by Maeve Haran
Sal followed the happy couple with her eyes. ‘I suppose every marriage starts with a pure heart.’
Laura glanced at her, surprised that for once she wasn’t being ironic. She not only looked different, but sounded it. Sal was the least emotional person she knew.
They walked back through the village behind the musicians with the rest of the guests.
‘This is all very amazing, isn’t it?’ Sal lightened the tone. ‘I keep expecting the lord of the manor to sweep in and carry off the bride for deflowering.’
‘I think he’d be a bit late in Gaby’s case,’ Laura pointed out. ‘She’s already living with the bridegroom. Claudia’s a bit worried they haven’t known each other that long, though I knew Simon for three years and you can see what difference that made.’
‘How’s it all going with the divorce?’ Sal enquired.
‘Just waiting for the decree absolute.’
‘How’s Simon the new dad coming along?’
‘His girlfriend lost the baby then dumped him. His sperm are too old.’ They laughed uproariously. ‘Not funny, really, but you’ve got to laugh or you’d cry.’ Laura dabbed her eyes. ‘Come on, let’s join in. Weddings are supposed to be joyous occasions.’
‘Are they?’ Sal grinned. ‘In my family they usually end up with one half half-murdering the other.’
By now they’d arrived at the marquee and were being offered champagne in exotic-coloured flutes.
They looked round at the colourful gathering.
Ella, they noticed, was handing a waiter her empty glass and helping herself to a full one. ‘Ella’s knocking it back a bit, isn’t she?’ Sal pointed out. ‘That’s not like Ella. She’s usually the well-behaved one.’
‘Maybe she wants to break out a bit.’
‘Ella? Hardly.’ Laura considered their friend through the noisy throng.
‘People may not be as easy to read as you think,’ Sal remarked. ‘Now, where are we sitting?’ They headed for the seating plan posted on a board near the entrance. ‘I hope we’re all together.’
‘Hello, you two!’ Rather drunkenly, Ella put an arm round each of them. ‘Sal, you’re as thin as rake!’ She turned to take a proper look but Sal had slithered out of her grasp and was seating herself at her allotted spot.
They were right near the front, close to the high table where both families were seated, with a clear view of the bride and groom.
‘Claudia and Don look happy,’ Laura said, waving to them.
Claudia waved back.
‘Actually,’ Ella dropped her voice, filling her glass again from one of the bottles of wine on the table, ‘Claudia says the wedding almost didn’t happen.’
‘Why ever not?’ Laura asked. ‘Was Gaby getting cold feet? I wouldn’t blame her.’
‘Laura, stop thinking about your own marriage and lighten up,’ Ella replied tartly.
Laura and Sal blinked. ‘What’s got into you?’ Sal asked. ‘Apart from the champagne?’
‘Sshh! They’re starting the speeches.’
‘I thought they were later.’
‘Maybe they want to be able to drink afterwards.’
‘Some people have got a head start already.’ Sal shot Ella a sardonic look.
‘Sssh! It’s the speeches!’
Don began with a sweet speech insisting that they wouldn’t have had to move to Surrey if they’d known their daughter would be leaving anyway, earning him a big laugh and a daughterly flounce from Gaby. He then got serious in a fatherly way about how much they loved her and how proud they were of their only offspring. Finally he welcomed Douglas to their family and handed him the mike.
Douglas, tall and serious, explained how Gaby had catapulted into his life and turned it upside down, but that he’d still been worried about making this final commitment.
‘I said to Gaby: “What happens if we make a mistake and the marriage doesn’t work out?” and she answered quick as a flash: “We can always put it on eBay,” so you see, ladies and gentlemen, why I had to go ahead and marry this wonderful witty woman before anyone else does. Ladies and gentlemen, a toast to my wife!’
They all raised their glasses, then everyone sat down to the wedding meal of fresh asparagus followed by salmon, culminating in the cutting of the cake with a lethal-looking Indian war-sword.
‘I wonder what’s ahead for them?’ Ella mused, beginning to slur a little. ‘In fact, I wonder what’s ahead for us all. At their age we were so hopeful and eager to change the world. But the world’s much the same and I’m alone, and I’m getting old.’
‘Old? Not you, Ella.’
Ella felt uncharacteristically sorry for herself. She was giving up her home and had no idea where she would move to. The idea was so frightening it made her sharp.
‘Yes, I am. We all are.’ She turned her gaze on Sal. ‘Unless you’re Sal with your pink wig and Jackie O glasses.’
Sal had suddenly had enough of Ella. Whatever had got into her, it was bloody annoying. She had cancer, she had been through hell, and she had done it alone, unlike Ella who had two daughters and a protected life in a huge house in Moulsford. ‘I know exactly what’s ahead for me, as a matter of fact, Ella. I’m having my breast removed next Tuesday morning. That’s why I’ve got the hat and sunglasses. The reason you haven’t seen me for so long is because I’ve been having treatment for breast cancer.’
Laura gaped and held out her hand. But Ella got angry.
‘Why the hell didn’t you tell us? We’re your friends. We would have been there for you!’
‘I didn’t want you there for me. I wanted to deal with it my way. Alone.’
‘That’s so selfish.’
‘Ella!’ Laura replied, horrified. ‘Stop it.’
‘Yes, stop it, Ella!’ endorsed one of the other occupants of their table. ‘This is a wedding after all.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Sal apologized, ‘I shouldn’t have told you now, not at Gaby’s wedding.’
‘Too right,’ agreed one of the guests.
‘You can shut up!’ Ella turned on them.
‘Calm down, everyone,’ Laura intervened.
‘What if you don’t feel calm, Laura?’ Ella demanded, pushing back her chair and stumbling out of the marquee.
‘I think we’d better get her a coffee,’ suggested Sal, realizing that Ella would never behave like that sober. They followed Ella as she stomped off towards the house.
Claudia watched them anxiously from the high table.
Laura made some strong coffee and handed it to her friend. ‘Ella, you never get pissed. What on earth’s the matter?’
Before Ella could explain what a terrible mistake she might be making, they turned to find Claudia standing behind them with a tray of glasses. ‘Hubble bubble, toil and trouble, cava fizz and champagne bubble! What’s the coven doing out here instead of at your table? I invited you all so you could have a good time and here you are as miserable as sin in the kitchen. What on earth’s the matter?’
Laura decided it was time to tell the truth. ‘Sal’s got breast cancer. She’s just told us.’
‘Oh my God,’ Claudia put down the tray and hugged her, ‘so that explains the pink wig.’
‘Ella thought it was me refusing to grow up and act my age.’
‘Sal, I’m so sorry . . .’ Ella mumbled.
‘So you should be,’ Sal agreed angrily. ‘I’ve got enough to deal with without my friends turning on me. There’s a reason I didn’t tell you. I thought if I did it alone I’d find it easier to pretend it wasn’t happening.’
‘But why would you pretend that?’ Laura demanded. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve been going to chemo on your own?’
‘Actually, a rather wonderful minicab driver has been ferrying me back and forwards.’
‘A minicab driver? For goodness’ sake, Sal! When it could be one of us. You can see why we’re a bit cross!’
‘That was at first, but actually, lately, someone else has been taking me.’ Suddenly Sal di
dn’t care if her own personal drama upstaged the bride’s big day. A youngish woman with blonde hair was walking towards them. ‘And I think this is an excellent moment for you all to meet her.’
CHAPTER 27
‘Girls, meet Lara Olsen, my daughter.’
‘Your daughter!’ Claudia was the first to respond. ‘My God, Sal, you’ve never even mentioned having a baby!’
Sal grinned, removing her dark glasses. Lara had helped her fix on false eyelashes to compensate for her hair loss but, frankly, at the moment she wouldn’t have cared what she looked like.
‘It was when I was in Norway, during my year abroad. I was only eighteen. Erik, Lara’s father, dumped me as soon as I broke the good news. So I decided to stay on, have the baby and come home. You know how good I am at compartmentalizing.’
‘You can say that again,’ murmured Ella.
‘Shut up, Ella, you’re pissed,’ hissed Laura. ‘So how did you find each other?’
‘Lara found me.’ Sal held out a hand to her daughter. ‘She came along like a gift from heaven just when I needed her.’
‘How did you know where to look?’ Claudia asked Lara.
‘I knew I was born in Oslo, that I was adopted, and that my mother was British, a student. My Norwegian grandmother let it out as an explanation for why I was so good at English. You know, nature rather than nurture. She tried to take it back but it was too late. I was only ten but I stored it away, and this year, when my adopted mother died, I decided it was time to look.’
‘It gets better.’ Sal delved into her bag for her wallet and brandished a photograph. ‘These are my grandchildren!’
‘Bloody hell!’ Ella helped herself to another drink.
‘I told Rose McGill about the cancer last week. The funny thing is, she’d already guessed.’
‘Unlike your best friends,’ Ella slurred.
‘Someone take that bottle from her,’ commanded Laura.
‘I knew there was something wrong, there had to be a reason we hadn’t seen you for so long.’ Claudia shook her head.
More people were beginning to arrive for the after-wedding party. Gaby suddenly emerged from the crowd of guests, wearing a red organza dress with a corset top from which her breasts overflowed like a medieval wench’s. ‘Ivory doesn’t go with the Indian décor,’ she announced. ‘Besides, I wanted to show Douglas both sides of my personality.’
‘Who’s a lucky boy, then,’ remarked Ella.
‘Ella,’ Laura turned to her firmly. ‘I really think you should stop drinking now. And why do you keep looking at your phone all the time?’
Ella stood up and walked off huffily.
‘She’ll be all right. Who’d have thought she of all people would get wrecked? I wonder what the hell’s the matter? This isn’t like Ella at all. She’ll be mortified when she realizes what she’s said.’
‘Maybe she’s tired of being like Ella,’ suggested Sal, who was glowing with such happiness she could tolerate anything. ‘Laura, who is that man waving at you?’
Calum was walking across the dance floor towards them, looking exceptionally attractive in a pale linen suit, holding a bunch of red tulips. They weren’t the same as the ones Laura had yearned for in the florist, but near enough. ‘These are for the bride,’ he explained with a likeable touch of embarrassment. ‘Of course, it struck me as I drove down here, what is a bride going to want with tulips? She’ll already be surrounded with flowers she won’t be able to take with her anyway.’
‘Give them to Laura,’ Claudia suggested with a smile. ‘I’m the bride’s mother, by the way.’
‘Calum.’
‘Sal isn’t the only dark horse, then. To think I imagined it was the bride I had to watch out for today.’
Calum handed over the tulips to Laura. ‘They made me think of you. Bold and colourful in this drab old world.’
Ella and Claudia exchanged a subtle glance.
‘Hello, Claudia,’ a familiar voice greeted Claudia half an hour later. It was Ella’s daughter Julia and her husband. ‘Have you seen Mum anywhere?’ Julia was looking happy and pretty. Even her grumpy husband seemed to be smiling.
‘She may have gone to have a little sit down somewhere. We think the champagne may have gone to her head.’
‘Mum? Surely not? She could drink me under the table.’
‘Not today she couldn’t. By the way, she’s left her phone.’ Claudia handed it over to Julia who put it on the table.
‘OK, I’ll go and have a look. Neil, why don’t you get us all a drink and then I must go and congratulate Gaby.’
The music started and it was time for the first dance. Everyone stood back to watch the bride and groom take to the floor while the DJ played Van Morrison’s ‘Brown eyed girl’ while the guests hooted and clapped.
Claudia began to cry. ‘I used to sing that to her in her cot. I was such a terrible mother I didn’t know any nursery rhymes.’
Laura squeezed her hand. ‘For a terrible mother you’ve produced a very lovely daughter.’
Don appeared out of the crowd and grabbed Claudia’s hand for the next dance. ‘We didn’t do too badly in the end,’ he whispered. ‘I think we may even like Douglas when we actually get to know him.’
A sudden commotion near the Raj bar made them turn.
Wenceslaus and Minka had just arrived. Minka, dressed in a figure-hugging sequinned dress that emphasized her statuesque curves, appeared to be having an acrimonious conversation with Julia’s Neil.
‘I think you are not nice man,’ Minka announced in a clear angry voice, loud enough for everyone in the room to overhear.
‘Minka, please . . .’ Wenceslaus tried to stop her. ‘Is wedding. Is not the time.’
Minka ignored him. ‘You are Neil who accuse Wenceslaus of making fraud and cheating your mother of money when all he want to do is help her.’
Before Neil could utter a word of explanation or apology Minka had thrown her glass of champagne over him.
‘Neil!’ snapped Julia, ignoring the fact that her husband was dripping over the dance floor. ‘Apologize to Minka and Wenceslaus this minute!’
‘I apologize,’ Neil produced meekly. ‘It was grossly unfair of me to suggest Wenceslaus was in any way involved.’
‘My God,’ Claudia remarked to Sal, as Julia mopped the champagne from him with a napkin, ‘where is Ella? She wouldn’t have missed that for the world! Nasty Neil is doing what Julia tells him.’
‘It’s called marriage,’ Sal replied merrily. ‘Which is why I’m still single.’
‘Goodness,’ Claudia marvelled. ‘We may have to christen him Nice Neil if this goes on.’
Laura and Calum glided past.
‘And where did she find him? Not in the bargain section at LateExpress, I bet.’ Claudia shook her head, amazed at all the surprises her friends were capable of.
But there were several yet to come.
Calum had gone to get Laura more champagne when she almost jumped out of her seat. Bella, Nigel and baby Noah, all in their party finery, were coming towards her.
‘Bella! You said you couldn’t come!’
‘I thought Noah was coming down with a temperature but he really perked up and Nige and I didn’t want to miss Gaby’s wedding so here we are. The only thing is . . .’ A sudden look of anxiety clouded her features.
Calum had come back with the champagne. ‘This is my friend Calum,’ Laura introduced him.
‘Oh shit,’ Bella murmured.
‘What’s the matter?’
The answer had just emerged from behind the bar, holding a tray of cocktails. ‘Here you are, everyone.’ He put the tray down and began to hand them out. It was Laura’s husband Simon, smiling as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
He caught sight of Laura and Calum and froze mid-gesture.
‘Simon! What the hell are you doing here?’ Laura demanded.
‘I came with Bella.’
Laura looked at her daughter incredulously.
‘Dad’s been round a few times lately,’ Bella explained. ‘He wrote me a letter asking to see Noah and I remembered what you’d said. He is my dad, the only one I’ve got. Maybe having a baby made me feel different. And I felt sorry for him in his situation. Gaby said he could come.’
‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?’ Laura could hear the danger tone in Simon’s voice.
‘He’s not my boyfriend,’ she could just imagine Rowley Robinson’s reaction to this cosy little rendezvous, ‘he’s a friend. Calum, this is Simon.’
‘Yes,’ Calum replied evenly, ‘I recognize the description.’
‘And what the hell does that mean?’ demanded Simon.
Laura shot Calum a warning look. What was the matter with him, for God’s sake?
‘I met Laura at counselling. We all talked about our partners a little. I heard how you marched off without a backwards look. On meeting you, that seemed to fit.’
Without another word, Simon took a swing at Calum, catching him a glancing blow on the chin.
A stunned silence spread through the wedding guests.
‘Come on, Calum, we’re leaving.’ Even though she was almost as angry with Calum as she was with Simon, Laura grabbed his arm.
‘No,’ intervened Nigel, pulling himself up to his impressive bouncer’s stature, ‘you should stay. I’ll take Simon home. It was a mistake to let him come. We’re really sorry. We should have at least given you some warning. Noah will sleep in the car. Come on, Simon.’
Simon followed without a word to Laura.
‘Sorry, Mum,’ Bella apologized, looking distraught. ‘I had no idea that would happen.’
Laura hugged her. ‘It makes me doubly sure I’m doing the right thing.’ She glanced at Calum who was sheepishly propping up the bar. ‘I don’t know what the problem is with bloody men.’
‘Testosterone.’
‘Yes, but Nigel doesn’t go round knocking people down even when, with his size, he could.’
‘Maybe that means he doesn’t need to.’ Bella smiled at him proudly.
‘Gaby isn’t the only one who’s found a good guy.’ Laura smiled at her daughter.