked the path back towards the cabins. There didn't seem any reason to remove it, for either of them. What had started out as a diversionary tactic to rid himself of the sight of her ring became a warm, welcome piece of human contact for Edward and for Bella it just felt nice. A simple kind of nice found in the most unlikely of places.

As they walked Bella found herself thinking about her mother. If she was going to disturb the easygoing fun and the little vacation from reality Bella had found any time soon then Bella knew she had to enjoy every tiny piece of enjoyment she could before that time.

And so they walked, hand in hand, back to Bella's cabin. Edward agreed to a drink but didn't want to let her hand go when they got to her door.

"If I let you go will you give me your hand back once we've got a drink each?" he asked nervously as she turned the key in the door.

She whispered an equally nervous yes and went inside with a wide smile on her face. Edward followed her inside but stood by the door while she gathered a bottle and some glasses.

"Is that you Bella?" a sleepy Angela called from her bedroom.

Holding her finger to her lips for Edward to see Bella told her roommate that it was just her and that she shouldn't worry. Nodding towards the door the pair slipped back outside. Edward dragged the two chairs so that they were side by side and then poured them both a glass of wine before settling at the little table that was becoming familiar to them both.

He wasted no time reclaiming her hand and with it clasped firmly beneath his fingers he raised his glass to her. "What should we toast to?" he asked.

"Firsts," Bella answered without needing to think on it.

"To firsts then," Edward agreed and took a sip of the crisp white wine. "In the interests of firsts ask me again," he said after setting his glass back onto the table.

Bella was confused. She didn't recall asking him too much of anything recently and when she said as much Edward squeezed her hand a little. "You were full of questions this morning," he chuckled. "Ask me some again and I'll tell you all the boring details."

"Why did you run away from the questions this morning?" she asked instead.

"I was embarrassed," Edward admitted. "You just seemed so excited about my life and in reality it's not been exciting at all."

"At least you got to go to college," Bella griped.

Edward took another drink before explaining why that wasn't such a great experience for him. He told her all about having to live at home and being driven to and fro. He told her about the endless hours of study and not being allowed to indulge in any of the social experiences that usually went hand in hand with college life. He told her how lonely he'd been, how oppressive his parents – his mother in particular – were, and how they'd kept him from enjoying anything and everything in order to fulfil his perceived potential. He told her about the classes he'd been forced to take and how if he'd had his choice he'd have taken an arts track rather than a business track.

He told her almost everything and when he was done Bella was squeezing his hand tightly and feeling both desperately sorry for him and thinking how similar their lives actually were.

At the bottom of the bottle Edward released her hand only long enough to light them a cigarette each before he slid his hand back into hers. Catching her grinning widely beside him he asked what the smirk was for.

"I've never held someone's hand before," she admitted and kept right on smirking.

Stunned, Edward turned to look at her face as she stared out towards the dining hall. Measuring his response so he wouldn't sound accusatory he whispered it, "But you're about to get married."

"I know," she replied, fully expecting his response and his shock. "Fucking ridiculous, isn't it?" she asked, loving the way the curse word felt on her lips and tongue. She took another deep drag of her cigarette and held it out before nodding at it. "You had this between your lips before you gave it to me, that's as close as I've ever come to being kissed," she giggled, the wine loosening her tongue just enough to be honest with him.

He stared at her long and hard for a moment before opening his mouth. "Give it back," he insisted and waited for her to hand him her smoke. He slid it back between his lips and drew on it shallowly before handing it back to her. "There, we're even, that's my first kiss too," he chuckled and sat back in his chair to stare at the lights of the dining hall for himself.

One drink turned into seven and by the time Emmett and Rose returned to the camp at two in the morning he was rolling drunk. Happy but drunk. He got louder and louder the more alcohol he consumed but she already knew that from the party he'd thrown at camp.

He still managed to walk her to her cabin and wish her a good sleep before meandering down the path towards his own cabin. She watched him go and couldn't help but smile. He was a nice guy and he had made her laugh as he'd promised. He'd also made good on the promise that they'd have some fun.

They were pretty evenly matched at pool and she'd won for herself his winnings from earlier in the evening but had lost it back to him when they switched to darts. Even drunk he was a better shot than she was. He wasn't an annoying winner though. He had actually looked rather embarrassed to have trounced her, offering the winnings up for yet another round of drinks.

She had to laugh when he stubbed his toe yet again on the concrete join on the path as he got to his cabin and again when he turned to wave at her like a little boy. Rose slept well despite knowing she had to be up and ready in just five hours to greet the first tradesmen who were going to begin the repairs on the storeroom.

Emmett spotted Edward and Bella outside her cabin but they looked too cosy sidled up to one another for him to bother, so he went inside to bed without alerting them to his presence. They'd seen him though, and heard him too. They didn't break apart like guilty teenagers caught holding hands by a parent because neither of them was too worried about being seen together.

When they'd finished the second bottle of wine and had eaten an entire packet of jubes between them they both knew it was time to call it a night. Or a morning seeing it was so late.

"I should let you get some sleep," Edward slurred. Bella agreed but he could tell it was reluctantly. He stood, keeping her hand in his, and thanked her for the wine and for her company.

"I had a great time tonight," she told him truthfully and wished him a good sleep. The word sleep was so elongated because of the wine but she was in complete control of her faculties when she got onto her toes and kissed his cheek softly.

Edward rubbed his cheek with his fingertips on the walk back to his own cabin and then did it again before he let sleep take him over.

The sound of machinery woke the camp the next morning. There were three sore heads at breakfast and three slow bodies at lunch.

Emmett was greeted warmly by the two bricklayers when he passed by the storeroom on his way to the lake in the early afternoon and a do over of the pool game was arranged for later in the week.

Edward slept his afternoon away, trying to rid himself of his headache. Bella sat in the afternoon sunshine behind very dark sunglasses and drank an awful lot of water to rid herself of hers.

Rose moved through her day with a little less patience than was normal but by the time dinner was being served in the dining hall she'd accomplished everything she had on her list for the day.

When night fell the others retreated to their cabins for some quiet time, all except Emmett who saw yet another opportunity to raise some funds for his drinking escapades.

Twelve portable toilets had been delivered during the day to replace the ones he'd blown up with his disastrous still, and Emmett had plans for one of them. It took a while but he wrestled the toilet up the path and after an hour's shoving and quiet cursing he stashed it behind his cabin. He hoped nobody would miss it and that nobody was likely to do a head count of how many had been delivered.

There were no parties that night. Emmett went to bed at a reasonable hour but was beaten into bed by a lethargic Edward. Angela lasted just an hour longer than Bella and Rose fell gratefully into her bed a full two hours before her usual bedtime.

A routine of sorts was adopted by the private guests and their director after that night. Their days were somewhat solitary, each of the six friends finding something personal to keep them amused.

Tyler hid in his cabin and worked on his article. Ben and Angela slinked off to the gym and sometimes to the health spa and Emmett spent his days sleeping off the night befores excesses. Edward had found a piano pushed to one side in the party room of the corporate section of the camp and after gaining permission to play it from Rose spent many a happy hour tickling its lovely ivories. Bella twice went to town to replenish her alcohol stocks and to buy more jubes and cigarettes for a grateful Edward, and other than that she could be found in the sun on her cabins porch drinking coffee and reading her novel.

Rose worked hard to have the storeroom and public toilets repaired in time for the first official camp activity that was to be held on the sporting grounds opposite the damaged section of building. It was to be a friendly rugby match between the two large corporate groups before they headed home. Unable to source the fittings for the toilets, but pleased with the work done on the building itself, she had to settle for using the porta-potties for another week in the end.

All six guests seemed as though they were treading water during the day. At night it was as though they truly came alive.

Over the course of the next week Emmett had been into town on six of the seven nights and was disappointed that he could only talk Rose into joining him twice.

Edward and Bella watched every movie on offer in the gym and on the nights when a public movie wasn't showing, or the gym was being used for something else, they were holed up in his cabin watching a film on his television, taking advantage of the missing in action Emmett.

Nobody knew the whereabouts of Angela and Ben and nobody thought to check what they were up to. If anyone had they'd find that the two body conscious individuals were very conscientiously checking each other's bodies out in very fine detail in Ben's cabin when Tyler wasn't in, and in Bella's when she was in Edward's.

Rose was unable to cite 'too much work to do' on the Friday night of the second week when Emmett invited her to the pub for a drink. Her corporate groups had gone home and it would be two full days before the next group arrived to take their place.

The repairs were moving along at a good pace and there was nothing she could personally do to speed them along, though she had given some thought to picking up a trowel or a paint brush a few times over the preceding day or two.

So on Friday night Rose drove herself and Emmett to the pub for dinner and a drink. Ben and Angela made discreet enquiries of their friends and settled on another night alone in his cabin. Tyler, as was becoming normal, was nowhere to be found when the plans were settled.

It was the warmest night since the guests had arrived so far and as Edward made preparations for his evening he cursed Mother Nature. The colder the evenings were the closer Bella would snuggle up to him when they were watching television. He liked that, he really liked it. So as he laid out the last of the popcorn stash and two glasses for whatever wine Bella was bringing he toyed with the idea of switching the heating over to cooling. It would be sneaky and underhanded and for just half a second Edward wondered if he cared.

But ultimately the true Edward did care. In fact the true Edward wondered if she'd snuggle up to him regardless, and set out to test the hypothesis.

Bella arrived in a lighter coat and shucked it off as soon as she was inside the cabin. As it had been since after the first movie they attended their conversation was light and animated as they told one another about their day.

Edward espoused the beauty and joy he'd found with the piano and Bella told him all about the twists and turns in the plot of the novel she'd been reading. She asked intelligent questions about his music choices, despite not having a music bone in her body, and Edward asked clever questions about her book that proved he'd listened they evening before as she'd walked him through the storyline.

Over a very nice glass of red they talked about the friends they had in common and had a good giggle over Ben and Ange thinking they had anyone fooled. They wondered aloud what Tyler was working on and what his next assignment was going to be. They passed a few comments about Emmett and Rose going to dinner together again and then they lined up the movie to begin.

It was an action film this time and something that neither of them was too fussed about, but the company was good, the wine relaxed them and they were soon reclining on the sofa in each other's arms.

Edward's theory had been right and as he tightened his arm about her shoulder and pulled her a little closer to himself he smiled over the top of her head.

"Were you hugged as a child?" Bella asked abruptly, startling Edward from his thoughts.

Inhaling the scent of her shampoo Edward thought about his childhood and began to shake his head. "No. My family aren't an affectionate one. Were you?"

"Not by my parents," she replied. "But I was hugged by my sister at the usual times I guess."

He did his best to keep his mind on the film, and for twenty minutes he did. Bella was completely still beside him, sitting as she was half across his chest. And Edward was still too, but only physically. Mentally his thoughts were running riot through his brain.

How could anyone deny this lovely creature affection he thought? It didn't occur to him that he'd been denied affection too and that he deserved it just as much as Bella had. He simply didn't think that way. His thoughts were for Bella and not for himself.

Steeling himself to ask his next question he closed his fingers around the point of her shoulder as though he was anchoring himself to her, just in case she pulled away. "Has Jake touched you, ever?" he whispered.

Her soft laugh made him feel better for asking, but worse because she found it funny. He knew what her answer was going to be before she voiced it. "No. I think you've got entirely the wrong impression about my situation," she began carefully. "Jake and I aren't even friends, Edward. I don't know anything about him other than his name really. We had a conversation once, and only once, the day we were forced to meet. I've been in the same room as him exactly eleven times now, and that includes the two times since our engagement was announced."

"How can that be?" he asked without thinking.

Believing he thought she'd underestimated, or at the very least that she was oversimplifying the situation, Bella bristled. "I can count them off if you don't believe me," she huffed. "The night we were introduced, at a party two weeks later, and we didn't even speak to one another that night. That's two. At my parents anniversary party the following month and again for some fund raiser for the election he's running in. That's four. He was at my sister's house on Thanksgiving, and I sat next to him at dinner, but he didn't speak to me at all that night. Um, I saw him at a charity auction my mother hosted last Christmas, and then I saw him again at a New Years Eve party his father was throwing that I was dragged along to because my parents know his. I did talk to him that night but it was hello and goodbye. How many's that?" she asked as she reached forwards and took hold of her glass.

"Seven," Edward croaked.

"Right," she agreed and put her now empty glass back on the table before slipping back under his arm. "He came to my house to speak to my father one day and I said hello and goodbye again, so that's eight. Two weeks later he came to ask my father for my hand, that's nine. Ten was the night of our official engagement party and I saw him once on the day he came to the house to go over his campaign schedule with my mother, so they could work out a date for the wedding that suited everyone. That's eleven. There."

Doing his best not to clench his fist in frustration and anger, especially with her tucked under his arm the way she was, Edward tried to remain calm and think of something constructive to say. And then he began to wonder if constructive was the right thing to be. If he could explain away the travesty she might begin to believe that it was for the best that she marries the guy. If he appeared nonchalant about the circumstances of her engagement she might believe he was happy for her.

"That's fucked up," he hissed, deciding on his course. He pressed his lips to her hair and took in a long breath before speaking again. "I've held your hand," he said firmly as he tried to make his point without being overbearing or showing his temper. "I've had my arm around you every night for the last week. You kissed me on the cheek a few days ago. We've slept in each other's arms for Christ's sake. But you're about to marry someone you've never actually physically touched, ever. I can't begin to tell you how fucked up that is to me."

Silence descended again between them as their eyes remained on the screen, but their thoughts were elsewhere.

Bella didn't disagree with his observation. Everything he'd said was true. But there was a little part of her that resented him pointing it out to her.

When she broke the silence it was in a whisper so low he had to lean forward to make out the words. "You're in no position to give me advice," she breathed, barely audibly. "You're going to return home to a life you don't want, just like I am. And you can't tell me that you intend to do a goddamned thing about it anymore than I am."

It wasn't the harshness of her statement that made Edward's stomach clench. It wasn't the sadness in her voice as she'd said it. It wasn't that she seemed so resigned to her fate. She'd basically just called them both cowards and that didn't bother him one bit. No, Edward's stomach clenched because she'd just admitted that she didn't want the life that was waiting for her at home.

She didn't want Jake.

If they only had three months to enjoy one another's company – and two of those weeks were behind them already – then Edward was determined to make the most of what they had left.

Bending at the neck Edward placed his lips to Bella's ear. "That may very well be true," he whispered. "And there might very well be nothing I can do to change what's waiting for me back there. But I'm here right now, not there. You're here right now too, not there." Ghosting his lips across the shell of her ear Edward closed his eyes as he spoke, "If we have just a few weeks to really be alive, then I want to spend them with you. There's nowhere I'd rather be than here with you."

Hoping she understood the point he was trying to make Bella took her eyes off the television and looked down at the ring on her finger. "I want to be alive with you," she whispered.

Mary Alice reached across the table and took the thin file folder from her mother with a trembling hand.

Opening the folder she hoped, for the hundredth time, that her husband was right about Rosalie Hale and Crossroads.

"The report is rather vague," Renee said as she took another sip of her tea. "But I expected no less from a backwater therapy centre in the middle of nowhere."

Mary Alice could do nothing other than agree while she skimmed the report in her hand. As promised it looked professional and plausible. She recognised a few phrases that Jasper had said would be in the report so she knew what to expect as she read it. The Crossroads letterhead was there, the wording sounded as though it had been dictated by a certified therapist and all in all it had fooled their mother. And that was all that really mattered.

"Well she has only been there for two weeks, mother," Mary Alice hedged. "It's going to take time, that's why her stay needed to be for three months. The therapist seems very encouraging," she said as she pretended to read the report in its entirety.

"Well, encouraging or not that girl had better return in better shape than she left," Renee said, tapping her teaspoon rather pointedly on her teacup saucer. "The invitations have already gone out and Jake is positively frantic for news of her."

Mary Alice heard 'Jake is frantic' but knew that her mother meant 'mother is frantic not to be embarrassed in front of her stuffy friends if Bella doesn't show for her own wedding'.

"I spoke with her myself just last night," Mary Alice lied with a smile. "Her diet plan is having a great effect, she's attending all her sessions and she said she's sleeping like a baby. That is a good thing according to the report."

Renee took another sip of her tea but kept her cup in her hand as she spoke. "A child of mine in therapy," she huffed as though she was in some considerable distress at the thought. "If word gets out I'll be ruined," she whispered across the table.

Her mother's distress was genuine but Mary Alice knew it had nothing to do with Isabella and everything to do with their mothers personal reputation.

This time Mary Alice didn't need to lie. She leaned over the table and whispered confidently, "Word won't get out. The centre is so exclusive nobody's ever heard of it, mother. We just have to relax and let the professionals there do their job. It's what you paid them for."

She'd lied to her mother so many times in the past hour she hardly knew where the truth lay anymore. Yes of course she was confident that Isabella would return healthy and happy and ready to be married to Jake. Yes of course she was sure that once she was married she'd settle down and be grateful for the opportunity she had been handed. No, she hadn't given her sister any money for the trip. Yes she had given the therapist all the documentation from Isabella's hospital stay. Yes she had researched the facility extensively and yes, she was one hundred percent sure that Isabella wasn't being exposed to anything unseemly.

Those were the lies that tumbled out of her mouth over afternoon tea with her mother.

In private, with her husband, she confessed her true hopes for her sister. She hoped Isabella was getting drunk, and laid, and cutting her hair and eating junk food day and night and partying until dawn every night of the week because she knew that when her sister returned she was never going to survive an arranged marriage.

Isabella wasn't Mary Alice.

The only people who didn't want to see that were their parents, and Mary Alice didn't want to bury her sister.

A/N: Thank you for reading.

Please review.