‘Oh my! It’s beautiful! Oh my!’ Katie’s hand flew to her mouth and she almost dropped her bouquet as she stood absolutely still, gazing at the Orangery with her huge brown eyes as it twinkled with lights. The shimmer from the Christmas tree inside could be seen through the windows.
Sallie patted her gently on the arm and smiled as they both remained there by the Orangery gates, standing under the umbrella in the snow, gazing at the whole, beautiful, glittering scene.
‘Is my hair still okay?’ Katie asked - she had lost all her hair from the chemotherapy and it was only just long enough to hold the veil and flowers.
‘All good - it’s very pretty, Kim did a lovely job of it.’
‘She didn't have a lot to work with! I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.’ Katie patted the back of her hair under the veil.
‘I knew she’d make it work, I had total faith in her - she’s such a pro.’
‘Thank you again, Sallie,’ Katie whispered, tears welling up again.
‘Now come on, stop with the thanks - thank you for being a wonderful bride and for agreeing to be in the content. Now let’s get you into the Orangery and married to your lovely man.’
Chapter 59
Sallie checked with Lucian that everything and everyone was in place. He’d replied in the affirmative - the videographer and her two assistants were ready to roll, he was live streaming the whole thing online and all the guests were in the Orangery ready and waiting for Katie to walk down the twinkly pathway.
‘Rightio, if you’re ready to go, everything is good to go on the other end,’ Sallie whispered to Katie. ‘You sure you’re okay?’
‘Yes, I’m fine.’ Katie said, standing there in the silk dress and cape seemingly oblivious to the cold and snow.
‘Okay, so you’ll just walk all the way down the path, just follow the lanterns over the pebbles - the video will be running and then as we discussed, the live stream will be broadcasting the whole thing. One last check that you’re definitely happy with that, Katie?’ Sallie gently held onto Katie’s elbow as they stood under the umbrella behind the gates to the Orangery, ‘Oh and you do realise you can back out now if you want to.’
‘Yes, I mean no, absolutely. I’m so excited.’ Katie whispered back.
Sallie texted through for the music to start and thirty seconds later it began to play.
‘Well, we’re ready when you are,’ Sallie said, nodding in encouragement while still holding the umbrella over Katie and the dress as the snow flurries continued to fall all around them.
Katie looked at her and smiled, stepped out from under the umbrella and slowly began to walk along the path. Gentle flurries of snowflakes caught in the breeze coming up from the sea and landed on her veil, but she seemed immune to the icy snow and cold air as she floated along the lantern lined pathway to the huge arched door of the Orangery.
She stepped through the door and continued along the centre of the Orangery, the floor lined with white confetti, the ends of the chairs fixed with huge bouquets of fir, white flowers and gold ribbon.
The Christmas tree, decked from top to toe in thousands of white lights stood resplendent and glittering at the end behind Sam, dressed in a dark grey suit and standing nervously at the top of the aisle. He looked back at Katie as she slowly made her way up to meet him.
Sallie stepped inside shivering once Katie was safely at the top with Sam, and a spontaneous round of applause erupted from their family and friends, most of whom were looking on with tears in their eyes.
Sallie quietly closed the huge old door of the Orangery and looked down at the magical scene as the celebrant began the process to declare the couple husband and wife.
Sallie stood at the back of the Orangery, keeping an eye on everything as Katie and Sam stood facing each other just in front of the glittering tree.
Just as her and Lucian had planned weeks before, the night had drawn in not long after Katie had arrived, the canopy of lights Sallie had taken inspiration from the palace had come on above them all and the tree looked resplendent in the centre.
Everything had gone well so far and the first few pictures that had gone online had already got thousands of likes and comments. It was just what they had wanted - fabulous, organic publicity for both Lucian’s podcast and the Orangery and all completely under their control. Sallie leant on the Orangery door and wondered if they’d made the right decision by deciding not to let any press in or do a deal with any of them for an exclusive spread. They’d decided that with their combined reach on various different platforms it would generate enough interest and so they’d decided to keep it all tightly in-house - and by the looks of what was happening on social media, so far they were right. The picture of the Christmas tree alone had over a thousand comments, sharing and tagging, and the livestream was being watched by more people than they had ever imagined.
Sallie pulled down the sleeve of her black velvet dress. As she stood there looking over the whole scene and Ben just off to the right in charge of the lights, she ran her hand over her stomach - she’d still not done a pregnancy test and nothing had happened. Once this was over, the evening was done and they’d cleared up, she would do a test tomorrow to find out.
She put her phone back in her pocket and slowly walked through to the fernery where the guests would mingle while all the chairs from the ceremony were moved, and the tables brought in to get ready for the meal to be served. She walked over to the bar where Ollie was standing in the Pretty Beach Weddings navy-blue butcher’s apron and shirt.
‘How’s it all going in there?’ He asked quietly as Sallie approached.
‘All good so far - you heard about the car?’
‘Yes, Phia told me, what a nightmare! It snowed as she was walking in though didn’t it?’
‘Yep, couldn’t have gone any better on that front - perfect little snowflakes fell all the way along as she walked down the path and she didn’t seem to even notice the cold.’ Sallie said leaning on the bar. ‘It looks great in here, Ollie.’ She said looking around the tropical plants in the dimmed lights, the second of the Christmas trees in the entrance covered in lights and the vintage fruit crate shelves behind groaning with gin.
A couple of slow cookers full of mulled wine simmered hidden away on the inside left of the bar filling the whole of the fernery with the scent of warm spices. Sallie had strung slices of dried orange on rustic string through a garland down the centre of a table to the right, lined up rows of heavy hobnail glasses in front of a vintage silver terrine and strewn around star anise, little bundles of cinnamon sticks, clove-studded oranges and herbs. The result was a heady smell better than any candle.
‘Let me have another taste of this mulled wine,’ Sallie said to Ollie and dipped the ladle in, pouring it into one of the glasses and took a sip. ‘Very nice - never been a huge fan of it myself, but that’s not bad. The trial runs were worth it. We reckon the secret is in the colour of the sugar.’
‘I think we’ll need to be keeping a close eye on that one - it’s quite potent and you know what these wedding guests can be like.’ Ollie said, shaking his head back and forth - he had become quite the expert on weddings since he’d been working for Sallie at the marquee.
‘I just thought exactly the same thing! It’ll always remind me of that guy who fell backwards off the chair in a heap. Remember that?’ Sallie giggled at the memory.
‘How can I forget? Then there was that bridesmaid with the vodka and the problem in the bathroom.’
‘I’d rather forget that actually, and having to clear it up,’ Sallie said, raising her eyes to the ceiling, walking round to the back of the bar and putting the glass in the washer.
‘Right, so we’re good to go out here. Text me if you need help.’
‘All good. Will do,’ Ollie replied and smiled at Phia as she walked in from the kitchen with a pile of clean trays and joined him behind the bar.
Sallie walked back into the Orangery, as Katie and Sam walked back along the ais
le strewn with white petals and tiny lanterns. She slowly moved people over to the right side of the Orangery and led them through to the fernery Gin Room where Ollie and Phia quickly served drinks behind the bar and Lochie, dressed in the same butcher’s apron and shirt walked around with a tray of mulled wine.
Sallie, Ben, the caterers, and Holly worked quickly and quietly to get the chairs moved back out of the way - Sallie, Ben and Lucian had run through it quickly the week before and they’d followed exactly the same plan. The tables slid into place topped with their heavy white linen tablecloths around the tessellated floor, the chairs were put back into place and the centrepieces stood in the middle of the tables.
Sallie stood back, hands on her hips as Lucian walked back into the Orangery.
‘Darling! My gawd, thank goodness that’s done and without a hitch! It’s been fabulous. Wasn’t she beautiful?’
Sallie let out a huge sigh and hugged Lucian, ‘Ahhhh, you were brilliant Lucian.’
‘Who would have thought the car wouldn’t start? That wasn’t on my spreadsheet, was it?’ He giggled, and she laughed back at him.
‘I know, when I heard the tone in Ben’s voice, I knew we had a problem.’ Sallie said.
Ben joined in, ‘Sals, I was trying to remain calm - I must stress at that point I did not feel calm and nor did poor Marty. We had a beaming bride in a thin white dress, snowfall and a time schedule looming.’
‘Well, it all worked out in the end. Thank goodness for Holly.’
‘We’ll certainly remember it!’ Ben said, smiling.
‘Okay, let’s start getting these guests seated... we’re on the homerun now, guys,’ Sallie said, walking back across the Orangery and directing people to their seats.
Chapter 60
Sallie and Ben sat at one of the tables in the Orangery by the Christmas tree. All the guests had gone home, everything had been cleared up, all the dishwashers were loaded and on their second run and Katie and Sam, after thanking them profusely, had left.
Sallie finished her cup of tea, got up from the table, walked past the huge, sparkly Christmas tree, through the back of the fernery and into the kitchen area right at the back of the Orangery. She pulled out her handbag from the locked cupboard near the loos, rummaged around in the bottom and pulled out a creased chemist's paper bag and the cardboard box of the pregnancy test. It had been in the bottom of her bag for a while, and she’d kept meaning to put it in her drawer, but her bag had missed its usual monthly clear-out and had all sorts of weird and wonderful things accumulated in it - including one of Tillie’s spare bottles, a muslin, leftover baubles and a little pack of baby wipes.
It had been weeks now since her last period and even though it wasn’t unheard of for her to miss a period or be late she thought it was about time to find out what was going on. She'd said to herself that once the wedding competition was over, she would do the test if nothing had happened. She hadn’t quite envisaged that it would be right as the wedding finished, but as she’d sat there drinking a cup of tea after they’d cleared up and Ben had gone to take Holly’s car home she’d decided that there was no time like the present, got up and went to do the deed. It was like she’d put it to the back of her mind and then bang as soon as the wedding was over she couldn’t wait any longer to find out.
She had felt nothing unusual though apart from a heaviness in her breasts she’d first noticed when she’d got home from Alaska, though with everything that was going on, with Nina in hospital, the wedding competition and looking after Tillie she’d had a lot of other things on her mind. She’d gone to do the test a few times once she’d realised she was late, but at the last minute had changed her mind - not wanting to go through the disappointment that had followed the last few times.
She opened the door to the bathroom, did the test, popped it back in the foil wrapper and box, picked up her bag and walked back into the fernery. A beautiful, lingering aroma from the mulled wine and cinnamon sticks still filled the air and she bent down to the floor to pick up a tiny white pearl which must have fallen from Katie’s dress.
Just as she was walking back along the slate path through the fernery and had stepped into the Orangery, her phone buzzed in her bag. She opened the messages, seeing a notification from Pete.
I’ve just had a message from the hospital. They’ve been trying to call you today - I said you were at the Orangery and would have been busy this evening and that sometimes the reception isn’t great down there by the water.
Just as she was about to phone the hospital an unknown number flashed up. She pressed the button and said hello.
‘Hello - Sallie Broadchurch?’
‘Yes, that’s me.’
‘Hi Sallie, it’s Amelia from the ICU at Newport,’ the bright voice at the end of the phone said.
‘Hi Amelia, is everything okay?’ Sallie replied quickly.
‘Sallie, I just thought I’d give you a quick ring before my shift finished, I know you’ve had a lot on the last few days - Nina seems to have turned a corner today, she’s off the ventilator. I’ve tried to call you a few times but it didn't seem to work.’
‘Oh! Oh, thank you so much, that’s great news!’
Ben walked in with a black bin liner, collecting up the last bits of rubbish as Sallie was on the phone, and realising who she was talking to he carried on clearing up as Sallie stood beside the Christmas tree, looking out over the snow-covered driveway, pacing back and forth and talking into her phone.
‘Okay, yep, yes I’ll phone in the morning when I get up and we’ll be in.’
Ben had walked over to the table while Sallie was on the phone pacing, had seen the pregnancy test on the table next to her bag, pulled it out of the foil wrapper and looked down at the stick.
Sallie Broadchurch-Chalmers was very much pregnant.
***
Sallie looked up at Ben as he held up the stick.
‘What does it say?’
‘Sals - there’s a line in the window.’
Sallie walked closer to Ben where he was holding the pregnancy test stick and staring down at it.
‘You’re probably looking at the wrong one. I’ve done that before.’ Sallie said peering down and looking into the tiny little plastic window. As she focused her hands flew to her face and she blinked her eyelashes
‘Oh my! Hang on, let me get my glasses.’ Sallie said, turning as if to get her bag from the table.
‘You don’t need to, duh! I can see it perfectly well.’ Ben replied, and took both of her hands in his.
‘I can’t believe it!’ Sallie said looking into his eyes, and as she did the fluttery thing that happened in her stomach, the thing that had happened when she had first seen him in the Boat House, happened again.
‘I knew it would happen.’ Ben said, simply.
‘I don’t know what to do. I’ve not let myself think about it too much and now it’s happened I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!’ Sallie said a hint of a hysterical giggle escaping, ‘I cannot believe it!’
‘Well, I for one am ecstatic, whatever happens.’ Ben said, gazing back at her.
Sallie clasped her hands together, ‘Me too!’ she replied and the tiny, little bit of her heart which had softened ever so slightly when she’d stood on the top of the hill outside the church at Pretty Beach opened up just that little bit further.
Chapter 61
Sallie walked out of the hospital, pulled her blazer on over her white shirt, hurried over to the car park and made her way to Ben’s car. He was standing outside with Tillie in his arms pointing out to the sea way in the distance. Tillie’s little white hat flopped over her head and as Sallie got nearer she could hear her responding to Ben with little baby noises.
He saw Sallie approaching and walked over to meet her. Tillie held out her arms to Sallie and Sallie took her from Ben.
‘All okay?’ She asked, kissing him on the cheek.
‘Yep, she woke up about fifteen minutes after you went in - sat there in the sea
t for a bit looking grumpy and then we’ve just had a little stroll around the carpark. How did it go in there?’
‘She looks like a different person; she’s still bloated, but the doctor said that is the fluids. I don’t know - they still don’t know when she’s going to fully recover but she’s off the ventilator and opened her eyes. We can take Tillie in tomorrow, she's well enough for that.’ Sallie sighed as Ben opened the back door and Sallie strapped Tillie into her car seat.
‘There’s nothing more we can do, is there? Like nothing except wait. I don’t want to say too much, but it sounds like she’s on the mend.’
‘Yes, the turnaround is amazing. Oh dear, then there’s the whole thing with her mum...’ Sallie trailed off.
Ben patted her on the hand, started the car and headed along the coast road back to Pretty Beach. Just as they came into Pretty Beach, he indicated right, heading for the wharf and Pretty Beach Old Town. Sallie was checking her emails on her phone and not looking where they were going. He pulled into Strawberry Hill Lane, reversed onto the grass verge outside Strawberry Hill House and turned off the engine of the car. Sallie looked up from her phone and slipped it into her bag.
‘Why are we here? Did Shane get back to you while I was in the hospital? Have we got another viewing?’ She looked over at him, confused.
‘Errrm, I’ve got something else to tell you, Sallie. Not that we need much more news at the moment. In fact, I think we’ve had enough news to last us a good few years.’
‘Oh, no! What else Ben? I can’t take any more news. I had the best news on that little stick, that’s enough for me and Nina turning a corner,’ Sallie replied as she pulled her bag up from the footwell and placed it on her lap.
‘Well it’s not bad news - well at least I thought it wasn’t,’ he said looking out the window at Strawberry Hill House.
‘Ben! Just spit it out!’ Sallie said, insistently.
Winter at Pretty Beach Page 21