Two Can Play Recap Part 16: Pat's Proposal

This Two Can Play recap part 16 covers chapters 387–400, with spoilers.

The corner stool

Pat's family has a tradition: every year they gather around her younger sister Vivian as if she were royalty, because Vivian's husband Jonathan is a finance manager. Pat gets the corner stool, too far from the food. Vivian calls her $1,000 necklace "cheap" and cries for the room. Her aunt reminds her she's thirty. Her mother says that if Vivian had been her firstborn, she'd have stopped there. Jonathan suggests Pat spend more time in the kitchen.

What none of them knows is that Pat is a co-founder of a lab worth billions, and quietly invests the $100 million Celeste gave her.

"Am I late for the party?"

The door opens and Kingsley Duke walks in: the heir who just won back his family's fortune, in a suit worth more than the room. "Pat, you didn't tell your family your boyfriend was coming?"

Vivian calls him a hired actor, and her father slaps her. Kingsley's staff carry in designer gifts for everyone. He turns down the head of the table and sits on the stool next to Pat. Then he kneels.

"Patricia Spears, will you marry me?"

Pat's head says no. Vivian's face says yes. She says yes.

The reveal

Kingsley spends the rest of the lunch making sure the table knows exactly who Pat is: a founder of Helix, the lab Dominic Ford gave $5 billion. He adds, pointedly, that it's never too late for a woman to go back to school.

Vivian corners Pat outside the restroom: engagement isn't marriage, and you'll never be a mother. Pat can't resist: "I think the baby in my womb disagrees." Vivian announces it to the table. Pat's mother, who an hour earlier had called her a disappointment, bursts into tears of joy.

The lie, and Sharon

Outside, Kingsley asks her straight. Pat, determined not to let a baby bind a man who doesn't love her, tells him she ended the pregnancy. He's devastated: "That child was innocent… I had every right." She realises she's misjudged him and starts to tell him the truth.

Then a tall, polished woman runs into his arms. "I'm Sharon, Kingsley's fiancée. The love of his life." Kingsley stands frozen. Pat puts the ring in his palm, says she can't do this, and drives away.

At Helix, Sharon follows her and starts on the insults. Celeste arrives, slaps her, and orders her off the property ("This is not over," Sharon says). Pat notices Celeste is shaking about something else entirely. And Kingsley walks up behind them: "Have I come at a bad time?"

Where we are at chapter 400

• Celeste and Dominic are engaged; the party is a week after Sparrow's wedding.
• Pat is pregnant, has told Kingsley she isn't, and has returned his ring.
• Sparrow's contract wedding to Tasha is days away, and Granny is delighted.
• Seraphine is on the island with a cheque she can't cash yet and a pill she shouldn't have taken.
• Julian has vowed that if he can't have Celeste, no one will.

What we noticed

• Pat's family scene is the book's most satisfying Cinderella moment: every cruel line is answered without Pat raising her voice.
• Kingsley's proposal comes in part from Celeste. She asked Pat for the address that morning.
• Sharon arrives at exactly the wrong moment. Whether she's who she claims to be is the next question.

Previous: [Part 15](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-15-the-island-and-the-fortress) · Next: [Part 17](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-17-the-contract-wedding).