They had made her who she was: unafraid.
No matter what she did – forcibly tattooed some homophobe with a rainbow, perhaps – they’d have stood up for her. Their strength had been her strength.
There needed to be another chapter in the book. About how fabulous her family was. The family of the fictional Rory character.
She paid the cab driver and marched into the restaurant. She could hear the squeals and the laughter even before she got down to the back.
‘Rory,’ squawked a delighted Vonnie, who threw herself around Rory and clung on as if she was a limpet holding on to a stone. ‘It’s so lovely to see you, I’ve missed you at all our little meetings. Are you very busy?’
Rory hugged her back. Vonnie was sweet, harmless. She’d always been there in Rory’s childhood.
‘I am busy,’ she said. ‘I’m involved in—’ she was about to say ‘a book project,’ but quickly amended, ‘lots of work. It’s very busy.’
Hell, she was going to have to tell people soon, she couldn’t keep lying and it was going to be in the papers and the unaccustomed anxiety shimmered within her again. She had to contact Louisa and tell her huge changes needed to be made.
‘Hey, sis,’ said Eden, appearing beside her.
Eden put an arm around Rory’s waist and squeezed. She knew Rory wasn’t into girly kissing. Eden understood her, Rory always thought. She loved her sister at that moment.
Eden was the best. Tough as old boots and straight as a die.
How was it that four sisters – actually five – could be so different?
‘You do know you’re organising the wine for the wedding, don’t you?’ Eden said cheerily.
Rory shot a glance at her.
‘Yeah, the wine, sure.’
‘Have you done it?’
‘Er – I—’
‘Thought so,’ said Eden. ‘Do you want me to do it?’
‘No,’ said Rory, outraged. ‘I said I was going to do it and I’m going to do it.’
‘You need to have it organised pronto, Rory. We’ve already agreed the corkage for the catering company. We need to get a time from the vintners to say when they’re delivering it.’
‘OK, I’ll get onto it,’ said Rory. She caught sight of her mother looking beautiful as always, surrounded by old friends. And there was Savannah sitting talking to some of Dad’s old sailing buddies, or rather, their wives.
‘Just going over to say hello to Mum,’ she said and escaped Eden.
Despite her plan, Savannah ended up sitting as far apart from Eden as it was possible to be. The table was long and the assembled hen party was noisy. She hated loud noises. Every clanging glass, every dropped knife made her jump. The more the evening wore on, the more it seemed to intensify.
Vonnie had a plan for people to move around after the main course and sit with someone else for dessert. Since she was several glasses of wine in when she announced this idea, it was amazing she was able to manage it. Clad in what looked like something an off-duty tooth fairy might wear – an outfit made up of pale-green gauze decorated with fake white marabou – Vonnie stood up and tried ineffectually to get people to move, her skinny little brown arms waving.
‘No, you sit over there, that’s right, because you haven’t talked to Meg yet. Sonya, why not sit here!’
Savannah found herself sitting beside Miranda, one of Mum’s old friends from the many years when her father had dallied with sailing. It had always been a limited dalliance. Because sailing cost money and the Robicheaux clan had never had much of that. Dad had crewed a lot and he loved it but had never managed to own his own boat, to his eternal misery.
Miranda, a woman who could sail through any gale, had stuck with the Robicheaux family through thick and thin.
‘Oh, Savannah, look at you. I have to say, I’m loving your new range. What’s it called? Safari Pleasures, I love it. The candles are divine. It’s got oud in it – is it oud?’ Miranda had a carrying voice and Savannah thought that possibly the people at the next table could hear her, or possibly even the people two tables away.
‘Yes,’ said Savannah, ‘there is some oud in there.’ Not much because oud was one of the most expensive perfume ingredients in the world. But just a little hint of it was wonderful in the candles and room diffusers.
‘We’re working on it for a perfume range,’ she added. Perfume was still just an embryonic part of the business, with two scents for sale so far because getting into perfume was expensive. And Savannah knew it could be make or break time for many businesses. She and Anthony had discussed it many times.
