Page 105 of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
“As a matter of fact, I am. The word in MI5 is that there’s a woman impersonating Mrs. Claus on the loose.” He arched an eyebrow.
Bollocks!
Thirty-one
The wedding was beautiful. Jenna looked absolutely stunning in a Vera Wang gown, and Charles looked as though he couldn’t believe he was so lucky. Nory squashed the Austenesque heroine inside her chest who sighed as she imagined herself getting married one day. That was the thing about weddings: Those who were already married, reminisced (or perhaps lamented), and those who had never been, fantasized.
After the ceremony, in that period when people milled about getting hungry and drinking too much champagne, while the photographer corralled the different elements of the wedding party together for group shots, Nory and Isaac played “spot the snob.” You could pick out Charles’s close relatives by the way their expressions crinkled ever so slightly when being introduced to members of theDays and Nightscast, as though someone were holding a bottle of turned milk under their noses.
“That’s old money for you,” said Nory, as Charles’s dad—a huge man who looked like a serial gout sufferer—said “Delighted” in a voice laden with apathy when introduced to the woman who played Dr. Emma Briggs in the show and had recently been papped falling knickerless out of a limo.
“And Jenna’s family are new money?” asked Isaac.
“Yes.”
“Which would you rather be?”
“I think new money. It comes with less baggage.”
“But less history too.”
“I disagree. It may not come with fourteenth-century bricks, but you can be rich in family history, and that’s free. Everyone’s entitled to history.”
“That’s your dad talking.” Isaac smiled.
“Oh god! Really?”
“Come on, Mrs. Claus, I’ll get you another drink.”
Isaac had not been overly keen on being in the friends’ group wedding photos, but his protestations were drowned out by everyone, especially Jeremy, who said he was part of the day and it needed to be documented—typical scientist.
When it came time—finally—to sit down to dinner, they were led through the orangery and into what had once been a coach house but had been transformed into a large formal ballroom-cum-banqueting-hall.
But first they had to process past the bride’s and groom’s parents. Jenna’s mum hugged Nory warmly and her dad said, “Hello, Elinor, love, so nice to see all the old gang together again.” Nory introduced Isaac as her “good friend” because terms had not yet been defined, although she secretly hoped they would be soon. The more time she spent with Isaac, the more she realized she very much wanted to continue seeing him after this week.
Charles’s parents were friendly in a more formal way and greeted her like a business associate, even though Nory had spent many a long weekend at their country pile over the years, and she had drunk too much sherry with Charles’s mother on more than one occasion.
At the table, Nory was flanked by Isaac on one side andJeremy on the other. Isaac had Ameerah on his other side. Guy was at the top table with the bride and groom; Jeremy was given the option as Charles’s other best man but had chosen to stay with Katie, who looked relieved to be finally sitting down. In addition to the Swiss chocolatier chocolate favors, there were also little packets of sunflower seeds from the Mind mental health charity. The front read:On the wedding of Charles and Jenna, and the back:In memory of Tristan.
Isaac must have seen the ghost of melancholy cross Nory’s face because he took her hand and said, “I’d like to come and see your bookshop.”
“Really? That would be lovely.”
“I’m curious to know if my vision of it is different from the reality.”
“How do you imagine it?” she asked, curious.
“Haphazardly cozy.”
“Would it surprise you if I told you it was white walled and minimalist, with floating shelves and Bauhaus chairs?”
“Really?” Isaac looked at her incredulously.
Nory laughed. “No, not really. You were right the first time; ‘haphazardly cozy’ just about sums it up. Andrew, my shop manager, says I’m the worst bookseller he’s ever known because I fall hopelessly in love with all the books I’m supposed to be selling.”
“Yes,” said Isaac, “I can imagine,” as though this confirmed all his suspicions about her.
The wedding dinner, complete with local un-nibbled-by-deer salad, went without a hitch and was delicious. Pippa was sitting at Nory’s table but kept her wireless mic on to make sureeverything ran smoothly, and, disarmingly, would suddenly begin speaking to someone else in the middle of a conversation. She sat bolt upright throughout the meal, head turning this way and that, like a meerkat on the lookout for predators.
