Page 115 of The Day After Christmas
‘You don’t have to do what he says you know. Go on. Tell me. Live a little.’
‘He said you’d say that. Forgive my rudeness, miss, but he told me to tell you that it wasn’t far and that that was all you are getting.’
‘Nothing’s far on Guernsey,’ said Felicity, a little intrigued and also a bit turned on that James knew her so well.
‘Well, exactly, miss.’
They fell into an easy silence then, the driver concentrating on the narrow roads while Felicity watched the beautiful stonewalls and cute cottages fly by the window. Every so often she’d even get a glimpse of the sea but otherwise it was easy to forget they were on a small island in the English Channel. She finally understood the phrase, “my heart was in my mouth”. Where were they going? She tried to think of all the churches on the island and at one point even wondered if they were going to get married in the tiny Little Chapel, a marvellous curiosity made out of clinker and decorated with seashells and pottery pieces, which was extremely popular with tourists.
But no, by now they had gone past the Little Chapel and were heading for the west side. People waved from the side of the road as she went past and it took a moment to realise it was because it must look like a wedding car. The ribbons. What was going on? She was completely unprepared to marry James but then, at the same time, totally ready. He was the one, after all. There could never be another. She had told herself after just a few months that if he upped and left her as she had always expected he would, she would just morph into full Crazy Cat Lady which to be honest she had been on the verge of anyway before he came along. Nothing wrong with being a crazy cat lady after all. It was a fine ambition. A jolt of excitement ran down her back. What exactly was going on?
As fields and cottages and decrepit old greenhouses from the days when the people of Guernsey were tomato-farming fanatics flashed by, another thought began to dawn.Could it be? No, surely not.Surely they were not going to the…?
‘Here we are, miss,’ said the chauffeur. And sure enough, he pulled the car up to the entrance to Le Manoir, and turned up the drive. Felicity gasped. It looked incredible. The long gravel drive was hung with poles every few feet, and fairy lights were strung artfully between the poles, with white ribbons and bows positioned between them. As they crept along, with the gravel crunching under the car wheels, she could see a crowd of peoplegathered outside the front of the house under a gazebo also covered in fairy lights and draped in white ribbons. There were balloons, too, and two enormous Christmas trees, one either side of the door, decorated to within an inch of their short lives with lights, baubles and ribbon, all matched to the theme which so far seemed to be white. For what? Purity?Hardly,thought Felicity, blushing a little. Because somewhere, somewhere in the midst of all this, there was her James.
The car pulled up in front of the group of people gathered on the gravel, all cheering and waving as they came to a stop. Felicity was overcome with the urge to see James immediately. She had always hated crowds and even though this was a very small one made up of – from what she could see – all the people she knew and loved in the world, she just didn’t want to face them without her Penguin Man by her side.
‘Where is he?’ she said as she opened the car door. Andrea, who was for once not wearing a fleece and actually looked like she wasn’t even covered in cat hair for the first time ever, grabbed her hand and helped her out. Her navy-blue dress made her eyes even more sparkly than usual.
‘You’re not going to kill him, are you?’ she hissed under her breath. ‘He did all this himself. For you.’
‘He had a bit of help,’ said Sophie, coming up beside her dressed in an incredible deep-red velvet slinky affair, ‘but it was all his idea. Please don’t kill him.’
‘At least, not on your wedding day. I’m no expert,’ said Bex, appearing behind Sophie, ‘but I believe that’s considered bad form.’
Felicity smiled and her friends let out three huge sighs of relief as one. ‘I’m not going to kill him,’ she said. ‘I just want to see him.’
‘He’s inside,’ said Sophie. ‘He’s waiting for you to marry him.’ She grinned a huge grin and then grabbed Felicity’s arm. ‘If youwant to, that is. He was very strong on that point. If you don’t want to that’s completely fine, he said. I’ve just got to tell you to get back in the car and he’ll see you back at the hotel and that will be that.’ She stopped and looked at Felicity properly for the first time. ‘You look amazing, by the way.’
Felicity looked down at herself. ‘Did you choose this dress?’
‘I may have,’ said Sophie, kissing her friend on the cheek. ‘Bex helped me. Do you like it?’
‘Like it? I never want to take it off. Please don’t ever make me take it off.’
Andrea piped up. ‘James might have a few words to say about that, it’s your wedding day for goodness’ sake.’
‘Hush now, they can do it with the dress still on,’ said Sophie with a wink.
‘You two,’ said Felicity, blushing hard now. ‘Please. It’s my wedding day. Have some decorum.’
The four of them looked at each other and then squealed. Bex’s reaction was more muted than the rest but Felicity was so relieved to see her at least partly back to herself.
‘It’s my wedding day,’ said Felicity again. ‘Am I dreaming?’
‘Nope but you might be late. Hurry up and get in there and let him know you’re not going to kill him, for God’s sake,’ said Andrea.
‘I’ve never seen him so nervous,’ Sophie said, grinning. ‘Go and put him out of his misery.’
‘Okay, okay, I’m going,’ said Felicity, picking up the hem of her dress and moving towards the front door of Le Manoir, which had been painted a deep-red colour for the occasion, just as she remembered from her childhood.
Tristan stepped forwards wordlessly and gave her an enormous hug. Very un-Tristan-like behaviour. Pete appeared behind him and she waved excitedly, probably rather over-excitedly, as the reality of the situation started to hit.
Two children peeped out from behind them. The boy looked decidedly unbothered but the girl’s eyes were the size of saucers as she looked up at Felicity.
‘This is Sammy and Zoe,’ said her brother. ‘And this,’ he went on, turning to the children, ‘is your half-sister, Felicity.’
‘Hey, guys,’ said Felicity, a little shyly, wondering if she was going to be able to cope with any more excitement in one day.
