Chapter 43
Forty-Three
The next morning, I woke to the sunrise. It warmed my face, stirring me gently from sleep. I turned into Alfie’s body, throwing a leg over his hips and pressing myself close.
“Horny little thing in the morning, aren’t you?” Keira laughed and yelped, snapping out of sleep. “Don’t stop. I was enjoying it.”
I groaned and threw an arm over my face. Unlike Keira, I wasn’t nursing a hangover. I hadn’t wanted to mix painkillers with alcohol and apparently, Natalie hadn’t wanted to ruin the day with a headache either as she’d avoided drinking all night too.
Despite the lack of alcohol for us, I’d say Natalie’s mini-bachelorette was a success.
Grace was now Keira’s new best friend and I joked about being replaced.
They talked about designers, school in Paris.
Despite not knowing any of us, Grace slotted in easily with Natalie’s friends and family, not least because she was the reason Natalie had such a beautiful dress.
I had already seen Natalie’s dress so I was the only one there for the final fitting yesterday – it had been a little tighter than Grace had planned but they made it work – everyone else had been banned, much to her mother’s chagrin.
I’d met Pauline once before and she hadn’t liked me then either.
She liked me less now that John was going to be at the wedding, not that that was my fault.
I didn’t blame her. She’d raised Natalie alone and now he was getting to do the fun part without having to do any of the work. I would just try to stay out of her way.
“How did I end up in your bed?” Keira mumbled, a clumsy hand reaching for the water bottle on the night stand. I’d put it there the night before.
“I guess you missed me.”
“Yeah.” She looked over at me, her eyes a little bloodshot. If I knew my friend, she’d bounce back from the hangover in about an hour. Her phone vibrated and she picked it up, reading the message through half-shut eyes. “It’s Damien. Apparently the stripper gave him a hickey.”
“What? They had a stripper!” Oh, I was going to kill Alfie.
“I’m kidding.” She nudged me with her foot. “He’s just sending me a picture of his breakfast. You know, I watched him eat a dozen pancakes one time? How does one even survive that?”
I found myself grinning at my best friend. “You’re in love.”
“Shut up. He matches my freak, that’s all. I don’t know what that means long term but right now, I’m happy.” She sat up suddenly. “Hey! In a year's time, we’ll be doing this for you. Bridal shower, dress fittings…”
“Speaking of which, do you have any designs for my dress yet?” I was surprised she hadn’t been bombarding me with ideas ever since she volunteered to do it.
“Yep. I have designs.”
I waved a hand at her. “And?”
“And it’s going to be a surprise.”
“A surprise when? On my wedding day?”
She wiggled her brows at me. “You’ll love it. I promise.”
The morning went by in a whirl of hair and makeup. Even though I’d seen her in it twice now, I still cried when Natalie came out in her dress. Grace had truly done gorgeous work. Even Pauline looked happy.
I gave Alfie a wave as I walked down the aisle, from the heat in his eyes I knew he loved my dress as much as I thought he would. Ice blue and off-the-shoulder, I felt prettier than I had in a while.
As for Riley, I’d never seen a groom look less nervous. He was sure of himself, sure of her. Ryan looked smart in his suit, a miniature version of his dad. He was clean for once and I’d heard him say twice that he was ‘staying neat for his mum’s special day.’
I smiled wide as Natalie came down the aisle and like I promised myself, I pretended my father wasn’t there. She glowed, beaming a bridal smile at everyone as she walked. This was her fairytale ending and no one in the world deserved it more than her.
Alfie never took his eyes off me as they made their vows. I couldn’t look away either. I knew what he was thinking; next year this will be us.
The ballroom was a stunning blend of gold and white, each table displaying a gorgeous floral arrangement that had me wanting the number of the florist. I could learn a thing or two from them.
We posed for pictures in front of the swan sculptures and I made sure Sid received the credit, seeing as I’d spent most of their construction on my sick bed.
We made it through dinner, speeches and Alfie even let me dance a few of the slow dances.
Keira never left the dancefloor and from a distance, I watched sparks fly between her and Sid.
I wasn’t the only one watching. Damien sat nearby, his eyes never leaving her but he didn’t look jealous.
He looked excited. She might not admit it, but they were made for each other.
“Excuse me?” I looked up to see a stranger smiling at me. His hair was a darker shade of red than mine, his curls cut close. His eyes were a warm brown. “Are you Lola? The bride's sister?” I nodded and he stuck out a hand. “Hi, I’m Ethan. Grace’s Ethan. It’s great to meet you.”
I stared openmouthed for a moment before I pulled myself together. “Hi! Ethan, I’ve been wanting to meet you.”
“Same. I thought we should connect, swap some horror stories, maybe share some Tell-Taming-Tactics.” I laughed, my ribs protesting a little. He sat down, making himself comfortable. “I hear you built the swans. Gorgeous work.”
“Thanks.” I stared at him. I’d been making polite small talk with people I didn’t know very well all day, I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly stumped now. “I-I’m sorry, I have so many questions I think I’m a bit lost about where to start.”
Ethan gave me one of the warmest smiles I’d ever seen. “You’re wondering how I caught a Tell?”
“People wonder the same thing about me.”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel like I was caught rather than I did the catching. It put a slight dent in my manliness but I got over it.” I followed his gaze to where Alfie and Grace were sitting side by side, having what looked like an actual conversation.
“How did you meet?”
“Work. Kind of like you I think, you were hired to work on his property, right? She hired me to set up the tech in her offices. She’s useless with that stuff and I told her so.
She was ice cold when I met her, rude to her assistants, rude to everybody.
I told her off for that too. Now she does favours for strangers and gets excited over a free bar.
I think I’ve been a bad influence on her. ”
“That sounds familiar.”
Ethan winked at me then stood abruptly. “Excuse me, this is our song.”
“You have a song?” Alfie and I didn’t have a song, maybe we needed to get one.
“Well, no. I have a song and she humours me.” He made his way over to them, dancing as he went. Grace turned red with embarrassment, hiding her face with her hands. Alfie looked faintly amused if a little nonplussed. They went off to dance, Ethan pulling moves that would make the Bee Gees blush.
Alfie came over and took up Ethan’s seat. “He’s a character, isn’t he? Wouldn’t have pegged him for Grace’s type.”
“What? A gorgeous redhead willing to make a fool of themselves in public as long as it makes their partner smile? Who would want someone like that?” I fluttered my eyes at him and he couldn’t help but smile.
“Fair point. You have been known to dress up as a ghostbuster on occasion.” He pulled my chair closer so he could wrap an arm around me. “How are you? Really?”
“I’m happy,” I assured him. “Really.”
Just then I noticed Keira and Sid kissing on the dancefloor. I raised an eyebrow as a moment later, Damien joined them and they left the ballroom together. Hopefully they were going to Damien's room and not Keira’s. I didn’t want to hear them through the walls.
“Lola?” Natalie came over, holding Ryan’s hand. “Would you mind taking Ryan to bed? It’s getting late.”
“I’m not tired!” he argued but he took my hand anyway after saying goodnight to Alfie.
“Auntie Lo, did you like my speech?” Ryan asked as I took him up to the room he was sharing with my father.
Ryan had brought us all to tears with an unexpected speech he’d written himself.
A short story about his parents finding each other, using quotes about family and love from his favourite books.
If this kid didn’t win that writing competition those judges were idiots.
“It was perfect. You were very brave and you’ve been so good today.”
“I wanted mummy to have a nice day.” After changing into pyjamas and brushing his teeth, I tucked him into bed.
“Can I write my story for a bit before bed? I like to write down about the day before I sleep.” He pulled out his journal, the one that I’d bought him in Greece when we’d visited Keira’s parents.
“Sure.”
I sat in a chair by him as he wrote out his thoughts, reading them aloud so I could listen. Maybe I was tired or it was the emotion of the day, but I found myself holding back tears. He was a good writer, describing every part of the day with creative detail.
He drifted off eventually and I went into the little sitting room to relax on the couch.
It had been a long day and despite how much I’d healed, I was feeling worn out.
Before I could switch the TV on to keep me company, there was a light knock at the door.
It opened before I could answer and my stomach tightened when my father stepped inside.
I’d successfully managed to avoid him all day, not that he’d tried to talk to me at all.
“I didn’t mean to disturb, I just came to take over. I’m tuckered out anyway. Happy to turn in sooner rather than later.”
I looked away, smoothing out my dress just so my hands would have something to do. “Alright, this is your room too after all. Good night.”
I tried to walk by him but he stepped in front of me, holding up his hands. I hated how handsome he looked in his suit, I could see too clearly the man my mother had fallen in love with.
“Lola, I didn’t want to say anything before, to ruin the day—”