There was a stunned, hideous silence.

Alix took a juddering breath. “No.”

“Yes! I know you believed you were doing me a favor. I know you kept telling yourself that it was your responsibility as my friend to tell me the truth, but you weren’t telling me the truth. It wasn’t about me. It was never about me. It was about you. You were thinking about yourself. You were thinking about how you were an accident, and somehow that meant that every unplanned baby in the world would somehow grow up feeling the way you do, with all your issues. But unplanned does not mean unwanted.”

Alix’s face had turned as white as bone.

She said nothing in response to that, which was probably good because now she’d started talking, Christy couldn’t stop.

“You thought I was making a mistake. You thought it was the wrong thing to do. You never once considered that I loved Seb.” It was bitterly cold. She could no longer feel her cheeks.

There was a protracted silence.

It felt like ages before Alix spoke.

“It’s true I didn’t believe you loved Seb. You’d known him for about five minutes. He was nothing like the men you usually dated. And you were nothing like yourself the night you met him. You behaved out of character, like a different person, and I thought to myself, Hey, why not? Everyone deserves a wild moment. But wild moments don’t turn into forever.”

“But what if they do? What if that was the person I wanted to be? I’d lived my whole life being careful, and structured, and planning every minute, and then all of a sudden for one night I felt this incredible freedom. Yes, I was a different person, but that was the person I wanted to be!” She paused long enough to draw breath and instantly regretted it because the air was so cold it hurt. “And do you know what, Alix? If it had turned out to be a mistake, it would have been my mistake. And as my friend, I would have hoped you’d support me either way, whatever the outcome. And babies can be unplanned and still be loved. Relationships can break down, and people can still be good parents. No two relationships are alike. You can never assume that just because external circumstances seem similar, that what’s going on inside people will be the same. I am not like your mother. Seb is not like your father.”

Alix stood silent. Shivering. “I—I didn’t mean to ruin your wedding.”

“I was happy that day. Excited. And then you said what you said, and instead of being able to enjoy the moment, I had your voice ringing in my ears.” She was cold. So cold. What had possessed her to have this conversation outdoors? On the other hand it was the only place she could guarantee they wouldn’t be disturbed. “I tried to block it out, but it was in my head even as I said those vows. And it’s stayed in my head.” Would she have jumped to conclusions about Mandy if it hadn’t been for the words Alix had spoken?