Ellie hadn’t meant to intrude, but she’d heard Caitlyn and Keira legging it down the corridor to the bride’s room, gasping something about flowers, and that had been enough to get her to follow them. So far, she’d spent most of her morning with the other female members of the wedding party in one room or another. Savannah had insisted she join them for the manicures, pedicures, make-up and general preening. At first, she’d felt awkward, especially after her reality check with Alex last night.
But now, she was glad. The chaos had kept her mind off Alex and the way he’d looked last night – as if she’d broken his heart.
‘They’ll be fine,’ she said, with an authority she didn’t feel, bustling in with her Nurse Ellie confidence. She took the bouquet gently from Jessica and examined it more closely. ‘I can save them. Bit of sugar water in a cool room for a couple of hours and they’ll be perfect.’
‘Really?’ Savannah looked up with a flicker of hope in her mascara-smudged eyes. Poor thing would need her make-up doing all over again. At least that gave her time to fix the flowers, though, and no bride was ever on time to her own wedding.
‘Of course. I grew up in a flower shop. Flowers are hardier than they look.’
That wasn’t strictly true. But she wasn’t going to worry the bride any more than she needed to. ‘And I’m sure I can tidy them up with some flowers from the garden to make them look even more beautiful. After all, it’s the blending of two families, right? What better way to express that than with flowers?’
Savannah leapt up from the bed and gripped her in a fierce hug. ‘Thank you!’
‘No problem.’
Joseph stood, swaying on his Cuban heels and making the sign of the cross. He was probably high on pain medication, because he was looking at her as if she were a saint. ‘Are you sure it can be done?’
She gave a quick nod, then turned to the rest of the women and gave them a hard Nurse Ellie stare. ‘You sort her out, ladies. And I’ll sort these little fellas out.’ The bridal party flew into action, relieved to have a mission, and shouting things like, ‘Get the snail mask!’ and ‘Cucumber, weneedcucumber!’
Alex’s mum followed her out, being careful to close the door behind them and talk quietly. ‘Are you sure they can be saved? I could still get an order from the mainland arranged. It might mean delaying the wedding by a couple more hours…’ She winced, and Ellie knew that couple more hours was going to be more like five.
‘Nah, besides, she wants her mother’s flowers, and that’s understandable. I’ll sort them out, if you’re sure it’s okay to use some of your flowers from the garden to beef it up a bit. I might need the bridesmaid posies too…’
‘Of course, take anything you need. I’ll get Alex to help you. He needs a distraction today.’
She tried not to bristle at that comment – she knew Jessica meant well, but why did they all think they had to walk on eggshells around Alex? He’d shown them he was over it last night.
Or did they realise something she didn’t?
Alex joined her in the kitchen a few minutes later, suave and sophisticated in his cream linen suit. The cut of the jacket made it hang off his broad shoulders perfectly, and the colour broughtout his holiday tan. He wasn’t wearing his glasses today, and the brightness of his blue eyes was startling, especially when they were focused on her so intently.
The staff were furiously busy preparing for the wedding breakfast, but Alyssa had given her the quiet corner sink to use. She’d taken one look at the flowers and wished her luck.
‘Thanks for doing this.’ Alex came to stand beside her. ‘You must think it strange trying to save a bouquet when there are so many beautiful flowers already here, but Savannah’s mother—’
‘I get it,’ she interrupted him, her attention focused on filling the sink with cool water and sugar syrup. ‘She wants to keep her mother’s memory alive. Flowers are such a great way of doing that, although I’m probably biased.’
‘You knew?’ he asked softly, coming to stand beside her. ‘You’ve only known her a week. I didn’t know even after months of dating her. I guess that only proves what a shitty boyfriend I can be.’
He sounded so depressed that she dared to meet his eyes. ‘We all make mistakes.’
Oh God, what was she saying? That she’d made a mistake by saying they should remain friends?Hadshe made a mistake?
She shook her head. ‘Sorry, but I need to concentrate, one minute.’ Clearing her throat, she tried to focus on what kind of arrangement she could salvage, before placing all of the flowers – including the bridesmaid posies – gently in the filled sink. ‘Right, I’m going to leave these to rest. Let’s go pick some flowers. Your mum said to take whatever I needed.’
They stepped out of the kitchen’s back doors and began to walk the gardens, dodging the guests and picking a myriad of flowers and foliage. Ellie kept cutting the flowers until Alex’s arms were full and he twitched his nose with a smile, the variety of scents wrapping them in a bubble of heady perfume.
When they returned to the kitchen the bouquet looked a little better, but still beaten up and sad.How on earth am I going to assemble them into any kind of order?She took a deep breath and tried to channel her nanna and mum’s green fingers and remember all of their advice and wisdom over the years.
‘How can I help?’ Alex asked.
‘Cut these to there, and for these strip the leaves from here.’
He nodded and followed her instructions to the letter. Thankfully, he seemed to understand the value of not ballsing up a bride’s bouquet as much as she did.
She began to work, pulling apart the old bouquet and rearranging the stems. A waterfall of flowers with the roses and peonies in the centre might work.
‘I bet Savannah is thanking her lucky stars that I brought you here,’ said Alex, gesturing towards the growing bouquet in her hand. ‘It already looks a hundred times better.’
