It took Vanessa a long time to stop mumbling and come out with what was worrying her. ‘It’s the best man.’
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Lizzie was worried too now. Hugo’s best man worked in Switzerland, which was why she hadn’t met.
Vanessa was quick to reassure her. ‘Oh, there’s nothing wrong with him! I’ve just had a crush on him for years.’
Much relieved, Lizzie refilled the kettle and tipped the tea leaves out of the pot into the bucket under the sink. ‘I think that’s lovely. The best man is always supposed to get off with one of the bridesmaids.’
Vanessa was cast into gloom again. ‘But it won’t be me, will it? It’ll be Alexandra, who’s always so elegant and confident.’
Vanessa seemed really distressed and Lizzie didn’t feel she could console her on an empty stomach. ‘I’m going to make some toast. Would you like some? Patsy said I should just help myself to food when I wanted it. Apparently when she was pregnant she was starving all the time.’ She found the loaf and started slicing.
Although she looked rather longingly at the bread, Vanessa shook her head. ‘No toast for me, thanks.’
‘Nessa, please relax. You look lovely in your bridesmaid’s dress. I think the design suits you best of all.’ The kettle had boiled and Lizzie warmed the teapot with a swirl of water before spooning in the tea leaves.
‘Do you really think so?’ said Vanessa.
‘I do! As you know, I didn’t make them, but I spent a lot of time thinking about what would suit everyone. And what they could wear afterwards.’ The bridesmaids’ dresses were full length and slim-fittingwith boat necks. There were bolero jackets to wear over them so they would look decent and wouldn’t be cold in church; churches were always cool even in September. The dresses were made out of raw silk and were the same peacock blue that Alexandra had taken a fancy to in the fabrics that Harold had given Lizzie. It was a colour that suited them all but did slightly favour Vanessa.
‘I’m worried I look a bit fat in it,’ said Vanessa.
‘Oh, come on! You won’t. You’re bound to look thinner than I do – I’m pregnant!’ Lizzie added boiling water to the tea leaves, hoping that Vanessa would now stop worrying and eat something.
‘It doesn’t show that you’re pregnant – hardly at all. But something Mummy said last night made me worry.’
‘Last night? How did you see your mother last night? Did you drive over? You must have got back here very late.’
Lizzie had been packed off to bed early before her ‘Big Day’ and when she’d said goodnight, Vanessa said she wasn’t going to be long before she went to bed herself. Hugo was just about to leave to go and stay with his best man.
‘Oh? I suppose you don’t know. Mummy and Daddy are here. They arrived quite late.’
‘What? To stay with Patsy and Tim?’ Lizzie felt sick in earnest now. She was prepared to see Hugo’s parents at the wedding, when she was protectedfrom them by dozens of people, but not when she didn’t even have her mother between her and them. Suddenly Lizzie wished that her parents were not in the local hotel; she needed them here. And Hugo was too far away to protect her.
‘Why did they come last night? It’s not that far from your house. They don’t need to be here before the wedding, do they?’ Lizzie suddenly panicked in case there was some ritual to be carried out by the groom’s parents she had forgotten about.
‘They came because Daddy wanted to talk to Hugo, quite urgently. Tim left them to it in the library with a bottle of brandy. It was all a bit last minute.’
Lizzie’s head swam and a cold sweat broke out at her hairline. ‘Nessa, you wouldn’t be a love and make the toast, would you? I suddenly feel as if I might throw up.’
‘Oh God, poor you! Yes, of course.’
Lizzie watched her bustle about and began to feel a bit better. ‘Sorry to be a nuisance. I was supposed to be looking after you while you were worrying about the best man. Tell me about him.’ It would be a distraction and stop her panicking about why Hugo’s parents had turned up so suddenly.
‘Simon? He and Hugo were at school together and he used to come and stay in the school holidays. As you know, he lives in Switzerland now and I haven’t seen him since then.’ Vanessa paused. ‘What do you want on your toast?’
‘Butter and Marmite, please. But go on about Simon.’
‘You know Hugo, he’s kind, but of course they didn’t want me hanging round in the holidays, so I used to spy on them. But one day we all went to the beach for the day. We had an older cousin staying with us and he was in charge. He had a girlfriend.’
‘Wasn’t the beach quite far away?’
‘Quite far, I suppose, but the cousin, Peter, was all for taking us. I think he wanted to impress the girl, who was terribly keen. Our parents were abroad somewhere, having a holiday. Anyway, on the way home, we three kids were in the back of the car. I pretended to fall asleep and accidentally on purpose rested my head on his shoulder.’ She sighed. ‘I kept it there all the way home. It was so lovely.’ She handed Lizzie her toast.
Lizzie took a bite and decided to focus on cheering Vanessa up. Then she’d worry about what on earth Hugo’s father wanted to talk to him about that was so urgent that necessitated coming over last night. There was only one reason she could think of.
‘It’s really sweet that he didn’t move,’ she said to Vanessa. ‘Or put your head somewhere else.’
‘It was, wasn’t it?’
