A Surprise Christmas Wedding

by Phillipa Ashley

  Trevor had left a deep trail of doggy prints in the snow that looked more like a bear had stumbled across the lawn. They led all around the rear of his and Lottie’s cottages.

  ‘Come on, Trevor,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Let’s go down to the lake for a change.’

  Trevor romped towards the wicket gate in the hedge that led from the rear garden of his own cottage, and down to the lake pathway. He stood by the gate and barked before tearing back to the bird feeder.

  ‘Trevor!’ Jay called, as the dog wriggled through a gap in the low box hedge that separated his garden from Lottie’s. Jay spotted smaller prints in the snow. A squirrel had clearly visited in the hope of a feed and then tried Lottie’s own bird table.

  ‘Leave the squirrel alone, Trev. We don’t have time and he won’t appreciate you being friendly—’

  Out of sight, Trevor’s barks became louder and more insistent.

  ‘Oh no. I hope you haven’t caught one …’ Jay stepped over the hedge into Lottie’s garden. A moment later he heard a man shouting and stopped dead.

  ‘Can you get him off me!’

  Connor was pinned against Lottie’s back door by Trevor. ‘He’s like a wild beast!’ he screeched.

  ‘Trevor!’ Jay called. ‘Come here now!’

  With a final sniff at Connor’s jeans, Trevor slunk back to Jay.

  Connor glared at Trevor. ‘Thank feck for that.’ He took a tentative step away from the door. ‘I thought he was going to have me for breakfast.’

  ‘He wouldn’t have hurt you. He probably only looking out for Lottie, thinking you were an intruder,’ Jay said, as his mind went into overdrive: why would Connor be creeping out of Lottie’s house on the dawn of his wedding day. Or had he only just turned up?

  Any rational explanation – apart from one – faded when Lottie emerged onto the porch, wearing only a dressing gown. ‘Connor,’ she said. ‘I told you to leave quietly.’

  Her face fell when she saw him. ‘Jay … I didn’t expect to see you so early.’

  ‘I was taking Trev for a walk. It’s going to be a busy day.’ He directed this at Connor, who was smirking now he was safe. ‘I thought Trevor had scented a squirrel …’

  ‘No, it was Connor. He had to stay the night here because of the snow …’ Lottie said, clutching her dressing gown tighter. ‘I was going to find a way of getting him home. He turned up after midnight,’ Lottie added, an edge of desperation in her voice. She looked like she’d been awake all night to Jay, the shadows under her eyes contrasting with her pale face. She threw a desperate glance at Connor, as if wanting him to help her out.

  ‘I had a few too many drinks and ended up here,’ Connor said.

  Lottie glared at him.

  Jay was still in shock at seeing Connor emerge from Lottie’s cottage, so cocky and blasé. ‘It’s your business, but you won’t get out in your car,’ he said to her alone. No matter what had gone on between her and Connor, Jay could only think of keeping her safe.

  ‘I realise that now. Connor was going out to check how bad it was.’

  ‘If you really want to leave, I’ll give you a lift in the truck,’ Jay said to Connor.

  ‘Thanks, that would be a great idea, if you don’t mind,’ Lottie said, glowering at Connor, as if she was angry with him for being caught creeping out of the cottage. ‘And the sooner the better. Connor has to get ready for the wedding. I think we’re going to need more help with transport for the rest of the bridal party too, if you can.’

  Jay hesitated. He didn’t give a monkey’s if Connor made it to his wedding or not. Privately, he thought Keegan was way better off without him, but that wasn’t his business. No matter how broken his trust in Lottie was, no matter what she and Connor might have been up to, he was still prepared to bust a gut to help her.

  ‘I’ll sort something out. Let me take Trevor for a quick run and I’ll make some calls. I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes?’ He forced himself to speak to Connor. ‘I’ll give you a lift home.’

  ‘How will Keegan get here?’ Connor whined, without a word of thanks. ‘Lottie mentioned a tractor.’ He pulled a face.

  Jay restrained the urge to swear. ‘We’ll think of something.’

  ‘OK. Connor, come back inside!’ Lottie snapped.

  She vanished inside, leaving Jay to wonder exactly what had gone on in the cottage. Once again, he forced himself to consider the possibility that things weren’t as he feared and Lottie was telling the truth. He couldn’t imagine that Lottie would want to rekindle her relationship with an arse like Connor – but he wouldn’t put anything past the man.

  Connor lingered a moment after Lottie had shot back indoors, obviously desperate not to be seen by anyone else. ‘Thanks. You know how awkward this could look with Keegan if she found out that I’d – um – spent the night here?’ He smirked. ‘People do jump to conclusions but you know what it’s like. We all do stuff we regret when women are involved. No one’s perfect, are they?’

  Connor winked and Jay’s stomach turned over. Surely, surely, Lottie wouldn’t have slept with him? Not after their kiss … The guy had to be winding Jay up?

  ‘It’s none of my business …’

  ‘Thanks all the same. You’ve got me out of a hole.’

  ‘Don’t thank me. I’m doing this for Lottie. No one else. Trevor!’

  It was best if he walked away before he told Connor exactly what he thought of him. That would really wake up the Firholme residents. Jay strode off, taking Trevor on a different route than he’d planned. They headed for the lane that led from the estate entrance and out to the public road.

  The gritter hadn’t been able to reach the public road yet, so it was thick with a layer of as-yet undisturbed snow. Trevor romped ahead, his black head vanishing and reappearing amid the drifts. No matter how often Jay told himself that Connor had been drunk and simply wandered all that way through the snow to Lottie’s place uninvited, the worst-case scenario that she had invited Connor to the Bothy and wanted him to stay over still couldn’t be magicked away. He tried to force his mind on addressing the immediate problem: transporting Connor home, and then the bridal party back to Firholme.

  After a ten-minute outing to enable Trevor to complete his morning ‘ablutions’, Jay took him home, wiped the snow from his coat and dried him. He then settled him in the kitchen with his breakfast before he headed out again. It was now light and he had to admit, under a blue sky, Firholme resembled Narnia. On any other day, he’d have been uplifted by the sight of the place he loved covered with sparkling snow from fell top to lake shore.

  He called his grounds supervisor who was already up and marshalling everyone who lived on site or nearby to help clear the track from the main road. He was still talking as he rapped on the door of the Bothy.

  Lottie answered, dressed now, in an oversized sweater and jeans, her hair caught in a ponytail that bobbed up and down as she let him in.

  Jay noticed two cereal bowls on the coffee table, alongside two mugs. He heard water running upstairs and assumed Connor was in the bathroom.

  ‘Connor turned up after midnight. Keegan had found out Connor and I used to live together so she threw him out and he ended up here. I didn’t want him to stay but he’d have frozen – literally – if I’d turned him away. Who was I going to knock up at that time of night? Shayla? You? How could I explain him coming here? You do believe me, don’t you?’

  ‘It’s not my business to believe anything …’ he said, treading carefully. ‘You don’t have to explain.’

  Lottie opened her mouth as if she might apologise but instead, her voice rose. ‘Actually, you’re absolutely right. I don’t have to apologise or explain. To anyone. Because I haven’t done anything wrong.’ She sounded sad and tired. ‘It’s you, Jay – you who have the problem with trust and I can’t do a thing about that. Only you can make that shift. Only you.’ Her voice was breaking. ‘And now, I have to call Shayla and tell her why the bride is threatening to call off the weddin
g.’

  They heard footsteps thudding on the landing.

  ‘Lottie …’ he began, overwhelmed by her outburst.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it. I have enough to worry about as it is. For now, we need to work together to make sure this wedding goes ahead,’ she said desperately. ‘For Keegan’s sake and for Firholme.’

  He nodded, cursing the way he’d handled the situation. He didn’t know what to think about Connor any more but one thing was for sure: Lottie was angry and upset with him. The only thing he could do properly was his job. ‘I’ve got a few ideas that might work for transporting everyone,’ he said.

  ‘Good. I need to speak to Shayla to try and salvage this mess,’ Lottie replied curtly. ‘If it is going to happen, we have to make them think it’s all under control. It’s the only way we’ll get through today.’

  Moments later, Connor walked into the sitting room. ‘I’m ready …’ he said gloomily as if he was off to the guillotine. Jay didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry for him, but he was determined to get him back home to face the music.

  A few minutes later, leaving Lottie to make some calls, he pulled the truck up outside the Bothy. Trevor jumped out and ran to sniff at a bush. Jay went to the door to beckon to Connor to nip out of the house. Even while walking to the truck, Connor’s designer jeans and smart boots were soaked.

  He slunk down low in his seat so he couldn’t be seen.

  Jay’s insides churned. He didn’t know what to believe any more.

  Trevor pulled his nose out of a bush and leapt into the truck over Jay’s lap and onto Connor, before settling in the footwell.

  ‘Jesus. Does he have to come?’ he moaned. ‘There’s hardly any room for my feet!’

  ‘Yes. Otherwise, he’ll be stuck inside the cottage for the whole day because we’re so busy with your wedding.’

  ‘I’m allergic to dogs.’

  Jay gripped the wheel. ‘Open the window, then. He can’t sit outside.’

  Trevor rested his jowls on Connor’s jeans and gazed up at him.

  Connor swore. ‘He’s drooling all over my leg!’

  ‘Don’t worry. It’s because he’s decided he likes you,’ Jay said, firing up the engine. ‘Then again, he’s never been the best judge of character.’

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The wedding morning

  Lottie stepped out of the Bothy into a winter wonderland. Every inch of the landscape that wasn’t water was covered in snow, from the top of the mountains to the lake shore. It wasn’t so much a blanket as a twenty-tog goose-down duvet of snow, with wispy flakes swirling in the air like feathers. It was the most idyllic backdrop for a Christmas wedding as could be imagined – shame it wasn’t going to happen.

  She trudged over to Shayla’s apartment in the Old Coach House.

  Wearing a grim expression, Shayla put a strong cup of coffee in front of her. ‘So, you and Connor were close but you decided not to tell me?’ she said.

  ‘Yes. He asked me not to although it was my decision to agree. I can understand if you want me to resign,’ she said. ‘After the wedding is over.’

  Shayla shook her head and pressed her lips together. Lottie’s stomach turned over. She’d seen that look before on her boss’s face. She was angry. Very angry.

  ‘I’ve messed up, big time,’ Lottie said.

  ‘No. You didn’t. You made a judgement call in a situation you couldn’t win and it was Connor who put you in that situation. You had every right to expect your private life before you came here to remain exactly that: private, but these things have a way of coming out. I’m only disappointed you didn’t feel you could trust me enough to tell me.’

  Lottie’s hopes plummeted. Shayla’s disappointment was harder to bear than if she’d been angry. ‘It was sheer bad luck that Connor’s mum told Keegan we’d been close. I wish she hadn’t,’ she said. ‘That doesn’t make any difference to the fact I didn’t share the situation with you from the start. I thought I – we – could keep a lid on it and no one would need to know.’

  ‘I understand that … but now it’s all out.’ Shayla pursed her lips but then sighed. ‘No use wondering “what if”. We’re into damage limitation. What have you heard? Is he back? What has the bride said?’

  ‘He texted me to say she won’t let him in … She doesn’t know he spent the night here.’

  ‘That’s something, I suppose, but I have to be honest, Lottie, I can’t see this wedding going ahead, unless something dramatic happens to turn it around. They’re getting married at noon for heaven’s sake! We can’t force a bride to marry someone; and we shouldn’t.’

  Yet it was partly Lottie’s fault, she thought, and she had to try. ‘I – I could call Keegan and try to explain. I could go and see her.’

  ‘Wow. That’s a big risk.’

  ‘It is, but the way things are, I don’t think they can get any worse.’

  Shayla thought for a moment. ‘What on earth will you say to her?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I don’t want to pressure Keegan into marrying Connor, or even persuade her, but I can’t bear the thought of her thinking that I – or Firholme by association – is to blame.’

  Shayla shook her head. ‘Honey, I don’t care what she thinks. I may be disappointed that you didn’t trust me but you’re not going to take the fall for this situation. Not in my eyes, or anyone else’s at Firholme.’

  But that’s what other people would think, Lottie wanted to shout: her colleagues, Connor’s family, Keegan and her lot – and even Jay. It made her sick to her stomach that after losing Connor and getting over him, he’d overturned her life again and jeopardised her chance of a fresh start.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, her eyes brimming at Shayla’s support. ‘I could at least call Keegan and see if she’ll see me, but I’ll have to go straightaway …’

  After a moment of thought, Shayla said. ‘I can take you, if you like.’

  ‘You’re so busy here though.’

  ‘Well, I won’t have anything to do if there’s no wedding, will I?’ She leapt up, reminding Lottie of why she was the boss of Firholme. ‘Come on, I’ll get the Range Rover out of the garage while you phone. At first, I thought it was a terrible idea, but the more I think about it, I realise this is our only hope of salvaging this wedding and our reputation.’

  The holiday house that Keegan’s family had rented was on the edge of the village, behind large iron gates. Lottie had to buzz the intercom and wait in the cold before they opened to let her inside, an experience that didn’t help her nerves.

  Shayla sat in the car on the road outside, and Lottie couldn’t help thinking whether it was in case her boss thought she needed to make a quick getaway.

  She was amazed to have even been allowed admittance at all. After her discussion with Shayla, she’d texted Keegan, asking if she could come round. Ten agonising minutes later, she’d received a curt reply.

  Why not?

  That could have meant anything. Steeling herself, she trudged up the drive to the house, rapped the knocker and waited. Was she going to get a hearing, or was Keegan going to throw something at her?

  Keegan’s mother opened the front door. She was tall, bronzed and immaculately coiffed, dressed in silk pyjamas and a cashmere cardigan. ‘You’d better come in,’ she said wearily. ‘Keegan’s in her bedroom. This way.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Lottie, relieved at least that Mrs Sinclair hadn’t lambasted her as soon as she’d stepped through the door. She wasn’t sure what Keegan’s parents knew, so she stayed silent as she was shown to Keegan’s room.

  ‘She’s in there,’ Mrs Sinclair said. ‘I’ll be downstairs while you two talk.’ She gave a grim smile. ‘Good luck.’

  Strangely enough, Lottie didn’t feel very lucky when she tapped at the door.

  ‘It’s Lottie,’ she said.

  A few moments later, Keegan called imperiously, ‘You’d better come in.’

  She was sitting on a stool in front of the dressing ta
ble, wearing a silk robe. Her long hair had been swept up into a chignon and she was in full make-up and false eyelashes. Her wedding gown hung on the back of the wardrobe door and her veil was draped over a cheval mirror.

  She must have seen Lottie’s sideways glance at the dress. ‘I – I couldn’t bring myself to cancel the hairdresser and beautician,’ she said, with a wobble in her voice.

  ‘No …’ Lottie couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and hope that this was a sign Keegan hadn’t completely decided against going through with the wedding.

  Keegan’s eyes glittered and her tone hardened. ‘I really thought you were nice,’ she said, plunging Lottie’s hopes in an instant. ‘I thought I could trust you, but I half guessed there was something going on between you and Connor. I just had a feeling and I should have followed my gut.’

  ‘Nothing was going on. Nothing has been, since the day we split up, long before Connor met you,’ Lottie said, worried that she might be making the situation worse.

  Keegan snorted. ‘How can I believe that? I confided in you! You gave me advice and all the time you knew you’d been living together – shared his bed every night – you must have been laughing at me!’

  This wasn’t the start Lottie had hoped for and her sense of unfairness at having to put Connor’s case forward was growing. ‘I can promise you that laughter has been the last thing on my mind,’ she said quietly. ‘Connor may be no saint, he may have deceived you, but it was all for your sake.’

  Keegan pursed her lips. ‘He says the same as you, but how can I believe him?’

  ‘Simple. Because it’s true. The moment he walked into Firholme, I was so shocked, I could hardly speak. I didn’t know what to do or say for the best but you seemed to love Firholme and Connor asked me not to spoil your moment.’ Lottie corrected herself, wanting to own her part in the deception. ‘I agreed not to say anything but in hindsight, I admit it wasn’t the best decision I ever made. I’m sure he feels the same and would make a different one now.’