There was another moment’s silence. “I assume by your demeanour,” he said, “that you’ve replied in the affirmative?”

He didn’t need to know that I’d actually asked Matt, rather than the other way round. I could just imagine his incredulity at the idea. I made a mental note to warn Matt not to say anything.

“Yes,” I said. Courage came to me from somewhere. “And I’m very happy about it.”

“I’m pleased to hear it,” he said, in a neutral tone. At long last he moved his eyes from my face to look at the fire and I felt as if two long sharp pins had been removed from my face.

I floundered for something else to say, to fill up the silence. “We haven’t set a date yet. Or where it’s going to be, or anything really. I don’t know exactly what you’re supposed to do first – do you have to register something? Or fill in a form? It’s all new to me, I haven’t a clue what you’re supposed to do.”

Angus picked up the fire tongs and added another log to the fire. Sparks flowered out of the glowing coals in the grate.

“I assume,” he said. “That you’ve already spoken about a pre-nup?”

I’d been watching the fire, half-hypnotised by the flames and didn’t hear him properly. Or, if I did, I didn’t understand him.

“Sorry?”

“A pre-nuptial agreement,” said Angus. “I assume you and Matthew have already spoken about one?”

“No,” I said blankly.

“If you haven’t mentioned it to him already, that’s the very next conversation you should have.”

I hesitated. I began to feel that familiar flutter of confusion, of not knowing the right thing to say. I knew I must have had that look on my face, the look that drove Angus’s voice to sharper, louder depths.

“Maudie, you must have thought about it. How could you not have?”

“I don’t – I mean, I hadn’t–” I started to stammer and shut my mouth.

“Maudie,” he sighed, exasperated. “I know you’re old enough to make your own decisions, wrong-headed as they might sometimes be. But I’ll tell you this now, I cannot sanction this marriage, or give it my blessing, unless you promise me to enter into a full and appropriate pre-nuptial agreement with Matthew.”

I stared into the fire. I could feel something, some emotion, begin to swell inside me and I couldn’t work out what it was. I took a deep breath, trying to choke it down. “You’re not serious,” I said.

He continued to look at me. “I am completely serious.”

I laughed a laugh that had no mirth in it. “That’s ridiculous.”

Angus stood up. I took a step back. I knew what I was feeling now; it was anger. My entire neck felt stiff with it.

“Maudie,” said Angus, quietly. “You are my only child. At some point in the future, you will be an extremely wealthy woman. It would be remiss of me not to give you every opportunity of protecting yourself for the future. You’re so naive about the world sometimes – you think you know everything about it, but you don’t.”

The anger had reached my throat, my voice. I couldn’t stop the words coming out. “And what I want doesn’t come into it?” I asked him through a stiff jaw. “Do you actually think I would be stupid enough to marry someone who’s just in it for my money? Do you actually think that little of me?”

“Maudie, listen to me–”

“No, you listen to me! How dare you say that about Matt? Do you think that he thinks like that? Do you think I am some stupid little girl who can’t even be trusted to pick out her own husband? Would you have preferred to get one for me yourself? Or would you prefer that I never had one at all? Yes, that’s it, isn’t it? Why can’t you just admit it?”

“Oh, stop being so melodramatic, for Christ’s sake,” said Angus. The contempt in his voice penetrated the fog surrounding me. I dropped my eyes to the dancing flames of the fire. I had more words inside me, a torrent of them, all the words I’d never said to him before. I put my hands up to my mouth, clamping it shut to stop them flowing out.

Angus sighed and sat back down. His hands fell loosely against the arms of the chair and I noticed for the first time how the bones of his fingers were beginning to protrude through skin growing papery. He’s getting old, I thought. I couldn’t work out if that made me feel better, or worse.

“You’re overwrought,” he said. “There’s no point having this conversation now, you’re not in any sort of mood to listen to me.”

I was shortly going to cry, hard. I had to leave before that happened.

“Just think about what I’ve said,” said Angus. His gaze was fixed on the flames, his body twisted away from mine. “That’s all I ask. Just think about it.”

*

I slept fitfully that night and woke at nine, feeling unrested. I wondered whether Matt had also passed a restless night. Just think, when we were married, we’d be able to share a room here. I missed his solid warmth in the bed. The house had never seemed colder.

After breakfast, I asked Matt to come for a walk with me. I could see by smile that he thought I was taking him somewhere to celebrate properly, although God knows it was far too cold for any kind of alfresco antics.  We pulled on our coats and scarves and walked out into the garden, stepping back over the same ground we’d walked yesterday.

“Maudie?”

I realised I’d been standing still, looking at nothing for nearly a minute. Matt was observing me with a half-smile. His nose and cheeks had pinked in the cold; he looked younger than usual; more carefree, more boyish. Was that because of my proposal? It was a lovely thought, although there was something a little worrying about the fact that his happiness rested so firmly on a decision of mine taken on something of a whim.

“Sorry,” I said. “I was miles away.”

“Not having second thoughts, are you?”

“No!” I said, a little too quickly. “Not at all. It’s just that–”

“What is it, sweetheart?”

I stood with my fists clenched for a moment. Then it burst out of me. “My fucking father–”

“Maudie!” said Matt, shocked. “What on Earth–”

“He wants me to have a pre-nup,” I said, talking over him. I clenched my teeth for a second. “It’s such a stupid idea, it’s so insulting, I won’t blame you if you’re furious, I can’t believe he’s making me ask you–”

“Whoah, whoah, whoah,” said Matt, putting both his hands on my shoulders. He put a finger under my chin and tipped my face up to his. He was frowning, but more in puzzlement than in anger. “Slow down, and tell me from the beginning.”

Falteringly, I summarised the conversation of the day before. Again, at moments, a choking anger overwhelmed me. Thanks, Angus, I thought. Thanks for managing to ruin what should be one of the happiest days of my life. If Matt broke off the engagement, would I be able to bear the humiliation? If he does, he’s not the man I thought he was, I told myself, but it didn’t really help.

After I finished speaking, I held my breath and waited for the explosion from Matt.

“Well,” he said, after a moment. “I can’t see that that would be a problem.”

I let out my breath in a gasp. “Oh Matt, really? You don’t mind? You’re not terribly insulted?”

That made him laugh a little. “No, Maudie, I’m not. I can’t believe you’ve got yourself into such a state over this.”

“You’re really okay with it?”

He nodded. Then he pulled me closer and kissed me on my scar. “You idiot,” he said, “You’re so daft, sometimes. You just don’t think about all these practical things, do you?”

“It’s not that–” I began. His words reminded me of what Angus had said. You’re so naive about the world.

“It’s alright,” said Matt. “God, darling, let’s not even think about such awful things as divorce, not today.”

“God, no,” I said, limp with spent emotion. “I don’t care about the stupid thing, it’s just that Angus–” I stopped myself. “It doesn’t mean anything, anyway.” I was babbling a little but mostly out of relief. “Money’s not important, is it, anyway?”