She gulped at the thought. They’d talked about names. Peony. Rose. Violet. Ezra. Lucas. Kit. Round and round they went, but in the end they concluded it was impossible to decide in advance.
‘Thank, you, Dad,’ she’d said, tears blurring the space where their final choice would be painted.
As they all gathered at the table, Jake stood at the head, holding up his glass and Robyn came to stand next to him. Sunlight blazed through the window lighting up the expectant faces. Sheila, smart in the wedding outfit she was now wearing at every opportunity. Mick, in his wedding polo shirt tucked into his usual jeans. Emily in a white linen dress; Jonathan in a pin-striped seersucker blazer. Clover and Ethan arguing over what to put on the sound system, heads bent over her iPhone. Rocky, handsome and tanned, his eyes raking over his handiwork, checking for glitches that weren’t there, because it was perfect.
‘I’d like to propose a toast,’ Jake said. ‘I want to welcome everyone to the Linhay. Jonathan and Emily, it’s an honour to have you here. And Mick and Sheila, without you we wouldn’t be here in this wonderful house. And Dad – your sweat is in these walls. Literally. I’m so grateful.’
‘Yes,’ said Robyn. ‘It’s taken a lot of hard work to get here. But we’re so proud to have you all around the table. So our first toast is … to parents.’
Everyone raised their glasses.
‘Secondly,’ said Robyn. ‘To brothers and sisters. Ethan and Clover, you guys are the greatest fun. You are going to be the best uncle and aunt we could wish for.’
Ethan and Clover looked at each other and whooped, banging the table.
‘Which brings us neatly to the third toast,’ Jake smiled. ‘Because we had another scan yesterday. And we couldn’t resist it this time. We had to ask.’
He looked at Robyn, and she nodded for him to go ahead.
‘This time I want you to raise your glasses,’ he went on. ‘To mothers and daughters.’
And he held his glass up to Emily and Sheila and finally Robyn, and then held the glass in front of her tummy with an arched eyebrow.
‘Oh my God,’ said Sheila, clasping her hands in excitement, the penny dropping. ‘It’s a little girl.’
‘To mothers and daughters,’ everyone chorused, raising their glasses.
And Robyn caught Emily’s eye and smiled.
Also by Veronica Henry
Wild Oats
An Eligible Bachelor
Love on the Rocks
Marriage and Other Games
The Beach Hut
The Birthday Party
The Long Weekend
A Night on the Orient Express
The Beach Hut Next Door
High Tide
How to Find Love in a Book Shop
The Forever House
A Family Recipe
Christmas at the Beach Hut
A Home from Home
THE HONEYCOTE NOVELS
A Country Christmas (previously published as Honeycote)
A Country Life (previously published as Making Hay)
A Country Wedding (previously published as
Just a Family Affair)
Credits
Veronica Henry and Orion Fiction would like to thank everyone at Orion who worked on the publication of A Wedding at the Beach Hut in the UK.
Editorial
Harriet Bourton
Olivia Barber
Copy editor
Justine Taylor
Proof reader
Laetitia Grant
Audio
Paul Stark
Amber Bates
Contracts
Anne Goddard
Paul Bulos
Jake Alderson
Design
Rabab Adams
Joanna Ridley
Nick May
Helen Ewing
Editorial Management
Charlie Panayiotou
Jane Hughes
Alice Davis
Finance
Jasdip Nandra
Afeera Ahmed
Elizabeth Beaumont
Sue Baker
Marketing
Sarah Benton
Lynsey Sutherland Amy Davies
Helena Fouracre
Production
Ruth Sharvell
Publicity
Maura Wilding
Alainna Hadjigeorgiou
Sales
Laura Fletcher
Esther Waters
Victoria Laws
Rachael Hum
Ellie Kyrke-Smith
Frances Doyle
Georgina Cutler
Operations
Jo Jacobs
Sharon Willis
Lisa Pryde
Lucy Brem
AN ORION EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Orion Books
Ebook first published in 2020 by Orion Books
Copyright © Veronica Henry 2020
The right of Veronica Henry to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 4091 8356 3
Typeset at The Spartan Press Ltd,
Lymington, Hants
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK company
www.orionbooks.co.uk
A Wedding at the Beach Hut: The escapist and feel-good read of 2020 from the bestselling author of THE BEACH HUT Page 31
