Page 106 of Merrily Ever After
‘Hello?’ Fred’s voice came from the hallway. ‘We let ourselves in.’
‘We are the only ones here, I think,’ I heard Astrid say.
‘Quick.’ I shimmied on the spot. I loved Fred and Astrid dearly, but greeting them with my dress undone to my knickers was not how I planned to start the evening. ‘Do me up, it’s your dad, we need to get dressed.’
Cole grinned. ‘It’s a long time since I heard a girl say that.’
I thumped him playfully. ‘This is not the time to regale me with tales of your misspent youth.’
‘It pains me to do this, but here goes.’ He zipped me up and pressed another kiss to my neck. ‘You do the coats, I’ll do drinks.’
I watched him walk out to greet our first guests wearing a soft green shirt which set off his russet hair and deep brown eyes and … his boxer shorts.
‘Cole!’ I gasped. ‘You’ve forgotten your trousers.’
And just like that our pre-wedding party had started.
An hour later and the house was buzzing with Christmas spirit. All my favourite people were here: Cesca, Fliss and their husbands and kids, Nell and Olek, Hester and Paul and, of course, Emily and Will. Hester and Nell were self-appointed waitresses, circling with plates of warm pastry nibbles (straight from Marks and Spencer, but anyone who had time to make their own pastry at Christmas, days before their wedding, needed to take a long hard look at their priorities, in my opinion), leaving Cole and me to chat to everyone.
‘I’m having such a lovely time!’ Emily cried as she danced past me holding hands with Cesca’s children. ‘Thank you for inviting me!’
‘Believe me,’ I yelled back, ‘the pleasure is all mine.’
My beautiful sister, I thought. How easily our lives were gelling together despite the late start. I already loved her. We had got into the habit of speaking and texting every day. Just small trivial things, but we were finding out new things about each other and developing the bond between us. And I’d been in to see Ray again too. I hadn’t found out anything more about Mum yet, but I was learning to cope with his jumbled-up mind, and in quieter moments when he relaxed, I recognised aspects of myself in him.
Emily pulled a face as the kids dived behind the sofa, dragging her with them, and I laughed as she tried to fold herself up small. Kids knew, I thought. They had in-built radars for nice people.
I glanced around to find Will and spotted him chatting to Paul. But every so often his eyes sought out Emily and a besotted smile spread across his face. Another good egg; he was a keeper.
‘Hey, beautiful,’ said a soft low voice in my ear. I shivered with pleasure and turned to find Cole with a fresh glass of fizz for me. I took it and swapped it for a kiss.
‘Having fun?’ I had to raise my voice to make myself heard over the Christmas playlist I’d asked Harley and Freya to put together for us.
‘Very much,’ he replied, touching his glass against mine. ‘Everyone seems to be in high spirits. Dad and Astrid have just told me they’ve booked flights to India in March.’
My eyebrows shot up. ‘Wow. They’re serious about it then?’
He nodded. ‘And Hester has been offered a new role as a drive-time radio presenter.’
I shook my head in disbelief. ‘Then there’s Nell, looking for a new challenge now she’s sold her market stall.’
‘And us getting married.’ He pulled me into his arms. ‘New starts for everyone.’
‘Hey, you two!’ Hester shoved a plate of smoked salmon blinis between us. ‘Any last-minute requests for your wedding reception? Are we wedding-ready?’
‘We should be,’ I said, helping myself to a blini, I’d barely eaten again all day. ‘Cole’s been clutching his clipboard like Santa adding naughty boys and girls to his list for weeks.’
‘No surprises which list you’d be on,’ he retorted. ‘And someone needs to keep track of the details because my fiancée just taps her head vaguely when I ask her anything and informs me that it’s all in her brain.’
‘And it is,’ I said airily. ‘It will be a lovely Christmassy day with my favourite people. And, therefore, it will be perfect. The details will take care of themselves, as the saying goes.’
Paul appeared and wrapped an arm around his wife. ‘I thought the phrase is that the devil is in the detail.’
‘The devil is definitely not invited,’ I replied. ‘It’ll be a host of heavenly angels all the way.’
‘Providing they know what time the wedding is.’ Cole waggled an eyebrow.
‘Oh shush. You know I get mixed up where noon is concerned.’ I elbowed him playfully in the ribs. I’d sent the text invitations out with twelve-thirty a.m. on them instead of p.m. ‘Easy mistake.’
