‘A touch of early autumn,’ he said. ‘They won’t last long, but they are pretty, yes?’
Jude had to agree that they were prettier than any florist’s arrangement and she clutched them to her as her dad arrived in a sweaty panic, carrying with him a tall sponge cake just turned out of its tins, un-iced and not yet cool.
He delivered his daughter a proud kiss and told Elliot it was OK, he could go inside now. It was time.
Of course, Mr Crawley was close to tears again, but Elliot shook his hand and left him outside the ballroom with Jude, although not before asking his soon-to-be father-in-law if he could please catch some pictures on his phone since Minty had ballsed-up booking a photographer too.
The gathering burst into applause as Elliot walked in, followed by a rather solemn, pink-cheeked Monty.
‘Ready?’ asked Mr Crawley, turning to his daughter at the threshold of the ballroom.
Jude fixed her dad’s tie and wiped flour from his jacket cuffs.
‘Not quite,’ she told him.
They turned at the sound of clopping hooves coming from the reception hall. Mr Crawley’s eyes widened in wonder at the sight of Mr Moke leading Mushy Peas, the eldest and best behaved of the Clove Lore sanctuary’s donkeys, and the smaller, younger Bon Jovi, who was happily munching the paper flower garland round his neck, as they made their way in through Minty’s ballroom doors and up to the celebrant’s table where Elliot waited beside his best man, grinning for sheer joy at his wedding venue filled with the animals he cared for year-round.
Jowan and Minty saw to shutting the outer doors and they too passed through into the ballroom, and Aldous, on his very best behaviour, tiptoed along between them. With that, the ballroom was filled. Elliot and Jude were at last getting married.
‘The couple have prepared vows,’ the celebrant announced as the hushed crowd smiled and sniffed away happy tears.
Elliot went first, reading shakily from a piece of paper but lifting his eyes to Jude’s as he spoke each line.
‘My Jude. I promise you that I’ll love you. It’s as simple and as profound as that. I’ll look after you when you’re sick, and I’ll be glad with you when you’re happy. I’ll give you what I can in the way of security and safety. I’ll never stray. I promise to want you always. To stick up for us when times are tough. I can’t promise not to keep asking for a dog or cat.’
At this, the room laughed and Jude shook her head, knowing she’d never win that battle, certain they’d soon end up with a houseful of rescues.
Elliot continued. ‘But, whatever happens, we have each other, and I won’t spoil that. I’m yours, for good.’
Monty listened to the whole thing, clasping the rings in his hand, and every word made his heart ache that little bit more as he pictured Joy in her seat on the plane, flying away from him. He wiped his eyes and tried to stand up straight when what he really wanted to do was curl into a ball and mope the day away.
Jude was holding a piece of paper now, with the whole room expectantly watching. She glanced around and seemed to think, making Minty, from her spot at the back, start in panic.
‘Is she having second thoughts?’ Minty whispered to her husband. ‘Has my shambolic wedding planning put her off the whole thing? Is she going to bolt?’
Minty needn’t have worried. This was Jude Crawley, after all. The original romantic. The girl who’d come to Clove Lore wanting a fresh start and who’d bravely grasped at it when it came within reach.
Jude screwed up the paper in her hand, and Elliot grinned to see it.
‘Elliot,’ said Jude. ‘I had these things to say, all poetry and that, like they tell you in the wedding mags, but it turns out I don’t want to read other people’s words. What I want to say is that it doesn’t matter if things aren’t perfect. If there’s always a stinky animal or two hanging about. Sorry, Mushy Peas,’ she added with a grimace, looking round at the donkey, and everyone laughed. ‘It doesn’t matter if there’s no dinner, because we’ll always have cake. We don’t need harps playing or helium balloons, or silver service and champagne. None of that’s what makes a marriage. I just want you, and,’ she looked around at the faces smiling back at her, ‘and all of our friends. I love you, Elliot Desvaux. Let’s just be married and love each other.’
She nodded decisively to show she’d made her vows, and Elliot couldn’t help but lift her up into his arms and kiss her as the celebrant announced that it was time for the rings.
Hurriedly wiping his eyes, Monty stepped forward, his mind rushing with thoughts of Joy and how she’d talked about grooms lifting their brides as a sign that they’d lift them up from now on, that they’d taken over the job of protecting them, and right at this moment it didn’t sound all that out-dated and silly after all. It sounded very much like something that he might like to do.
He did his duty and handed over the rings, watching on as Elliot kissed the slim gold band before slipping it onto Jude’s finger and she did the same for her husband, making the whole room erupt with happiness and the donkeysee-awwin surprise at all the noise.
‘I pronounce Jude and Elliot legally married and bound to one another in love!’ the celebrant said over the cheers.
The celebrant’s jangly playlist started up once more. Ekon, Daniel and Jude’s granny gave each other the nod that it was time and they all fired the confetti cannons they’d sneaked inside with three loud cracks, sending great bursts of colourful paper streaming into the air and showering over the entire happy scene to yet more applause.
Minty slipped out to bring in the chilled Prosecco, and Monty too made his exit, calling his twin brother and a bemused Mr Moke to follow him.
There was still a wedding reception to rescue, and since that was all he’d be able to fix today, Monty set his mind to the task before him: there would be food and a party that Elliot and Jude would never forget. He could salvage this, at least.
Chapter Thirty-two
‘Right, I need you to get Mushy Peas’s pannier baskets. The biggest ones,’ Monty instructed Mr Moke, who wasn’t too pleased about being bossed around by one of the Bickleigh boys, but off he went in the direction of the stables anyway.
