by Klaire, Jody
She dashed back the other way then ran up the stairs. “Is she...?”
I left Doug and hobbled up the cold steps. I was seeing things. It must be Marie but where was the burst pipe?
“Pepe, bon, you come... In the room,” Sergio said from beside me.
I jumped.
He grabbed my arm and ushered me through a door.
I stared at him. Was I still drunk?
“How—?”
He closed the door on me. Right. I heard rustling and turned around. Babs sat at a dressing table having her hair done as she chatted into a Bluetooth headset. Caroline and her mother stopped fussing over her dress and smiled at me.
“So no one has a leak?” I shivered. My toes were cold.
Babs turned. “Maybe I should explain, oui?”
I nodded.
Madame Henri pulled Caroline to one side, launching into rapid-fire French.
“Just move it a little to the left. It will be fine,” Babs said and then beeped. I assumed that meant she had hung up. “Pepe, come, sit.”
“I’ve walked an awful lot,” I mumbled and plonked myself down beside her. We both stared down at my bare foot.
“Through a river?” She asked, cocking her head.
“No, water hazard. Golf isn’t for wimps, you know.” I shrugged at her when she raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, why are you in a wedding dress?”
She shifted to focus on me and took my hands. “I am getting married.”
“Here?” I frowned.
“Where else?” She smiled at me.
“So you’re Marie?” I scowled. “We traipsed around Monaco for you; I’ve worked so much I could sleep for a month; I’ve walked miles following a dimpled ball with the craziest golf bag, and you go and marry Doug?” I folded my arms. “Rebecca swore she’d never marry after her mum passed. She swore that even when the law changed she wouldn’t do it.”
I got up and stomped over to the window. The cheek of it.
“Stephanie-Marie Saint-Clarence,” Babs whispered. “Mais, Doug is not marrying her... At least not yet.”
I turned and stared at her. Stephanie? Oh, that explained the phone call... the teasing. She was such a sneak.
“Stephanie is pregnant?” I’d let her carry stone and plaster and she’d been hammered enough that Doug had needed to carry her to a room.
“Non.” Babs rolled her eyes. “Stephanie and Doug, they help me, oui?” She beamed at me. “I am hoping to get married, oui?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it... Wait.
Doug had been celebrating his stag do, then there was the suit fitting, the flowers, the cars, the cakes. And, then he’d gone and kidnapped me...
The penny dropped.
“But we’ve left her at the club!” I sucked in my breath, my poor shoe. “She’ll know something is afoot.”
“Monsieur Monmouth-Whitely will bring her to us.” She chuckled when I frowned. “He has been happy to help.”
“He knew?” The sneaky hairy nostril-ed, crazy eyebrow-ed sneak.
Babs nodded.
“Doug knew?” I clenched my fist. It was still sticky from my sock. Yuck.
She nodded again.
“So only Rebecca and I didn’t?” I rubbed my sticky yet clammy hands on my trousers.
“Oui... mais... As best maid, you have been busy, oui?” She shook her head as I gawped at her. “Alors... This is why Bebe is aloof.”
“You lost me again.” My foot was freezing too and I had fluff sticking out of my toenail.
“Her mood. Bebe cannot lie to you and she has had to hide the whole thing, oui?” She sighed. “She and Doug, there is no problem. She only finds it... stressful... to hide the surprise from you.”
I shrugged. “So you really want to marry her?”
She nodded.
“And you are in a wedding dress?”
She smiled.
“And she doesn’t have a clue.” I wheezed out a breath. “I think I might cry.”
I hobbled over and gave her a squeeze.
“Everything is in place... mais, I have a choice of two outfits for you.” She grinned. “My mother works very hard.”
“Says you who just organised a wedding without the other party knowing.” I shook my head. “I’d better get dressed.”
Madame Henri and Caroline hurried back in. I was dragged into the next room and Caroline started mumbling at my thighs. I sighed. Maybe I needed to have brought the clubs with me?
Chapter 54
Rebecca stared at the lone sock and shoe on the floor and sighed. Pippa did some strange things but why hobble off without half of her footwear? It was official: the woman was crazy.
“Lost something?” Her father asked from beside her.
She tensed. It had taken a lot of face washing and team talks in the mirror to stop bawling. It didn’t matter that she’d won or that she’d won his blessing, it still didn’t feel right. She wanted him to care, stupid as that was.
“Pippa felt she needed to be one sole for a while,” she mumbled, picking up the sock and shoe.
Her father laughed. Not mean laughter but actual “I found that funny” laughter. She hadn’t heard him do that since her mother had gone.
“Well, whoever kidnapped her, I’m sure she socked it to them.” He winked at her and opened his passenger side door. “Do you need a lift?”
She stared at him then back to the clubhouse. Was he going to kidnap her and send her to counselling?
“Wales is a bit of a walk.” he smiled and tapped the door.
She sighed. If he was kidnapping her, at least she keep the counsellor amused. “I can’t believe she left me.”
“Well, she left a piece of her behind, that’s more than most women.” He started the car. “I thought the usual tactic was to leave you without enough money to dress yourself.”
She blinked at him again.
He looked like her father but he was smiling.
He tutted. “Oh, come now. How else do you think I managed to marry your mother?” He drove them out of the club. “You get your sparkling sense of humour from me.”
“She married you for your daft jokes?” She hadn’t—they hadn’t talked about it, about her.
“She said it was for love but I’m not quite sure how much she’d been drinking at the time.” He let through a sad smile. “There was nothing like hearing her laugh.”
Rebecca could hear the echo of it in her mind: A bittersweet sound that made her heart swell and crumble all at once. She was always laughing.
“I didn’t think you knew about Doug’s place?” She managed, trying to clear her throat.
“Left a message. Said he was taking Pippa and to give you a lift.” He turned out onto the main road. “Must be quite a woman to have him stick by her even when she is in love with another.”
Rebecca’s scowled. “Who, Marie?”
He studied her, confusion and his eyes. “No, Pippa, he’s very loyal to the both of you.”
“The feeling is mutual but...” She let out a long breath. “Yeah, I really thought he’d walk away when she left him.” She smiled. “I’m so glad he didn’t.”
“He’s a lovely chap. He’ll make a woman very happy one day.” He relaxed into his seat.
Rebecca took in the car. Her dad had never been into classic cars but she had to say this one was luxury. Real leather, real chestnut or some kind of wood Pippa would know the name of. The back seat looked made for dignitaries.
“Your mother was a strong-willed woman,” he said after a good while. “She ran the house, she always knew exactly what she wanted.”
Rebecca nodded and they drove in silence. She blinked up at the sky as the sun broke through the clouds. They came over the crest of the hill and she took a breath. Green fields cut into jigsaw sections by thick green hedgerows. Oak, pine, beech and countless other trees lined up around the edges of the valley, blanketing the mountains.
In the distance was Doug’s large Manor house guarded by l
ong sweeping green lawns. It rose above the nearby village with the grandness that made her think of carriages and corsets.
“She always loved coming home,” he said, tears in his eyes. “Her brother, the men in her family, fought over everything. It took some persuading to get it back.”
She turned to him. She’d remembered her uncles—all older than her mother—trawling through everything of hers they could steal. Her dad had tried to fight them off but they’d taken most of it. “I didn’t realise she had a family home.”
He nodded. “Oh yes, a bit of a wreck of course but it was her dream to restore it. She grew up in the village nearby.”
“She did?”
He smiled. “Yes, she often had dealings with Doug’s family I believe. Funny he felt as close to you.”
Rebecca felt a smile bubble up. Who would have thought Doug and her mother’s family knew each other.
She sighed as they pulled down the lane toward the house. “I love her,” she whispered. “She’s fiery and bossy and she fills the room with an energy I can’t explain.” She shook her head. “She fills me with an energy, with...” Tears gushed up and she stuttered out her breath. “I don’t know... But joy is the closest thing that makes sense. Yeah, it’s like joy and happiness, safety and love.”
He beamed at her. “I knew you’d get there eventually.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“I couldn’t cope with you.” He sighed, pulling the car up the drive. “You were full of her energy and I couldn’t keep up.” He wheezed out a breath. “I reacted with my temper... and when I came to find you, you were gone.”
She stared at him. “You came to find me?”
He nodded. “Of course, it was full of conditions and my bumbling way of things.” He looked up at the steps to the front door. “And every time I came to find you, I’d see you stumble out of another woman’s house.”
She chewed on her lip. She could only imagine how much it had hurt him.
“You always had Pippa though. Steadfast, loyal, the sister we never gave you.” He leaned onto the wheel, peering out at the grounds.
“Yeah, Pip has always been there.” She cocked her head at the statue. She was sure it was holding a paddle. Maybe she just needed glasses? It looked like a paddle? Nah.
“I was expecting it to be her you married, or at least her that you settled down with.” He shook his head. “I was close.”
“She’s in love with Berne, Babs’s best friend.” She wasn’t sure how they were having such a calm conversation but she relished it.
“I know. The locals talk.” He smiled and pulled something—a box?—out of his trouser pocket. “If you’re half as happy as I was, make sure she knows it.”
Rebecca went to open the box but he closed his hand around hers. “Just don’t stay away any more, please, or at least... Call sometimes.”
She nodded, tears in her eyes. “I come with Babs and with Pip and Berne and well, Doug too. Can you handle that?”
He met her eyes. “You’ve blossomed into the woman I hoped you’d be. A bit more decorated than I pictured...” He chuckled, his eyes shimmering with tears. “... But I’ve been keeping an eye on you. I know how good that heart of yours is. It isn’t everyday someone gives five hundred thousand euros away.”
“It’ll be worth it to see her happy. It was her business.” Rebecca’s tears gushed down her cheeks. She dived across the gearstick and was wrapped up in a hug. Every hope she didn’t dare long for filled with the sunlight beating down on them.
“Now, it’s better you get instep,” he said, nodding to Pippa’s shoe. “Or she might hop off.”
Rebecca snorted, picking it up by the laces. “Well, she does tie me in knots.”
He chuckled and she got out of the car, sock and shoe in one hand, box in the other.
Doug hurried out of the house in a top hat and tails. “Come on, you need to move.”
Huh? He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the house. She stopped. Frowned. She could swear she could hear people. She couldn’t see anyone. Huh?
“Move, woman.” He shoved her up the stairs.
“Why are you in a suit?” She shot at him, planting her feet.
“Marie,” he blurted. “Marie wants a rehearsal, now.”
She frowned. “You what?”
He nodded. “Rebecca, I love you. So get changed and come and help me, please.”
She shook her head. “Doug, your family don’t know you’re getting married; your friends don’t; we’ve never seen Marie and you don’t wear a suit for a rehearsal.”
He narrowed his eyes, then huffed out a breath. “Just quit arguing.”
“Doug?” She held up her hands. “What’s going on?”
He launched forward, yanked her off her feet, carried her up the steps and shoved her in a room, shutting the door.
“Hey!” She glared at the door, sock and shoe still in one hand, box in the other.
“We need to fix the hair,” Sergio, or at least it sounded like Sergio, said from behind her.
She turned.
Caroline, Sergio and Madame Henri were waiting.
“She will need to wash,” Caroline muttered. “Same as the other one.”
Madame Henri nodded.
Caroline strutted forward, yanked the shoe and sock off her— between finger and thumb—and shoved her into the bathroom.
“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” She muttered has Caroline shoved her toward the shower.
“Marie has moved up the wedding,” Madame Henri said with a smile. “Doug did not know how to tell you.”
She rolled her eyes. Explained why he was so nervous. “You’ve met her?”
“Oui, she is wonderful.” Madame Henri smiled. She tapped Rebecca’s jumper and took the box. “I will place this on the table.”
They left her in the shower room and she sighed. It was crazy: Doug was a driver short of a set of clubs; Pippa was a shoe short of a pair; and her dad had actually smiled. She looked down at herself and chuckled— they were crazy but she loved them for it.
Chapter 55
Berne took a deep breath and smoothed over her suit. She couldn’t quite believe Babs had actually pulled it off. She only hoped Rebecca didn’t bolt at the sight of the marquee at the back.
“This is Rebecca’s father, Mr Monmouth-Whitely,” Pippa’s dad announced to her. She turned and greeted him, then smiled as he was then dragged off by one of Madame Henri’s staff.
“Rebecca is upstairs?” She asked Pippa’s dad.
He beamed. “Oh yes, Doug threw her a line about Marie moving up the wedding, I think, or was it water pipes? I forget. Either way, she’s upstairs.”
She glanced over at Stephanie chatting to Fabrice and Gwen. Doug strode over and slid his arm around Stephanie’s shoulders.
“Perhaps Doug will get his wedding, Non?” She motioned to them. Pippa’s dad turned and let out a hearty laugh.
“How’s the back?” He asked, smiling at her. “Will we need a seat for you?”
He had a heart much like Pippa’s it seemed. “Non, merci. I will be happy not to have to pretend I know nothing of the wedding any longer.”
He grinned. “Best fun I’ve had in years. Not to mention we had a hole-in-one.” He ran his hands up and down as if he wore braces and arched his back. “You let me know if you need that chair.”
Berne smiled again only for Madame Henri to appear. “Take your seats, merci. Rebecca is on her way.”
Cue excited chatter. Those gathered hurried through the restored French doors. Berne lingered for a moment and ran her hands over the wood. Pippa had outdone herself. She strolled through and hid behind the screen at the front, greeting the registrar with a smile.
It was incredible how both Pippa and Rebecca had stirred the local workforce, got the house finished on time, helped with the wedding and still found time to be wonderful friends to Stephanie.
She rubbed her back, nerves and ex
citement bubbling through her stomach. She looked out the statues she’d sculpted: kayaks, national anthems, paddles and a whole lot of love. It was still funny to see them all in stone even if she had sculpted them herself.
She peered through a gap in the screen, pleased to see her parents and Erique. There were a few vacant seats beside them.
Rebecca appeared in the doorway, bickering with Doug. She couldn’t hear them, but she knew Rebecca’s “redhead” well enough.
They reached the front and Rebecca stopped in front of the screen. “Doug, I don’t know why you’re going through with this. Why don’t you just think about it?” She muttered. “Pip isn’t even here.”
Doug glanced back at the doorway. “She will be.”
Monsieur Henri nodded as the rest of the seats filled: Babs was ready and waiting.
Berne stepped from behind the screen and smiled to Rebecca. “He will make a good husband for someone, non?”
Rebecca spun to look at her. Doug hurried to catch Rebecca before she toppled down the steps. “Berne? What are you doing here?”
She grinned. “I am the best man... Or maid as Doug calls it, oui?”
Rebecca looked from Doug to her and back. “He’s getting married with three best maids?” She stuck her hands on her hips. “I didn’t even want to be a best maid.”
He kissed her on the cheek and stepped away, sitting beside Stephanie who waved. Rebecca’s gaze drifted over the people there and stopped at her dad. “I don’t—”
“A hole-in-one,” he said with a grin. “What a round.”
“Hear, hear,” Doug called out.
She glanced at him. “I... How?”
“It seems you win more than a game, oui?” Berne pointed to the doorway. Babs stood beside Monsieur Henri in a flowing white wedding gown. Her black hair, full of ringlets, fell around her face.
Rebecca’s face, her eyes, ran through so many different expressions. Her eyebrows flickered, dipped, and then a massive grin broke out. “Sneaky, that’s what she is, sneaky.”
Berne nodded. “Advantage France, oui?”
Rebecca’s smile merged into a sneaky one of her own.
Berne turned to follow her gaze and every part of her body, her heart, hummed. Pippa stood beside Mr Saunders in the most beautiful wedding dress she had ever seen.
