“Anna,” he said quietly, reaching for my hand. “Thank you.”
“For saying you looked like John Wayne?”
“No. For checking.”
I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded.
He smiled and his eyes looked suspiciously shiny for a moment. “I’m proud of you, Anna.”
“I’m proud of you, too, Dad.” I patted his arm. “No need to get all mushy about it.”
I watched him leave and then hurried toward the courtyard, hearing the chime of Big Ben in the distance. Helena would be coming down any moment, and Marianne was no doubt panicking, wondering where I was.
I turned the corner happily and someone suddenly grabbed my hand and went, “There you are!” in an out-of-breath voice.
I turned to find myself staring into the familiar dark brown eyes of Connor Lawrence.
And in that moment I felt a strange calm for the first time in weeks because I suddenly realized what I had to do.
26.
CONNOR LOOKED LIKE A MOVIE star. He was wearing a pale gray suit and a narrow black tie, and his bangs were slickly swept back, instead of flopping over his eyes the whole time.
His brown eyes looked even more intense than usual now that they weren’t hidden away.
“Wow, Connor,” I said, unashamedly looking him up and down. “You look great.”
“Thanks.” He smiled nervously. “My mom figured that if I was ever going to make an effort with my appearance, it should probably be today. You look great too. Nice, er, dress?”
“Yes, I suspect lots of people will be trying to decide whether I have, in fact, turned up at my father’s wedding wearing a giant macaroon.” I laughed. “I’m glad you made it here okay. I can’t believe that Dad and Helena changed everything and I didn’t have any clue! You did very well keeping it a secret when I was saying all that stuff in your room yesterday about Dad.”
“It was hard, believe me. You were so worried. Your mom told me the other day as soon as we got in the car, just after you invited me.” He raised his eyebrows. “So how come you’re out in the courtyard on your own? Marianne said you just ran out of the room in a panic. That terrifying wedding woman is having a heart attack in there.”
“Oh. I wanted to . . .” I thought about lying, but then I figured that it was way more effort than it was worth. And if anyone was going to get this, it would be Connor. “I actually wanted to talk to Dad. I wanted to make sure he was okay with what lies in store after today. Basically, what you warned me about.”
He nodded. “Everything good?”
“Yes. And that actually brings me onto something else. Connor, I need to talk to you about—”
“ANNA!” Fenella’s shrill cry made me jump in fright. “You can’t just run off like that! Where have you been?”
She stormed toward me, grabbed my arm, and yanked me back inside.
“I . . . uh . . . I . . .” I quickly tried to think of an excuse as we came into the reception area and Marianne turned around, sighing with relief and looking daggers at me.
“She was looking for me,” Connor said, stepping forward. “I forgot to tell her that I was going to meet her in here instead. We had arranged to meet in the courtyard originally and then I changed my plan. My fault.”
Fenella narrowed her eyes at him. “Thankfully, it hasn’t disrupted the schedule. Helena will be down any moment and the guests are all seated. Anna, this young man will be walking you down the aisle. I hope his walking is better than his lying.”
She turned on her heel and marched toward the wedding team, barking instructions at them and ensuring all their headsets were working.
“I’m glad you’re here, Connor,” Marianne said, looking through the now empty reception area and toward the doors to the hall where the ceremony was being held. “Someone has to make sure Anna doesn’t fall over.”
“Hey! I haven’t fallen over once today!”
“Would you like a medal?”
I opened my mouth to argue but there was a ripple of gasps from the wedding team. I turned just in time to see Helena glide elegantly down the stairs, holding her blossoming bouquet of summer flowers in one hand and gently lifting her dress so it was just off the ground with the other.
“What do you think?” she asked nervously, glancing from Marianne to me.
“Helena.” I smiled. “For a guy who has written the most boring book in the world on tanks, my dad has done VERY well.”
She started laughing and Marianne wiped a tear from her cheek. “You look beautiful, Mom,” she whispered. “I would come and hug you, but I don’t think I can in this dress.”
“And I haven’t scheduled in time for hugs,” Fenella added, tapping her watch. “They’re waiting in there for me to give the signal. I’ll go tell them now, and then the doors will be opened for you from the inside. Anna and Connor, you walk down first, Marianne to follow, and then the bride.” She took a long, deep breath and then went, “It’s time,” in a dramatically hushed voice.
She blew a kiss at Helena and then scurried down the corridor where there must have been a side door leading to the main hall, while the rest of the wedding team, still lurking, led the way to the doors, getting us into position and then stepping aside. Connor and I stood next to each other at the front, waiting in silence for it all to begin.
“So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about outside?” he asked softly.
“It can wait.” I took a deep, shaky breath. “I really, really hope I don’t fall over.”
“You won’t,” Connor whispered. “Just lean on me.”
He held out his arm, I took it, and the doors swung open.
* * *
“You look wonderful!” my mom said, stretching over my dress to squeeze my cheek after the ceremony was done. I had finished having my photo taken with the bride and groom and had eventually located Connor, backed into a corner away from the crowd. Mom had come over to join us, her eyes glistening with tears.
“It was just magical, wasn’t it?” Mom said to Connor, who nodded politely. “Just like a dream.”
As embarrassing as she sounded, Mom was right—it really was a very beautiful wedding. Fenella had created a stunning spectacle.
When the doors had opened, I thought my eyes might pop out as we stepped onto what looked like a very expensive Hollywood movie set for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There were candles everywhere around the room, and hundreds and hundreds of white flowers, not just adorning the chairs on which the guests were perched, but tumbling down the walls so that it would have been easy to forget that you were even indoors.
There was a harpist playing as we came down the aisle, and Dad, standing by the altar, gave me such a big smile when I tottered toward him—concentrating very hard on not knocking over chairs and candlesticks with my dress—that I actually welled up.
By the time they said “I do” I was practically sobbing.
Luckily, the netting on my dress doubled perfectly as a tissue, although I don’t think Fenella was all that impressed when she saw me dabbing at my face with my skirt in the front row.
“Weddings are always fun.” Connor smiled after my mom had finished telling him the story about the Indian wedding she attended when an elephant stepped on the train of her sari dress and almost unraveled it, which would have left her naked in front of everyone.
Thankfully, just at that moment, one of her friends came over to greet her, and Connor was rescued from any more traumatizing stories.
“Want to get out of here?” Connor suggested as he dodged a silver tray of champagne flutes that a waiter was carrying past.
“Sure.” I glanced at Fenella, who was busy accepting compliments from the hotel manager. “We have a bit of time now before the meal.”
He led the way through the crowd and out into the open air, with me trailing behind, parting the masses with my dress.
“Phew!” I said, finally breaking through. “It is busy in there!”
“Anna, I
know what you wanted to talk to me about earlier,” he admitted with a grave expression.
“You do?”
“Yeah.” He hesitated, shuffling his feet, and then he lifted his eyes to meet mine. “It’s not right, is it? With us. Right now. Something’s not right.”
“No,” I said, a lump forming in my throat, thinking of how obviously perfect my dad and Helena had been just now. “It’s not.”
“The truth is, Anna, you happen to be the coolest girl I ever met. But you also now happen to be . . .” He trailed off and looked back down at the floor.
I knew what he was going to say so I finished the sentence for him. I think I had known all along.
“An It Girl?”
“Yes, but it’s not just that. I always knew that was going to happen. We’ve both changed, I think. We’re not bad different—just different . . .” He searched for the words.
“It’s okay,” I said gently. And I meant it. Connor was right. “Anyway, you have to focus on your comic book now.”
He nodded slowly. “I think, if you don’t mind, I’ll head home and give it some finishing touches.”
“Now? Really?” I glanced back at all the guests chatting loudly. When I turned back, he was watching me closely. “You’re going to miss the reception?”
“I thought it might be a good idea if I bowed out quietly.”
The chatting behind us ceased as Fenella’s booming voice invited the guests to move into the dining room and take their seats.
“You better go,” he said. “If that was just the ceremony, I’d say you were in for an amazing evening.”
“Right.” I nodded, not really knowing what to do.
He leaned over my massive dress and gave me the gentlest of kisses on the cheek.
Then he pulled away from me, shoved his hands in his pockets, and started to walk down the steps.
“Connor,” I called. He stopped and looked back. “Thanks for being here today.”
He smiled at me with that mischievous smile he used to shoot me when we sat in detention together. “Always, Spidey.”
Then he turned away and walked down the remaining steps, around the corner, and out of sight.
27.
NORMAL WEDDING VS. HUNTLEY/MONTAINE wedding
1. At a normal wedding, the bride and groom enter the reception after the ceremony, and everyone stands and applauds as they take their seats at the head table. At a Huntley/Montaine wedding, the bride and groom enter the reception ACCOMPANIED BY A HAREM OF PEACOCKS.
2. At a normal wedding, before the meal begins, there is polite chatter as everyone gets to know the fellow guests on their table. At a Huntley/Montaine wedding, before the meal begins, a troop of totally random acrobats enters the room and performs a routine on top of the tables, which involves fire, swords, and a nineties pop soundtrack.
3. At a normal wedding, the meal is typically a lovely three-course meal often involving chicken. At a Huntley/Montaine wedding, the meal is cooked by a Michelin-starred celebrity chef who has decided to surprise the bride and groom by wheeling out a large silver platter on which he has created a life-size portrait of the happy couple using tomatoes, mango chutney, olives, and coriander.
4. At a normal wedding, the speeches finish with a roar of laughter, a round of applause, and a joyful toast. At a Huntley/Montaine wedding, the speeches finish with a roar of laughter, a round of applause, a joyful toast, AND glitter and confetti bursting from the ceiling as a large choir bursts through the doors singing “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
5. At a normal wedding, the band or DJ begins to play, the bride and groom have their first dance, and then the guests are invited to join them on the dance floor. At a Huntley/Montaine wedding, Elton John gets up onstage to sing the first romantic dance number, and then is joined by the biggest boy band in the world, which causes all the guests to lose their minds and run onto the dance floor screaming, while the groom gets out of there as quickly as possible, goes over to his daughter, and says, “Who are these punks again? Should I have heard of them?” before he kindly asks a waiter for an Irish whiskey and then goes to discuss politics with the prime minister of Sweden.
“This wedding is surely going to go down in history,” Marianne said before a fresh bout of screams exploded from the dance floor when the boy band launched into their latest number one single.
We had both moved back to our seats at the head table after watching Helena and my dad waltz around the floor for their first dance. (Which, by the way, was hilarious. He should have gotten lessons. The prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet, who happened to be standing next to me at the time, wholeheartedly agreed.)
I hadn’t thought it possible, but the reception was even more glamorous than the ceremony. The vast ceiling was dark blue and completely covered in hundreds of twinkling lights, so it looked exactly like clusters of stars in a night sky.
“It really is quite something,” I replied, picking at the chocolate mousse left on my plate. “Although, what was with the peacocks?”
“What was with the tomato portrait?” Marianne laughed. “Bonkers!”
“Well, suits our parents completely, then.”
“That’s true.” She sighed and poured herself a glass of water. “So are you ever going to tell me why you asked Fenella in a very panicked manner to clear Connor’s space at the table and move everyone up a place before the dinner began? Or can I guess?”
My cheeks went piping hot. “You can guess?”
“I think so. Did you guys break up?” she asked gently.
I nodded. “How did you know?”
“I had my suspicions. What happened? Are you okay?”
I shrugged. “I guess so. I want to blame it on the whole fame thing but I think it’s just as much me as that. I’ve accepted being an It Girl over the last year and all the craziness that comes with it—and changed because of it. But I don’t think Connor has. And that’s not a bad thing—it’s just not a Me thing anymore. Does that make sense?”
“It does. I actually had a feeling something was not quite right with you guys before you went away,” Marianne admitted.
“Really? How? And why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want to upset you! And I wasn’t sure. Just the way you were together—there was something restrained about it. You just didn’t light up anymore the way you do when you’re talking about Rome, for example . . .” She sighed. “If only I had seen things with me and He Who Must Not Be Named so clearly!”
My mouth dropped open.
“Why are you looking at me weirdly like that?” she asked.
“Because of the Harry Potter reference!” I cried, gripping her arm. “You really are a nerd just like me! I didn’t even know you liked the books! We should totally do a film marathon of the whole series!”
“What Harry Potter reference?” She looked mildly disturbed at my enthusiasm. “I was talking about Tom.”
“Oh. Never mind.”
Marianne became distracted with attempting to flatten the bouffant-shaped sleeves of her dress. “Well, I hope you’re okay with the whole breakup thing. I’m sorry that it happened at the wedding, but at least you know it was the right thing to do.”
“Geez, I feel now that everyone was kind of hinting at this. Dad asked me about my love life earlier, which was way out of character—and embarrassing—and in Rome, Sophie even hinted at it, which is annoyingly observant of her and I—” I stopped and sat bolt upright.
“What? Why are you making that face?” Marianne looked at me in worry. “Anna, you’ve gone pale! What’s wrong?”
“Sophie,” I whispered.
“What about her?”
“She’s meant to be coming to the wedding.” I gulped, reaching for Marianne’s hand. “I promised her she could come if she helped me sneak out of the hotel in Rome. She’s going to kill me when she finds out the wedding has been and gone!”
“Oh, that.” Mari
anne checked the gold clock that was hanging above the large doors to the room. “You just reminded me. I told them to get here around now.”
“Who? Wait. You told Sophie? How did you know to tell her?”
“The message got passed on by some other guests you might be happy to see.” She nodded toward something behind me. “Perfect timing.”
I turned to see the doors being opened, and to my complete surprise, Jess, Danny, and Stephanie sheepishly shuffled into the room, looking immediately dumbfounded by the scene before them. I screamed in joy and jumped up, rushing toward them and sweeping them all up for a big hug, laughing as they became caught up in the ruffles of my dress.
Danny was wearing a tuxedo with a bright blue bow tie and had somehow managed to tame his bouncy, blond curls in such a way that I had to admit looked very handsome. Stephanie looked very elegant next to him in a long pale blue dress, almost matching his bow tie, and she had done her hair up in curls on top of her head with her bangs pinned back.
But Jess had really gone to town. The last time I’d seen her dress smartly was at the Beatus dance in the second semester when she’d worn a very pretty short black dress, but this time she had gone all out. She looked like a supermodel in what can only be described as a GOWN.
Yes, Jess, the girl who wears a hundred different colors on her nails at once, dip-dyes her hair, and is rarely out of her gym uniform, was wearing a gown. Not just any gown either. It was a striking dark turquoise, strapless, and full length, floating out as it draped to the bottom of her endless legs. Her diamond earrings glittered underneath her professionally curled hair, falling in waves across her shoulders.
If I hadn’t pounced on her straightaway, I’m certain that almost every boy in the room would have done.
“I feel like I’ve been swallowed by a marshmallow!” she gasped as I hugged her.
“Oh my,” Stephanie gushed. “I can’t believe I’m actually here! This is incredible.”
“Now that you’re all here, my night has gotten WAY better!” I exclaimed, shaking Jess’s hand excitedly.
I had been kind of worried about bringing out The Octopus dance move, you know, in front of a bunch of celebrities and global royalty, but now that my friends were present I started to do some arm stretches in preparation.
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