Page 54 of Love in the Air at The Cornish Bakery

Covering his mouth, Hudson nodded.

Chuckling, Ian whispered to the group, ‘I’m not sure if poor Hudson is excited or traumatised at the thought of his teeth falling out.’

Nina smiled at Pippa and Hudson and looked back at Rowan. ‘We’ve got all this to look forward to.’

‘We sure do.’ Squeezing her hand, he led the way into the kitchen.

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‘ICOULD EAT ANOTHERwhole plateful; it was that delicious.’ Rowan wiped his mouth with his napkin.

‘Me too. I think that was the best roast I’ve ever had.’ Nina grinned.

Scraping her chair back, Elsie stood up before ushering Ian to standing too. ‘Could we have a moment of your time before we move on to pudding?’

Climbing up, Pippa stood on her chair and held her index finger to her lips. ‘Shhhhh.’

‘Thank you, Pippa, love. We can always count on you to keep order.’ Elsie chuckled as she steadied Pippa’s chair and helped her clamber back down. ‘Ian and I have a bit of news we’d like to share.’

A hush fell over the table as everyone turned towards Elsie and Ian.

‘We’re getting married on the 19th of November.’

Ian cleared his throat. ‘This year.’

A round of applause erupted around the table as everyone stood up, cheering and whooping at the news.

Laughing, Elsie held her hands up, palms forward, waiting for quiet. ‘And as promised, I would like to ask all my girls to be bridesmaids with Pippa as flower girl,’ Elsie placed her hand gently on Pippa’s head. ‘And Rueben, Toby and Hudson as page boys. We know it will be a little unusual to have so many bridesmaids, but we’re a bit of an unusual family, so we figured why not bring that quirkiness into our wedding?’

‘I’m going to be a flower girl?’ Pippa clapped her hands against her cheeks.

‘Yes, if you don’t mind, that is?’

‘Can my dolly be a flower girl, too? She has a pretty dress Mummy and Gavin got me for my birthday.’

‘Of course she can. The more the merrier.’ Elsie chuckled before turning to Ian. ‘We’ve not really decided on any of the details of the wedding yet so we know that it’s going to be a bit of a rush to get it all planned and ready in time but I’m sure we can pull it off.’

‘And let’s face it, we think you’ve all been waiting long enough to see us get married. I know we have.’ Ian kissed Elsie’s hand.

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