Nick popped the cork on the bottle with the efficiency of a barman, while I held out the waiting glasses with my left hand. I’d set two back down on the table before an excited squawk from Amelia told me she’d finally spotted my ring.
‘Oh my God, Lexi,’ she cried, leaping off the settee at a speed that belied her heart condition. ‘Are you…? When did you…? Are you two…?’
‘Ever going to finish a sentence?’ I prompted with a laugh. I truly have no idea what happened next, but we were suddenly involved in a group hug that felt more like a rugby scrum as everyone – even Tom – joined in. I never thought of joy as being tangible before, but I swear I could feel it in the air at that moment.
Holly hung on the hardest, fastening her skinny arms tightly around my waist. I hugged her back just as fiercely, already loving her as I’d done from almost the first day I met her.
‘I didn’t think today could get any better,’ Amelia declared, her eyes going from me to Nick, who’d come to stand beside me. ‘But it just did.’
‘I thought you said there’d be no tears today,’ I teased, as she wiped her hand roughly beneath her eyes.
‘Happy ones don’t count,’ she said, looking more excited than I’d seen in months. For that alone, I’d get engaged every single day if she asked me to.
Holly looked up at her dad and then turned her face to me. ‘I dreamt about this happening,’ she admitted on a shy whisper.
‘Do you know what, sweetheart, so did I,’ Amelia said.
35
I remember reading somewhere that, on average, couples take twelve months to plan a wedding. We did ours in just six weeks.
‘Folk will think it’s a shotgun affair,’ Tom commented when we informed him of the imminent date.
‘Only if they’ve been teleported here from the nineteenth century,’ I replied, giving the old fisherman a friendly hug.
I slid the last invitation into its envelope and added it to the very small stack on the table waiting to be posted.
‘Will it be soon?’ Amelia had wanted to know, a few days after she’d learnt of our news.
‘As soon as we can make it happen,’I told her, understanding perfectly why she’d asked that question.
She nodded and her eyes clouded with a fleeting sadness.
‘Are you thinking of having a church wedding?’
‘To be honest, Mimi, I’d happily marry Nick in the middle of a field, but I can’t see Mum being best pleased with that. Besides, Holly has her heart set on walking down an aisle scattering rose petals everywhere. Hopefully with you standing right there beside her.’
Amelia shook her head firmly at my suggestion.
‘Nothing on earth will persuade me into some peach-coloured froufrou meringue dress, not even for you,’ she said. ‘And I don’t need to be your bridesmaid or – God forbid – your maid of honour,’ she added with a dramatic shiver. ‘All I ask is that you try to make it happen soon, so that I’ll know whose wedding I’m at.’
She did that all the time, trying to turn her worsening Alzheimer’s into something to laugh about. It was a coping mechanism, I knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear.
‘I’m sorry you never got to be my bridesmaid like I promised you all those years ago,’ she said, reaching for my hand. ‘But on the bright side, at least Mum gets to seeoneof her daughters walk down the aisle.’
A lump roughly the size of a golf ball lodged in my throat, making it impossible to do anything other than nod fiercely in acknowledgement.
It had felt wrong to splurge too much on the wedding, and although I knew Nick would happily have gone along with whatever I suggested, I wanted to keep things modest.
‘You can’t buy your wedding dress on eBay,’ Amelia had protested when I’d swivelled my laptop towards her to show her a gown I’d just found listed there.
‘You can if it’s this pretty,’ I said, hitting the icon to enlarge the picture until it filled the screen. The dress was a strapless, sweetheart neckline gown, with delicate silver embroidery and a Milky Way of tiny crystals scattered across the sheer fabric. If I’d tried on a hundred dresses in every fancy bridal boutique in town, this would still have been the one I’d have chosen.
Amelia spent a long time looking at the photos, and I could tell by the smile playing on her lips that she could already visualise me in the gorgeous pre-loved gown.
‘You’re going to be such a beautiful bride,’ she said, sounding choked.
‘And you’re going to be the most beautiful guest,’ I countered.
