That feeling hasn’t gone away by the next morning as we orbit each other getting dressed. It gets deeper, and I feel a panicked twist in my stomach. I don’t know what it is, but I have the feeling that this is going to go wrong. I’d discount it, but my mum is known for her form of second sight. She taught me to always pay attention to my feelings and they’re currently screaming at me that today Patrick will try to fuck us up.

I’m dressed first, as I really don’t care what I look like. I slide the morning suit on that Zeb hired for me and put in the boutonnière that arrived with Zeb’s this morning, still wet with the dew.

I watch Zeb faff with the sleeves of his tailored, dark grey morning suit. No rental for him. The navy cravat suits him, enhancing those wonderful eyes. He rearranges the cravat and fiddles with the boutonnière and the feeling inside me bubbles up suddenly so strongly that I can’t rein it in.

“Come to Devon with me,” I say impulsively.

He stares at me. “What?”

“Come with me. I was going to visit my family. Come with me and meet them. We could spend a few days away from here and tour round the countryside. I know loads of good spots.”

I can hear the enthusiasm in my voice and for a moment a wild exhilaration shows in his face, but then even as I watch he smothers it.

“I can’t,” he says slowly, wincing at whatever he can see in my face. “I made a promise, Jesse. What would I be if I broke it?”

For a long second I stare at him. “A man,” I say finally.

“What?” I watch as he looks at himself in the mirror and adjusts the handkerchief in his pocket. He looks back at me queryingly.

“Just a man. One who makes silly promises that he should never have been kept to.”

Zeb shakes his head, and I feel my stomach clench. “I’m his best man, Jesse. Don’t be silly. And what’s all this about being kept to promises? I said yes, and I don’t go back on my word.”

“And he knows that and is using it,” I burst out, feeling almost wild. For the first time this month I feel very young. “You shouldn’t do this. He’s going to marry Frances and still keep a fucking tight hold on you. He doesn’t want anyone else to have you, but he isn’t prepared to give up anything for you. It isn’t right that he’s played on your feeling of duty and got you to do this. It’s bad for you.” I pause. “He’s bad for you. But you can’t see it.”