A Vintage Wedding (34 page)

‘Excuse me, but are you chaps in any way local? It is traditionally a local quiz – or families of local people.’

‘Come on, John,’ said Raff. ‘You know me well enough.’

‘I’m local,’ said Angus, ‘and I’ve known Lindy since she was twelve years old.’

‘And I came to the quiz because my mother donated a tea set and she said I had to look after Rachel here. If you don’t do what your mother says, you’re always in trouble,’ said Raff.

‘I didn’t mean you, Raff,’ went on Mr Wilson Senior, ‘I meant this guy here, who I’ve never seen before in my life and seemed to have a lot of specialised knowledge on popular culture and music.’

There was a silence. Beth cleared her throat. ‘He’s with me,’ she said, making faces so Finn would play along.

Finn put his arm round her as if to confirm this. ‘And if you think she and I are just pretending to be together for the sake of this quiz – although the fact is I can afford to buy her drinks without the generous prize – you’d be wrong. I met Beth’s mother only the other day. And as Raff will confirm, when you’ve done that, it’s fairly serious.’ He gave Beth a wink so subtle only she and Lindy noticed.

Mr Wilson stepped back, a bit embarrassed. ‘Well, sorry to cause offence. I know these three girls have done a lot for this hall already. I was just wondering – but I can see I was wrong.’

‘Bloody hell! What cheek,’ said Rachel when he’d gone. ‘Let’s go to the pub.’

After they’d had their free drinks and another round, Lindy said, ‘I’d better go. My gran will be listening out for me.’

‘I’ll walk back with you. My car’s in that direction and I’ve got a very early start.’

It occurred to Lindy that he’d probably driven miles so he could come to the quiz when he’d said he couldn’t to her mother. It made her heart race for a few seconds.

‘Rachel,’ said Raff, ‘can I walk you home?’

‘Oh, OK,’ Rachel replied, looking girlish and excited.

‘Where do you live, Beth?’ said Finn. ‘Should I put my walking boots on?’

‘Just across the village green,’ said Beth. ‘You can walk me home but don’t expect me to invite you in for coffee.’

Lindy and Angus stepped out into the night. He hooked his arm through hers and held it firmly.

‘Lindy, about the other night—’

Lindy rushed in. She didn’t want to hear him politely explain that it was a one-off and she mustn’t read anything into it. ‘Oh dear God, no! I completely understand! It was just—’ Somehow she couldn’t say the words ‘a one-night stand’. Her only other one-night stand had made her pregnant.

‘Hang on,’ he interrupted her. ‘What did you think I was going to say?’

Lindy realised she’d been quite wrong. Fear that he was like his brother, who would never have married her if she hadn’t been pregnant and there’d been family pressure, had stopped her thinking straight. ‘I don’t know! That maybe you just wanted to be an uncle to the boys and not carry on – you know – carry on with their mother?’

‘I was going to suggest we should just do some of the filling-in things, get to know each other bit more.’

‘Oh.’

‘I really didn’t mean to … well, for us to … go to bed like that. I hope I haven’t frightened you off.’

She had been worrying about this conversation ever since she’d woken up and found him gone. Now, she laughed gently. ‘Honestly, I’d have put money on me winning the lottery before I thought that would happen.’

‘What? Happening ever? Or happening that night?’

‘That night,’ she said softly.

‘You’d have expected to have built the relationship up a bit before leaping into bed?’

‘Definitely.’

‘But it hasn’t scared you?’

Lindy sighed deeply. ‘Angus, I have to be honest with you. I loved what happened between us, really loved it. But I’m not in a position to have a proper, full-time relationship.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because of my boys. They’re my number-one priority.’

‘I wouldn’t expect that to change.’

‘But I don’t know how they’d feel if I was sleeping with their Uncle Angus.’ She blushed in the dark. ‘I’m not sure how I feel about it either, really. It is a bit weird.’

‘It’s only weird because you’re calling me Uncle Angus. It sounds – wrong.’

‘It does.’

‘But it isn’t wrong, wouldn’t be wrong, if we’d gone about things in the normal way. You know, a couple of dinner dates, a walk in the countryside with the boys, and then maybe a weekend at a hotel far away from everyone?’

‘That sounds like heaven!’ Then, realising that maybe she’d sounded overkeen, she added: ‘I can’t remember the last time I stayed in a hotel.’

‘We’ll do that then. Take things slowly, in the order they should happen, and we won’t sleep together again until we’ve reached the right point. Not unless you want to.’

‘Perfect,’ said Lindy. But she really hoped the dinner dates and the walk with the boys wouldn’t take too long. She wanted to cut to the weekend-away-in-a-hotel stage immediately. ‘My grandmother’s house is just over there.’

‘Then we should say goodnight.’ He paused. ‘A kiss on the cheek would be all right, wouldn’t it?’

‘Of course,’ said Lindy. ‘A kiss on the cheek is always all right.’

But somehow they both moved at the same time and the kiss ended up being on the lips and then their arms went round each other.

Lindy pulled herself away. ‘Whoops!’

‘Indeed,’ he said solemnly.

‘Now I’m going to say, “Goodnight and thank you very much for helping us win the quiz. We wouldn’t have had a hope without you.”’

‘It was a team effort.’

‘Well, you did a lot of it.’

‘Not at all. Oh, by the way, one more thing …’

‘What?’

‘You are very, very lovely.’

Then he turned away, back to where he’d parked his car.

As Raff walked with her, Rachel made a decision. And she had to act on it quickly – it wasn’t far from the village hall to her house. She didn’t have time to think out what to say.

‘Raff. I’m a bit worried about my immersion heater. I think it might break down at any moment. I know it worked perfectly well when I had Vivien to stay but I just can’t stop worrying about it.’ God, Raff, she prayed silently, please take over! I sound more insane than ever!

Raff halted. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, and it’s in my bedroom,’ went on Rachel rapidly. ‘And I know that’s incredibly cheesy and obvious but it’s the best I can do. I just can’t do this whole seduction thing. It’s too – difficult.’

‘You don’t need to seduce me, sweetheart. I’m already seduced.’

Much later, as they lay in Rachel’s antique brass bed, between ironed, thousand-thread-count sheets, she sighed blissfully.

‘That was the most lovely time. Thank you so much.’

Raff laughed. ‘I almost said “the pleasure was all mine” but I’m very glad to know it wasn’t.’

‘I’ve never been much of a fan of sex before. It was more like something everyone did that I never really saw the point of. I hated the whole idea of being out of control. But now – well, being out of control seems like a good thing.’ She paused. ‘Only in the bedroom, of course. The rest of my life needs to be very controlled.’

‘If you think sex only takes place in the bedroom you’ve still a bit to learn about losing control,’ he said gently, kissing her shoulder, ‘but there’s plenty of time to explore the other possibilities.’

‘How much time do you think?’ Rachel was trying to stay relaxed and cool about the future but she couldn’t quite manage it.

‘I think approximately – give or take a few years – all the time in the world.’

She giggled. ‘Cue music!’

Beth put two glasses of sparkling water on the table. ‘Thank you so much for coming this morning, you guys. Such short notice too. But Mum and Helena Skyped last night. Mum was confirming some plans she made when she was here, and seemed a bit shaky on some others. It’s all a bit urgent.’

‘Of course it is,’ said Rachel. ‘Ten days!’

‘Do we know if they want me to make bridesmaids dresses or – please God, no, a wedding dress?’ Lindy sipped her water.

‘Oh God, did I forget to tell you? You’re OK, there, Lind. Mum’s agreed to pay for a wedding dress separately – provided they can get one at such short notice. Apparently it’s not just a matter of going into a shop and buying one.’ Beth sighed. ‘I did my best to help by looking online but really, unless you get something that’s been altered to fit someone else, and they’ve rejected it, you’ve no chance.’

‘I can’t believe that!’ said Lindy.

‘No,’ Beth went on. ‘The usual time scale is about six months.’

‘Goodness,’ said Rachel. ‘Let’s hope with Vivien on the case they can speed that up about times a hundred!’

‘So, Helena will accept help from your mother now?’ asked Lindy.

Beth nodded gloomily. ‘She and Helena are officially best buddies. Helena was caving in a bit before but now Mum’s paying for a dress, she’s following the party line where the wedding is concerned. The good part is that Mum is now a Vintage Weddings fan, mostly thanks to Rachel.’

Beth was actually a bit worried that her big sister and her mother would gang up against her. It could easily happen, now Helena had turned into the dutiful daughter of a pushy mum. Thank goodness they didn’t know how much she thought about Finn. Then they’d really have an excuse to tell her off. She wouldn’t admit to having fallen for him; that would be wrong – far too soon after Charlie. And after Charlie she wasn’t sure she could trust her instincts, but she’d never felt like this before. What she’d felt for Charlie, real as it had been at the time, now seemed a bit pathetic. This felt like the real deal. But Finn would still be a bad boy in her mother’s eyes even if he had charmed her a little bit. Sadly the good feelings she had towards him would have worn off at about the same time as the gin.

‘So, bridesmaids’ dresses?’ said Lindy. ‘I’ve got something in mind but if they’d rather buy them, I won’t be at all offended.’

Beth shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not, Lind. Mum was delighted to think they could have something specially designed for what seems to be a bit of a bargain.’

‘We must put our prices up next time,’ said Rachel, scribbling in her notebook.

‘Do you mind, Lindy?’ Beth went on. ‘Trouble is, Mum saw pictures of April’s dress and was so impressed. I know it’s a lot of work for you.’

‘Now you’ve flattered me into wanting to do them. But it’s a lot of responsibility in such a small time frame. And flounces are very time-consuming. Just sayin’.’

Beth laughed. ‘Don’t worry! I promise you they won’t involve flounces. I’m a bridesmaid and I’ll boycott them. That said, Helena might want boning and a zillion hooks and eyes.’

‘Oh God, seriously, Beth, don’t joke. I’ve only got a chance of getting them done if they’re really, really simple.’ Lindy took another sip of water. ‘But it would be a lovely project.’

‘OK. I’ll plead for simplicity. What does that mean, exactly? Mum and Helena really want your ideas.’ Beth felt it would be easy to ask for something really plain and then find out it was really complicated to make.

‘Well, I don’t know what Helena wants or anything but what could be lovely and would fit in with the Vintage Weddings theme Helena originally wanted …’ Lindy paused.

‘You’ve obviously thought about this,’ said Rachel.

Lindy nodded. ‘I have. I – er – haven’t been sleeping too well lately.’

Beth knew that Angus had been away and wondered if this was why Lindy hadn’t been sleeping. She’d admitted to them both that her crush was very much alive and well, but Beth was sure there was more to it than that.

‘So?’ said Rachel, obviously keen to know about the dress.

‘A sort of romantic tutu – a long one, that is. Here, I’ve got some images.’

Seconds later the women were poring over Lindy’s phone.

‘I like that idea!’ said Beth. ‘Sort of Audrey Hepburn again!’

‘It suited you so well, Beth, and as I don’t know the other bridesmaid I thought I might as well base it on you,’ Lindy explained.

‘That’s lovely!’ Beth was thrilled. Maybe she could somehow wangle an invite for Finn, so he could see her in her outfit.

‘But wouldn’t they take ages to get right?’ objected Rachel. ‘That very fitted bodice? And all those layers of net? I must say they are very pretty.’

‘You could add ribbons round the neck and things, for the Degas look,’ said Lindy.

‘They are really lovely,’ said Beth, ‘and I’m sure Helena would love them. But why would they be quick?’

‘I’d make them on to leotards. That would be the time-consuming bit, the bodice. But if the bodice is ready made, the rest is fairly easy.’ Lindy smiled. ‘How many bridesmaids is Helena having? I know she’s kept changing her mind.’

‘Well, now it’s only me and Hels’ best friend, Nancy. Thank goodness! Her other friends looked like being Bridesmaidzillas – if there is such a thing! Nancy is about the same size as me,’ said Beth.

‘But if you do it straight on to leotards,’ said Rachel, ‘won’t the bodices look nylony?’

‘Not if we don’t buy shiny ones. Lots of them are matt. Velour, velvet – fabrics like that. I have researched this,’ said Lindy.

‘I think that’s lovely!’ said Beth. ‘I’ll try to convince Hels. But I suppose she might be worried about us looking better than she does.’