The Wedding Cake Tree (21 page)

Alasdair
was about to speak when my biggest fan arrived: Simon.

‘
Grace, that was fantastic! Wasn’t she fantastic, Alasdair?’ We both looked at Alasdair. I tilted my head questioningly to one side.

‘
Yes, she was fantastic,’ he said, ‘full of surprises too. Simon, could you give us a moment please?’

I looked up
at Alasdair. His face was full of mischief.

‘
So I just wanted to say sorry,’ he said, ‘you know, for being such a
judgemental arse
.’ He stepped closer towards me as a waiter pushed behind him. I didn’t step back.

‘
You forgot the “stuck-up” bit,’ I jibed.

He smiled
.

‘
And is there anything you would like to say to me in return, Ms Buchanan?’

I glanced about the room.
‘No, can’t think of anything.’

‘
I’ll give you a clue,’ he continued, ‘it starts with I’m, and ends with sorry.’

I shrugged my shoulders.
‘Okay, I may have pushed it a bit when I called you stuck-up.’

He burst out laughing
and my train of thought shot off at a tangent.

‘
And, oh my God, Alasdair bloody Finn, I cannot believe you didn’t tell me I would be singing with
the
Royal Marine Band.’ I smiled what was possibly the broadest smile I had smiled in my entire life. ‘Can you believe it? I. Just. Sang,’ I emphasised the words, ‘with
the
Royal Marine Band. How cool is that?’ I looked up at him brightly, the previous day’s issues completely forgotten.

‘
No, to be honest, I can’t believe it.’

At that moment
a fellow marine sauntered past, patted Alasdair on the shoulder, smiled warmly and said, ‘Okay?’ They chatted privately for a moment and I sobered, remembering Alasdair’s concerns regarding the day.

‘How’s it going by the way
?’

Alasdair
shook his head.

‘It’
s been fine.’ Typical Alasdair; no more detail. ‘Hey, I’ve not seen you all day,’ he said, ‘why don’t we go down to the loch? I know you can’t resist a paddle in the water … no skinny dipping this time though!’ I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. ‘My best man duties are more or less at an end – no speeches, thank God – and I’m desperate to discover what prompted you to sing.’

I nodded
enthusiastically.

He sought out
two glasses of champagne and I followed on, my eyes pinned to his broad shoulders, as he made his way through the guests. At the edge of the lawn a smoky female voice spoke out from behind us.

‘
Hello, Alasdair, is one of those glasses for me?’ We turned around.

‘
Penny!’

It was the brunette
from the fireplace.
Great!

Penny – all teeth and smiles – took one of the glasses of champagne from Alasdair and said ‘cheers’ as she chinked her glass with his. She stepped onto her tiptoes to peck him on the cheek. Alasdair handed the other glass to me with a helping of an apologetic smile. She glanced in my direction, momentarily looked me up and down (only a trained female eye would notice), then turned to Alasdair and waited for an introduction. He was slow on the uptake.

‘
Oh, sorry. Penny, this is Grace.’

Alasdair
seemed lost for words, which didn’t really matter, because Penny had a whole load of them. She turned to me.

‘
Oh, you’re the singer. Will you be singing later or are you leaving soon?’

What?

‘
They only wanted me for the ceremony, I’m afraid.’ I handed my glass of champagne back to Alasdair. ‘Well, I should leave you two to catch up.’ I turned away and Penny immediately homed in on Alasdair. He called after me.

‘
Won’t you stay? I’ll nip and get another glass.’

‘
No, you’re fine honestly.’ I flashed him my best smile. ‘It’s a party, Alasdair. Time to mingle. And, you never know, I might take some more
bookings
.’ Penny stopped mid-sip.

‘
Great idea, I’m sure there are lots of people here who would hire you.’

Alasdair raised his eyes at me.
I turned my back to him and murmured, ‘Catch you later, Al.’

The guests loitered happily
for an hour in the sunshine waiting for the wedding breakfast to begin. Having played a leading role in the ceremony I was not at a loss for company or conversation, and there was always Simon. I finally spoke to Sarah. She could not have been further from the stereotypical assumption I had made while sitting on the grass at the hut.

The champagne flowed
freely and I lost count of how many glasses I had consumed during the hour. I grabbed my camera and sauntered among the guests taking spontaneous shots. I focused my attention on the bride and groom and away from Alasdair, who was still talking to Penny. I did take a side profile shot of him looking particularly handsome – with Penny strategically removed from the viewfinder of course.

Alex was taking a quiet moment on the terrace in his w
heelchair. He called me over.

‘
Having a good time?’

‘
Yes, the best. Thanks again for inviting me.’ I crouched down next to his chair, my dress gathered on the floor. His raised glass was filled by a passing waiter while he waved at Sarah, who was having her photograph taken by the loch.

‘
I hope you don’t mind,’ he said, ‘but I also know why you two have made this trip up here.’

‘
No, I don’t mind. Did Alasdair tell you or Mum?’

‘
Both.’ He took a quick sip of orange juice. ‘We originally planned to marry in England, but when I asked Al to be the best man and told him the date, he said he couldn’t make it.’

‘
Why?’

‘
I suppose he didn’t want to let your mum down, and I have the distinct feeling he was looking forward to meeting you.’ He glanced up at me with a grin.

‘
Oh?’

‘
Come off it, Grace. If you can’t see what’s crying out in front of you then, well, you must be blind.’ I pushed for more.

‘
Hmm. But he’s spent nearly an hour with that Penny woman and they seem pretty cosy.’

‘
Oh, that’s where he is, poor chap. I should rescue him.’ Alex laughed out loud and then glanced back at me. ‘There’s not been much room for a woman in his life since his marriage ended. If he’s not working then he’s busy parachuting, or abseiling, or canoeing.’

‘So, let me get this right,’ I said, regressing to the earlier point. ‘The main reason you and Sarah married in Scotland was so Alasdair could be your best man
and
be my escort on Mum’s charade?’ I was flabbergasted.

‘
Got it in one. And so you could sing too of course. Being American, it didn’t matter to Sarah where we got married, and I’m from Edinburgh originally, so it all worked out perfectly in the end. I wouldn’t have considered anyone else to be my best man, we go back a long way.’

I glanced acros
s the lawn.

‘Alasdair
said he was with you when you were injured.’

Alex looked
surprised by my comment.

‘He
talked about it did he? Talked about what happened? Where we were?’

‘Oh no,’ I
explained quickly, ‘no detail. He just told me you’d been injured and that he felt …’ I halted; this really wasn’t my business. Alex finished the sentence for me. He looked at Alasdair, who was still talking to Penny by the loch.

‘I know he fe
els responsible, but he wasn’t. Alasdair’s a brilliant leader – a brilliant marine – but he takes his responsibilities too far, he can’t let go. The fact that I’m alive at all is down to him.’

‘Do you mind if I ask what you were doing?’

Alex paused for a moment.

‘
Tell me, has Alasdair actually told you about his job? The finer details I mean?’

‘Only that he’s a Royal Marine’
—I glanced around—‘like everyone here it seems. Mum did pass on a little more detail
,
though.’

‘Oh, right.
Good. Well, on this particular occasion,’ he pointed to his leg, ‘Alasdair was leading a team of six on a surveillance job. We’d had a tip-off that some … people … would be meeting in a particular building, so we were hiding, watching it.’

‘Why?’ I asked, intrigued.

‘Why else? So we could call in the jets and bomb the place when they went in.’

‘Oh
my God, who else was inside?’

‘No idea
. Anyway, they didn’t show, so we needed to get out and get back to where British troops were.’

‘Where did you hide while you were watching?’

‘
Me and Al were in a building opposite. Anyway, to cut a long story short, on our way back we stumbled into some bother. I took the brunt of it, including a grenade.’

‘What happened
?’

‘Alasdair slotted the lot
. There were only three of them though.’

I glanced arou
nd at the sea of red uniforms; it was a scene of dashing gentility. How very different these men must appear to their wives and families, I thought, at a wedding, in dress uniform, compared to the reality of their work when dispatched across the globe. Alex took a sip of his drink and continued with his story.

‘
Then he carried me to where we could be rescued, called for a helicopter, and before I knew it, I was in an American field hospital.’ He glanced across the lawn to his new wife. ‘That’s where I met Sarah.’

‘Bloody hell
Alex, that’s terrible – about your injury, not the fact that you met Sarah, obviously. So, why does Alasdair feel responsible?’

‘Because it was his plan.
His route. His team. Also, not long after we joined up as basic recruits I decided to jack it all in, but Al persuaded me to keep going. Then we both went down the SF route, so he feels—’

‘Responsible
,’ I answered.

‘Yes, but he shouldn’t.’

We sat in silence for a moment. ‘Has he told you he might have to go away again soon?’ I said.

Alex paused and glanced across the lawn towards
Sarah.

‘Yes
,’ he answered softly. ‘Listen, Grace, as much as I—’

But there was no time for Alex to finish the sentence; A
lasdair appeared, alone. He cocked his head to one side and looked down at me.

‘
Enjoy your
mingle
?’

H
e could be a sarcastic so-and-so.

‘
Yes, thank you. Enjoy your little stroll with Penny down memory lane?’             

‘
Yes, thank you.’

I turned to Alex.

‘I’ve been taking some photos Alex. I’ll put them on a memory stick for you. I think you’ll like them. They’ll be a little different from the ones your photographer is taking. More spontaneous.’ I smirked at Alasdair. ‘More paparazzi!’

‘
That’s great. Sarah will love them, thanks.’

As
I stood, I touched Alex’s arm and whispered, ‘Thank you for telling me.’

The gong sounded to announce the wedding breakfast. Alex wheeled away to find Sarah. I was dismayed to find I was sitting opposite Alasdair rather than next to him – easier for talking I supposed – but I was equally as dismayed when I discovered that the person sitting next to him was Penny (she had probably swapped our names on the seating plan). A momentary glance passed between Penny and me as we took our seats. Penny’s glance said, ‘I’ve been waiting for this man forever so just back off, bitch.’ Mine said, ‘Go on then, if you think you’re up to it, but I’ll fight you … To. The. Death!’

The
man in uniform sitting to my right introduced himself as he pulled my seat back. He was Captain Tristan Grant, a good-looking chap about my age who had a sparkle in his eye and a gift for easy chatter. He was perfect for purpose and I made an exaggerated effort to laugh at his jokes as the meal began. Penny began to speak; I was sure the woman did not draw breath from dawn till dusk.

‘
I’m
so
sorry to have assumed you were just the entertainment. Alex is great, he probably invited you to the wedding as a thank you for singing.’ She tucked into her soup and carried on talking after the first mouthful.

‘
Alasdair was telling me you’re a photographer for celebrity magazines.’

I glance
d up at Alasdair.