E
ver since graduating from
University in America, life had
become something of a long
and tiresome episode for Harry
Edwards. Having achieved a
first in business management at
Harvard, Harry had moved back to England,
into a new house in Kensington, in order to
follow his father's footsteps and take over the
family business. It was not the move, which
had been relatively stressless, or his new
house, which was fairly spacious and seemed
to be in one of the most fashionable areas of
London, that was the cause of so much hassle.
It was, in fact, his beautiful new wife. Harry
had met Zoë - a tall, blonde woman with
sparkling blue eyes that never failed to amaze
Harry, even now - three years previously at a
drinks party in New York. He had been sitting
at the bar of the marine plaza talking with
some of his university friends, when Zoë had
been introduced to him by her, then, boyfriend
Hunter Mahan. It seemed to Harry to be love
at first sight with the young woman from
Holland. The couple were soon spending more
and more time together and things seemed to
escalate into a whirlwind romance before either
of the two could do anything about it. Harry
had, despite the constant bombardment of
"Don't do it" from his mother, fallen for Zoë.
The couple were happy for the next few years
and then when it came to Harry's last year at
Harvard, with the imminent move back to
England on the cards, he decided to propose.
He could not simply walk out of her life and
leave her in America. She said yes. Three
months later, on the fifteenth of August, the
couple were happily married in a beautiful
white wedding ceremony in the Cotswolds.
The honeymoon, in the Bahamas, was one of
the most passionate weeks of Harry's life. It
seemed to him at the time that life could not
get any better. He had a fantastic job at the
top of a multi-national conglomerate, he had a
beautiful new wife and he was moving back to
England where he could be close to his family
and old school friends. Everything was perfect.
However, Harry did not know why, but as he
was waving goodbye to his work colleague
James Freeman - a tall dark haired man -
walking down Liverpool Street towards his
brand new Mercedes Benz, things just didn't
seem to be the same. His life had become
stressful and laboured. He was under an
enormous amount of pressure at work each day
to produce the right results in order to keep
Edwards and Lodge Ltd at the top of its game.
Perhaps it was just this that was taking its toll.
That is what Harry would have liked to think.
But, there was more that was bothering him.
Zoë seemed to have changed ever since their
move back to England. She was not as bubbly
or as playful as usual. It seemed to Harry as
though she was distancing herself from him.
He could not put his finger on it, but she just
didn't seem to be content with their new lives
together. It was strange, because she was so
happy on their honeymoon. Harry wondered if
it was just her adjusting to the new settings and
the new people. But, that didn't seem to be the
problem. Harry had heard along the grapevine
- in fact from his great school friend Ben
Thompson, who was now a chartered surveyor
based in Chelsea and doing rather well for
himself - that Hunter Mahan had moved to
London. Apparently he had a job at Willmot's,
a rival firm of Edwards and Lodge Ltd. Hunter
and Harry had been on the same course at
Harvard; there had always been rivalry
between the two, but they were never enemies.
Although, it has to be said, the relationship of
Harry and Zoë and the subsequent break-up of
her relationship with Hunter, had caused some
tension between the two of them. The truth is,
the two of them had not talked to each other for
the last two years of the course. And what had
frustrated Harry enormously was that Hunter
and Zoë remained close friends, something that
he could never understand, but something that
he had come to accept. Perhaps it was the
presence of Hunter in London that was troubling
Harry. But, why would that matter? Harry
trusted Zoë with his life; she would never do
that to him. They were married for God's sake.
Yet, Harry had taken her from him in the first
place, that was how they met. What would be
stopping her from doing that to him? After all:
'what goes around comes around'. Harry told
himself to stop being so stupid. They were
adults now; he needed to stop entertaining
such ludicrous thoughts and just forget about it.
And so he unlocked the doors, shuffled on to
the luxury leather interior of the front seat, slid
the keys into the ignition and set off home.
Harry was tired; the journey had taken longer
than he would have wanted due to roadworks
Aluredian
51
Separation
by
Charlie Marr
Harry had
met Zoë -a
tall, blonde
woman with
sparkling blue
eyes that
never failed
to amaze