Wedding Tiers

by Trisha Ashley

  I agreed. ‘But what about Olivia and the baby?’

  ‘I didn’t ask him about them, but I didn’t have to. He said marriage might be all right for me, but his had been a serious error of judgement and Olivia and London between them were stunting his artistic soul.’

  ‘Oh?’ I said, then lost interest in Ben—or indeed, in anything else—for quite a long time…

  Later, when I told Noah what arrangements I’d made for the wedding and asked him if he wanted to honeymoon in Pisa, he said yes, but we could also have a second honeymoon next year, in New Zealand, to see how Harry was getting on!

  It seemed impossible, but life got even busier after that. Between arranging for our wedding, bouts of cake-making, gardening and helping Libby, I was also assisting Harry to pack up his belongings, including his filed-down medal and the MOD correspondence, and dispatch the things he would want in New Zealand.

  He was leaving a lot of the heavier furnishings in the house as a wedding present, and Noah was paying him the full market price for the cottage and has already had an architect look at ways of turning the two properties into one.

  Then the sad day came when we went to the airport to see Harry and Mac off. As the poor dog vanished to be swallowed up in the bowels of the aircraft in his special travelling crate, I wished I could have explained to him what was happening, and what a lovely time he would have when he arrived in New Zealand.

  Harry looked small and sprightly as he set out on his last adventure, his hat brim at a jaunty angle and his hand luggage full of Yorkshire Tea, in case you couldn’t get it out there.

  ‘You daft lump!’ he said fondly, as I wept over him.

  ‘You will ring me as soon as you get there, won’t you?’ I begged. ‘Just quickly, to let me know you’re all right?’

  ‘Yes, or I’ll get Sadie to do it if I’m tired,’ he said. And then he hugged me, shook Noah’s hand and went resolutely off through the barrier, only turning for one last wave.

  ‘Cheer up,’ Noah said, putting a consoling arm around me. ‘I think he’s made the right decision and you’ll be able to see for yourself next year.’

  Ben moved into Ranter’s End with Mark and Stella, and I saw his tall, sad, surprisingly run-to-seed figure shambling about in the distance sometimes, but he didn’t come anywhere near me.

  I expect he was out searching for his mojo.

  By then, I’d found another co-op group to join, in Sticklepond.

  I’d put the finishing touches to our own wedding cake while Claire and the film crew were here, but now I led Noah into the kitchen for his first sight of it.

  ‘Ta-dah!’ I said, taking my hands from over his eyes.

  ‘Good grief!’

  He took in the two-tier vegetable garden, with ivy growing up the sturdy, twisted columns, the henhouse on top, decked with a fat and happy Aggie, and the lettering right around the sides…

  ‘“Clucky in Love”?’ he queried mildly. ‘And “I Should Be so Clucky”?’

  ‘It’s what it said in the Valentine’s Day card you sent me,’ I explained.

  Noah whipped me down to London in the Jaguar, to see his house in Chelsea. After the noisy bustle outside, it surprised me by being a haven of quiet calm—and also by being a taller, more elegant version of mine, right down to the studio at the end of the garden, though his is brick-built and sturdy. I had great plans for that garden and I was sure it would spark off lots of ideas about green and economical living in cities, that I could pass on through my ‘Cakes and Ale’ column. Claire Flowers, of course, was desperate to persuade us to let her film us doing it, but we will see…

  Maybe we should just keep the Chelsea house as our own private escape…

  Pia had also escaped. She’d taken over the gatehouse as her own domain, since Noah was now living in Harry’s cottage—or nominally living there. When the two became one, I would have to get used to my living space doubling in size…

  Lily was making good progress with the two bridesmaids’ dresses and she’d also altered Granny’s lovely wedding dress to fit me, so I felt that in a way Granny would be with me on my big day.

  And our wedding presents had started to arrive, including the promise of a ruby cavalier King Charles puppy from Freddie! We were to receive it when we got back from honeymoon, but I’d already seen it and it was the sweetest little thing.

  And we’d got a rooster so now Aggie was nurturing a brood of little speckled chicks, which temporarily curtailed her escapology.

  Everything seemed to fall so beautifully into place, it was as if the pattern was preordained.

  Perhaps it was.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Fruits and Leaves

  I had the most ecologically friendly wedding possible—apart from flying to Pisa for our honeymoon, of course. However, the Photographer promised that on our return we would donate a sturdy oak sapling to the village green, to replace the tree that blew down in the winter’s gales, so I hope that goes some way to making up for it!

  ‘Cakes and Ale’

  Noah and I spent the night before our wedding separately in our adjoining cottages, as a nod to superstition.

  I had a hen party at home, with the Graces, Libby, Gina, Pia and Dorrie, but Noah went to the Griffin with Tim and Jasper.

  And I was very glad I was alone first thing next morning, because there was something I urgently needed to do, before Libby and Pia arrived to help make me look lovely for my big day…

  Hand in hand, Noah and I walked across the sunny Green to the old church, where my trio of bridesmaids, pretty in pink, awaited us. They all looked lovely in their way. Violet’s small face was suffused with such joy, she looked almost luminous.

  But then, my thin shell of cynicism had been entirely blown away by Noah’s love.

  Pansy had lined up her Brownies on the path in front of the steps, so that we passed under a bridal arch of paper flowers. As we walked down the aisle, I could hear them rustling behind me and lots of giggling, as they all crammed into the back pews.

  When I turned to face my handsome bridegroom at the altar, I felt as if this was all a dream and I might wake up at any minute—and I didn’t want to. But then he smiled at me, that now familiar, slightly twisted smile—and I knew I wasn’t dreaming after all, and that this would be for ever.

  Since I’d pointed out the difficulties of photographing his own wedding, Noah had drafted in a young and nervous assistant instead, who was now trying to marshal us into a group on the church steps.

  ‘You look extra ravishing,’ Noah said, his arm around my waist, ‘as though you’d been lit from within.’

  ‘Do I?’ I said, trying to keep the big smile off my face and feeling just like the cat who’d got all the cream.

  ‘Yes. In fact, you’re also now wearing a guilty expression that I’m starting to become familiar with,’ he added suspiciously.

  I looked up at him. ‘Actually, I do have something to confess, Noah, and I’m not quite sure how to tell you this…but I’m afraid there are going to be three of us in this marriage. I’m having a baby.’

  He stared at me for a moment, his light grey eyes widening, then his face broke into an expression of pure delight and he snatched me right off the ground, swinging me round and round.

  ‘Oh, Josie—and you kept that to yourself!’ Libby exclaimed, when he put me down, and gave me a big hug.

  ‘I only did the test first thing this morning.’

  ‘And you managed to get pregnant without taking the Chinese herbal medicine, or anything?’

  ‘Oh, I found a better medicine than that!’

  ‘Or do you mean an enema?’ Noah asked wickedly.

  ‘I take back what I said about you being romantic, Noah Sephton!’ I said.

  If you’ve enjoyed reading about Josie’s cooking in Wedding Tiers, why not try out some of her recipes for yourself?

  Wedding Cake

  Because the fruit is left to soak in the alcohol before the cake is cooked, t
his is a quick cake to make at short notice, though of course it tastes even better if made well in advance. This makes one eight inch round, rich, dark, fruit cake that can also be used for Christmas cake.

  Ingredients:

  Naturally dried fruits are preferable. The dried fruit plus glacé cherry element of this recipe should total two pounds in weight, though you can safely vary the different quantities of the ingredients within that to include, say, more mixed peel and less cherries, or more sultanas and less currants. The following is one combination.

  • 1lb mixed dried fruit including peel

  • 4oz sultanas

  • 4oz currants

  • 4oz raisins

  • 4oz glacé cherries, halved

  • Quarter of a pint of medium sherry

  • 6oz unsalted butter

  • 6oz soft brown sugar

  • Grated rind of one lemon and one orange (unwaxed)

  • 3 eggs

  • 1 tablespoon of treacle

  • 2oz chopped almonds

  • 4oz plain flour

  • 2oz self-raising flour

  • 1 level teaspoon mixed spice

  • Quarter teaspoon ground nutmeg

  Method:

  Put the fruit and cherries into a bowl and pour in the sherry. Cover the bowl and leave for at least twelve hours, but preferably three or four days.

  To make, preheat the oven to 300F/150C/gas mark 2. Grease, and then line with greaseproof paper, an eight inch round cake tin.

  Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl together, and then stir in the lemon and orange rind, beaten eggs, treacle and almonds. Sieve in the flour and spices and mix everything together until blended. Finally, stir in the soaked fruit and sherry.

  Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and smooth the top.

  Bake for two hours and then reduce the heat to 275F/140C/gas mark 1 for a further one and quarter hours, or until a warm skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. If at any point the cake seems to be getting too brown on top, cover tin loosely with foil.

  When the cake is cold, wrap it well in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin or box.

  Turn over when icing it, if you want a really flat surface.

  Peapod Wine

  Use young, fresh, empty pods. If you haven’t got enough at one time, freeze them, but make sure they are dry before using. You need about four pounds of peapods to make one gallon of pale green wine.

  Ingredients:

  • 4lb of green peapods

  • 2lb of granulated sugar

  • 7 pints water

  • 2 unwaxed lemons

  • 2 unwaxed oranges

  • Quarter teaspoon of tannin

  • 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient

  • Wine yeast

  Method:

  Cut up the peapods and thinly peel the oranges and lemons while bringing the water to the boil. Add the peelings and peapods to the water and boil gently for half an hour. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

  Put the tannin, yeast nutrient and sugar in a large bowl and then strain the liquid from the peapods over it. Stir until all is dissolved. (Discard the pods and peelings onto the compost heap.) Add the juice from the oranges and lemons, stir and then add the yeast.

  Pour into a fermenting jar, topping up with cool water if necessary, and fit an airlock. Leave in a cool place until fermentation is complete, then rack into bottles and age for at least six months before tasting…Goes well with fish, cold meats and salads.

  Quince Jelly

  Quinces can be grown as a bush or trained along walls and fences. The fruits are high in pectin and very tart, and the jelly goes well with cold meats, especially duck, goose and roast pork. Quince wine is also very good.

  Ingredients:

  • 4lb ripe quinces, roughly sliced

  • 1 pint water

  • Lemon juice

  • Granulated sugar

  Method:

  Put the water and quinces into a preserving pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for forty to fifty minutes, until the fruit is tender.

  Pour the quince pulp into a jelly bag suspended over a bowl. Allow the juice to drain through overnight and then discard the pulp.

  Measure how much juice you’ve got and then put it back in the preserving pan. For every pint of liquid, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 14oz sugar. Stir over a low heat until sugar is dissolved.

  Bring to the boil and keep it boiling briskly, without stirring, for ten minutes, or until the mixture reaches setting point. (To find setting point, drop a teaspoon of liquid onto a cold plate and then push with your finger—if it wrinkles, it’s right.)

  Skim any foam off the top with a slotted spoon. Ladle the jelly into hot, sterilised jars, leaving 1 inch space at the top. Cover, label with date and store in a cool place.

  This makes about two and a half pounds.

  Tipsy Truffles

  Ingredients:

  • 4oz dark cooking chocolate, broken into pieces

  • 3 tablespoons dark rum/whisky/alcohol of your choice

  • 2oz butter

  • 3oz icing sugar

  • 3oz ground almonds

  • Chocolate vermicelli/cocoa powder

  Method:

  Melt chocolate in the top of a double pan, or in a bowl over simmering water. (Do not get water in the chocolate!) You can also use the microwave on a very low setting.

  When melted, remove from the heat and stir in the butter, sugar, alcohol and almonds. Keep stirring until the mixture is blended smooth.

  Allow to cool a bit and then form into balls about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Gently roll them in the vermicelli or cocoa powder (don’t use drinking chocolate!), then put them in paper or foil sweet cases.

  Chill. When packed in a container between layers of waxed or greaseproof paper, they can be stored in a cool, dark place for up to two months.

  Nut Constellations

  This is a quick and easy treat—unless you shell your own peanuts, which takes time!

  Ingredients:

  • 4oz chocolate, dark or milk as preferred

  • 2oz shelled peanuts

  • Paper or foil sweet or petits fours cases

  Method:

  Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, a double pan or in the microwave on a low setting, as before.

  Stir in the shelled peanuts.

  Drop spoonfuls into the sweet cases and put somewhere cool to set. Store as the truffles.

  Battenburg Cake

  This is fiddly, but the end result is pretty. You will need a seven inch square cake tin and greaseproof paper.

  Cake ingredients:

  • 6oz butter

  • 6oz caster sugar

  • 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten

  • 4oz self-raising flour

  • Natural red food colouring

  • Natural vanilla essence (optional)

  For the covering:

  • Apricot jam

  • 8oz natural almond paste

  Heat the oven to 325F/160C/gas 3. Grease the cake tin and then line with greaseproof paper. When lining the base, cut the paper about four inches wider than the tin, then pull the excess up into a fold in the middle of the cake tin, to divide it into two.

  In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Gently fold in the flour with a wooden spoon.

  Divide mixture into two bowls. Add a few drops of natural vanilla essence to one bowl, and a drop or two of natural red food colouring to the second bowl, to turn it pink.

  Put pink cake mixture in one half of the cake tin and plain in the other. Smooth the surfaces.

  Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until it has shrunk slightly from the sides of the tin and feels firm when pressed with the fingertips.

  Turn out the cake onto a wire rack, removing the paper, and leave to cool.

  Trim the edges of each half and cut into two long strips
each. Warm the apricot jam and use to stick the cake strips together, alternating the colour.

  Roll out the almond paste into an oblong large enough to wrap right around the cake and then brush one long side with apricot jam. Press it down onto the almond paste. Brush the other three sides with jam and press the almond paste over it, to cover, finishing neatly up one edge. Leave the ends uncovered to show the chequered cake.

  Slice into little squares to serve.

  Acknowledgements

  With grateful thanks to all the friends and family who have been there to lend a friendly ear when I most needed one. To my son, Robin Ashley, for research help and technical support. Special thanks also to my wonderful agent, Judith Murdoch, and to Maxine Hitchcock, Keshini Naidoo, and all the team at Avon, HarperCollins.

  About the Author

  Trisha Ashley was born in St Helens, Lancashire, and now lives in the beautiful surroundings of North Wales. Her last book, A Winter’s Tale, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Trisha’s own wedding day was far less wacky than the ceremonies in this book, for which she is truly grateful…

  To find out more about Trisha please visit www.trishaashley.com

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  By the Same Author

  Sowing Secrets

  A Winter’s Tale

  Copyright

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

  The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.