Chapter 54
At last, she was ready. But when Felicity went downstairs, egg-free and finally feeling glamorous and less like a disaster zone, James was nowhere to be seen.
Felicity stood in the reception for a few moments wondering whether she’d taken too long with the whole egg-gate episode and what the hell to do, when the hotel manager approached with a small bunch of roses in his hands, the same pure white as the ones in their room.
‘Miss Brooks?’ he said. He had dark slicked-back hair like Hercule Poirot and a small immaculate moustache. His eyes were kind.
‘Yes?’ Felicity’s voice had gone all wobbly.
‘You look absolutely exquisite.’
‘Oh. Thank you,’ she said, her face heating.
‘I’ve been asked to tell you that Mr Cowley has gone on ahead. He’s requested that you get into this car and it will take you where you need to go.’
He led her outside the hotel to where a long black vintage car was waiting.
It had white ribbons tied on the bonnet.
A whole row of staff was standing alongside it ready to wave her off.
There was Anna, right at the end, waving frantically.
Felicity’s heart leapt into her mouth. So then.
Her fairy godmother-cleaning lady was right.
This was her wedding day. Strange. She didn’t even remember being proposed to.
‘Madame, are you well?’ said the kindly manager.
Felicity nodded. ‘Yes, erm, I think so I mean. Just a little bit shell-shocked I suppose.’
The manager smiled and opened the car door for her and Felicity mechanically got in, all the while wondering if she should have done more with her hair. Or painted her nails. Or any of that stuff brides normally do. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely hear herself think.
‘Morning, miss,’ said the driver, who was smartly dressed in a cap and suit. He watched in the rear-view mirror as Felicity put on her seatbelt then patted her hair nervously, before he switched on the engine and eased the car out of the hotel driveway.
‘Morning. Do you… er… happen to know where we’re going?’
‘As a matter of fact I do, miss. We’d be in trouble if I didn’t,’ he added with a chuckle.
‘And can you tell me?’
‘That I cannot do I’m afraid. Mr Cowley was very strict about that. He said you’d ask and he said under no circumstances was I to tell you.’
‘You don’t have to do what he says you know. Go on. Tell me. Live a little.’
‘He said you’d say that. Forgive my rudeness, miss, but he told me to tell you that it wasn’t far and that that was all you are getting.’
‘Nothing’s far on Guernsey,’ said Felicity, a little intrigued and also a bit turned on that James knew her so well.
‘Well, exactly, miss.’
They fell into an easy silence then, the driver concentrating on the narrow roads while Felicity watched the beautiful stone walls and cute cottages fly by the window.
Every so often she’d even get a glimpse of the sea but otherwise it was easy to forget they were on a small island in the English Channel.
She finally understood the phrase, “my heart was in my mouth”.
Where were they going? She tried to think of all the churches on the island and at one point even wondered if they were going to get married in the tiny Little Chapel, a marvellous curiosity made out of clinker and decorated with seashells and pottery pieces, which was extremely popular with tourists.
But no, by now they had gone past the Little Chapel and were heading for the west side.
People waved from the side of the road as she went past and it took a moment to realise it was because it must look like a wedding car.
The ribbons. What was going on? She was completely unprepared to marry James but then, at the same time, totally ready.
He was the one, after all. There could never be another.
She had told herself after just a few months that if he upped and left her as she had always expected he would, she would just morph into full Crazy Cat Lady which to be honest she had been on the verge of anyway before he came along.
Nothing wrong with being a crazy cat lady after all.
It was a fine ambition. A jolt of excitement ran down her back. What exactly was going on?
As fields and cottages and decrepit old greenhouses from the days when the people of Guernsey were tomato-farming fanatics flashed by, another thought began to dawn. Could it be? No, surely not. Surely they were not going to the…?
‘Here we are, miss,’ said the chauffeur.
And sure enough, he pulled the car up to the entrance to Le Manoir, and turned up the drive.
Felicity gasped. It looked incredible. The long gravel drive was hung with poles every few feet, and fairy lights were strung artfully between the poles, with white ribbons and bows positioned between them.
As they crept along, with the gravel crunching under the car wheels, she could see a crowd of people gathered outside the front of the house under a gazebo also covered in fairy lights and draped in white ribbons.
There were balloons, too, and two enormous Christmas trees, one either side of the door, decorated to within an inch of their short lives with lights, baubles and ribbon, all matched to the theme which so far seemed to be white.
For what? Purity? Hardly, thought Felicity, blushing a little.
Because somewhere, somewhere in the midst of all this, there was her James.
The car pulled up in front of the group of people gathered on the gravel, all cheering and waving as they came to a stop.
Felicity was overcome with the urge to see James immediately.
She had always hated crowds and even though this was a very small one made up of – from what she could see – all the people she knew and loved in the world, she just didn’t want to face them without her Penguin Man by her side.
‘Where is he?’ she said as she opened the car door. Andrea, who was for once not wearing a fleece and actually looked like she wasn’t even covered in cat hair for the first time ever, grabbed her hand and helped her out. Her navy-blue dress made her eyes even more sparkly than usual.
‘You’re not going to kill him, are you?’ she hissed under her breath. ‘He did all this himself. For you.’
‘He had a bit of help,’ said Sophie, coming up beside her dressed in an incredible deep-red velvet slinky affair, ‘but it was all his idea. Please don’t kill him.’
‘At least, not on your wedding day. I’m no expert,’ said Bex, appearing behind Sophie, ‘but I believe that’s considered bad form.’
Felicity smiled and her friends let out three huge sighs of relief as one. ‘I’m not going to kill him,’ she said. ‘I just want to see him.’
‘He’s inside,’ said Sophie. ‘He’s waiting for you to marry him.
’ She grinned a huge grin and then grabbed Felicity’s arm.
‘If you want to, that is. He was very strong on that point. If you don’t want to that’s completely fine, he said.
I’ve just got to tell you to get back in the car and he’ll see you back at the hotel and that will be that.
’ She stopped and looked at Felicity properly for the first time. ‘You look amazing, by the way.’
Felicity looked down at herself. ‘Did you choose this dress?’
‘I may have,’ said Sophie, kissing her friend on the cheek. ‘Bex helped me. Do you like it?’
‘Like it? I never want to take it off. Please don’t ever make me take it off.’
Andrea piped up. ‘James might have a few words to say about that, it’s your wedding day for goodness’ sake.’
‘Hush now, they can do it with the dress still on,’ said Sophie with a wink.
‘You two,’ said Felicity, blushing hard now. ‘Please. It’s my wedding day. Have some decorum.’
The four of them looked at each other and then squealed. Bex’s reaction was more muted than the rest but Felicity was so relieved to see her at least partly back to herself.
‘It’s my wedding day,’ said Felicity again. ‘Am I dreaming?’
‘Nope but you might be late. Hurry up and get in there and let him know you’re not going to kill him, for God’s sake,’ said Andrea.
‘I’ve never seen him so nervous,’ Sophie said, grinning. ‘Go and put him out of his misery.’
‘Okay, okay, I’m going,’ said Felicity, picking up the hem of her dress and moving towards the front door of Le Manoir, which had been painted a deep-red colour for the occasion, just as she remembered from her childhood.
Tristan stepped forwards wordlessly and gave her an enormous hug. Very un-Tristan-like behaviour. Pete appeared behind him and she waved excitedly, probably rather over-excitedly, as the reality of the situation started to hit.
Two children peeped out from behind them. The boy looked decidedly unbothered but the girl’s eyes were the size of saucers as she looked up at Felicity.
‘This is Sammy and Zoe,’ said her brother. ‘And this,’ he went on, turning to the children, ‘is your half-sister, Felicity.’
‘Hey, guys,’ said Felicity, a little shyly, wondering if she was going to be able to cope with any more excitement in one day.
‘Hey,’ they said in unison.
‘We’ll talk later, okay?’ said Felicity, in her best big sister voice.
The children nodded silently.
‘They hate me already,’ she said, turning to Tristan.
He grinned. ‘Give them time. They don’t know you yet.’
‘Exactly,’ said Felicity.
‘See you after the thing,’ whispered her brother in her ear.
‘Thanks for being here,’ Felicity whispered back. And she meant it.
Just as she got to the door she was accosted by Valerie and a very smart-looking Jessica the donkey with a little friend she recognised as Eeyore.
‘There you are,’ said Felicity, flinging her arms around the little donkeys’ necks and feeling suddenly overcome with emotion. ‘It wouldn’t be the same without you two.’
‘You’ll spoil your dress,’ said Valerie from somewhere behind her.
‘I don’t care,’ she said, face buried in fur. Jessica’s familiar warm smell tickled her nostrils. ‘Besides, you didn’t see what happened to it earlier. Don’t tell James I said that, whatever you do.’
‘You look wonderful, darling,’ said Valerie. ‘Jessica and Eeyore are going to follow you in. She has the rings.’
Felicity thought her heart might burst right out of her chest. For sure enough, there around Jessica’s neck was a little white velvet pouch on a silver ribbon. ‘Already the best day ever,’ she whispered, half to herself.