Written in the Stars Read Online Free

can’t . . .’ My voice is uncharacteristically firm. There is no wavering, my decision has been made.
    Adam stares at me for what feels like an eternity, his face passing through stages of disbelief, denial, shock and hurt before he steps away from me.
    ‘You really mean it.’ His voice is low, a whisper. I bury my face in my hands, feeling like I’ve just plunged a knife into him and then me.
    Adam walks over to the cold stone wall and leans against it like he can’t hold himself up. ‘Why?’ he says quietly. His broad shoulders seem to have shrunk. His left hand is against the wall, his fingers splayed as if to give him much-needed support but also to remind me of the glaring absence of a ring on his wedding finger. His other hand is raised to his forehead, as if it were he who had experienced a severe blow to the head. Which I suppose he has. ‘The least you can do is tell me why?’
    ‘I – I don’t know . . . I just can’t . . . I can’t explain . . . I’m sorry . . .’ I’m trying and failing to find the words I need to say: that I love him and need him and miss him already but that I don’t know who I am. I got lost a long time ago. I gaze up at Adam desperately, tears pouring down my face, wishing that things could be different but knowing that in that one split second before I fell, everything changed. Because Kieran came back.

Chapter 3
    The cold tiles are like ice against my bare shoulders as I come to. Did I faint or am I dead? I open my eyes and blink to try and disperse the black fog in front of them. I can see I’m all dressed in white, like an angel, oh God, I was kidding about the dead bit. It all comes back to me, then. Well, nearly all. I have a vague recollection I should be looking for someone but I can’t remember who. I feel different, but I don’t know why.
    Adam comes into focus, his grey eyes full of concern. He’s stroking my temples with his thumbs then touching my forehead with the palm of his hand. Marion suddenly pushes in front of him and snaps her fingers in my face several times, making me blink rapidly like I’m having a convulsion. Not particularly helpful when a hundred people are wondering if I’ve just had some kind of prenuptial seizure. Then she holds her hand up.
    ‘How many fingers, dear?’ she barks, her perfectly painted lips opening like a chasm. ‘Can you tell? One? Four? Five?’
    ‘Hopefully not two,’ I say weakly, ‘because that would be rude.’
    There’s a swell of laughter at this.
    ‘She’s all right, everybody,’ Cal diagnoses. ‘She just wanted to show how head-over-heels in love with Adam she is!’ He and Adam bend over me, arms poised to help me up.
    ‘Wait there a second, son,’ George calls. ‘I’m still filming. This’ll get millions of hits on YouTube!’
    ‘George!’ Marion admonishes.
    ‘I’m fine, really I am!’ I say, batting Cal and Adam away and struggling into a sitting position.
    And even though to all intents and purposes I am – there isn’t a scratch or a bruise on my body – I do feel strange. Woozy. Present in the moment, but like I’m missing something big: a part of me that was there before but isn’t now. I squint at my outstretched fingers and count them in case Marion has a point. It’s then that I notice an absence of wedding ring. That must be it, I conclude. That’s the missing piece!
    I tilt my head back and look up at Adam. His eyes are dark clouds, his brow crumpled with anxiety.
    ‘Can we just get on with it now, Ad?’ I plead. ‘I just want to get married.’
    ‘Oh thank God,’ he laughs in relief.
    ‘Were you worried I wasn’t going to make it – or make it down the aisle?’ I say teasingly. I close my eyes as this moment resonates in my brain like it has happened before, but differently. I feel like there is something I should remember too, something big, but there’s a black spot, like a fingerprint, where that memory should be.
    I shake my head, smile and turn to the