Chapter 5
Milly quickly decided it was probably best if she just stayed out of the way. She’d taken a first aid course at school… but she couldn’t remember much about it other than lots of giggling when it came to doing mouth-to-mouth on the CPR dummy. Somehow, she couldn’t imagine she’d be much help right now.
Besides… she was a florist, not a doctor.
A florist who was currently feeling ridiculously guilty about the poor bloke who’d just received a faceful of Milly’s Flowers’ finest.
There was a tight knot of guests crowded around the spot where the drama had taken place – though Milly had a feeling they weren’t doing much to help the casualty either. In fact, the majority of them had their mobile phones raised in the air, intent on capturing everything.
Whatever everything was! Milly shuddered. She wasn’t really sure she wanted to know.
From the half-horrified, half-delighted murmurs that kept drifting her way, it sounded like there was a lot of blood involved… and several missing teeth. Milly had her fingers crossed that this was just a really bad case of Chinese Whispers. Yes – it was a big bouquet, and yes – it was very heavy, but surely it couldn’t have caused any serious damage… could it? Even if the bouquet had fallen on him from a pretty impressive height - blood and missing teeth seemed to be a bit far-fetched.
At least… she was busy praying that was the case!
‘You okay?’ said Caroline, staring at Milly as she shifted guiltily on the spot.
Milly forced herself to stand still for a second. She’d been alternating between craning her neck to see what was happening, and – more importantly, who it was happening to – and then turning sharply away because she didn’t really want to see anything. She wasn’t very good with blood.
Judging by the look of concern Caroline was now giving her, Milly could only assume that her grossed-out expression and weird movements were making it look a bit like she was having some kind of fit.
‘Mills, answer me,’ said Caroline gently. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing – I’m fine,’ said Milly, scrunching up her face. ‘Just wondering who got hurt, that’s all.’
‘Stay here - I’ll go and find out,’ said Caroline. ‘I want to take some notes anyway… and get some eyewitness accounts while they’re still fresh!’
‘Hey!’ gasped Milly, grabbing her friend’s wrist. ‘You’re not going to put this bit in the paper, are you?’
‘Are you kidding me?’ laughed Caroline. ‘Of course I am! This wedding just earned itself an upgrade. It might even make the front page if the photographer managed to get a decent action shot of the whole thing going down. I’ll need a quote from you too, Mills – about the flowers. It’ll be great publicity, you’ll see!’
As she watched Caroline force her way through the gawking crowd again, Milly let out a low groan. She swayed slightly and wrapped her arms around herself. She was starting to feel a bit odd – weak and a bit wibbly around the edges. Maybe she was in shock or something.
Milly was half-tempted to go and hunt for Murray. She didn’t know why – but she had a feeling he’d make her feel better. Perhaps he’d offer to lend her his jacket… or maybe even give her a hug!
Closing her eyes for a brief second, Milly imagined his warm arms closing around her. She shivered. Yep – that would definitely make her feel better!
But then again… perhaps she’d better not. For one thing, Murray might not even remember her – and she was in no fit state right now to remind him about their kiss! For another thing, Murray was the best man. He was probably caught up in the thick of things, dealing with the casualty and making sure the poor guy didn’t get trampled.
Blowing out a long breath, Milly glanced over at the crowd again. It seemed to be thinning a bit as people got bored and started to wander back towards the hotel. She still couldn’t see the man on the ground, but someone was leading the sleepy horse towards the out-of-bounds gardens – the vintage carriage trundling along behind it.
‘What’s happening?’ said Milly as Caroline reappeared at her side.
‘There’s an ambulance on its way, so they’re moving the horse so that it doesn’t freak out and cause any extra havoc!’ said Caroline.
‘An ambulance?’ said Milly, her eyes widening in horror. ‘Isn’t that overkill? I mean… it was just a bunch of flowers.’
Caroline shrugged. ‘The guy’s still unconscious… so I guess it’s the only option.’
‘What?’ gasped Milly. That must have been one serious clonk on the head! ‘Who is it?’
‘It’s the best man,’ said Caroline. ‘That tall bloke who lives out on the marshes in that old boat.’ She paused and clicked her fingers. ‘I can’t remember his name. I’ll need it for the article…’
‘Murray,’ breathed Milly, her horror mounting. ‘Murray Eddington.’
‘Cheers Mills!’ Caroline beamed at her as she grabbed her notebook from her jacket pocket and scribbled it down. ‘This is going to make a great front page for next week’s issue!’
‘You’re not telling me the photographer really did get a shot of it happening?’ said Milly faintly.
‘No, sadly not,’ sighed Caroline, rolling her eyes. ‘Apparently, she was too busy focusing on details of the bride’s dress… and the bridesmaids… and the shoes!’
‘To be fair, that is her job,’ said Milly. ‘How was she to know disaster was about to strike?’
Caroline shrugged, looking mildly irritated. ‘Bit of a shame, though.’
‘Plenty of people had their mobiles out…’ said Milly.
‘You’re right… maybe one of them got the money shot!’
Caroline disappeared again before Milly had the chance to say anything else. She swallowed and stared after her, not sure what to do next.
Now she knew it was Murray over there on the floor, she felt like she should go to him… but just because he’d camped out in her head for the past year and a half, it didn’t mean she knew him. It wasn’t like she could answer any questions for the paramedics when they turned up.
Milly sighed and forced herself to turn away from the scene. Her eyes came to rest on the horse, who was ambling across the overgrown lawn, the carriage leaving deep ruts in its wake. After a few lazy strides, the animal came to an abrupt stop, ducked its head and started to rip up great gobfuls of greenery.
‘Can I have everyone’s attention please?’
The shout came from behind her, along with the tinkling of a knife against a champagne glass. Milly whirled around only to spot a short man wearing a grey top hat standing in the doorway of the hotel. For some reason, he had a decidedly smug smile on his face.
‘The bride and groom kindly request that you all make your way back inside to join them – dinner is about to be served.’
‘You’re kidding me?!’ muttered Milly. How could they even think of going ahead with the reception while their best man was lying in an unconscious heap in the carpark?
It quickly became clear that she was the only one with such reservations, though. There was a sudden mass exodus towards the hotel, and Milly was jostled as guests barged past her, gossiping about what had just happened - sounding excited rather than concerned.
Feeling like a fish swimming against the tide, Milly moved further away from the hotel - crossing the car park. Everyone else might be happy to leave him to his fate now that the excitement was over, but someone had to make sure Murray was okay until the ambulance turned up!
‘Mills, where are you going?’ said Caroline, appearing in front of her.
‘I just want to check on Murray…’ she said quickly. ‘Is he still bleeding?’
‘Breathe, Milly!’ ordered Caroline, looking concerned. ‘I couldn’t see any blood… and don’t worry, the ambulance is just pulling in.’
Sure enough, it swung around the corner even as she said the words.
‘But… is there someone with him?’ she pressed on. That strange, dizzy sensation was washing over her again.
‘Yeah, don’t worry,’ said Caroline. ‘Ian’s with him. He’s the hotel’s first aider. The paramedics will sort him out – he’ll be okay.’
‘You think?’ said Milly, swaying slightly.
‘I know! Come on, I’m taking you inside,’ said Caroline, grabbing hold of her arm and starting to lead her back towards the door. ‘You’re as white as a sheet. You need a drink and something to eat. I had no idea you were such a delicate flower!’
Milly winced.
‘Bad choice of words there?’ said Caroline with a smirk.
Milly just shrugged and then paused again to watch as the ambulance made its way back out of the carpark. They’d certainly made short work of that! Considering there was no sign of Murray amongst the handful of people it had left in its wake, she could only guess that he was on board.
‘I might just go home,’ she said vaguely.
‘Rubbish!’ said Caroline. ‘You’re in no fit state to go anywhere. Besides - you can’t abandon me now. You just need some bad canapes inside you, and you’ll be as right as rain!’
Milly wanted to argue, but she simply didn’t have the energy. She let Caroline steer her back inside the hotel. Maybe she’d be able to slip away after the meal. She definitely wasn’t up for bopping around at the disco… especially considering any chance of dancing with Murray had just disappeared with the wailing of the ambulance’s sirens.
One glass of fizz, a bit of food… and then she’d make her way back up the hill towards home. Perhaps she’d stop in Bendall’s on her way, though. They had a special offer on ice cream at the moment – and right now, she could do with a tub or two!