Lizzie Marshall's Wedding (26 page)

‘That’s probably because Lizzie and her parents no doubt organised the entire thing leaving you with just the tasks of arranging the honeymoon and of turning up,’ Becky said without taking her eyes from her iPad – something Max had bought her to “help with her business”.

He responded by pulling her into his arms and kissing her then he said, ‘You have no idea how relieved I am that this time, all I have to do is sign the cheques. What time are Lizzie and her entourage arriving?’

‘Around six-thirty.’

‘Did you know mum’s also invited Gerald and Victoria to stay? She told me she’s having an informal supper party tonight and a dinner party on Saturday to which she’s also invited Jess, Susie and Ben.’

Becky nodded.

‘And you and Lily of course but that goes without saying – although I’ve said it anyway.’ He grinned. ‘I hope I’m on that list of things to do today.’

Becky raised her eyes to his. ‘Haven’t you got any work to do? You haven’t been to your office all week.’

‘Mum and Dad’s property business runs itself – well our manager does and he doesn’t need me around – and the Venture Capital company is ticking over nicely, so no; I can help you instead.’

‘Oh good,’ Becky said sarcastically. ‘Do you know Phil, Jack’s best man? You obviously know Jane, the bridesmaid.’

‘Yes to both. I’ll make some coffee just to prove I can be helpful,’ he said heading for the kitchen and switching on the kettle. ‘I’ve known Jane for years. She’s been Lizzie’s best friend since way before my time. And Phil works at Brockleman Brothers Bank, where I used to work, so I’ve known him for several years, although it was only since Lizzie and Jack started dating, that Phil and I became friends. We were just work colleagues before.’

‘So ... they knew you when you were with Lizzie?’Becky asked after a few minutes.

‘Yes. Oh ... I know what you’re thinking.’ He came back into the sitting room and handed her a mug of coffee then sat next to her on the sofa. ‘Don’t worry, they won’t be comparing you; they are really nice people. And even if they did – you’d come out on top in my eyes.’ He put one arm around her shoulders and smiled lovingly at her. ‘Speaking of you being on top ... ’

Lizzie was thrilled. She’d told Susie, by email and phone, the sort of dress she wanted and the sketches Susie sent her were spot on. The material, ivory satin and organza, she’d seen when she had come down for the weekend in March and she’d seen the photos Susie emailed her but she wasn’t prepared for the real thing.

It was a close fitting, satin shift dress overlaid with a film of fine embroidered organza. The dress swept across the top of her arms, off the shoulders and low down at the back where it trailed to a point just below her waist. The sleeves were the finest organza, and came to a point at her wrists at the front. The skirt fell to the floor with a small flick of a train at the back. Simple but beautiful and Lizzie was lost for words.

‘Try on the organza veil,’ Susie said. ‘That’ll be held in place by a band of fresh, white rose buds but for now, we’ll use combs.’

Susie attached the veil then handed Lizzie a pair of ivory coloured, embroidered satin, slippers, with a softly pointed toe.

‘Your bouquet will be white roses and two dark pink roses, the only splash of colour other than ivory but for now try this, just so that you can see the effect.’ She gave Lizzie a bouquet of dried rosebuds.

‘Oh Lizzie!’ Jane said, her eyes filling with tears. ‘You look even more beautiful the second time around.’

Little alteration was needed so Susie packed the outfit away and Jane tried on hers. It was a simple close fitting, emerald green, satin dress with the same scooped shouldered neckline but the skirt fell to just above the knee and the sleeves ended just above the elbow. It showed off her copper-coloured hair to perfection.

‘Oh. It seems a little too close fitting,’ Susie joked. ‘Don’t worry though; it’s not a problem to let it out as I always make allowances when working from measurements alone.’

‘That’s the problem with being happily married,’ Jane said a wistful look in her eyes, ‘contentment makes you forget to watch what you eat.’

Lizzie studied her friend’s profile and her eyes burst open like a camera shutter. ‘Jane! Are you sure that’s the reason you’ve put on weight? The only places that dress is tight are your tummy and your boobs!’

Jane did a half turn to see her profile then spun round and stared at Lizzie in disbelief. ‘Oh my God Lizzie! I can’t be! Do you really think ...?’

‘I think we need to get to a pharmacy and find out!’ Lizzie said enthusiastically.

They fell into each other’s arms, laughing and crying whilst Jess, Becky and Susie exchanged bemused looks.

Jane was pregnant, the test confirmed it and when she sat down in Susie’s kitchen and worked it out, she realised that she could be anything up to ten weeks. Her cycle had never been particularly regular and she hadn’t even considered that she might be pregnant. In her everyday clothes, no one would have noticed, although she did say that her jeans had felt tighter of late, but in the bridesmaids dress, her usually flat stomach had shown a slightly more rounded look.

‘I can’t wait to tell Iain. Oh God Lizzie, he will be pleased won’t he? I mean Fraser’s twenty-six now and I don’t know whether Iain even wants another child. We’ve never discussed it and we’ve only been married for two years and –’

‘Will you stop panicking! Of course Iain will be pleased. He loves you and whether you’ve discussed it or not, he knows you want a family. He’s heard us talking about children enough times to know that. I will admit, he’ll probably be surprised but I’d stake my future happiness with Jack, on Iain being pleased.’

‘Of course he will. I’m being ridiculous it’s ... it’s just such a shock. Wonderful, marvellous, incredible but a shock nonetheless. I just don’t know how it happened.’

Lizzie laughed. ‘It happened because the two of you haven’t been able to keep your hands off each other since the night of that ceilidh two years ago!’

‘Are you going to phone and tell him?’ Jess asked.

‘No. As hard as it’s going to be to keep this to myself when I speak to him, it’s not something I want to say on the phone.’

‘Definitely not,’ Lizzie said, ‘this sort of news has to be delivered in person.’

‘What did your husband say when you told him about Lily?’ Jane asked. Being the only one of them to have had a child, Becky had first-hand experience. ‘Was he excited?’

Becky’s jolly demeanour faded slightly and she shook her head. ‘Jeremy ... wasn’t exactly thrilled,’ she said truthfully, ‘but don’t go by my experience. He ... he didn’t really want to be with me. He left us just after I told him.’

‘Oh God Becky! I’m so sorry, we didn’t know.’

‘It’s okay. I ... I thought Max or Margaret might have told you something about it.’

‘No. Max told me you were a widow,’ Lizzie said, ‘He said that you might tell me about it one day and that was it.’

‘Yeah,’ Jane said, ‘that’s one thing I have always liked about Max. He is discreet.’

None of them were quite sure though, by the inflection in Jane’s voice, whether she meant that as a compliment or not.

‘I ... I’d like to tell you about it, if ... if you’d like to hear it,’ Becky heard herself saying.

‘We’d love to,’ Lizzie and Jane said simultaneously.

Becky didn’t know why she wanted to tell them her sad story, she didn’t want their sympathy or their pity but they both felt like friends, good friends and good friends tell one another their deepest, darkest secrets. ‘It’s a bit depressing, I’m afraid.’

Saturday night’s dinner wasn’t going to be a grand affair but it was going to be a celebration of sorts because of Jane’s news. She had intended to keep it quiet until she’d told Iain but the minute she and Lizzie arrived back at the Hall at five o’clock, she blurted it out to Margaret and Victoria.

The shrieks emanating from the dining room, where the women were setting the table, brought the men running, so Jane decided to tell them too, although she swore them to secrecy.

‘This calls for champagne,’ Max said opening a bottle, ‘and it’s a good thing that you can’t drink Jane; you’re so high on a wave of euphoria already that one glass would send you smashing through the ceiling, and mum’s just paid a considerable sum to have the ornate plasterwork restored.’

Max drove down and collected Becky, Lily and Jess; Susie and Ben had said they wanted to walk. They’d only been dating for a week and cherished any time they could have to be alone together.

‘They look really happy don’t they?’ Becky said as they pulled up at the front door of the Hall just as Susie and Ben were arriving.

‘I’m going to be a gooseberry tonight aren’t I?’ Jess said.

‘No!’ Not everyone’s a couple,’ Becky reminded her, lifting Lily out of the rear seat and into her arms.

‘Gooseberry’s don’t have black and purple hair Jess,’ Max said putting an arm around her and giving her a friendly hug. ‘Besides, my demigod powers are clearly back to full strength and you may be surprised how tonight turns out.’

‘What do you mean by that?’ Becky asked as they headed towards the terrace for aperitifs.

‘You’ll see,’ he said kissing her on her forehead.

They stepped onto the terrace where the other dinner guests were assembled and Lily ran over to Margaret – who was holding up a particularly colourful drink for her – as soon as Becky set her on her feet.

‘Phil,’ Max said, ‘may I introduce Becky’s friend Jess. Jess this is Phil, Jack’s best-man. May I leave you to get Jess a drink Phil, there’s something I want to have a quick word with Becky about?’

Before anyone could speak, Max dragged Becky back into the house and wrapped her in his arms kissing her passionately.

‘What was that for?’ she asked smiling at him.

‘I needed a reason to leave Jess and Phil together. Saying I wanted a quick word with you seemed a pretty good one.’

‘Well,’ she said a trifle breathlessly, ‘if that’s a quick word I can’t wait for the time you need a lengthy conversation.’

‘It just so happens,’ he said a mischievous grin spreading across his mouth, ‘there is something I’ve been meaning to discuss.’

But he didn’t say another word for at least fifteen minutes.

‘So,’ Becky said much later that night when she and Max were in bed, ‘it seems your work on this earth is done and you can return to Mount Olympus or wherever it is you demigods reside. First solving all my problems, then getting the vicar’ – she still found it weird calling him Ben – ‘to ask Susie out, now Jess and Phil. It was clear tonight that that’s a love affair waiting to start. How did you know they’d hit it off so well?’

‘Because when Phil, Jack and I nipped into the village: we went to the pub for a pint this afternoon, we saw you all coming out of Susie’s shop. We were going to come and say hi but you all looked so engrossed, we thought we’d leave you to it. Anyway, Phil stopped dead and just stared at Jess. She was a bit of a distance away but still clearly visible. He asked who the stunning woman with purple and black hair was.’

‘And that was it? You just assumed they’d hit it off.’

‘I wasn’t certain but he liked the look of her and he’s a great guy so I couldn’t see why Jess wouldn’t like him. Besides, she was open to offers, she said so herself.’

‘Max! That’s sounds as if she would have jumped at anyone. She wouldn’t.’

‘I didn’t say she would. I just meant she was ready to meet someone special and so was Phil.’

Something was still eating at her. ‘So, what is there left for you to do, oh great one?’ She was only partly joking. Try as she might, she couldn’t get rid of the final niggling doubt that Max would, one day leave her, just as everyone else had done.

‘Ah Fifi. My task here isn’t done. Jess and the others were mere trifles; your ongoing happiness is my real assignment.’

She couldn’t help herself, ‘Ongoing happiness – that sounds as if there isn’t an end date.’

‘There isn’t, some assignments are for life but don’t worry, it’s a labour of love.’ He kissed her deeply and his right hand teased its way down to her breast. He lifted his head from hers and grinned at her. ‘And it’s back to work for me.’

Becky, Jess and Susie were sitting at their favourite table in The Coffee Cake Café having lunch on what was turning out to be an exceptionally wet, August day.

‘Can you believe that only six months ago we were sitting at this very table discussing how perfect Max would be for you – although you were very anti the whole idea at the time – and now look at us,’ Jess said.

Susie nodded. ‘So much has changed since then. You’ve got Phil, I’ve got Ben and Becky’s virtually living with Max.’

Becky almost choked on her coffee. ‘I am not, “virtually living with Max”! He just spends the night sometimes.’

‘Yes, about five out of seven nights each week. It’s nothing to be ashamed of Becky, although Ben did say that he hoped you would get married and not just end up living together.’

‘Oh he did, did he? And I’m not ashamed, believe me; if he asked to move in with me I’d go and pack his cases for him. I just don’t want him to think that people are saying that sort of thing about us.’

‘Max couldn’t care less what people say,’ Jess said.

‘I know. I just don’t want him to think that’s what I’m expecting.’

‘Why not? Surely that’s the next step isn’t it? Well, either that or Ben’s way. Get married,’ Susie said.

‘It may be the next step but it’s not one we’re ready for.’

‘But you just said –’

‘Okay! It’s not one
he’s
ready for. If he ever will be.’

‘Ah. Now I see the problem,’ Jess said. ‘You’re back in your “everyone leaves me and so will he” mindset. I thought you’d got over all that. The guy’s crazy about you – everyone can see it. Mary Parkes and Connie Jessop have already discussed how wonderful your wedding will be – don’t look at me like that – I heard them in the Stores the other day. The vicar ... Ben ... even assumes you’ll end up together in fact every single person in this village and their dog, thinks you will. You’re the only one with any doubts.’