After watching Jenny disappear into the garden, Ellie raised her eyebrows at Murray. ‘You’re on coffee duty then?’
‘Haha, it appears so.’ Murray nodded towards the dress bags still in his arms. ‘Coffee and carrying, that’s been my morning so far.’
Leaning towards him, she kissed him. He was always thinking of others. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too, and if I wasn’t holding these I’d be wrapping my arms around you and be drawing you in for another kiss.’ He glanced down at the dress bags, still draped over his arms.
‘Yes, we should really go through. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that they all fit and everyone likes them.’ Ellie held her hand up, her fingers crossed. She and Murray had checked them all over after she’d received them a couple of days ago and they were more gorgeous than she’d imagined, but on Laura’s insistence, she’d kept them to herself as Laura had wanted to save the excitement of seeing them at the same time as her nieces and nephews so there was a lot riding on today. If Laura, or the children, didn’t like them, then they’d be back to the drawing board to search for something new in less than half the time they’d previously had.
‘I’m sure they will. They looked really good quality.’ Murray walked out into the hallway, chatter and laughter filtering out from the sitting room, before nodding at Ellie to go first.
Knocking on the open door quickly, Ellie stepped inside. Laura was sitting cross-legged on the floor playing dolls with a young girl who looked to be about two or three, whilst another woman was nursing a coffee on the sofa as a small toddler slept, his head on her lap. ‘Hi. How is everyone?’
‘Hey, Ellie.’ Jumping up from the floor, Laura held her hand out for the young girl who clasped it. ‘This is little Ava and her mum, my sister-in-law, Jane. And the sleepy one is Lucas.’
‘Hi, lovely to meet you all.’ Kneeling down, Ellie pointed to a sparkly pink headband in Ava’s hair. ‘Wow, I love your headband. It’s super pretty.’
Taking her hand from her aunty’s, Ava touched her headband and smiled.
‘Hi, Ellie. We’ve heard so much about you. By the sounds of it, you’ve been a blessing to both Laura and Jackson with the wedding planning.’ Jane took Ellie’s hand before gently stroking Lucas on the forehead and lowering her voice. ‘Come on, Lucas, sweetheart. It’s time to wake up now.’
The small boy stirred on the sofa, his eyes still sealed shut.
Ellie turned as the rush of footsteps sounded out in the hallway, followed by the three children they’d passed on their way into the kitchen. Ellie laughed as they suddenly surrounded both her and Murray.
‘Have you got my pretty dress? Aunty Laura said it’s pink. Is it pink? I don’t normally like pink anymore, but she said it’s a ducky pink and I love ducks.’ The girl jumped from foot to foot as she spoke nineteen to the dozen.
Coming to join them, Laura threw her head back as she laughed. ‘I called it dusky pink, Tammy. Although I do like ducks too, so maybe we should have gone with ducky pink.’
‘Oh.’ Tammy giggled. ‘So there aren’t any ducks?’
‘No, I’m afraid not. But your dress is very flowery. Do you like flowers?’ Ellie wasn’t sure she dared to ask, but to her relief Tammy broke into a wide smile.
‘Yes, I actually like flowers more than I like ducks.’ The young girl spun on the spot. ‘Where is it? Can I try it on?’
‘I want to try mine on too.’ The older of the two boys pulled a disgusted face as he looked up at Ellie expectantly. ‘Although not if there are flowers on my suit.’
‘Nope, no flowers on the suit.’ Turning, Ellie took one of the dress bags which Murray was still holding and draped it over the back of the sofa before she began to unzip it.
Covering her eyes with her hand, Laura looked away. ‘I don’t want to see until they’ve got changed.’
‘Oops. That was close.’ Ellie laughed as she quickly zipped the bag back up before looking at Jane and Jenny. ‘In that case, shall I give you two the dress bags and perhaps you can help the little ones change in the kitchen or somewhere?’
‘That’s a good idea.’ Gently picking up Lucas, who had awoken as soon as the three older children had appeared, Jane stood up before lowering him to her hip. ‘And then you can give Aunty Laura a fashion parade, how does that sound?’
‘Yay!’ Tammy clapped her hands together. ‘I love fashion parades. I gave my mum a fashion parade when I got my new school uniform.’
‘Great. Here you go then.’ With Murray’s help, Ellie handed out the dress bags and watched as the excited children followed their mums out of the room.
‘I can’t wait to see them all dressed up!’ Laura grinned. ‘It’s all becoming a bit more real now.’
‘Yes, it is.’ Ellie smiled as she perched on the edge of the sofa. ‘I picked up the decorations to go out in the garden yesterday too.’
‘You did?’ Laura widened her eyes. ‘Can we take a look at them later?’
‘Yes, of course. I’ve got them back at my cottage, so I can either bring them over or you and Jackson can pop round to see them. I’m happy to keep hold of them until the big day.’ Ellie glanced behind her at Murray, it seemed to be the perfect moment to raise the suggestion Murray had made yesterday over dinner last night. ‘Murray had a good idea yesterday, didn’t you?’
‘Oh, about the wedding?’ He walked towards the sofa and sat down next to Ellie. ‘You might not think it’s a good idea, but I wondered if you and Jackson would like me to build a wedding arch for you?’
