The Wedding that Changed Everything: a gorgeously uplifting romantic comedy
‘I don’t feel guilty about my book choices in the slightest.’ I set the tea tray down on the coffee table and refill Francelia’s cup. She arches an eyebrow. She thinks I should feel guilty. I think she should take a long run off a short pier.
‘So. Francelia.’ Alice is starting to get hot and flustered, so I retreat to the sofa and vow to keep it zipped. ‘How was your trip to Aruba?’
‘Ghastly.’ I think Francelia’s lip is curling, but it’s hard to tell with all the fillers. She doesn’t offer up any more information.
‘Good to be back home then?’ I can see beads of sweat starting to form on Alice’s forehead. I hate the way this woman’s mere presence turns my friend to mush.
‘I wouldn’t exactly say that.’ Francelia places her teacup down and clasps her hands on her lap. ‘Anyway, the reason I popped over this evening…’
Yes! This is what Alice and I have been waiting for. She’ll tell us why she’s here, we’ll deal with whatever it is and then she can clamber back onto her broomstick and fly back to Harrogate.
But Francelia doesn’t get the chance to divulge her reason for descending (uninvited and without warning) as there is the unmistakable – and panic-inducing – sound of key meeting lock from the front door. I turn to Alice and our eyes meet, wide, startled, conveying what our mouths are desperate to say.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.
We’re up off the sofa and barrelling into the hallway in a split second, Alice reaching the front door milliseconds before me. Kevin takes an alarmed step back when he opens the door to see us standing there, panting like rabid dogs.
‘Go!’ Alice hisses, eyes darting backwards to make sure Francelia hasn’t followed.
Kevin laughs, but he’s frowning. ‘What?’
‘Didn’t you get my message?’
‘What message?’ Kevin, painfully slowly, takes his mobile out of his pocket, holding it out to show a blank screen. ‘I turned it off during the performance. I must have forgotten to switch it back on.’
‘Francelia’s here.’ Alice’s eyes dart back towards the living room before she addresses her boyfriend again. ‘You have to go.’
Kevin sighs, long and heavy, but he knows the deal.
‘Fine. Text me when she’s…’
‘Hello? Who’s this?’ A shiver runs down my spine at the sound of Francelia’s voice. She looms behind us, no doubt fighting against the Botox in an attempt to arch a practised brow at poor Kevin.
‘This is Kevin,’ Alice squeaks. ‘Emily’s brother.’
I look at Alice, then Kevin (who is in the process of folding his arms in an ‘oh, really?’ way), then back at Alice.
‘Emily’s brother has a key to your house?’ Francelia doesn’t miss a bleeding trick.
‘For emergencies,’ Alice says.
‘And what’s the emergency right now?’
Alice’s mouth opens. She shuts it again. She’s got nothing.
‘He’s also staying with us for a few days.’ I shouldn’t encourage Alice’s cover-up of her relationship, but I can’t stand to see her flounder. ‘On the sofa.’ I roll my eyes at Kevin. ‘What are you standing out there for, bruv? Get inside, you big dope.’
If Alice notices the majorly pissed-off look on her boyfriend’s face as he steps over the threshold, she doesn’t show it. She leads us all into the living room, where the three of us sit on the sofa – Alice on the left, Kevin on the right and me in the middle.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,’ Francelia says as she arranges herself in the armchair. She flashes Alice a reproachful look.
‘It’s Kevin. Kevin Jackson.’ He holds out his hand, but Francelia doesn’t acknowledge it, never mind shake it.
‘You have a different surname to your sister?’
‘Different dads,’ I say as Kevin settles back down into the sofa.
‘Hmm, it figures,’ the witch mutters before turning her attention back to Kevin. ‘So, Kevin Jackson. Why are you – a grown man – sleeping on your sister’s sofa? Don’t you have a home of your own? Don’t you work?’
‘I’m a music teacher,’ Kevin says and Francelia nods.
‘At the local school like Emily? That explains it then. No wonder you’re “sofa surfing”, as they say.’
‘I’m not sofa surfing. I have a place of my own.’
‘Oh?’ There goes the eyebrow again. ‘Then why aren’t you sleeping there instead of on this sofa?’ She points at the sofa we’re all sitting on, in case he needs clarification.
‘His flat’s being fumigated,’ Alice says. ‘For rats.’
Francelia recoils. I quite enjoy seeing her so uncomfortable, but Kevin is taking less pleasure from the experience.
‘How unfortunate.’ Francelia rubs at her calf with the pointy toe of the shoe that had designs on Carrot earlier. Her eyes roam the carpet for rodents, as though Kevin has turned into the Pied bleeding Piper and brought his little infestation pals along with him. ‘Anyway, the reason I popped over…’ She peers into her handbag, as though expecting to find a furry critter nestled there, before reaching gingerly inside. ‘Emily, this is for you.’
Chapter Three
‘For me?’
I observe the proffered envelope with suspicion. What is this? Surely no good can come of accepting anything from this woman? I do not trust Francelia Monroe. Not one little bit.
‘What is it?’ I ask, but my question is swallowed by the gasp beside me, followed shortly by a squeal and handclapping.
‘Is it…? It is, isn’t it?’ Alice has stopped clapping and is now bouncing up and down on the sofa. Francelia gives a curt nod before thrusting the envelope at me again.
‘Go on,’ Alice says, grasping me – quite tightly, again – by the arm. ‘Open it.’
‘What is it?’ I’m not taking it, not until I know what it is.
‘Open it and see!’ Alice’s face is so alive, so joyful, that I know it can’t be anything bad, but I’m still hesitant.
‘Are you going to take this, or have I wasted an entire evening?’ Francelia lifts her wrist and gives a tut when she sees the time on her elegant watch.
I take the envelope. Alice’s grip tightens, and she emits another little squeal. The envelope is thick, made of ivory paper, and embossed with a pattern of interlocking hearts. On the front, in swirly gold writing, is my name.
Miss Emily Atkinson.
My address is there too, but there isn’t a stamp.
‘We didn’t have time to post it, what with it being a last-minute request.’ Francelia shoots a pointed look in Alice’s direction. Her grasp on my arm goes limp. ‘You’ll have to RSVP in person to me.’
RSVP? This isn’t…?
I pull the invitation out of the envelope. The card is the same ivory, embossed with the same pattern of interlocking hearts. The pattern has been picked out with glittery silver leaf on one half of the card, with a wide, dove-grey ribbon seamlessly covering the cutoff point. A pale-blue gem surrounded by clusters of diamantes sits in the middle of the ribbon, cinching it in to create a bow effect. I open the card carefully, already knowing what it will say inside as I read Alice’s invitation months ago.
Carolyn Allegra Monroe
and
Piers Michael Reeves
request the pleasure of your company in a week-long celebration of their marriage, commencing Monday the twenty-third of July.
Durban Castle
Clearwell Road
Little Heaton
Cheshire
‘What is this?’ Obviously, I know what it is, but I don’t understand why Francelia has schlepped all the way over from Harrogate to give this to me. I don’t really know Carolyn and I’ve never even met her fiancé. I know nothing about the dude, other than the fact he’s stinking rich and Francelia thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread (which probably has nothing to do with his bulging wallet. Nothing. At. All).
‘I asked Carolyn if you could come to the wedding with me,’ Alice says. ‘You’re my plus-one!’
‘You did what?’ Both Kevin and I ask the question, and Alice is torn about who she should answer first. Or how she’s going to answer Kevin in front of Francelia without giving the game away.
‘Emily’s my best friend.’ Alice shoots a pointed look at her stepmother as she speaks to Kevin. ‘And I didn’t want to go on my own.’
‘And there was absolutely nobody else you could have asked?’ Kevin is furious. His voice is measured but there’s a worrying vein pulsing at his temple.
‘There is somebody else who I could have asked, but it’s awkward.’ Alice flicks her gaze towards Francelia, who is watching the exchange like a hawk. Alice is a plump, juicy mouse and Francelia is hungry.
‘Fine. Whatever.’ Kevin shrugs and shoves his body back into the sofa.
‘What’s going on here?’ Francelia wags a finger in the general direction of the sofa.
‘Nothing,’ Alice says quickly. ‘It’s just I have this other good friend, but we’ve fallen out.’
Kevin nods. ‘Big time.’
Francelia glances at her watch again. ‘Whatever. I don’t have time to hear about your little squabbles.’ She turns her icy gaze on me. ‘Look, will you be attending or not?’
‘Yes,’ Alice says, her grip now intentionally tight on my arm. ‘Yes, she will.’
‘Right. Glad that’s sorted.’ Francelia is on her feet, handbag hooked over her arm before I even have time to blink, never mind protest. ‘I must be off. Long drive ahead and all that. I’ll see you both on Monday. Don’t forget we dress for dinner.’ She looks me up and down and puffs out a little sigh. Cheeky cow! Okay, so I didn’t make much of an effort for my date this evening, but still.
‘Oh, and Alice…’ Francelia pulls a face and clasps her hands together. ‘Please behave yourself. We don’t want a repeat of what happened the last time you were at the castle, do we?’
Alice, who is halfway out of her seat, slumps back down onto the sofa. She’s gone awfully pale and appears to be blinking away tears.
‘Am I to see myself out?’ Francelia rolls her eyes and, with a huff of indignation, strides towards the hallway. Alice pulls herself together and leaps to her feet.
‘Of course not. Thank you for coming.’ Alice scuttles after Francelia while I remain seated, the wedding invitation still sitting between my fingers.
‘I’m sorry, okay? But you know how it is with my family.’
‘Yes, I know you’re ashamed of me. That you’ll do anything to stop them knowing we’re in a relationship.’
‘No, it isn’t like that at all. I’ve told you. It’s them. Her especially. You think I like it being like this? Keeping our relationship a secret? Shoving you in the garden shed to hide when she shows up unexpectedly?’
As soon as Francelia left, all hell broke loose between Alice and Kevin. They’ve taken their row to the kitchen, but I can still hear every single word of it.
And yes, Alice did once shove Kevin in the garden shed to hide when Francelia rocked up out of the blue. It was the middle of December and he hadn’t been prepared enough to layer up. He’d emerged looking like Jack Frost after Francelia’s two-hour visit.
‘I really don’t know, Alice, because this sort of thing doesn’t happen in my world. If you love somebody, you don’t hide it.’
‘I don’t want to hide it. I want to tell the whole world how crazy I am about you. How much I love you, but I’m scared I’ll lose you if I tell them.’
‘You couldn’t lose me. I wouldn’t let it happen.’
‘You don’t know them. Not like I do. It wouldn’t be the first relationship she’d ruined. She wouldn’t let it rest. She’d keep at it, chipping away, until she’d driven a wedge between us.’
‘I wouldn’t let her.’
‘You don’t understand.’
‘No, I really don’t.’ There’s a moment of silence. I hope Kevin hasn’t stormed out of the back door, though I could understand if he has. It can’t be easy for him. ‘But I love you, and if I have to hide out in the shed every time your stepmum visits, then so be it. You could at least slip my coat in there with me next time though.’
There’s another block of silence, but this time I know Kevin hasn’t removed himself from our kitchen. They’ll be snogging like a pair of horny teenagers in there. They’re a very touchy-feely couple, which is unsettling when I have to face Kevin in the staffroom during term time.
‘So, I thought we could go shopping tomorrow.’ Alice has breezed back into the living room after her smooch sesh as though it’s a forgone conclusion that I’m attending Carolyn’s wedding. That I’m as thrilled as she is at the invite. ‘I know you have some lovely dresses, but we’ll be sitting down to formal dinners most evenings so you won’t manage with your staple three. But it’ll be fun, and my treat, of course.’
‘Alice.’ I hold up a hand to silence my friend as she continues to go on about tomorrow’s shopping trip. ‘I’m not entirely comfortable about gatecrashing your sister’s wedding. I barely know Carolyn. I’ve only met her a handful of times!’
‘That’s a handful more times than I’ve met her,’ Kevin – unhelpfully – calls from the kitchen.
Alice and I both decide to ignore him.
‘You won’t be gatecrashing anything.’ Alice picks up the invitation from where I’d shoved it on the coffee table during the lovers’ tiff in the kitchen. ‘You’ve been invited.’ She waggles the invite at me. ‘Besides, it’s the perfect place for you to meet your Prince Charming.’
Alice is grinning. I am not.
‘My Prince Charming? What are you talking about?’
‘Your perfect guy. Your Mr Right. Whatever you want to call him.’ Alice gives a wave of her hand. ‘Weddings are the perfect place to meet men, and this one is taking place in a castle.’ Alice leaves that hanging in the air for a moment, as though she’s just played her ace card.
I pluck the invitation from her fingers and frisbee it back towards the coffee table. ‘Meet my Prince Charming?’ Ugh. The idea alone makes me itch. ‘I’m not some feeble little princess waiting to be rescued. I’m a strong, independent woman.’
‘Except when you need me to catch spiders,’ Kevin calls – again unhelpfully – from the kitchen. I swear to God…
Deep breaths, Emily. Ignore him. Concentrate on Alice and this ridiculous notion of being rescued by a man.
‘How can you call yourself a feminist with this attitude?’
Alice looks at me, one eyebrow quirked. ‘I buy underwear for a living so women can look hot for the opposite sex. We may claim it’s about empowering women and all that tosh, but it’s for the menfolk. I ask myself that question every single day.’ Alice throws up her hands. ‘I haven’t found the answer yet. Besides, I need rescuing. I don’t want to go to this wedding on my own. It’s a whole week, Emily. A whole week with that woman telling me I’m useless and a disappointment and a thief.’
‘A what?’ Why on earth would Francelia accuse Alice of being a thief?
Alice rolls her eyes and gives a wave of her hand. ‘It’s a long story. Not important. The important part is she’s going to make my life a misery for the whole week.’ She adopts a snarky tone to say, ‘If you haven’t found yourself a boyfriend by now, it’s probably too late.’
‘There’s a solution for that last one,’ Kevin calls.
‘Shut up!’ Alice and I shout. She turns her focus back on me, taking both my hands in hers.
‘Please, Emily.’ Her eyes are wide, her lips slightly quivering. ‘Please don’t leave me to deal with Francelia on my own.’
I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to spend a week at this castle, surrounded by love and romance and the promise of happily ever afters. I want to stay here, where it’s safe. Where I can snuggle up on the sofa with Carrot purring on my chest while I watch crappy, comforting TV.
‘Carrot,’ I say, almost jumping out of my seat as I’m jolted by the realisation. By the ‘get out of jail free’ card. ‘We can’t leave Carrot here on his own. Who’ll feed him? Let him outside? Keep him company?’
‘Kevin will.’ Alice is quick as a flash with her answer. There’s no hesitation. No pondering. How long has she been planning this?
‘Excuse me?’ Kevin is at the living room door now, a mixture of outrage and bemusement on his face. ‘I’ll do what?’
‘You’ll stay here and look after Carrot.’ Alice pouts at her boyfriend and I swear to God she’s fluttering her eyelashes. ‘Won’t you? Pretty please?’
‘So let me get this straight.’ Kevin steps into the room, standing in front of Alice with his arms folded. ‘You two go off and spend a week in a luxurious castle, having fun and getting pissed on champagne, and I have to stay here like Cinderella?’
‘I wouldn’t quite put it like that…’
‘I would.’
Alice pulls Kevin down onto her lap, winding her arms around his waist and resting her cheek on his chest. ‘I will love you for ever and ever if you do.’
Kevin sighs and I know the git is going to crack. ‘Fine. I’ll stay here and look after Carrot. My flatmate’s doing my head in playing his grime at top volume anyway. It’ll be a nice break.’
‘So you’re just going to throw me to the lions, Cinders?’ I glare at the spineless toad. I know I can just say no to Alice, refuse to go to this stupid wedding, but I also know I won’t. Alice is my best friend and I won’t leave her at the mercy of Francelia and her vicious tongue. Alice has always been there for me, especially over the past year, so I have to be there for her too.
‘If I’m Cinderella,’ Kevin says as he hops up off Alice’s lap and wanders towards the door, ‘does that make you two the ugly sisters?’
He has the good sense to duck as two cushion missiles fly his way.
Chapter Four
So, I’ve agreed to accompany Alice to her sister’s wedding. We’ve shopped for new outfits (there was no way Alice was paying for mine, no matter how much she insisted) and agreed that Alice will drive us to the castle in Little Heaton. The journey is just over an hour and I plan to sit back and relax while taking full control of the music choices. My suitcase is zipped up and sitting on the end of my bed, but I can’t bring myself to pick it up and carry it downstairs to the car.
What am I doing? I know I’m tagging along for Alice’s benefit, but I feel sick at the thought of leaving my comfort zone. The past year has been a tumult of change with the break-up and everything, and now it finally feels as though my life is settling down again. If I pick up my case, if I take it downstairs and drag it to the boot of Alice’s car, I’ll be stepping into the unknown. I know Alice is determined to find my ‘Prince Charming’ at this castle, but I’m perfectly happy with my life the way it is right now, and I don’t want anything to send it off kilter again.
‘Do you need a hand with that?’ Alice has stopped outside my bedroom and is nodding towards the suitcase. She has her own suitcase, plus the teddy bear that still sleeps in her bed tucked under her arm.
‘Are you seriously taking Hubert?’ I sit down on the bed, as far away from my case as possible.
‘Of course.’ Alice drops a kiss on the sparse fur on Hubert-the-bear’s head. ‘Hubert comes everywhere with me. But don’t worry, he knows you’ve bagsied the front passenger seat.’ Alice smiles at me, but I don’t return the gesture. ‘Everything okay, honey?’
I nod, even though it isn’t.
‘I know you’re not all that keen on coming to the wedding, but I do think you’ll have a great time once you’re there.’ Alice steps into my bedroom and sits down next to me on the bed. ‘Carolyn and I spent every summer and Christmas at the castle when we were growing up and we had so much fun. Carolyn wants to recreate that time and has loads of activities planned for the week. Plus, you’re a history nut and Durban Castle was built in Tudor times or something.’
I am intrigued by the castle and its history, but still.
‘And weddings are the perfect place to meet men.’ Alice says this as though it’s a good thing. ‘We can find you your happily ever after, I just know it.’
‘But that’s the thing, Alice. I don’t believe in happily ever afters. Haven’t for a long time.’
‘But you did, once upon a time.’ Alice is looking at me funny, sort of frowning and with her lips pursed. She hands Hubert to me and pushes herself up onto her feet before striding away. When she returns, she’s holding a pink, hardback book. Its familiar title and design glint at me as she moves across the room.
I wrap my arms around Hubert and push my cheek into his fur. ‘Why do you have that?’
‘You believed in happily ever afters when you received this book,’ Alice says, not really answering the question.
‘I was six.’
I can’t look at that book. I can’t face the memories it catapults at me, one after the other. The joy, the wonder, and then the pain of knowing life would never be as simple or as jubilant as those tales. It was a birthday present from my parents and I’d loved it. Like Alice and her Hubert, I’d dragged that book everywhere with me. I’d devoured the pages, drinking in the images before I could read the words myself. I knew the words off by heart, knew the order of the tales, knew how each story made me feel as that six-year-old full of wonder.
‘Why do you have that?’ I ask again, my voice firm this time. There’s a hint of the anger I feel bubbling up inside, but I’ll try to control it. My anger isn’t aimed at Alice, not really.
‘I found it.’ Alice rubs a hand over a pale, yellowish-brown stain on one corner of the book. A new addition since I last saw it. The slightly charred edges are still there, reminding me how much I despise the book and everything it represents. ‘It was in the bin. I’d already scraped the leftover curry we’d had in there before I spotted it. Sorry.’
I don’t know what she’s apologising for. Surely not for dropping curry on a book I’d tried to dispose of – twice. Why would I care if the book is stained? I wanted it gone. Destroyed. Perhaps that’s it. She’s apologising because it’s still here. Still in this house.
‘I couldn’t let you throw it away.’ Alice has opened the book now. ‘Not when I read the inscription.’ She holds the book out towards me, but I turn away. I don’t recall an inscription being in the book, but I don’t want to read whatever it says. It’ll only dredge up memories I’d rather keep locked away.
Alice closes the book and sits down next to me on the bed. ‘I know how much you’re hurting. I’ve lost my mum too, remember?’
The other thing that propelled Alice into finding me my perfect match a year ago, combined with my failed relationship with Edward and finding herself loved up with Kevin, was the death of my mother.
‘And I know that when we’re hurting we sometimes do things we regret.’
‘But I don’t regret it.’ I point at the book, but I can’t quite bring myself to focus on it. ‘I don’t want that thing.’ I didn’t want it a year ago, when I discovered it in the box of items from Mum’s house that Great Aunt Dorothy had sent over. Didn’t want it hanging around, reminding me of that brief time in my life when everything was perfect. Before everything changed. ‘How dare you retrieve it?’ The anger gurgles to the surface. I leap up from the bed, throwing poor Hubert down onto the duvet. ‘How dare you meddle in my life? First, pushing me to go on these stupid dates, and now this! It’s too much, Alice. Why can’t you just let me be?’
‘I know what it’s like to lose a parent. I know it’s different for me – my mum died when I was really little and I barely remember her – but I’d give anything to have a reminder of her. Dad got rid of everything when he married Francelia – all the photos, her perfume and jewellery, the cards she wrote for me and Carolyn. Said he wanted a fresh start.’ She stands up from the bed and places a hand on my shoulder. ‘I know you’re angry with me right now, but one day you’ll thank me for keeping hold of the book.’
I roll my eyes, still not looking at it. ‘It’s a book of fairy tales, Alice.’
‘It’s more than that.’ Alice gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze. ‘The little girl who received this book believed in happily ever afters. You told me once that she used to dream of being rescued by the handsome prince. What happened to her?’