by Agatha Frost
Wedding Cake and Woes
Agatha Frost
Pink Tree Publishing LTD
Published by Pink Tree Publishing Limited in 2018
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright © Pink Tree Publishing Limited.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For questions and comments about this book, please contact [email protected]
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Contents
About This Book
Newsletter Signup
Also by Agatha Frost
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Thank You!
Also by Agatha Frost
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About This Book
Released: November 27th 2018
Words: 49,000
Series: Book 15 - Peridale Cozy Café Mystery Series
Standalone: Yes
Cliff-hanger: No
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Also by Agatha Frost
The Peridale Cafe Series
Pancakes and Corpses (Book 1) - OUT NOW
Lemonade and Lies (Book 2) - OUT NOW
Doughnuts and Deception (Book 3) - OUT NOW
Chocolate Cake and Chaos (Book 4) - OUT NOW
Shortbread and Sorrow (Book 5) - OUT NOW!
Espresso and Evil (Book 6) - OUT NOW
Macarons and Mayhem (Book 7) - OUT NOW
Fruit Cake and Fear (Book 8) - OUT NOW
Birthday Cake and Bodies (Book 9) - OUT NOW
Gingerbread and Ghosts (Book 10) - OUT NOW
Cupcakes and Casualties (Book 11) - OUT NOW
Blueberry Muffins and Misfortune (Book 12) - OUT NOW
Ice Cream and Incidents (Book 13) - OUT NOW
Champagne and Catastrophes (Book 14) - OUT NOW
Wedding Cake and Woes (Book 15) - OUT NOW
The Scarlet Cove Seaside Series
Dead in the Water (Book 1) - OUT NOW
Castle on the Hill (Book 2) - OUT NOW
Stroke of Death (Book 3) - OUT NOW
1
Julia awoke with a feeling that something was very wrong. Bolting upright, she looked around her bedroom. The pale, November-morning light streamed through her curtains.
Sunlight.
Her grey Maine Coon, Mowgli, was snuggled up where her fiancé, Barker, should have been. She scratched at her head as she let out a yawn; Mowgli did the same. It would have been so easy to fall back and let her fluffy pillows return her to her dreams. She was exhausted, after all, and her room was nice and toasty for once. Was the radiator on?
Radiator heat.
Julia rubbed her eyes as she tried to focus. Something important had been swirling through her mind all night, keeping her from sleep until the dark early hours. Another yawn forced open her jaw. She stretched out and stared at her wardrobe, where a white dress hung motionlessly like a phantom.
Dress.
White dress.
Wedding dress.
Wedding!
“Why am I still in bed?” Julia cried. “It’s my wedding day!”
She tossed back the covers and stuffed her feet into her sheepskin slippers, glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside table.
8:13 am.
“No, no, no, no!”
Julia should have been up way before the sunrise and the radiators turning on. Why hadn’t the alarms blared at 6 am, or 6:01 am, or 6:02 am? She had set three to avoid this very situation.
Skidding on the rug, she snatched her fluffy pink dressing gown off the bedpost and messily dragged it over her pyjamas. She caught her balance, bypassing the dress without daring to give it a second glance.
Leaving Mowgli on the bed, Julia burst into the hallway, and it became instantly apparent that she was the only one who had slept in. Sue, Julia’s younger sister and matron of honour, was in the sitting room with Julia’s best friend and bridesmaid, Roxy. They had slept over to be there for the early morning wedding preparations.
“What’s going on?” Julia shouted, barely able to breathe. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
Sue and Roxy jumped up from the couch, staring at her with matching smiles made from equal parts guilt and sympathy.
Julia’s eighteen-year-old adopted daughter, Jessie, hurried out of the kitchen, a flour-covered apron over her black silk pyjamas. She opened her hands and held her palms out as though surrendering.
“Don’t freak out!” Jessie’s voice wobbled. “I snuck in and turned your alarms off this morning.”
“Why would you do such a thing? It’s my wedding day! This isn’t time for games, Jessie!”
“It’s not a game.” Jessie bit into her lip as she shuffled on the spot. “There’s been an accident.”
“What kind of accident?”
“A terrible one,” Sue muttered as she crept sheepishly into the hallway. “It was Jessie’s idea to turn your alarm off. I wanted to wake you up.”
“Wake me up for what?”
“The important thing to remember is that it’s nobody’s fault.” Jessie’s palms flapped back and forth. “And I’m going to fix it.”
“Fix what?”
Roxy sighed and followed Sue into the hallway. Julia stared at her with an imploring gaze. If anyone couldn’t keep a secret from Julia, it was her oldest school friend.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I got up to make some hot chocolate,” Roxy began. “I opened the fridge to get the milk, and it seems the fridge broke sometime during the night.”
“Okay.” Julia nodded, unsure why that mattered. “Is this going somewhere?”
“Your wedding cake,” Sue said, the ends of her brows turning down. “It’s ruined.”
The words hit Julia like a slap across the face. It was awful enough to hear that any cake she had passionately baked was ruined, but her wedding cake?
“Are you sure?” Julia pulled her dressing gown together. “A wedding cake can survive without being refrigerated for a couple of hours. The icing would have protected it.”
From their hopeless expressions, Julia knew there was more to the story. Jessie dropped her head and walked into the kitchen, and Roxy and Sue nodded for Julia to follow. Mixing bowls and baking ingredients cluttered every inch of the counters, and it looked like something was in the oven. Jessie stepped back and gestured for Julia to open the fridge.
“I’m really sorry,” Jessie said.
Julia’s mouth felt like the Sahara as she reached out with a shaky hand and pulled on the door of the dead machine. The scent of warm, sour milk hit her nostrils as soon as the door cracked open.
“What the—” Julia gagged, covering her mouth with the sleeve of her gown.
She let the door swing open to reveal the four-tier white wedding ca
ke with its intricately detailed icing. To the naked eye, it still looked as pristine as it had been when she added the finishing details the night before, but it reeked like it had been left out in the sun for weeks.
“I may have left the cap off the milk,” Jessie muttered, “again.”
Julia gritted her teeth as she looked at the large bottle of soured milk in the inside of the door. How many times had she asked Jessie not to be so lazy when putting the milk back?
“I thought we could air it out?” Roxy offered. “Stick it outside for a bit to get some fresh air, but Jessie said the smell will have stuck to the icing.”
“She’s right.” Julia nodded.
“And I said we couldn’t have your wedding guests eating a cake that smells like milk gone off,” Sue added. “Especially since you made it yourself. The last thing you want is for your wedding to ruin your reputation as the best baker in Peridale.”
“That’s why I got to work on a replacement.” Jessie glanced at the glowing oven. “I thought I could get it finished before you woke up, but I couldn’t find your recipe, and I have no idea what’s underneath the icing. I thought about cutting it but—”
“I said that wouldn’t be right,” Sue jumped in. “Only the bride and groom should cut the cake, spoiled or not.”
Julia closed the fridge door, sealing her creation inside its rancid tomb. It felt like she was saying goodbye to a child before it’d had a chance to reach its potential. She loved nothing more than seeing people enjoy her products, but the most important cake of her baking career would never pass anyone’s lips.
“Julia?” Roxy prompted. “Say something.”
Julia took in the mess Jessie had created. She sighed, but she couldn’t be angry at her daughter; not today.
“You should have woken me,” Julia said, resting her hand on Jessie’s shoulder, “but I appreciate you trying to fix it.”
“You don’t seem upset.” Jessie narrowed her eyes as she stepped back. “Why aren’t you upset?”
“Poor thing is in shock.” Sue rested her hand on Julia’s forehead. “She needs some hot, sweet tea. Although it will have to be without the milk, for obvious reasons. Fill the kettle, Roxy!”
“I’m fine.” Julia waved her hand to stop Roxy in her tracks. “It’s not an ideal situation, but there’s no point getting upset about it. Like you said, nobody’s to blame for the fridge breaking. I’ve needed to replace the old thing for years. I bought it for next to nothing from a car boot sale when I first moved in, so if anyone’s to blame, it’s me for being so cheap.”
“I think I’d feel better if you were freaking out,” Sue said as she backed out of the kitchen. “You’re the calmest I’ve ever seen a bride on her wedding day.”
A small part of Julia wanted to let go and have a meltdown; no one would blame her. Women had slipped into bridezilla mode for much less. It might even make her feel a fraction better to scream and throw the cake through the window, but it wouldn’t fix anything. The cake would still be ruined, with her mood joining it. She took a moment to assess the chaos in the kitchen before clapping her hands together.
“I have a plan!” she declared, lightening her tone. “We’re wasting valuable time. Jessie, what’s in the oven?”
“A vanilla sponge for the base tier.”
“Not exactly the fruitcake I had planned, but it’s a good start, and it’s hard to go wrong with a nice sponge.” Julia peered into the oven. “It looks like it’s nearly ready. I’ll get to work on the other tiers. The sooner they’re all baked, the longer they can cool before we try to decorate. If we reduce it to three instead of the original four, it’ll save us time.” She paused and looked around, her eyes landing on the pantry door. “Jessie, look in there for those tubs of pre-made white icing we bought when you were practising. They should still be in date. They just need rolling out. And I think I have some white icing flowers left over from the cake I made for Shilpa’s birthday last week. They should be in a plastic zip-lock bag.”
“Got ‘em,” Jessie called from the cupboard. “There’s about two dozen in here. And there’s an extra piping bag. I can whip up some royal icing for the detail work.”
“Perfect.” Julia glanced above the dead fridge at the cat clock with its swinging tail and swishing eyes. “The wedding is at noon, which gives us under four hours to get the cake finished.”
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Sue groaned.
“We can do this!”
“How long did you spend on the original cake?” Roxy asked.
“Two weeks.”
“I’m going to faint.” Sue stumbled back and wafted herself. “You shouldn’t be worrying about something like this on your wedding day. I bet Barker is still asleep at the B&B without a care in the world. We should be pampering you right now with a glass of bubbly while one of us paints your nails.”
“I’ve never been the biggest fan of champagne,” Julia called over her shoulder as she weighed out white flour for the next tier. “Start getting yourselves ready while I do as much as I can in here. Jessie, get the icing rolled out. It needs to be as thin and even as possible. Make it look like it didn’t come out of a box.”
Jessie cleared a section of the counter and got to work on the icing, while Julia created the batter for the middle chocolate layer. Despite the disarray around her, it was easy for her to slip into her little baking world. The less she thought about the impending ceremony, the less her hands shook as she weighed each ingredient.
Sue and Roxy took it in turns to shower, and it wasn’t long before the loud whirring of the hairdryer filled the tiny cottage. It was so loud that Julia almost didn’t hear the knocking at the door.
“I’ll get it!” she called as she hurried down the hallway, still in her dressing gown.
She dusted her floury hands on her backside and opened the door. The frosty morning air drifted in immediately.
“Flower delivery for a Miss South?” said a young man in a green uniform, his breath turning to steam as he read from an electronic device.
“That’s me,” Julia said, eagerly peering at the van behind him. “They’re my wedding flowers.”
The man smiled, but it was clear he had little interest in anything save finishing the delivery. Turning on his heels, he jogged down the path to retrieve three white boxes from the back of his van. He stacked them on the doorstep before holding out the device for Julia to sign. She wiggled her finger on the dotted line, which caused him to hurry away without so much as another word. Too excited to be bothered by his sullen attitude, Julia scooped up the chilled boxes and brought them inside.
“The flowers are here!” she called, kicking the door shut behind her.
She took them into the dining room, and the trio followed. Roxy’s fiery red mane was still damp, and Sue’s caramel locks were sleekly curled on one side and frizzy on the other.
“I love this part!” Sue squealed. “I remember getting my flowers on my wedding day. They were so perfect.”
Julia peeled back the lid, but her flowers were anything but perfect. She dropped the cover onto the table and snatched off the other two.
“This isn’t what I ordered,” Julia said, her brows dropping as she stared at four bouquets of blood-red roses. “I asked for cream roses, just like mum had at her wedding.”
Sue and Roxy parted their lips, but neither of them seemed able to offer anything.
“Call the company!” Jessie demanded. “Who did you use? I’ll call them myself!”
“I’ve already signed for them.” Julia pinched the bridge of her nose. “I should have checked first.”
She plucked out her bridal bouquet and turned it around in the light. The roses were fresh and fine-looking, but they weren’t what she had envisioned for her special day.
“They won’t match anything,” Julia said as she put the flowers back in their box. “The colour scheme is white and cream.”
“Nobody will notice,” Roxy offered. “Do people even
pay attention to colour schemes?”
“Yes!” Sue blurted, causing Roxy to elbow her in the ribs. “I mean, they’re adorable. So, you wanted cream roses? It doesn’t matter. They’re only flowers. It’s not what’s important today.”
“And if they offend you that much, I’m sure Johnny can do some magic on the wedding pictures to turn them cream.” Roxy wrapped her arm around Julia’s shoulders. “You know he’s a computer whiz. Chin up, Julia.”
Julia could feel her mind edging closer and closer to the brink of what she could cope with on the morning of her wedding. She wanted nothing more than to cuddle up to Barker, and for him to assure her none of it mattered, but he was the one person she wasn’t allowed to see today of all days.
“They’re only flowers.” Julia echoed. “Beautiful flowers. I have a wedding cake to finish.”
Roxy and Sue let out relieved sighs as though they had been holding their breath waiting for Julia’s reaction.
“That’s the spirit.” Sue clapped her hands together. “You’ve got the wedding day bad luck out of the way early on. Remember how my hair stylist had food poisoning? It’s all part of the process. I promise, nothing else can possibly go wrong.”
Julia retreated to the kitchen to continue work on the cake. Jessie handed her a cup of peppermint and liquorice tea with a smile. As Julia thought about Sue’s promise, soft drops of rain began to fall from the dark sky.
