Tilly turns her attention to the front of the room again, to where Raj is pulling down the sleeves of his dinner jacket. One of the groomsmen pats him on the back, and he breaks into a beaming smile.
‘Happy,’ Tilly replies, stepping back so she’s hidden again, squeezing her sister’s hand. ‘He looks really,reallyhappy.’
‘And are you doing OK?’ Harper asks, squeezing Tilly’s hand back. ‘If it’s too much to come in with me I totallyunderstand. I know today is going to be hard for you. It’s not too late to go and join Alfie.’
Tilly glances around the door again, searching the crowd of guests until she spots a pair of broad shoulders in a dark green suit. Alfie sits among Harper’s friends, his head turned to the side as he talks with them. She catches a glimpse of his freshly shaven jaw, his dark, messy hair and his familiar, kind eyes and feels a sense of calm flowing through her.
‘There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here with you,’ she says to Harper.
‘Thank god. Because I’m freaking out a bit. I know it’s November but I’msweating. I can’t believe I’m actually about to getmarried. What if I’m terrible at being married?’
‘You won’t be. You love Raj, don’t you?’
Harper smiles, adjusting her flowers. ‘He drives me mad sometimes, but I do.’
‘There we go,’ says Tilly, brushing a loose thread off Harper’s jumpsuit. ‘Now all you have to do is say that again in there. Although maybe lose the first bit.’
‘Thank you, Sis. I’m really glad you’re here.’
‘Shall we do this, then?’ says their mum, linking arms with Tilly. She is dressed in a pink dress with a full skirt while Tilly is in red silk that skims her hips and matches the trailing ribbon on the bouquet of pink and red roses that she carries.
She wonders what Alfie will think when he sees her in it, trying to tell herself she doesn’t care.
‘Let’s get you married,’ their father says to Harper with a smile, and Tilly tries her best to hold it together as she remembers him saying the exact same words to her.
The day of her wedding comes back in a rush. They just about got through their vows, stumbling slightly at ‘in sickness and in health’ and ‘till death do us part’. And when the celebrant announced them as ‘husband and wife’, thesmall congregation erupted into cheers that could be heard from the street outside.
The music starts up now, the door opens and Tilly takes a breath, following her sister and father into the crowd, her eyes searching the familiar faces of family and friends until she spots Alfie.
The whole room is looking at Harper. But his eyes are fixed solely on her.
The remnants of a long and rowdy wedding dinner have been cleared away and the tables pushed up against the walls to create a dancefloor that glitters with lights. Cocktails are served, and Harper and Raj mingle amongst their guests, both looking flushed and somewhat dishevelled. There’s music playing over speakers as a band sets up in the corner. The evening guests have started to arrive, Harper and Raj greeting everyone in turn and telling each of them how much they love them.
‘They look like they’re having a good time,’ Alfie says from his position at Tilly’s side, where he has remained all day.
It feels strange to see him looking so smart and in an outfit that seems perfectly tailored to him, the sharp lines of his dark green jacket emphasizing his broad shoulders, the colour bringing out the amber in his eyes.
‘And champagne,’ he adds. ‘They look like they’ve been having a lot of champagne.’
They’re sat at the quiet end of the bar, on stools pushed close together.
‘How are you doing?’ he asks, shifting so he’s turned away from the rest of the room.
He has diligently kept her topped up with drinks and tissues all day, helping steer her away from family members who wanted to grill her a little too intensely about how she’sreallydoing.
‘OK,’ she replies. ‘A bit tired. Smiling is tiring.’
‘You don’t have to smile if you don’t feel like it. Not with me anyway.’
In the background the sound of laughter rises over the hubbub of conversation.
‘I know. That’s why I invited you. Thank you for being here.’
‘Of course. And besides, I love a wedding. I mean, look at this cocktail.’ He lifts the pink concoction into the air, red rose petals floating on the surface. ‘You’d have to have a heart of stone not to find this cocktail adorable.’
He smiles, one of his proper ones, and something catches in her throat as their eyes meet …
‘Everybody, the first dance is about to start!’
