Page 116 of The Day After Christmas
‘Hey,’ they said in unison.
‘We’ll talk later, okay?’ said Felicity, in her best big sister voice.
The children nodded silently.
‘They hate me already,’ she said, turning to Tristan.
He grinned. ‘Give them time. They don’t know you yet.’
‘Exactly,’ said Felicity.
‘See you after the thing,’ whispered her brother in her ear.
‘Thanks for being here,’ Felicity whispered back. And she meant it.
Just as she got to the door she was accosted by Valerie and a very smart-looking Jessica the donkey with a little friend she recognised as Eeyore.
‘There you are,’ said Felicity, flinging her arms around the little donkeys’ necks and feeling suddenly overcome with emotion. ‘It wouldn’t be the same without you two.’
‘You’ll spoil your dress,’ said Valerie from somewhere behind her.
‘I don’t care,’ she said, face buried in fur. Jessica’s familiar warm smell tickled her nostrils. ‘Besides, you didn’t see what happened to it earlier. Don’t tell James I said that, whatever you do.’
‘You look wonderful, darling,’ said Valerie. ‘Jessica and Eeyore are going to follow you in. She has the rings.’
Felicity thought her heart might burst right out of her chest. For sure enough, there around Jessica’s neck was a little whitevelvet pouch on a silver ribbon. ‘Already the best day ever,’ she whispered, half to herself.
CHAPTER 55
As she reached the door and peered in, a familiar figure reached out a hand. It was Harry, looking dapper and ever so slightly Mafia-ish in a dark suit and white tie.
‘You’re here,’ she breathed, taking his arm.
‘Even Jessica the donkey couldn’t have stopped me,’ he said, looking her over with tears in his eyes. ‘You look incredible.’
‘What is happening?’ said Felicity with a laugh as they walked into what had once been her childhood home.
‘I’ve no idea but coming back here to walk you down the aisle was not on my life bingo card,’ quipped Harry, but he looked thoughtful.
‘Me neither,’ said Felicity, gripping his arm. ‘It’s weird, that’s for sure. But good to see it full of life again.’
For the house looked very different to last time she had been here, finding a stray donkey in the kitchen. Everywhere had been swept and painted. The dead leaves and broken furniture had been removed and it had been cleaned to within an inch of its life. Everywhere smelt quite strongly of furniture polish and lavender. For the new owners, she supposed. At least they’d obviously let her use it for this first. Her wedding.
Her insides did a little flip at that thought. They did a much bigger flip as they reached the end of the hallway and she saw James standing by the fireplace in the enormous living room with a Christmas tree in each corner, waiting for her like the gift he was. James was dressed in a charcoal-grey suit with a dark-blue tie and white shirt. On anyone else it might have looked like a school uniform but on him… he looked positively edible. His blond hair had been gelled but was still suitably mussy and his face… on his face Felicity thought she could count at least five emotions at once. He looked terrified and awestruck and deliriously happy all at the same time. And handsome. Was that an emotion? He looked ridiculously handsome too. Of course he did.
Music began playing from somewhere unknown. “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer in fact, a personal favourite. As she started walking towards James, she was vaguely aware that there were other people gathered on chairs on each side of the room and that others were following her in, including the little donkeys, who still hadn’t put a hoof wrong. Jessica knew this place of old, of course. There was little Harper, James’s niece, with her mum and dad, wearing the most beautiful little pink sparkly dress, and at the front, James’s mum and dad were looking on proudly. Rita and Jim lived in Scotland so they never saw them much but they had always been so kind to her and they were giving her the warmest smile right now.Fancy them coming all the way over to Guernsey,Felicity thought vaguely as she walked.
But despite everything in her peripheral vision, Felicity really only had eyes for James. Her gorgeous, kind Penguin Man, who had always seemed too good to be true and now, he’d proved it. In fact, it was only when she had almost reached him that she realised he wasn’t alone. Standing in front of the fireplace was a small woman with grey hair and red-rimmed glasses. She washolding a black folder and wearing a black suit and looked as though she should have been officiating a funeral not a wedding but Felicity didn’t care. Half Pint and his merry band of pigeon mates could have been flying around her head and she wouldn’t even have noticed.
Harry gave her arm a squeeze as they reached the fireplace and she forced herself to look away from James just for a moment.
‘Thanks… Dad,’ whispered Felicity into his ear.
‘That’s the first time you’ve called me that in a very long time,’ said Harry, beaming.
‘I know,’ said Felicity. And then, ‘I’m glad you’re here.’
‘Really?’
