“What church ceremony?”
“Remember Saint Oswald’s? We learnt about it in school.”
“The place with the old font?”
I nodded.
“Oh, Tess, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I chuckled at the ridiculousness of everything. “We didn’t organise that ourselves either. Grace did. And just like Mum, without telling us.”
My sister covered her mouth, clearly trying not to laugh.
“Two dresses, two venues, and two interfering mothers,” I said. “Aren’t I the lucky one?”
Noise coming from the kitchen suddenly caught our attention.
“Youarekidding me!” Ryan said, his excited proclamation filtering down the garden. “No way!”
“Sounds like someone’s having fun,” Sal said.
“Want to join them?” I asked. Knowing I couldn’t hide away forever, I supposed it was as good a time as any to show my face.
She wrinkled her nose. “Beats being miserable out here.”
“Come on then,” I said.
We rose to our feet and headed to the house. Entering, India sat rolling her eyes at Leo and Ryan who laughed at something they were watching on India’s phone. An enthused voice emanated from the screen.
“Isn’t that…?” Convinced I recognised who it belonged to, I looked to my sister for confirmation.
She stared back at me, as if unable to believe it herself. “It can’t be.”
Clocking our entrance, Ryan hailed us over. “You’ve got to see this.”
Leo looked up too. His smile faded and leaving the fun behind, he came to join me. “Everything okay?” he asked, tentative.
Sal gave me a look of reassurance, before heading over to Ryan.
“It seems that daughter of ours and your father have been keeping secrets,” Ryan said, as she approached. “I caught her watching this.”
“Everything’s fine. I just needed some time out. To calm down,” I said in answer to Leo’s question.
Closing his eyes for a second, relief swept over his face. “I honestly thought you might call off the wedding.”
I scoffed. “I can’t say I didn’t think about it.”
Leo looked hurt and I immediately felt guilty for being so blunt.
“Don’t worry.” I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “It’ll take more than Mum’s antics to make me do that.”
Leo smiled. “Glad to hear it. Come on.” Taking my hand, he pulled me towards the others. “We could both do with a laugh right now. Take a look at this.”
Focusing on the video, my eyes widened. I put a hand up to my chest at the sight of Dad and another man stood on a train station platform. Despite the pouring rain, the two of them were full of excited anticipation and kept talking over each other. I leaned in for a closer look. “Who’s the other chap?”
“That’s Hugo,” Leo said. “Marianne’s husband.”
“He looks quite a character,” Sal said.
