Chapter 7
7
Carole was glad of Tom’s arm to lean on as they made their way towards the church. She’d forgotten how much she hated wearing high heels, especially ones as high as these. Working in a busy NHS environment meant comfortable shoes were essential, and in her free time she mostly lived in trainers and flats.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d worn fashion heels. Last year, probably, when she’d worn this same outfit to her parents’ anniversary party. It was possible that the passage of time meant she’d misjudged her ability to handle the shoes. The balls of her feet were already screaming at her, and she’d only climbed out of the car two minutes ago.
Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. At least she had Tom’s arm to cling to should one of the treacherous stiletto tips betray her as they walked into the church.
On their way towards the church entrance, Carole paused to say hello to a few extended family members who were lingering outside. She introduced Tom as her friend, which inevitably set eyebrows waggling amongst some of her more blunt female relatives, along with refrains of the word ‘friend’ in tones that made it clear they suspected there was much more than friendship between them.
“Sorry about that,” she whispered to Tom once they’d extricated themselves and were walking into the church. “Some of my aunts on this side of the family can be a bit embarrassing.”
“It’s fine,” Tom said easily. “Everyone has one or two aunts and uncles who make them cringe. It wouldn’t be a proper family wedding if they weren’t there to embarrass people.”
Carole appreciated his relaxed good humour. As they walked down the central aisle of the church, she took in the beautiful flowers at the front and the ribbons decorating the ends of the wooden pews. It was a gorgeous church, with stained glass windows through which the summer sunshine was flooding, casting rainbow colours around the vaulted space. The church was already filling up, with the wedding ceremony due to begin in less than twenty minutes.
When Carole spied her sister and brother-in-law in a pew near the front of the church, alongside her parents, she made a beeline for them. Amid greetings and exclamations about how lovely everyone looked in their best outfits, Carole once more introduced Tom to her family.
“Ah, so you’re Carole’s next-door neighbour,” her father said, shaking Tom’s hand. “Great to meet you.”
“You too, Mr Heywood,” Tom replied.
“Call me Frederick,” her father insisted.
“And call me Nina,” her mother added. “Did you two have any trouble parking?”
“Oh, it’s totally jammed out there,” her sister, Jane, chimed in. “I feel bad for all the poor people who live here and who must hate us for turning up and taking all the parking spaces.”
The friendly chatter continued as Tom explained about the lucky space they’d found close to the church and then answered her father’s questions about whether they’d had any trouble during the drive here, and then her mother’s questions about how long he’d lived in Hamblehurst and what he did for a living. Carole was impressed by his easy conversation with her family, considering he’d only just met them.
A memory surfaced of the first time she’d introduced Greg, her ex-partner, to her family. He’d been awkward and quiet, already glancing at his watch less than an hour after arriving at her parents’ house and suggesting they ought to get back on the road in case there was traffic on the return journey to London.
Carole had almost said that of course there’d be traffic, because there was always traffic on the way into London, but hadn’t wanted Greg to feel embarrassed by such a comment. Assuming he just needed time to feel comfortable in her parents’ company, she’d agreed to get moving, although she’d originally planned to stay longer.
It was, she thought now, just one of the many ways she’d bent to Greg’s will during their time together. From his preference for grey paint on every wall in the house they’d shared to his desire to keep his visits to her family to the bare minimum, she’d gone along with what he’d wanted for reasons she scarcely understood now.
She wondered why she was even thinking of Greg at that moment as she chatted with her sister while watching Tom still exchanging friendly chit-chat with her parents. The contrast between Greg’s stand-offishness and Tom’s relaxed conversation was so stark it was hard not to compare the two men.
Which she shouldn’t be doing, she reminded herself, because Greg had been her long-term boyfriend and Tom was simply her next-door neighbour, who was only here at this wedding to help her out of a tight spot.
Still, why was Greg in her thoughts at all? Since moving to Hamblehurst, she’d barely given him a second thought. She was relieved their relationship was over and glad to be moving on with her life. They’d had no future together and although she was sorry things hadn’t worked between them, in the sense that it was always sad when some part of your life came to an end, she wasn’t heartbroken that they’d gone their separate ways.
Perhaps being at this wedding meant it was inevitable that she’d start thinking about the men she’d loved in her past. She’d spent most of the journey here telling Tom about Steven, after all.
Steven, the man who’d shattered her heart into a thousand pieces and taught her just how cruel love could be.
Ever since, she’d never come close to getting engaged to anyone else. Not even the three years spent with Greg had included so much as a hint that they might one day get married.
And none of the handful of men with whom she’d had relationships in the years since she finished university and settled into her career had ever caused thoughts of marriage to pop into her thoughts.
Carole hadn’t quite realised this until that very moment.
It wasn’t something she intended to dwell on. She wasn’t desperately searching for a husband, wasn’t desperately searching for ‘the one’, whatever that meant.
As a wide-eyed twenty-year-old, she’d thought she’d known what ‘the one’ meant, only for that certainty to crumble into dust. The wild love affair into which she’d fallen with Steven Weaver was so long ago, but she hadn’t forgotten any of the pain or embarrassment that had come when she realised how foolish she’d been.
The first cut truly was the deepest, as Carole knew only too well.
If she was thinking of Steven today, and of her recent ex-boyfriend Greg, and fleetingly of the small handful of other men with whom she’d become romantically involved over the years, it was only because being at a wedding inevitably triggered thoughts of past lovers who were now long gone.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Snapped out of her ruminating thoughts, Carole realised Tom was giving her a concerned smile.
“I’m fine,” she said, and offered him a broad grin as she brought her attention back to the here and now. “Aren’t those flower arrangements beside the altar lovely?”
Conversation turned to admiring the floral displays and the pretty church. A few moments later, the appearance of the groom and his best man along with the vicar at the front of the church signalled the imminent start of the wedding ceremony.
As the chatter amongst the wedding guests quietened down, Carole’s mother caught her gaze from where she was sitting on the other side of her father, and Nina gave a nod of appreciation as she flicked her eyes in Tom’s direction.
He seems like a nice young man , her mother mouthed silently as she tilted her head in Tom’s direction.
Carole nodded in reply and thought to herself that Tom was certainly a far nicer young man than the awful Bradley Godfrey who her mother had wanted to pair her off with today. She couldn’t imagine sharing with Bradley the intimate story she’d shared with Tom on the drive here.
Sharing that unhappy tale with Tom had felt… incredibly comfortable and easy, she now realised.
Tom was a great listener, thoughtful and kind, and she’d appreciated his understanding tone and sympathetic expression while she talked.
The poor guy wouldn’t have expected her to start unloading her mortifying story on him while he was driving them both to the wedding. But knowing that the man’s eyes were necessarily focused on the road had made it easier to tell the story about Steven.
And now, when she finally encountered Steven today—which was, she knew, unavoidable—Tom would understand what had happened in the past and give her the little boost of confidence she’d need to get through it.
After that, she could forget all about Steven Weaver and enjoy the rest of the wedding.
At the front of the church, the vicar announced that the wedding ceremony was about to begin and asked the members of the congregation to stand for the bride. The organ music switched to the Wedding March and Carole turned to see her cousin Zara walking down the aisle on her father’s arm.
She was a stunningly beautiful bride, her wedding dress a gorgeous ivory gown with a voluminous skirt and elegant lace-trimmed bodice, finished with a short spangle-encrusted veil. Carole couldn’t miss the breathless smile on her cousin’s face as she locked eyes with her groom.
When Carole saw her two nieces in their flower girl dresses, walking down the aisle behind Zara and looking thrilled to be part of the wedding party, her heart squeezed with love for them. Turning, she caught the look of pride on her sister Jane’s face as the girls passed by, clutching their flower bouquets in their little hands, and knew that the happy tears in Jane’s eyes were mirrored by her own.
Once the bride reached her groom and kissed her father before he stepped away to join Zara’s mother in the front pew, Carole’s nieces followed an older flower girl to the side of the altar where all three stood beaming out at the assembled congregation. Carole suppressed an amused laugh as her youngest niece twirled her dress, clearly loving the pretty outfit she was wearing.
“Are those your nieces?” Tom whispered as soft laughter rumbled around the wedding guests at the sight of the two little girls now twirling at the front of the church.
Carole nodded. “They’re cute and they know it.”
Beside her, Jane caught her daughters’ attention and wagged a finger at them both as the older flower girl told them to stand still. When the girls stopped twirling and the laughter died down in the church, the vicar stepped towards the bride and groom and gestured for the wedding guests to take their seats.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of Zara and Anthony…”
As Carole sat down, the church doors were closed with a noisy thud, drawing her attention over her shoulder. Her gaze skimmed across the guests of the groom on the other side of the aisle, and she couldn’t help doing a double take when she saw the inevitable familiar face from long ago, a familiar face she knew to expect but which still took her by surprise.
Steven.
Although he was on the other side of the church, Carole couldn’t fail to recognise him, even after all these years.
He looked good. Annoyingly good. The passage of time had bestowed upon him the distinguished look of a man who’d entered his forties in full health and in robust fitness.
And yes, just as she’d speculated, she could see, even at this distance, the hints of silver threading through his dark hair and enhancing his looks even further.
Carole watched as Steven leaned towards the woman on his right, who whispered something in his ear, making him smile.
Carole turned away, not wanting to get caught staring at him, not wanting to bring that embarrassing indignity down on her head, and focused on what the vicar was saying at the front of the church. At her side, Tom gave her a curious look.
Everything okay? he mouthed silently.
She nodded and offered him a reassuring smile.
It was good that she’d caught sight of Steven already, while they were all seated here in the church. Better than him catching her unawares later by popping up in front of her when she might not expect it.
Now that she’d had her first glimpse of him, she’d be ready when they surely crossed paths at some point during the day.
The vicar announced the first hymn and everyone got to their feet to sing. Carole turned her attention to the beautiful wedding and her gorgeous cousin in her stunning gown and put Steven Weaver out of her head once more. This was a day of celebration and she was determined to enjoy it.
She glanced at Tom standing beside her, gamely participating in the hymn-singing. He really did look great in his suit, and she was touched he’d gone all out with the waistcoat and pocket square, and with his shoes polished to perfection so that he looked the proper part as a wedding guest. She thought he might have had his hair cut since she last saw him, too. He was impeccably well-groomed, of that there was no doubt.
Having this man at her side all day would be a pleasure, and some childish part of her was ridiculously glad that Tom looked as good as he did because it would make bumping into Steven just that little bit easier with a handsome man on her arm to show off.
Grow up , Carole told herself as the congregation launched into the second verse of All Things Bright And Beautiful.
But such things mattered, she knew. That’s why she was wearing these dreadful high heels, after all—because she wanted to feel confident and look her best.
Tom had certainly done his part to help her on that front, by turning up looking as good as he did.
Feeling grateful, she squeezed his arm and smiled as the hymn-singing continued. Tom returned her smile, and the warm sparkle in his eyes relaxed her and made her happier still that he was here as her date and would be at her side all day long.
Carole turned to her hymn sheet and added her voice to the singing congregation, hopeful that the day wouldn’t be as awkward as she’d feared.