The Vintage Teacup Club

by Vanessa Greene

  She turned around and there, sat on the driftwood bench, was Owen.

  In the drawing room at Darlington Hall, pictures of bouquets were spread out on the table between Jack and Maggie. Lucy had left to get some more water and Jack leaned towards Maggie, a mischievous glint in his eye.

  ‘I know it’s early days,’ he said. ‘But I think it’s great about you and Owen getting together.’ He gave her a wink.

  ‘Thanks, Jack,’ Maggie said, feeling her cheeks colour. ‘It’s been a bit of a whirlwind to be honest.’

  ‘I can promise you, Maggie, you’ve picked a good one there,’ Jack said, more seriously now. ‘Owen’s a good friend and a really nice guy, through and through. I’d marry my sister off to him if I had one.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad you don’t. And that’s what I thought, well, hoped,’ Maggie said. ‘I’ve not had great luck this year, but he does seem different. And he doesn’t seem to think I’m past it yet.’

  Jack laughed, ‘Of course not. You’re a total catch,’ he gave her a cheeky smile and Maggie was reminded of how much she’d warmed to him from their first meeting. ‘Anyway, Owen’s always been pretty grown-up, and I think working for himself has made him a lot more responsible too.’

  ‘Does Lucy …’ Maggie asked.

  ‘Nah, I haven’t told her anything yet,’ Owen said. ‘We don’t want her leaking it to It Girl, do we? God, you’d end up seeing a picture of you and Owen as a box-out feature in the wedding exclusive,’ Jack drew the imaginary box in the air with his hand, ‘HOW WE FOUND LOVE AT WONDERLAND WEDDING.’

  Maggie laughed. ‘We’ll tell her soon, though,’ she said. ‘Should put her mind at rest about the two of us getting on at any rate.’

  ‘Yes,’ Jack said, ‘and you know she’s going to be thrilled. She’ll claim the credit for match-making you is the only thing.’

  Lucy came back into the room with a jug of water. ‘Did I hear someone say It Girl?’

  ‘It’s nothing darling,’ Jack said. ‘Just talking about some of the feedback we had from the magazine over features they want to include.’

  Lucy settled herself on the sofa close to Jack. ‘They’re big on the croquet,’ she said. ‘Although I said a definite no on using live hedgehogs as balls for the shots they wanted.’ Maggie smiled.

  ‘I mean honestly,’ Lucy said. ‘I know they said we’d just be posing, but I got enough hassle just for wearing a mink fur to that premiere, didn’t I, Jack? I don’t want all those animal rights people on to me again. It took the dry cleaners for ever to get the fake blood out of it, and it still looks a bit pink.’

  Jack gave Lucy’s leg a little squeeze. ‘So is everything OK, Maggie?’ Lucy asked. ‘It looks like you and Owen have got it all in hand now.’

  Maggie tried not to get distracted as Jack leaned back on the sofa, making kissy-faces at Maggie that his wife couldn’t see.

  ‘Yes, everything’s going perfectly, Lucy. Your wedding is going to be truly spectacular.’

  ‘Well hooray for that!’ Lucy said, bringing her manicured hands together. ‘I can hardly wait now, you know. It’s not easy finding the man of your dreams, is it?’ she looked at Maggie with pity in her eyes. ‘But I tell you, I can’t wait to get that ring on my finger.’ With that she cupped Jack’s face in her hands and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

  Chapter 39

  Jenny

  ‘Surprise!’

  Zoe, wearing a strapless black and silver dress and looking somehow even more fearsome than she did in her suit, handed me a glass of fizz the moment I stepped through the door of the Fox and Pheasant.

  I looked around the pub, taking in the scene. Oh my lord. Today had been my last day at the office, and it had felt much like any other, just with a bit more to do to ensure everything went smoothly while I was away on my honeymoon. My last week had passed in a blur, with my mind very much on the wedding. Dan kept telling me that everything would be OK, but while it was true we’d worked past other hitches, a tea party wedding with cheap blue cups just wasn’t the picture I wanted framed on my mantelpiece. There were only three days to go until Dan and I tied the knot, and I was really having a hard time letting go of the day I’d dreamed of.

  Chloe had coaxed me out for drinks after work though, and when I said I was feeling anti-social, she insisted that I needed to take my mind off the wedding. I looked over at her now and gave her a discreet glare as I saw that most of the office had turned out for my celebration drinks, party poppers firing at me from all angles.

  After my second glass of Cava I’d started to get in the swing of things, and I was touched by the giant card everyone had bought me, filled with signatures and nice notes wishing me luck for the wedding. There really were some lovely people in the office and I felt bad for having been grouchy earlier about celebrating with them. Zoe had even got me a present, a voucher for tea for two at a four-star country hotel nearby. She watched intently as I opened the envelope, trying hard not to stare at the serious amount of cleavage she’d got out for the occasion. ‘I thought you and Dan could go after the wedding sometime, when all the excitement’s died down. And you know what,’ she said with a wink, ‘it wasn’t even a freebie.’

  Chloe and I found a nook away from the crowd to catch up a bit in peace.

  ‘You don’t need to worry,’ Chloe said, ‘it’s the people who make a wedding, Jen, everyone knows that. We’ll all be there, your family and friends, and we’ll make sure it’s special.’

  ‘And don’t forget,’ she continued, ‘you’ve organised loads of other things. You managed to book that all-female swing band, didn’t you?’

  I nodded. I’d heard them at the summer festival on the green last year, and watched in awe as couples from the swing-dancing group twisted and spun across the grass. Alison and Jamie would probably have been among them.

  ‘I know you’re right, Chlo. Of course it’s all about the people,’ I said, snapping out of my sulk properly at last.

  ‘Chloe,’ I asked, taking a sip of my drink. ‘If you thought something was going on, between Dan and me, if you saw him with someone else …’

  ‘What?’ Chloe said, spluttering out her drink in a decidedly unladylike way.

  ‘No,’ I said, passing her a tissue which she used to dab at the damp patches on her top. ‘Sorry, I mean hypothetically speaking. If you saw Dan with another woman, not kissing, but just together – would you tell me?’

  ‘Oh, thank God,’ Chloe said. ‘You had me worried there for a minute. Don’t do that to me, Jen,’ she said, putting a hand to her forehead. ‘Anyway, so, right, if I saw Dan with someone else – I’d think, Dan is generally a fantastic guy who has proven his loyalty time and again. It is highly unlikely that he would cheat on you, and if he did you’d hope he’d be smarter than to do it round here where someone like me would be bound to spot him. I’d assume there was a rational explanation.’

  She tilted her head, thinking, ‘and then if it happened again I’d talk to him about it, I think.’

  ‘OK,’ I replied. ‘You’re right.’

  ‘Am I?’ Chloe said. ‘Oh good. Do I get another drink? Or do I get to find out who you’re on about, at least?’

  ‘You’ve earned your next drink, yes, Chlo. But no, I’m not saying anything as I’m sure now there’s nothing to say.’ I felt bad now for ever doubting Pete, it was none of me or Maggie’s business who he was friends with and after our talk Maggie had quickly rejected her concerns, putting them down to post-fallout paranoia after Dylan’s betrayal.

  ‘Anyway, talking of couples,’ I changed course to deflect Chloe’s interest, ‘are you OK about coming to the wedding on your own? Do you want to invite someone else as your plus one, now that Jon’s out of the picture?’

  ‘Oh no, don’t worry, Jen. I’ll be fine.’ Chloe was attracting more admiring glances than ever this evening, so I didn’t doubt it. She was dressed down, in loose black trousers and a coral blouse, her hair up in a French pleat, and she looked radiant. The
initial shell-shock of breaking up with Jon had worn off completely and she had bounced back better than ever. Ben, the feisty reporter who’d been on her case for months, more smarm than charm, in my view, really couldn’t take his eyes off her tonight.

  ‘Anyway, enough about the wedding – I thought you were supposed to be distracting me from it?’ I said, teasing. ‘So tell me, how are things going at work?’

  ‘Gary’s finally giving me a break, can you believe it?’ Chloe said, her face lighting up. ‘I pitched two feature ideas to him – one on boutique hotels, the other on budget interior decorating, and he’s letting me write both. Seeing as Alan left to go travelling and there’s the recruitment freeze still on, I think he’s realised he’ll need me to work on more features, so he’s sending me on some journalism courses too.’

  ‘That’s fantastic,’ I said. Then as we spoke something caught my eye, a flash of silver and black at the bar. Woah. Was that …?

  ‘Oh. My. God. Have you seen that?’ I said to Chloe, nodding over towards the bar as I gradually took in the full picture. ‘Do you think there’s another reason Gary might have chilled out a bit?’ Chloe stared open-mouthed and I let out a snort of laughter as we clocked Zoe’s hands creeping onto Gary’s bum as he kissed her up against the bar.

  Chapter 40

  Jenny

  ‘Here we go, one last trawl for the Vintage Teacup Club – and our honorary member,’ Alison said.

  They’d met just outside the gates by the local car boot sale, where Alison had pulled up in Pete’s Volvo with Sophie in the passenger seat.

  ‘I’m pretty good at bargain hunting,’ Sophie said, once she’d got out of the car, looking down at the floor and pulling her sleeves down over her hands, then peeking up with a hesitant smile.

  We were going to need all the help we could get. I’d spent a couple of hours looking online on Thursday, but while there were still plenty of teacups up there they were either out of our price range or delivery wouldn’t be possible until after the weekend – and after our wedding. Jamie had found one at the hospice shop, but it was tatty and chipped.

  ‘OK, let’s get to it,’ I said. ‘We’ve got three more car boot sales to hit before one o’clock, so we’re going to have to be quick.’

  ‘Not a sausage,’ Alison said, disappointed, as the five of us reassembled by the gates twenty minutes later. ‘Gareth, the guy who sold us the original teaset, said they’d had a few cups out this morning, but they got snapped up really early.’

  ‘I couldn’t find any either. But this place is brilliant,’ Sophie said, holding up a 1980s framed Madonna print. ‘One pound fifty this cost. And he chucked in a CD too.’ She was beaming.

  ‘Sophie,’ Alison said, ‘aren’t we meant to be looking for crockery, not CDs?’ She opened the back door of the car.

  ‘I know,’ Sophie said, then reached into a plastic bag she had hooked over her arm. ‘And while I couldn’t find any cups, I did get these.’ She propped the framed poster up against the car and unwrapped one of the newspaper parcels she’d pulled from her bag. From the black and white newsprint she brought out an antique medicine bottle in pale green glass. The sunlight glinted off it. ‘I got twelve of them, all different colours and sizes. I thought we could use them to put some of the flowers in on each of the tables at your wedding, Jenny.’ She looked uncertain as she waited for our reaction, hurriedly unwrapping another one to show us.

  A smile spread across my face – the second bottle was even more beautiful, larger and a paler green with letters in raised glass spelling out the manufacturer’s name. They would add a pretty vintage touch to the tables. ‘They’re gorgeous, Sophie,’ I said, taking one from her for a closer look and touching her arm in thanks.

  ‘Anyway, onwards and upwards, ladies,’ Alison said, returning to her usual businesslike manner. ‘Jump in.’

  We all piled into the car and strapped on our seatbelts. Sophie put her new CD in the stereo and we drove out of town singing along to ‘Borderline’. Sophie complained that she didn’t know Madonna’s early stuff, but we drowned her out with our off-key voices. Or rather me and Alison singing off-key and Maggie singing surprisingly well.

  By lunchtime, though, when we’d stopped for sandwiches in a tea house on the outskirts of town, our spirits were beginning to sink. Our morning’s search had resulted in nothing but a little white sugar bowl with primroses on it.

  ‘It looks like we should have got up even earlier,’ Alison said. ‘A couple of the stall-holders said that they’d had things but they’d already been sold before we arrived.’

  ‘We did what we could,’ I said, my heart heavy. ‘And I refuse to complain about it. I’m getting married tomorrow! Actually,’ I glanced down at my watch, ‘I’d better start getting the show on the road, Chloe’s coming around in an hour to pick up her bridesmaid’s dress.’

  As Chloe buttoned up my wedding dress she looked over my shoulder into the mirror. Yes, it had been a stretch financially, but somehow Dan and I had made enough money to cover it and the dress had been worth every penny. Chloe smiled and as we both took in the full picture, I knew she was thinking the same thing. The dress fit me perfectly, the corset underneath nipping in my waist to fit the fifties silhouette, and the sweetheart neckline setting off the string of pearls Alison had lent me. I felt like a film star.

  I’d found ivory silk shoes with pearl buckles to match and wore long vintage gloves. Chloe had practised styling my hair so that it fell in soft curls onto my shoulders, the way the hairdresser was going to do it tomorrow morning, and had added a sparkly clip of Grandma Jilly’s to pin back the front on one side.

  I did a curtsey for Chloe, the petticoat rustling, and she whistled appreciately.

  ‘Not bad,’ she said, biting her lip as I saw her eyes start to well up. ‘Not at all bad, Jen.’

  I turned to look at Chloe and wondered again at the wisdom of picking such a totally hot bridesmaid. I think it probably makes me a bigger person, or something. We’d picked out a red dress for her together, with a full skirt to match mine and the same short sleeves, but without the lace overlay. The colour was gorgeous with her pale skin and there was a naughty flash of cleavage that upped the glamour element. I’d had a go at styling her hair but her ringlets had frizzed out, and the result was more Kate Bush on a bad day than sleek silver-screen actress. Together we’d decided that hair like hers was best left to the professionals.

  ‘Where’s Dan tonight?’ Chloe asked, looking around as if he might suddenly pop out of the bathroom even though I’d told her he was out.

  ‘He’s gone round to Chris’s. Chris had a couple of new ideas about tunes for his DJ set and wanted to run them by him first.’

  ‘Oh, I see,’ she said, fiddling with her silver bracelet. ‘Well it’s great to have a sneak preview of what you’re going to look like tomorrow.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I said as I gathered up the skirt of my dress and sat back on the sofa. ‘You’ve made me feel way better.’ Chloe took a seat opposite me. She furrowed her brow in concern.

  I knew it was written all over my face that I wasn’t a hundred per cent glowing bride-to-be, no matter what I said. This morning’s failure to replace the cups had been a real disappointment, and there was no hiding that. I was slowly facing up to the fact that my wedding was never going to be quite the day I’d hoped for.

  ‘It is all going to be all right, isn’t it, Chlo?’ I asked her, longing for her to tell me it was.

  ‘Of course,’ she said, taking my hands in hers and giving me a warm smile. ‘Look, let’s get out of these,’ she said, pointing to our dresses. ‘Ali and Maggie will be round in a minute.’ She was struggling to undo her zip and I got up to help her. ‘I’m sorry I can’t help you set up the hall,’ Chloe said, ‘but I promised Chris I’d help him print out the table plan. The files he designed and sent me to print corrupted somehow so I said I’d take a look.’ Chloe said, as I slipped my jeans back on and she wrestled to get her hair back in con
trol by tying it back.

  ‘What is it with my brother?’ I responded, wondering for a moment why she was looking increasingly panicked as her hair refused to lay flat. ‘He seems to be doing more for my wedding than I am. And you’re always round there,’ I laughed.

  ‘He just wants to make sure you both have a great day, that’s all,’ she said, doing up the buttons on her cardigan. Was I imagining it, or was she blushing?

  My thoughts were interrupted by a car horn tooting in the road outside. Chloe and I opened my living-room window and leaned out, taking in the scene in the street. Maggie and Alison had the top down on Maggie’s Beetle and it was draped in pastel-coloured cloth bunting. We whooped from the window and Maggie tooted back again.

  ‘Come on,’ Maggie called up from the car. ‘We’ve got a wedding hall to decorate!’

  I was crammed onto the back seat of Maggie’s car, next to some of the boxes. ‘You all right back there?’ Alison asked, turning around to face me as we drove out of town. ‘Yes, fine,’ I said, rearranging some bunting that my foot had got tangled up in. As I sat back I looked at Alison and Maggie chatting in the front, talking loudly so that their voices carried over the music.

  They both had their hair loose today and the wind had messed it up so that there were more untidy strands than neat ones. I’d noticed when they’d arrived that, like me, they were in jeans and trainers, ready to get down to work setting up. Alison was in one of Pete’s shirts, Maggie in a faded Blondie T-shirt. Laughing with each other now, they both looked more relaxed that I’d ever seen them.

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ Maggie said, turning to Alison. ‘Do you think Sophie would like a bit of work experience at the shop?’

  Alison smiled, but furrowed her brows, questioning. ‘Of course she would. But are you sure you know what you’d be letting yourself in for?’