by Jenny Kane
‘Excellent.’ Mabel gestured to her tightly tided apron. ‘I’ll just check the kitchen is all set for Sybil to find anything she needs, should she need it. Then I’ll lose this and get ready myself.’
Giving Mabel what she hoped was a reassuring look, Helen started to move faster before her fingers cramped under the weight of too many coat hangers. Her pulse thudded in her chest as she took each stair. I ought to get ready, but if Tom needs me, then…
Helen’s thoughts were cut dead by the sight of Tina coming out of the bedroom. Her hair was curled in relaxed ringlets around her shoulders, and her eyes shone with happiness.
‘Just nipping to the loo before I tackle the makeup.’ She paused. ‘You okay, Helen?’
‘Yes. These are just heavy. You look fantastic.’
Tina laughed as she pulled at her old shirt. ‘Maybe I’ll get married in this. It’s cosier than the dress. Dylan said it was silly dressing up and being uncomfortable. I’m wondering if he was right!’
As Tina disappeared into the bathroom, Helen all but ran into the guest suite and dropped the outfits and vanity bag on the bed.
She’s going to be so disappointed if Dylan can’t come. Helen shivered. The thought that she might not see the lad in his little suit clawed at her heart. But not as much as the thought that neither she, nor Tom, might get to see Dylan without flying to the other side of the world.
Fifty-eight
Saturday May 23rd
‘Wow!’
Bea voiced her approval as Helen and Thea lined up to have their bodice laces pulled in as tight as they could go.
‘You look incredible!’ Sam’s mum looked effortlessly immaculate in a flowing silk dress dotted with a rainbow of flowers. ‘Shaun and Tom are lucky boys.’
As Tina’s future mother-in-law left to check on the bride in the next room, Thea let out an exhalation of breath.
Helen picked up a hairbrush and pointlessly swept it through her bouncing curls. ‘Are you having trouble breathing in you dress, or was it the “lucky boys” comment that has you sighing?’
‘A little of both.’ Thea adjusted her cleavage with an unladylike prod. ‘Although I feel a bit less at sea since I spoke to Shaun, I can’t help thinking that only a little while ago we were a couple who were planning to walk down the aisle together as best man and bridesmaid. I even wondered if, maybe, one day… And now…’ She shrugged. ‘Well, at least we’re friends.’
‘More than friends, surely?’ Helen pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen across her eyes.
Determined not to let a wave of uncertainty claim her, Thea gave her friend a bracing smile. ‘It’ll work out if it’s supposed to. How about you? Your smile’s looking a bit forced too. You and Tom okay?’
‘Very okay. It’s Dylan.’ Helen moved to the door and closed it behind her, suddenly desperate to share her concerns. ‘He isn’t here.’
‘What?’
‘Sue never turned up. Tom’s gone to fetch him.’
‘Gone to Tiverton? But the wedding’s in an hour.’ Thea went pale as she sat on the side of the bed, then instantly got up again. ‘Damn, these are difficult to sit in.’
‘I wish he hadn’t gone.’ Helen headed to the window, wishing she could see Tom and Dylan running across the lawn. ‘Tom could drive past Sue and not notice, or they might not even be there because…’ Helen’s voice broke, her words sticking in her throat.
Thea’s face clouded as her friend pushed a tear away, smudging the mascara they’d only just applied. ‘Helen?’
Helen dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. ‘I promised I wouldn’t say. Tom’s so cut up about it, although he’s pretending he isn’t. Dylan doesn’t even know yet.’
‘Doesn’t know what?’
‘Sue has a new partner. They’re moving to Australia.’
‘Oh my God!’ Thea stared at her friend in horror. ‘Poor Tom.’ Speechless for a moment, Thea whispered, ‘Bert and Mabel will be devastated.’
‘There’s a lot of that going on.’
‘I’m so sorry, Helen.’ Thea glanced at her watch. ‘Sue didn’t say they were leaving today did she?’
‘She said September. But…’
‘Right.’ Thea sucked her lip, feeling the lipstick she’d applied dissolving. ‘Won’t they need visas and stuff? Have they got those sorted?’
Helen spun round, ‘No. No they haven’t, so they can’t have just gone. I’m so silly. I just panicked, I… So where are they?’
Thea checked the time. ‘Well, whatever Sue’s doing, we have an hour before the ceremony, and half an hour before pre-wedding photographs outside.’
Helen checked her phone. There were no messages. ‘Do we tell Tina and Sam that their ring bearer and possibly their usher might not be coming?’
‘I don’t know.’ Thea lifted her lipstick off the side. ‘But I do know we don’t have long to get every trace of worry off our faces, retouch our damaged makeup, and get outside.’
*
Having shown both the photographer and the registrar the way to the walled garden, Mabel stood with Sybil at the entrance to the reception marquee. The women nodded in mutual satisfaction. A few of the village guests had arrived, and were milling around the grounds, muttering murmurs of appreciation.
The glasses, some prefilled with Bucks Fizz, champagne or orange juice sat on a table ready for the guests to sip pre and post ceremony, shone in the late morning sunshine. Two large jugs of ice water waited next to a huge variety of platters, laden with scones, tucked under cotton clothes, ready to be revealed once the guests were seated at the reception.
‘There are forty tubs of clotted cream in the fridge, and glass bowls of jam are waiting on trays in the kitchen.’ Sybil spoke with the confidence of a good job already well done. ‘As soon as they say “I do”, I’ll slip away and get everything uncovered.’
Mabel held up her clipboard. Only three boxes were left to tick. ‘What time are your waitresses getting here to help?’
‘Twelve.’ Sybil held up a teaspoon to make sure it was polished to perfection. ‘They are going to dish out the butter. Not something I want to do yet, as this sunshine will melt it too fast.’
Placing a tick next to ‘Food and Drink’, Mabel smiled. ‘Just Bert to arrive with Dylan, and the men and bridesmaid’s pre-wedding photographs to do, and we’re almost there.’ She handed the clipboard to Sybil. ‘I’m trusting you with this now. I need to fetch Tina.’
‘Shouldn’t Bert do that?’ Sybil took the clipboard, understanding the trust involved and the seriousness with which Mabel took such things.
‘Normally yes, but we agreed there were too many stairs for him at the moment. His breath still isn’t quite right. He’ll meet Tina in the drawing room, before we kick off.’
As Mabel moved towards the manor, Sybil called out, ‘I didn’t say, you look amazing Mabel. The Queen herself would envy that purple.’
*
Lord Malvern stood next to his son, a look of pride on his face that Sam had never dreamed he’d see directed at him.
‘Good choice, son.’ Charles straightened his own jacket as Sam brushed down his. ‘Tina will be as proud of you, as are your mother and I.’
‘Thank you.’ Sam stared in the mirror. He’d almost cut off his ponytail as an extra wedding present for Tina, but at the last minute, he’d simply tucked it inside his collar.
‘Almost time to go over the top.’ Folding his handkerchief into his top pocket, Charles headed to the door. ‘I promised your mother I’d make sure Mr Hastings was alright. Check his speech over and that sort of thing.’
‘You can call him Bert, Father, and don’t worry, he won’t say anything inappropriate. Mabel would kill him if he did, plus Dylan will be with him, so it’ll be family friendly.’
‘And the rings are safe?’
‘Shaun has them. He’ll pass them to Dylan, who will pass them to me on the registrar’s say so.’
‘All systems go then.’ Charles tugged his pocket
watch from his waistcoat pocket. ‘By my reckoning, we should be getting outside. Pre wedding photographs with the best man, usher and pageboy are in ten minutes.’
*
Tina lifted the photograph of her parents off the table by the bed and held it to her chest. Her friends were wonderful, but that didn’t mean she didn’t wish life had been different. One twist of fate, due to one careless driver, and suddenly she’d had no parents.
‘I think you’d like Sam.’ She spoke to her mum and dad, smoothing a finger around their glass covered faces. ‘He’d have liked you too.’
As the door behind her opened, Tina placed the photograph on the dressing table.
Mabel followed the direction of Tina’s gaze. ‘They look fine people.’
‘They were.’ Tina didn’t look round. ‘I know it’s daft, but I wanted them with me as I got ready, so I brought the picture through from my room.’
‘Not daft at all. Why don’t we take them with us?’ Mabel opened her palatial handbag. ‘They could watch from the signing table. There’s plenty of time for me to get their frame polished and in place before the wedding starts.’
Without waiting for a debate, Mabel popped the photograph in her bag. ‘Now then. Let’s have a look at you.’
*
Shaun saw his mobile light up a second before it buzzed into life.
‘Tom? You okay? Need help with getting Bert ready? I was just going to call, you’ve been…’
Thirty seconds later, Shaun, dragging his suit jacket over his back, making sure the wedding rings were safely stowed in his inside pocket, picked up his car keys and dashed down the backstairs to the driveway.
Stopping to text Sam to say he was off to provide an extra pair of hands at Bert’s, and that they may be a touch behind schedule, but not to worry, Shaun drove to Upwich as fast as the speed limit and narrow lanes would allow.
Less than ten minutes later, he was with an anxious looking Bert, who was stood on the doorstep.
‘Shaun? Aren’t you supposed to be doing photos with Sam?’ Bert gave a hoarse cough. Shaking it off, he asked, ‘Where’s Tom and young Dylan?’
‘Now that, Bert, is the question.’
Fifty-nine
Saturday May 23rd
Thea and Helen stood back to back, their widest smiles on their faces, as the photographer took a picture of them beneath the apple tree.
As blossom fell around them like tiny dry snowflakes, Helen tried to concentrate on holding her posy of flowers and looking happy, rather than worrying that there was no sign of Tom or Dylan. Meanwhile, Thea, also worrying about Tom and Dylan, was trying not to wonder if Shaun would want to expand on the conversation they’d had the previous evening, or if, after a night’s sleep, he’d decided enough was enough, and they’d be better off as friends.
When the photographer had finally finished with them, both bridesmaids made a dive for the mobile phones they’d hidden under the table Mabel had insisted they set up for the empty glasses people were bound to accidentally carry through from the main garden to the walled one.
‘Anything?’ Thea asked as Helen studied her screen.
‘Nothing.’ Helen looked across to where Sam and his parents were chatting by the chicken coop. ‘I’m going to have to tell Sam, aren’t I?’
‘Maybe.’ Thea was about to put her phone down, when a text vibrated in her hand. ‘It’s Shaun.’
‘You okay?’ Helen saw her friend’s eyes cloud for a split second, before she let out a deep breath.
‘Shaun’s with Bert, apparently he nodded off and there’ll be a short delay. They’ll be here as soon as possible.’
‘Oh thank goodness!’ Helen looked anxiously towards the house. ‘That gives Tom at least another fifteen minutes to get here.’
‘He might be with Bert.’
Helen shook her head. ‘Shaun would have said.’
Thea spotted Mabel coming through the gate to the garden. ‘We’d better go and tell her. I bet she’s already twitching that the best man photos haven’t started yet.’
*
‘Thanks for doing that, Bert.’
‘Not at all.’ Bert held out his right arm so Shaun could help him into his jacket. ‘Mabel will easily believe I dropped off. Better she gives me an earful later than stresses now and worries Sam and Tina.’
Shaun looked at his phone. There was still nothing new from Tom. ‘Well, if we dawdle for another ten minutes, and then drive over to the house, we should buy Tom a bit more time.’
A shadow cast over Bert’s face. ‘I hope Dylan’s alright.’
*
Mabel was beginning to run out of things to say as the minutes ticked by on the drawing room clock, when Thea put her head around the door.
‘Helen just had a text from Tom, they got a bit delayed, but they’re on their way.’
Tina puffed out an exhalation of air. ‘I was getting worried. I mean, I know weddings often run late, but I feel like I’ve been pacing in here for hours.’
‘I know, I’m sorry.’ Thea pulled a face. ‘Why don’t you sit down?’
‘I don’t want to crease my dress before the ceremony.’ Tina stroked her skirt. ‘Is that silly?’
‘Not at all.’ Thea smiled, as a memory of pre-Mill Grange Tina, who’d loved dressing up in pretty clothes, popped through her mind. ‘Fear not though, everyone is happy out there. The drink is flowing, although Sybil is making sure the alcohol consumption is low! And better still, you have a visitor.’
Thea opened the door and Bert came in.
With a nod to Thea, Mabel gave her husband her seal of approval. ‘Very smart, my boy, very smart indeed. We’ll be outside waiting. As soon as Dylan is here, we’ll begin.’
As the door shut behind his wife, Bert took a step forward and held out both his hands for Tina to take. ‘Beautiful. Just beautiful. No other word will do.’
Suddenly choked, Bert, a glaze of tears over his eyes, held Tina’s palms tightly. Her fitting ecru dress flattered her slim figure, the bodice neatly tied, allowing her just enough room to breathe. A slim panel of lace along the top of the bodice was twinned with the lace detail in the short veil that sat, pushed back, over her golden ringlets.
‘I know I’m not your father, but I do know that if he were here, he’d be as bowled over as I am. This is an honour and a privilege.’
‘Thank you.’ Tina’s eyes shone with gratitude. ‘Not just for this, but for always being there for me and Sam. Really, Bert, I don’t know what we’d do without you.’
‘You’d muddle along just fine!’
Throwing caution to the wind, and risking a crease or two, Tina gave Bert a big hug. ‘Have you seen Sam? Is he okay?’
‘He’s just fine. With his parents at the moment. That’s a good family you’re marrying into.’
Tina laughed. ‘Can’t get much better than an earl and countess.’
Bert chuckled, ‘Oh that’s just window dressing lass. I meant, they are nice people. Now then,’ he stretched his arms out, ‘let me sit down and look at you properly until that young Dylan arrives to look after both of us.’
*
Tom spotted Sue’s Mini in a layby ten miles out of Upwich. He could see Sue, sat by herself, on the bonnet of the car. She was playing with a mobile phone in her hand. He couldn’t see Dylan.
Relief sent sweat trickling down his back. They must have broken down. Sue can’t have a phone signal. It’s okay. Dylan is okay.
Pulling into the small space left, Tom checked his watch. It was a quarter to twelve. Whatever he did, there was no way he’d be back before the wedding started.
‘Tom.’ Sue sounded resigned.
‘Where’s Dylan? Has the car broken down?’
‘Asleep in the back.’ She tilted her head to the car behind her. ‘And no, we haven’t broken down.’
‘Then what on earth…?’ Tom reined in his temper. ‘Sue, I have to take Dylan to get ready. He’s the ring bearer! The wedding is either going to run late or he
’ll miss out on his big moment. All because of you!’
Sue looked up at Tom, meeting his eyes for the first time. ‘I needed to think, so I went for a drive. Dylan fell asleep.’
‘A drive? Sue, you’re impossible! Tina and Sam are getting married at twelve! Dylan is important to the ceremony. They’ll want him in the pre-wedding photographs.’
Sue looked at her watch. ‘Sorry. Lost track of time. I was thinking.’
‘Thinking?’ Not sure what to say, and knowing there was no time for a row, Tom bit his lip. ‘Is it okay if I take Dylan then?’
‘What?’
Tom stared at Sue. ‘Is it alright if I take Dylan to the manor? I’m not having you turn round and accuse me of kidnapping him or something!’
Now Tom looked closely, he could see that Sue had been crying. He wondered if she’d slept. ‘Are you alright?’ He shifted awkwardly. ‘Look, if you wanted to come too, I’m sure Tina and Sam wouldn’t mind. As long as we don’t argue at their wedding.’
‘Thanks, but I’ll pass.’ She paused as she unlocked the car. ‘I’d like a photograph though, if that’s okay. One of Dylan in his suit.’
‘I’ve already pre-ordered you one.’
‘Oh.’ Sue seemed to rally as she opened the back of the car and smoothed her sleeping son’s fringe. ‘I’ll collect him at four o’clock. On the dot.’
‘On the dot? Really? Does that mean Dylan and I can look forward to an hour or two sitting in the driveway waiting for you, or does it mean four o’clock?’
‘Don’t be petty.’
Biting his lip, Tom went to the Mini and opened the door. Dylan was sound asleep in his car seat, oblivious to his father’s arrival or his location. ‘Right. Four o’clock.’
‘Thank you.’ Sue pushed her hair from her eyes. ‘I’ll get his bag. He wanted to bring his new dinosaur toy to show Helen. Harriet gave it to him.’
Tom’s eyebrows rose in wary surprise. ‘Did Dylan tell you about Helen?’
‘I’d worked it out.’
‘Oh.’ Tom watched Dylan’s chest rise and fall gently in his sleep. ‘I was going to tell you about us, but after your news I—’