Abi's Neighbour

by Jenny Kane

  Max beamed. ‘Less disbelief in your voice would be preferable, Abi Carter!’

  ‘Sorry.’ Abi gave him a look that told Max in no uncertain terms that she very much approved of how good he looked in his shirt and tie, before saying, ‘Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go next door, it’s time Cass and I got changed.’

  Abi gave Max and Stan a kiss each. ‘Good luck, Stan. See you at the hotel!’

  ‘Ready, girls?’

  Jacob smiled at the three bridesmaids as Abi and Cass carefully adjusted their dresses so they could sit in his car, where Beth was already waiting. ‘You look like a round of the most delicious coffee mochas ever!’

  ‘Cheeky sod!’ Beth gave Jacob a friendly slap on the leg. ‘Now, drive!’

  ‘Ready, Stan?’

  ‘As I’ll ever be, m’andsome.’ Stan pointed to the van, which Max had cleaned in honour of the occasion. ‘Wagons roll!’

  ‘Ready, Dora?’

  ‘Oh, my!’ Dora regarded Dan with approval. ‘If I was forty years younger, then Stan might have a bit of competition! Cass is going to have her eyes knocked out.’

  ‘Dora, it’s your wedding day! No matchmaking! Anyway, I’m the one who is supposed to tell you how amazing you look. Which you do. That lady in Zennor may be a bit scary, but she sure knows how to fit a wedding dress.’

  ‘Why thank you, soldier boy.’ Dora curtseyed. ‘Alright then. Come on, chauffeur! Let’s go get me married.’

  Pulling the car into the hotel car park, Dan pointed to a minibus. ‘Looks like the Chalk Towers crew are here already.’

  ‘And so are the others.’ Dora spotted Max’s van and Jacob’s car. ‘I hope there are plenty of people with cameras. I want someone to capture the moment when Cass sees you in that uniform.’

  ‘Dora!’ Dan felt himself blushing. ‘You promised. No matchmaking today.’

  ‘I won’t have to do or say a thing. All she’ll need to do is look at you in that outfit.’

  Helping Dora from the car, Dan sent a text to Abi as arranged to let them know they’d arrived. Half of him didn’t want to see Cass. He knew she’d look gorgeous, and he wasn’t sure how she’d react if he told her so. After all, he had tattoos and spiked hair…

  The thought died the second the bridesmaids walked towards Dora. All three of them were smiling widely. Radiant didn’t even begin to describe them as the summer sunshine shone on the soft fabric of their dresses and lit up their perfectly dressed hair and natural make-up.

  Dan had told himself he wasn’t going to search out Cass, but he couldn’t help himself.

  ‘Oh, my…’ He spoke so softly that only Dora heard.

  ‘Beautiful, isn’t she?’

  ‘Beautiful but lost.’ Dan whispered back to the bride-to-be as they waited by the car for her escort, who came not just with smiles, but with a small arrangement of flowers for Dora to carry.

  Cass hadn’t been prepared. She had assumed Dan would be in a regular suit. Until then, she’d thought that going ‘weak at the knees’ was a fiction made up by romance writers. Now she knew different.

  As Dan took Dora’s arm to escort her to the door, Abi took up her place directly behind them, while Cass and Beth linked arms and followed on.

  When they got to the hotel’s wedding room, Dan stood back so that Jacob could walk Dora down the aisle, when the potter whispered, ‘Change of plan. Are you alright with Dan giving you away, Dora?’

  Beth frowned. ‘Everything OK?’

  ‘Perfect.’ Jacob winked. ‘OK with you, Dora? Dan?’

  Dora looked at the potter shrewdly. ‘What are you up to?’

  ‘You’ll see,’ Jacob shouted, as he dashed to the front of the room.

  Dan, who stood a little straighter as he found himself thrust into the limelight, rather than perching on a chair at the back of the room as he’d intended, took a deep breath.

  With a thumbs-up to Max, who stood with Stan and Sadie at the front, Jacob waved to the registrar, who gave the signal for the music to start.

  Dan looked at his companion. ‘Best foot forward, Dora?’

  ‘Always.’

  As they walked down the aisle that had been fashioned between the rows of chairs, all of which were occupied – by Chalk Towers residents and many of the inhabitants of Sennen Cove who’d known Stan for years – Abi could see precisely why the potter couldn’t give Dora away as planned.

  Jacob was next to the registrar, a large-screened tablet open and on, showing Sally, Pippa and Craig, all up despite it being the middle of the night in Australia. Dressed up to the nines, they were waving madly as they prepared to watched Stan and Dora tie the knot.

  Thank goodness for Skype! Abi wondered if Stan was crying as he saw his family cheering him on.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  The hotel dining room had been arranged perfectly. Stan, his new wife Dora, Max, and Abi sat side by side at a small rectangular table in the round of a bay window. Groups of circular tables were laid out before them, with seats placed three-quarters of the way around each one, so no one had their backs to the happy couple.

  The Skype connection was still running, and with a brief apology to Sally and her children, Jacob blurred their view as he carried them through from the ceremony room to the dining room, ready to hear the speeches.

  Vast arrays of scones, jam, clotted cream and butter sat on each table, with an accompanying selection of finger sandwiches, bottles of champagne, and jugs of iced water.

  The staff, attentive throughout, were circulating with colossal pots of tea and coffee, as the atmosphere of happy chatter wrapped itself around everyone present.

  Waving to Max, who was sat at the far end of their table next to Dora, Abi watched as he read some prompt cards he’d extracted from his suit pocket. ‘You’ll be great.’

  ‘Thanks, Abi. Spot of stage fright.’

  Dora turned to their best man while Stan was talking in a happily animated fashion to his family in Australia. ‘Do you think Dan has worked out that he has to do the father of the bride speech as well?’

  Max glanced at Dan, who was sat next to Cass, obviously trying not to look at her, just as much as Cass was trying not to look at him. ‘I suspect not. I’d better have a quick word. Maybe Jacob could tell him what he’d been planning to say before the Skype thing worked out.’

  Approaching Dan at the same time as beckoning Jacob, Max crossed the room. ‘Dan, mate, you know you have to make a speech, don’t you?’

  ‘Hell, I hadn’t thought of that!’ Dan turned to Jacob, who was approaching with a large glass of champagne in one hand and a heavily laden cream and jam scone in the other. ‘What were you going to say as pseudo-father of the bride? Can you still do it? I’m not sure speeches are my thing.’

  ‘No can do, I’m afraid. I’ve promised Sally I’ll hold up the Skype so she can watch proceedings.’

  ‘I could do that.’ Dan grimaced. ‘I’ve never been comfortable with public speaking.’

  Jacob studied Dan for a second. ‘Stan and Dora would like it if you did; you know they would. You know them both better than I do.’

  ‘That’s emotional blackmail.’

  ‘True.’ Jacob shrugged. ‘All I was going to do was thank everyone for coming, wish Stan luck for taking on the poker queen of Chalk Towers, raise a toast, and hand over to Max.’

  ‘That was all? Really?’

  ‘Yep.’

  Cass watched as Jacob went to check the Skype connection was behaving before the speeches started. Despite being determined not to even glance at Dan in case her expression gave away how attractive she found him, she knew he could do with some reassurance.

  Dan would reassure you, now he needs you to reassure him.

  Swallowing hard, ignoring her resolve not to let the effect of being so close to Dan show, Cass turned to Dan as he anxiously fiddled with an empty teacup. ‘You’ve done far harder things than this.’

  ‘I hate this sort of thing.’

  Cass sm
iled back, trying not to look into Dan’s eyes and failing. ‘I can’t imagine you getting nervous about anything.’

  ‘You are very kind.’

  ‘Am I? You weren’t so sure a few weeks ago.’

  ‘Perhaps we’ve both changed a bit lately.’

  ‘For the better?’

  ‘I think so.’ Dan got no further. He felt his throat go dry as Max stood and tapped the side of his glass to bring the room to order.

  Risking rejection, Cass put a hand on Dan’s leg under the table. ‘I know you can do this. Stan and Dora will be so proud. And it all fits.’

  ‘Fits?’ Dan slid a palm on top of Cass’s hand, soothed by its presence.

  ‘Dora’s husband was a war hero, so was Stan as far as I’m concerned. And so are you.’

  ‘I was no such thing.’

  Cass whispered fast under her breath, so that only Dan could hear her, ‘Daniel Millfield, you have saved lives! You have done more good in the world than I could ever strive to. Don’t you dare tell me you aren’t a brave man.’

  Stunned by the passionate yet muted outburst of the woman next to him, whose eyes were telling him so much more than they could have said there and then, Dan inclined his head a fraction. ‘Can we talk? Soon I mean. After the ceremony.’

  ‘I’d like that.’ Cass gave his hand an encouraging squeeze. ‘Go on, you’re up.’

  As Dan stood in front of everyone, resplendent in his uniform, Cass thought her heart would burst with pride. She knew she’d fallen for him. Crap timing, Cass. How very you.

  ***

  Sliding back into his seat, Dan let a silent rush of relief escape from between his teeth. Cass muttered a quick, ‘well done’, and then placed her hands on the table so that she wasn’t tempted to hug him in case she couldn’t let go again.

  Max waited just long enough for the clapping to subside before he got to his feet. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve thought very carefully about what to say to you this afternoon. How to sum up what Stan and Dora mean, not just to me, but to my beautiful partner Abi, and our friends…’ Max glanced across at Beth, Jacob, Dan and Cass ‘. . . isn’t easy, their lives have been so full of love and adventure and, above all, compassion.

  ‘Compassion. It’s a word that’s often seen as rather clichéd, a weak word even. But it isn’t, and Stan and Dora are the proof of that.

  ‘Some of you will know that it was exactly one year ago today that I was lucky enough to walk into a pub nothing unusual in that! – but on that day I saw a young woman looking a little bit lost. There was such a determination about her however that something about her caught me right in the heart.

  ‘That girl was Abi Carter. A girl who I discovered was searching for a house. A very special house.’

  Abi felt tears prick at her eyes as she risked a glance at Sally listening so intently from the other side of the world; who raised a glass to her. Abi didn’t dare look at Stan, for she knew she’d break down if he was looking as choked as she felt as Max continued.

  ‘With the help of my best friend Beth, Abi and I found the house, and there we came across the most extraordinary man I’ve ever met. We met Mr Stanley Abbey.’

  Dora put down her glass and reached out a hand to Stan, who had his eyes fixed unwaveringly on his best man.

  ‘Stan may be a fraction older than me in years, but in his heart he is young, he is brave, and he always has a go. Last year Jacob and I took Stan to an auction at Christie’s in London, we helped him move to Chalk Towers, we have seen him take steps that a younger person may never have the guts to take. Abi and I learned early on that Stan has a “grasp life with both hands” mentality. A view we thought no one could better.

  ‘Until we met Dora.

  ‘Dora.’ Max stopped and looked at the bride with an expression of stunned affection that made everyone laugh. ‘Dora has been working quiet miracles all her life. Undercover, underground. She has seen so much, done so much, and helped keep this country and the people in it safe without them having any idea.

  ‘Coming to live at Chalk Towers soon after it opened, Dora didn’t take a minute to whip the place into shape.’ A chuckle from the residents rippled across the room. ‘And I understand from Dan that nearly everyone in the place has fallen victim to her skill with a pack of cards…’

  General choruses of agreement were made as Max turned to the Skype screen. ‘And so when Max and Dora met, it was only a matter of time before two such happy souls should find each other.

  ‘We have many of Stan and Dora’s friends here today, but we also have, via the magic of technology, Stan’s daughter Sally, and his grandchildren Craig and Pippa with us. I’d like you all to raise a glass to Australia now, and take your hat off to them for getting up to drink champagne at three o’clock in the morning so they could join in this special occasion.’

  A moment later, his throat refreshed, Max resumed. ‘I mentioned compassion.

  ‘Stan didn’t have to welcome Abi and myself into his home, a home which was to become ours. He could have turned us away. But he didn’t. If he had, we wouldn’t be here today.

  ‘Dora didn’t have to help a good friend of ours free herself from an unpleasant man who was making her life difficult. But she did.’

  Cass swallowed, before raising her glass to Dora with a personal nod of thanks.

  ‘Stan and Dora make time for people. They care. A rare thing in this modern world.’ Near the end of his speech, Max pivoted on his toes to face the bride and groom. ‘Stan and Dora care. Not just for each other, but for everyone and everything, and I for one am privileged to know them, to love them, and to be able to call them my friends.

  ‘Please stand and raise a toast to the brand new Mr and Mrs Abbey.

  ‘Dora and Stan.’

  Beth washed her hands, and was just checking that her hair was still being held in the butterfly-shaped hairclips that were struggling to hold it in the position, when Abi and Cass came into the ladies’ washroom.

  ‘That was some speech from Max, did you know he was going to say anything about your anniversary.’

  ‘Not a clue.’ Abi stared at her own hair in the mirror. Blonde strands were poking out at all sorts of odd angles. Taking the clips out instead of readjusting them, Abi let her hair down and shook it free. ‘With the wedding and everything, I’d forgotten it was exactly a year today since Max found me in the pub. It’s been one hell of a twelve months, hasn’t it?’

  ‘You aren’t kidding.’ Beth, following Abi’s example, freed her own hair, and stood side on to the mirror; her bump was evident beneath her skirt. ‘Do you think women ever get used to being pregnant? It’s such a leap to think there’s a person growing inside me.’

  ‘I doubt it. It’s pretty amazing though.’ Abi attempted to tuck a bit of her fringe that had escaped Cass’s heavy hand with the hairspray into place. ‘I bet you can’t wait until it’s born.’

  ‘I can, and I can’t. If you see what I mean.’ Beth yawned. ‘Sorry, as well as being constantly hungry, I’m tired all the time. Thank goodness this is an afternoon do and not an all-nighter.’

  ‘Won’t be long until we go now. Stan has already booked himself and Dora into the honeymoon suite upstairs.’

  Beth laughed. ‘I love that. Late eighties and heading for a night of passion in the honeymoon suite. Those two are unstoppable!’

  Having corralled the tired, mildly tipsy, and boisterous residents of Chalk Towers into the minibus, Dan made his way to the reception to make sure the staff had his number if there was a happy couple related emergency, before walking through the car park to take his leave of Max, Abi, Beth, Jacob, and have his promised talk with Cass.

  Sadie snuggled against Max’s legs, as the bridesmaids, duty done, laid their mini bouquets in the back of Max’s van, and jointly wished they’d thought to bring flat shoes to change into after the ceremony.

  Just as Dan joined them, Max loosened his tie, and passed Sadie’s lead and a set of keys to Cass. ‘You sure you’ll
be OK with this old girl?’

  ‘Of course.’ Cass knelt down as much as her fitted outfit would allow, and cuddled the retriever. Sadie seemed to accept her temporary ownership with the same grace she accepted everything. ‘We’re going to put the world to rights together, aren’t we, Sadie?’

  Max smiled. ‘Well she’s very good at that, aren’t you, old girl?’

  Abi, who’d been having another go at trying to convince Beth that she had plenty of time to worry about finding a bigger place to live once the baby was actually in the world, registered that Sadie wasn’t coming home with them. ‘What’s going on?’

  Max pulled his van keys from his pocket and held them up. ‘We’re escaping! Happy meeting me anniversary.’

  A broad grin spread over Abi’s face. ‘We’re going away. Tonight?’

  ‘Not tonight. Right now. Come on, lass.’ Max hopped into the van, and started the engine.

  ‘But I haven’t packed. I can’t spend three days like this?’

  ‘The suitcase is packed and in the back of the van.’

  ‘You packed my clothes?’ Abi was amused but suspicious.

  ‘Well. I did, but then I panicked and phoned Beth, and she showed me how to repack.’

  With a mouthed ‘thank you’ to Beth, Abi jumped into the van next to Max.

  As they waved to their friends and Sadie, whose tail was wagging with its usual gusto, Abi asked, ‘Where are we going, Max?’

  ‘You’ll see when we get there.’

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Cass clutched a takeout coffee cup, putting an arm around Sadie’s comforting bulk as they sat side by side on the sand. A fresh summer breeze brushed its way around them in the quiet of early morning Sennen.

  ‘Do you think Abi would believe me if I told her I sat on the beach without being forced to?’

  Sadie gave her temporary carer a look that told Cass quite clearly that Abi would be most surprised by this massive turn-around.

  Only a day had passed since the wedding, but for Cass so much had happened. Or at least, so many corners in her life had been turned.