The arrangement they’d struck to be each other’s plus-one wedding dates was what had brought them together. If it hadn’t been for that, they might have remained no more than next-door neighbours, busy with their lives and never really connecting beyond pleasantries across the garden fence.
Desperation to avoid being single at the weddings they had to attend had forged their unlikely alliance.
Falling in love had turned that alliance into a life-changing romance that was about to bring them together as husband and wife.
Carole remembered how it had felt to dance with Tom at her cousin’s wedding, how it had felt to kiss him beneath the summer starlight when they found themselves stranded by the side of the road on their way home from his ex-girlfriend’s wedding, and how it had felt when she’d glimpsed that mesmerising image of their destiny as they’d walked arm-in-arm towards the runway while dressed as bride and groom in aid of a good cause.
As she stood before the mirror in her wedding dress, she thought of all the twists of fate that led them to each moment in the story they’d written together.
The phone call overheard across their garden fences that led to their plus-one wedding date arrangement.
The time they’d spent together while her father was treated in hospital.
Their detour at the side of the road when the taxi got a tyre puncture.
The luck of Olive Nimmo passing Carole’s house just as she started work in the garden and persuaded her to take part in the vintage fashion show.
The serendipity of wearing the old wedding dress and hearing its owner’s story about how she almost missed her chance at happiness with the man who became her husband, astory that drilled deep into Carole’s mind just when she needed to hear it…
Those little twists and turns had brought her and Tom together, brought them closer and closer, kindled their attraction and ignited a romance that had changed their lives forever.
A year ago, the idea that she’d fall in love and marry her next-door neighbour would’ve struck Carole as ludicrous.
And yet here she was, a vision in white, a bride who couldn’t wait to see her groom and claim him as her own.
Her heart thumped when she thought of the life they’d share together, even as it broke a little at the idea that it wouldn’t be shared here in this sweet little house. When things had turned serious between them once they started dating, they’d spent all their free time together either in Tom’s house or hers. It had been fun dashing around to each other’s houses, all part of the fun of their exciting new relationship.
When Tom got down on one knee and offered her the diamond engagement ring that now sat on her finger, they’d decided to move in together before the wedding. The six months that followed their engagement, when they’d lived together in Carole’s house, were amongst the best she’d had in her life.
A month ago, Tom had taken her to see a beautiful house for sale on the other side of Hamblehurst. Four bedrooms, a kitchen-diner to die for, and a huge back garden that seemed to go on forever. Carole had fallen for the place the moment she set eyes on it.
They’d agreed an offer with the seller the very next day and put their own homes on Foxglove Street on the market straight away. Both houses already had buyers. It was a popular and pretty street, and while moving house in the middle of getting married might not be everyone’s idea of fun, Carole hadembraced the challenge, too in love with the new house they’d bought to let it slip away on account of awkward timing.
And anyway, it wasn’t awkward timing, not really. They needed a place that belonged to them both, a new canvas to begin their married life together.
Plus, they needed a proper bedroom for Tom’s little stepdaughter, Evie, to sleep in when she came to visit. Carole adored the girl as much as Tom did, and considered her a part of their family, and wanted to make sure she always had room in their lives.
That Evie had become fast friends with Carole’s nieces, Nancy and Lily, only made their lovely, blended family sweeter still. The sleepovers the three girls had come to enjoy together with Carole and Tom over the last year would be a lot easier to accommodate in the sprawling four-bedroom house they’d soon move into than in either of their small two-bedroom Foxglove Street properties.
And there was another reason to get excited about the big house move that would happen just days after their wedding.
Carole’s hand drifted to her stomach, still flat beneath her wedding gown, but where new life lay sleeping. She’d only found out she was pregnant a week ago, and joy still crashed through her like a tidal wave whenever she thought about the baby she carried.
Tom had laughed and cried and then laughed and cried all over again when Carole told him the news. The look of wonder in his eyes when she’d shown him the pregnancy test would stay with her for as long as she lived.
They’d decided to keep the news about the baby to themselves until after the wedding. It would be their own little secret, a sacred and joyous gift they’d cradle between them as they exchanged their vows.
Carole felt her eyes well up as she thought about all the good things that lay ahead—their beautiful wedding day, a new home together, a child of their own.
A year ago, she’d come to Foxglove Street for a new start. Never in a million years had she imagined her new start would lead to such overwhelming happiness.
“No crying!” she told her reflection in the mirror. “If you wreck your bridal make-up with tear tracks before you even get to the church, you’ll never forgive yourself. Get it together!”
Her phone rang. Carole took one last look at her reflection in the mirror before crossing the room to grab her phone from the coffee table.
When she looked at the screen, it was Tom’s face she saw there.
Smiling, she answered the call. “Hey, what’s up?”
