Chapter 72
CHAPTER
I’m not having a relapse. I’m just unsteady on my feet. Anyone would be in my situation.
As Freddy and I head into the marble-floored British Library lobby, which has been closed to the public and filled with flowers, I cling tightly to his sturdy arm.
‘I can’t believe this. You planned a whole wedding
? For someone who might have said no?’
‘I’ve always been a risk taker,’ says Freddy. ‘But I am very, very sure about you as an investment.’
‘How long did it take you to arrange a wedding for a bride who might have said no?’
‘Just over 24 hours.’
‘Twenty-four hours! That’s impossible.’
‘Nothing is impossible with good marketing, Kat.’ Freddy gives me a wink.
‘I employed my persuasive talents to good effect. Let’s just say, there are a few Michelin Star restaurants that’ll go without cheese courses today.
But I can’t take all the credit. It was a team effort.
I couldn’t have done it without a heck of a lot of staff and –’
‘Darling, there you are!’ Aunt Sylvia clacks down a stone staircase, a paper-doily of a handbag on her arm, more frills than human. ‘Thank goodness! I was beginning to think you turned him down.’
‘He came with a money-back guarantee.’
‘Wonderful!’ Sylvia air kisses me, then thrusts a paper bouquet into my hands. ‘Aren’t these pretty? When Freddy said he was buying you fake
flowers, I nearly hit him. But these are handmade paper roses, cut from the pages of Jayne Eyre. You see the typewriting on them?’
‘Wow,’ I say. ‘They’re amazing –’
‘Quickly now! We need to make you a beautiful bride.’ Sylvia has the same fire in her eyes I’ve seen before a mid-season sale.
‘Everyone is mingling on the King’s Gallery, but there’s a fine line between enjoying champagne and singing at the top of your lungs.
Let’s get you ready before everyone starts the Oasis songs. ’