by Jo Bartlett
‘Anna?’ Ella pushed the door open before she had a chance to respond. ‘Are you okay? I thought I heard crying.’
‘The wedding’s off.’
‘What’s happened? Is it Brae? Is he okay?’ Ella crossed the room and sat next to Anna on the bed.
‘It’s not Brae, and I know I shouldn’t be getting this upset when no one’s hurt.’ Anna’s voice cracked, despite her best attempts to pull herself together. ‘There’s been a fire at the hotel and they got everyone out, but the room where my dress was hanging has been completely gutted and the ballroom’s a write-off too. I know I can marry Brae as soon as we sort out another venue…’
‘You’ve got every right to be devastated, anyone would be.’
‘It’s stupid when it’s only a delay,’ Anna sniffed, not sure whether to voice her fears to her best friend that it could be a sign she shouldn’t marry Brae at all. Mentioning the book would feel like a betrayal of trust. It was a part of Brae’s life that had nothing to do with her and if he’d chosen to keep it, in amongst the books with quotes of love, that was none of her business either. It had proved there were things she didn’t know about him after all, probably hundreds of them. ‘It’s just that, for years, I haven’t had a family. It might be old-fashioned but, for me, getting married signifies that we’re officially a family. I wanted to get married on Mum and Dad’s anniversary too, but now I can’t help feeling it’s a sign and I don’t even believe in those!’
‘No it isn’t, it’s just bloody awful bad luck and you and Brae are the last people who deserve that.’ Ella hugged Anna tightly. When she finally pulled back, Ella took a deep breath. ‘I don’t think we should just give up on the wedding. There has to be some way of making it happen today. Maybe not with all the bells and whistles, but if the important part of it is being married to Brae and sharing your parents’ anniversary, then I’m sure we can do it.’
‘I love you for wanting to try, Ella, but we’re never going to be able to find somewhere to hold it. Even the manager from the hotel said it’s one of the busiest weekends of the year for weddings.’
‘You’ve got the registrar booked, though, haven’t you? So all we need is a venue.’ Anna could almost see the cogs of Ella’s brain working. ‘Whatever you do, don’t cancel the registrar, at least not until I’ve made some calls.’
‘Even if we could find a venue. There’s nothing for the guests to eat, the cake was already set up in the ballroom and I’ve got nothing to wear either, not to mention you or the other bridesmaids. Fourteen hours is mission impossible, even for you.’
‘We can wear jeans if we have to, and no one who cares about you and Brae will give a damn about the food, they can bring sandwiches if it comes to it. Just let everyone know that there’s going to be change of venue and I’ll post on the fundraising page when I’ve got more news. Everyone can access that, so they just need to look out for updates. As soon as it gets to a decent hour, I’ll start making some calls. In the meantime, I think I ought to get you that brandy you turned down last night. It might be an ungodly hour of the morning, but it’s supposed to be good for shock.’
‘My stomach’s churning like I’m on a rollercoaster, so I think we’d better stick to tea.’ Anna was shaking, partly because of the shock and partly because a tiny part of her believed that Ella might actually be able to pull this off. And she still wasn’t sure if she wanted her to.
‘Tea it is then, I’ll get it.’ Ella stood up. ‘After that, I’m going to start sending out some emails and messages, so people get them as soon as they wake up.’
‘I don’t want you to feel bad if we don’t manage to rearrange everything, but I’ll never forget the fact that you tried. It means so much to me.’ Anna reached out a hand and Ella squeezed it in response. She was definitely going to need to speak to Brae now and, if they decided to call the wedding off, she wanted to be able to tell Ella before she ran herself ragged trying to rearrange a wedding that was never going to happen.
20
Ella was having trouble keeping up with the number of messages that had come in since she’d posted an announcement asking for help in rearranging Brae and Anna’s wedding.
Some of the things had been a relatively easy fix. Luke Scott was one of the first people to get in touch, asking Ella to call him.
‘Hi, is that Luke? It’s Ella Mehenick, I’m ringing about your offer of help with the wedding?’
‘Thanks for getting back to me. Anna was brilliant when our daughter was born recently and I just want to help out in some way. I run a catering business, and I’d been preparing and freezing canapés and desserts for another wedding I’ve got coming up, but I’d love Anna to have them for hers.’
‘That would be great, but are you sure that’s not going to cause you any problems?’ As grateful as Ella was, she knew Anna would hate the idea of putting any stress on someone with a newborn baby.
‘I was getting ahead because I thought I’d need to be with Tamara all the time to help her cope with Belle. But she’s doing brilliantly and a lot of that’s down to Anna. This is just a way of paying her back a bit.’ Ella could almost hear the smile in Luke’s voice. ‘Just let me know where and what time we need to drop them off, and I’ll be there.’
‘That’s brilliant.’ Ella swallowed hard, not sure whether to admit the truth, but there was no point hiding it. ‘The only problem is I haven’t managed to confirm a venue yet, but I’m going to post the details online for everyone who offers to help as soon as I can.’
‘Good luck! I’ll keep checking back for the details.’
‘Thanks and see you later.’ Ella just about stopped herself saying ‘hopefully’. Without a venue, it didn’t matter how many offers of help they got; this wedding wasn’t going to happen.
Ella’s parents, Ruth and Jago, had offered to make another wedding cake. It wouldn’t be as grand, or have as many layers, but they were incredibly fond of Brae and Anna, so they’d do the best job possible. There wasn’t time to make a rich fruit cake, but Jago would almost certainly include a Cornish hevva cake this time around. He’d told Ella it was going to be a deconstructed stack of various cakes to appeal to different tastes, and weaving in Cornish traditions whenever he could was her father’s trademark. Ella just hoped they’d have somewhere to serve it.
Just after she’d spoken to Luke, a call came through from someone else who wanted to help. Miranda explained that Brae had taken over her stall at the Red Cliff Hotel’s wedding fair when she’d been struck down with severe morning sickness. Apparently, Anna had taken Miranda to the hospital while Brae looked after the stall, and she offered Ella whatever she wanted from the stock she had made up, to help decorate the venue in lieu of flowers or centrepieces and, like Luke, she offered to drop it off. She even promised to make dried flower bouquets for Anna and her bridesmaids to replace the ones that had been lost in the fire. Ella had accepted the offer without really knowing what she was getting into, desperately hoping she wouldn’t come to regret it until she’d had time to check out Miranda’s website. She couldn’t have hoped for more. The dried flower bouquets in the online gallery were stunning and the front page of the website was currently showcasing beautiful flower garlands, some of which were now destined to hang in Anna and Brae’s wedding venue. If only Ella could find them one.
Anna had been despatched to get her hair and make-up done as planned, and Dan had been great at keeping Brae from getting too stressed about the wedding plans being thrown into chaos. He’d also promised to put in some calls to see whether he had any more luck than Ella in finding a venue. They agreed a deadline of three p.m. to find somewhere to hold the ceremony at seven, but the minutes were ticking past far too quickly. If she had to break the news to Anna that the wedding couldn’t go ahead after all, Ella wasn’t sure if she could ever forgive herself. Just before one p.m. she got another call.
‘Oh, hi Ella, it’s Beth Jenson. You and Anna delivered my baby on the day of the storm.’ The voice on th
e other end of the line sounded tentative, as if Ella might have forgotten, but she’d never forget the day of the storm for as long as she lived.
‘Beth it’s good to hear from you. How’s the baby?’
‘He’s great, thanks to you and Anna. We named him Stanley in the end, after both our granddads.’
‘That’s lovely.’
‘Thank you, but I don’t want to waste your time, I can only imagine how frantic things are there. I won’t be offended if you say no, but I think I might have something to offer you for Anna’s wedding.’
‘Really, that’s great!’ Ella held her breath, hoping with every fibre of her being that Beth was about to magic up a wedding venue from somewhere.
‘I got married last year and I had my dress and all of my bridesmaid’s dresses dry-cleaned straight afterwards. I texted the girls and four of them have dropped their dresses back here already. If any of them are any good for you or the other bridesmaids you’d be welcome to them, and I’m sure I was about the same size as Anna when I got married, before I acquired a mum tum!’ Beth laughed. ‘If you think the dress might be any good for her, you’d be welcome to that too.’
‘That’s so kind of you.’ Ella desperately tried to keep some semblance of enthusiasm in her voice. It really was lovely of Beth to offer up her dresses, but without a venue to wear them in, it was nowhere near enough.
‘It was the least I could do. I’d offer to drop them down, but Andy’s got the car and I don’t think I could get down there with the pram and five dresses.’
‘Of course not, I’ve got to meet up with Anna when she finishes at the hairdressers in about an hour, so we’ll pop in after that, if that’s okay with you?’
‘That’s perfect. I just hope Anna likes them.’
‘I’m sure she will, don’t worry.’ Ella glanced at the clock again, as another minute ticked past. She was already worrying more than enough for everyone. If they didn’t find a venue in the next couple of hours, it would all have been for nothing.
Anna’s heart was hammering against her chest. It was just as well that she didn’t believe in bad luck, because she was about to do the one thing that brides weren’t supposed to do on the day of their weddings – see the groom.
‘Oh God, I’m so sorry you’re having all this stress. I just wanted everything to be perfect for you.’ Brae pulled her into his arms as soon as he met her at the beach hut, where she’d told him she’d be. She was already late for her appointment at the hairdressers, which Ella had sent her off to, but there was no point having her hair done if there wasn’t going to be a wedding. Pulling away, she forced herself to look at him as she spoke.
‘None of this is your fault. I want you to know that, before I say anything else.’
‘Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.’ Brae’s eyes were searching her face and she shook her head.
‘I love you so much, it’s not that I don’t want to marry you.’
‘Why does it feel like there’s a but coming?’
‘I was looking for the perfect quote this morning just before the call came through from the hotel, something I could say to toast Mum and Dad. But then I found this.’ Ella handed the book of baby names to Brae.
‘What is it?’ Looking down at the book, there was no flicker of recognition of its meaning in his eyes.
‘It’s from when you were with Julia and you’ve both marked up the names you like.’
‘Oh Anna, that was another life, it doesn’t mean anything.’ Brae looked back at her. ‘I wouldn’t swap anything for the life we’ve got together and I wish I could make you believe me.’
‘I do.’ Anna bit her lip, shaking her head again. ‘At least I’m trying to, I really am. But, even if we get accepted to adopt, we won’t get to choose our baby’s name or go through all those things together. I focused so much on how I didn’t want to lose the chance of having a genetic link to Mum and Dad, but you’re losing the same thing. How can you give all of that up, when you could so easily have it all with someone else? I’m terrified you’re settling for second best and that you’re going to regret it.’
‘I don’t want anyone else.’ Brae took hold of her hands. ‘You think I’m settling for second best? Any life without you in it would be far less than second best. You’re a brilliant, intelligent woman, Anna, so when the hell are you going to get it into your head that I love you? Not some future you who might be a mum, or some idea of a family life with you that might never happen. I love you for exactly who you are right now and, however much you might try and persuade me that you aren’t enough, I know with one hundred per cent certainty that you are.’
‘But you kept the book all this time.’
‘When I broke up with Julia, we split all the books and DVDs we still had straight down the middle. Just before you moved in, I took all the books down from the loft and filled up the shelf in the study to try and prove to you that you weren’t marrying beneath yourself with a buffoon like me who barely ever reads more than the cash and carry catalogue.’ Brae laughed. ‘I love you more than you’ll ever know, but if this is anyone’s fault, it’s yours for being so amazing that I had to try and pretend to be well-read!’
Anna felt her skin go hot; she hated the idea that she might have made Brae feel like he needed to be anything different to what he was. There was no one like him and no one could make her happier than he had. ‘There’s nothing you need to change to try and impress me. I love you so much, but I don’t deserve you.’
‘That’s true, but you’re stuck with me anyway.’ Brae laughed again, pulling her back into his arms. ‘Now are we going to get married, or shall I tell Ella to stop trying to pull off the impossible?’
‘Even though I’ve already had more luck than I deserve finding you, let’s keep hoping for one more miracle.’ If anyone could pull it off it was Ella, but it felt wrong to even hope for another miracle. Whatever happened, she was going to hold on to Brae’s words until they could finally get married. The only reason the book had a special place on the shelf in his study was because he’d felt the need to convince her that she could love someone like him and that he was enough for her, not the other way around, but he was already perfect to her exactly the way he was and she’d never suspected he might have those sort of insecurities too. But it had made her realise how stupid she was being, thinking she needed to be someone else for him to keep loving her. Somehow the innocuous-looking little book that had accidentally ended up on a bookshelf had become the final piece of the jigsaw she hadn’t even realised she’d been searching for. It had convinced Anna that she was enough for Brae too – just her – and that was more than enough of a miracle to be going on with.
21
‘I feel terrible that you had to miss out on getting your hair done.’ Anna turned to Ella, as they pulled up outside Beth’s house.
‘It’s fine, I’ll just pin it up and try not to let the side down!’ Ella grinned. ‘Your hair looks great by the way.’
‘Apparently it’s a fishtail braid, but she left it loose so some of the curls could escape and soften the look, or something like that.’ Anna pulled a face. ‘It’s weird, because it’s nothing like I planned when I was going to wear the tiara that’s now probably just a charred mess, but I think I prefer this.’
‘I love the wildflowers they’ve fixed in along the back.’
‘Me too, but I’m worried about forgetting about them before the wedding, leaning back against something and instantly squashing them flat. I’m cut out for life as a midwife; all this dressing up feels really weird.’
‘You’d better get used to it, because if Beth’s dress is okay, you’ll be going full bride in time for the ceremony.’ Ella hoped the panic didn’t show on her face at the mere mention of the ceremony. When Ella had met her outside the hairdressers, the first thing Anna had asked was whether they’d found a venue or not. She’d given a vague answer about it being narrowed down to two, and that she wouldn’t be telling Anna wh
ere it was until it was all confirmed. Having to lie to her best friend was awful, but Anna had been through enough already. There was no point making her panic when everyone involved was doing whatever they could to find a venue. Ella wasn’t going to confess unless she had to.
Beth met them at the door, with baby Stanley in her arms.
‘Oh Anna, you look lovely.’ She smiled and then glanced at Ella, the expression on her face saying more than words ever could.
‘It’s all right, you don’t have to pretend. I know it looks like I’ve been out in a hurricane, but I’ve promised Anna I won’t scare the children by the time I’m following her down the aisle!’
‘Let’s see if the dresses I’ve got can help with that.’ Beth ushered them through to the front room, where a row of four maxi dresses in a delicate sage green hung next to a large black dress bag, which presumably contained the wedding gown. ‘The bridesmaid dresses are a petite in a size ten, and two size twelves and a size sixteen in standard lengths.’
‘That’s perfect, thank you so much!’ Anna clapped her hands together. ‘Jess is tiny, so the petite one will be great for her. I ordered Toni’s other dress in a size sixteen and you’ll be fine with a twelve, won’t you, Ella?’
‘I’ll wear two pairs of hold-it-all-in pants if I need to, even if it means I have to stand up all night!’ Ella had no idea how Anna was holding back from unzipping the dress bag. If she didn’t do it soon, Ella would.