Wedding Cake and Woes Read online

  2

  Julia had never considered herself a particularly attractive woman. She didn’t dislike what she saw in the mirror, but she had never obsessed over her appearance. She was confident enough to leave the house without makeup, and she wasn’t too concerned about the pounds that had been contributing to her waistline with each passing birthday. She tried to remember if she had cared in her twenties, but now that she was thirty-nine, her appearance was usually the last thing on her mind.

  Julia was happiest when flat shoes cushioned her feet, her curly hair was out of her face, and she was wearing one of her comfortable vintage dresses with an apron over top. If she wanted to wear makeup, it was usually limited to a quick coat of mascara and a berry-toned lip-stain. Occasionally, she would push the boat out to blusher if she looked pale. Fashion trends passed her by without seizing her attention, shopping trips for new clothes and accessories were always at the bottom of her to-do lists, and even when she dressed up for a special occasion, nothing felt better than stripping it away at the end of the night.

  Alone in her bedroom, gazing at her reflection, she knew today would not be one of those days. She felt more beautiful than she ever had in all her almost-forty years. The high-heeled shoes weren’t exactly comfortable, and she could barely breathe thanks to the dress’s built-in girdle, but it didn’t matter. Even the heavy bullets of rain pounding against the tiny cottage couldn’t shake her elation. If she could bottle the feeling, she would.

  The bedroom door creaked open, and Sue snuck back in from her bathroom break. She had spent the past hour transforming Julia’s face and hair into the pure, perfect vision of a bride, and she had even helped Julia into her dress, but that didn’t stop her from gasping when she saw the finished product.

  “Oh, Julia!” Sue clasped her hand against her mouth as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “You look just like Mum.”

  Julia glanced at the picture of their mother on the dresser. Losing her at such a young age had left Julia with few memories to cling to, and even though she hadn’t been born when her parents married, their wedding pictures were her most treasured possessions. In their pictures, her parents were so obviously happy and in love.

  Julia had only ever wanted a wedding that mirrored her parents’ special day. Staring in the mirror, she couldn’t deny that she looked more like their mother than she had ever given herself credit for.

  “You can’t start crying.” Julia looked up at the ceiling and blinked rapidly to stem her tears. “You’re going to make me cry.”

  “I know,” Sue whined as she scrambled in her handbag for a tissue. “You just look so angelic.”

  Sue dabbed at her eyes with a tissue before passing it to Julia. As Julia stopped the tears from ruining her perfect makeup, she turned back to the mirror and gazed at her dress. The structured silk and lace bodice hugged her frame in all the right places before flaring out into a subtle A-line, floor-length skirt with a short train. It gave her body a shape that she had always assumed wouldn’t be possible without years in the gym.

  “Barker is the luckiest man in Peridale.” Sue appeared behind Julia and fiddled with the chocolatey curls hanging down from the intricate up-do she had created. “My best work yet.”

  Julia glanced at the clock, and her stomach performed a small somersault. She would be heading to the church in fifteen minutes to meet her husband-to-be, and even though it had been less than twenty-four hours since they had parted, she was more excited to see him than she had ever been.

  “You should change into your dress,” Julia said, resting her hand on her stomach. “The cars will be here any minute.”

  “One last thing.” Sue hurried across the room and dug in the bags of makeup and hair products she had brought with her. She pulled out a slender box and placed it on the bed before opening it. “My veil. I thought this could be your something borrowed. It’s brought Neil and me six happy years of marriage so far. I know you’ve bought your own, so you don’t have to wear it, but—”

  “I’d be honoured.” Julia closed her hands around her sister’s. “Thank you.”

  Sue looked as though she was holding back more tears, but, as though for the sake of her mascara, she swallowed them back. She slotted the veil’s clip into the back of Julia’s hair and fanned out the tulle fabric, which had similar lace detailing as the dress; it matched like they were created for one another by the same hand.

  “There’s your something borrowed.” Sue rested her hands on Julia’s shoulders. “What about your old, new, and blue?”

  “Mum’s engagement ring is old.” Julia held up her hand. “And my dress is new.”

  “And the blue?”

  A smile tickled Julia’s lips as she reached down to pluck up her dress. She hoisted it up to her upper thigh and gave Sue a sudden flash of her blue garter before letting it drop back down.

  “Then you’re ready!” Sue chuckled. “I’ll leave you and your dress alone while I get into mine.”

  Sue kissed Julia on the cheek before slipping out of the room. Julia only had another thirty seconds alone with her dress before the door cracked open again and Roxy’s head popped in. She scanned the room, double-taking when she saw Julia.

  “Wow!” Roxy closed the door behind her, her mobile phone clutched in her fist. “Bloody hell, Julia! If Barker doesn’t want to marry you, I don’t mind taking his place. You look stunning.”

  “You don’t look so bad yourself.” Julia looked Roxy up and down. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in a dress in years.”

  “Don’t get used to it.” Roxy brushed down the cream fabric. “Although, I’m grateful you picked pretty bridesmaids’ dresses. You could have been a spiteful witch like the rest of them and given us hideous puffy numbers, but I actually feel quite lovely.” Roxy looked around the room again before landing on Julia with a shaky smile. “Where’s Sue flitted off to?”

  “Has something happened?”

  “No!” Roxy forced a laugh as she made a dismissive gesture with her hands. “Everything is completely fine!”

  Julia didn’t need to say a word. She arched a brow and crossed her arms. Roxy’s veneer slipped away instantly; she had never been a good liar.

  “There’s a minor problem with the wedding cars.” Roxy patted the phone in her palm. “The riverbank has burst in Riverswick, and the main road is flooded. The Rolls Royces you booked are stuck there.”

  Julia inhaled deeply, her fingers drifting up to rub her temples. She could hardly believe something else had gone wrong.

  “They can send cars from their other location, but it will take them forty minutes to get here.” Roxy glanced at the clock. “And they’ll be white Rolls Royces, not the black ones you wanted. They’re waiting for me to call back with an answer. I didn’t want to bring this to you, but what do you want me to do?”

  Julia stared out the window at the grey fog as thick blobs of rain continued to bounce against the glass. She had been specific about wanting black Rolls Royces to take her to the church. It wasn’t a long drive, but they were the exact cars Julia’s mother had travelled in. She closed her eyes while reminding herself the cars wouldn’t matter once they were married.

  “We have cars.” Julia pushed forward a smile to hide her disappointment. “We’ll take my Ford Anglia and Jessie’s Mini. It will all be fine.”

  Roxy looked unsure, but she nodded before leaving the room. Julia tore herself away from the mirror and followed. She picked up the bottom of her dress and carefully made her way into the kitchen, where Jessie was busy piping the finishing details onto the cake. Jessie already wore her cream bridesmaid’s dress and her dark brown hair with red highlights was in a similar up-do to Julia’s.

  “Nearly done,” Jessie said without glancing up, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. “It’s not perfect, but it’s the best I can do.”

  The lines were wobbly and not up to Julia’s usual standards. It was a pale imitation of the spoiled cake in the fr
idge, but it was a serviceable wedding cake. As long as people didn’t get too close, it wouldn’t look too out of place.

  “It’s perfect,” Julia assured her. “Thank you.”

  Jessie huffed, looking up for the first time. Her eyes widened when they landed on the dress.

  “Check you out, cake lady!” Jessie laughed as she shook her head. “You look so different!”

  “Do you like?”

  “You look like a bride.”

  “Thanks, I guess?” Julia laughed. “That’s what I was going for.”

  “But, I mean, a perfect bride.” Jessie waved the piping bag. “Like from a magazine. You look beautiful. I really mean it.”

  “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

  Jessie smiled and blushed before returning to her task. At one time, Jessie wouldn’t have been seen out of a black hoody, baggy jeans, and clunky Doc Martens, but she had allowed more colour and fashion into her life since turning eighteen. Still, Julia could tell Jessie didn’t feel entirely herself in a dress, no matter how lovely she looked.

  A knock sounded at the door, but before Julia could go for it, Sue hurried out of the bathroom, now dressed. She opened it to their father, who was huddled under a large golf umbrella as rain bounced around him.

  “Wonderful day for it!” Brian exclaimed, backing into the cottage while letting the umbrella down. “Sorry I’m late. Taxi drivers are striking over their wages all over the Cotswolds. I tried to wait for a gap in the rain to walk, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere.”

  He closed the door and leaned the umbrella against the wall before shaking off a thin raincoat to reveal his three-piece suit. He gazed at Sue and beamed at her beauty, but his eyes drifted straight to Julia when he noticed her at the end of the hall.

  “Oh, my baby! Come here. Let me get a better look at you.”

  Julia shuffled down the hallway, not wanting to trip over the hem of her dress. Her father held his hands out and clutched her shoulders as he looked her up and down. He gulped as though biting back tears. Sniffing hard, he reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He pulled out a red velvet box and cracked it open to reveal a pair of milky pearl earrings.

  “They were your mother’s,” he said with a warm smile. “She wore them on our wedding day.”

  “Dad. I—”

  “To match your ring,” he interrupted. “They belong to you now.”

  Julia removed the tiny diamond studs she had plucked from her messy jewellery box before accepting the velvet box with shaky fingers. She pulled the pearls out of their casing and fitted them into her ears. When she had the backs on, her father hooked his finger under her chin and pointed her face up to the light.

  “You look so much like her,” he said softly. “She’d be so proud of you.”

  “I wish she were here,” Julia found herself saying. “I miss her most on days like this.”

  “She’s here.” He tapped his finger against Julia’s chest, right over her heart. “She’s always here.”

  Julia had to clench her jaw to halt the tears threatening to overflow. After placing the red velvet box on the hallway table, she hugged her father tightly. For that intimate moment, she wasn’t a bride on her wedding morning, she was a girl who needed a cuddle from her daddy. No matter how old she grew or how many ups and downs their relationship had endured, no other gesture was able to ease her more.

  Roxy, Jessie, and Sue gravitated to the hallway after they had added the finishing touches to their outfits. A pink bottle of sweet perfume made its way around before disappearing into Sue’s tiny handbag.

  “The cars are cutting it fine,” Brian said, checking his watch as he wafted his arm through the fragrance cloud. “It’s almost noon.”

  “They’re not coming,” Julia explained. “The roads are flooded in Riverswick.”

  “Those damn roads flood every year!” Brian huffed. “When are the council going to pull their fingers out and fix those riverbanks for good?”

  “A question for another day.” Julia glanced at the clock on the wall. “We need to set off. We’re taking the cars we have. Sue, you can drive Dad and me in my car, and Jessie and Roxy can head down in the Mini.”

  After grabbing the car keys and all the umbrellas Julia owned, they made their way down the waterlogged garden path. Sue and Roxy scurried behind Julia, lifting her train so it wouldn’t drag in the muddy puddles. After Sue unlocked the car doors, Julia climbed onto the backseat, miraculously dry. Roxy stuffed the end of the dress inside before slamming the door shut and hurrying to Jessie’s yellow Mini. Sue settled behind the wheel, and their father joined Julia in the back. They sat in silence and looked ahead as the rain drummed against the car’s metal roof.

  “Ready?” Sue asked as she turned the key in the ignition.

  “As I’ll ever be.” Julia wrapped her hand around her father’s. “To the church, driver.”

  3

  The journey to St. Peter’s was a short and silent one. They pulled up outside the church in the heart of the village a couple minutes past noon, and, to Julia’s relief, the downpour finally eased to a light drizzle—not that the dark clouds had yet to part.

  Sue killed the engine and pulled a compact mirror from her bag. She gave her makeup a once over before passing it to Julia for final checks. Julia looked in the small mirror, but her eyes went straight to the veil instead of her makeup. Her stomach dropped, and for the first time since waking up, it hit her that she was actually about to get married. The string of bad luck had kept her distracted, but now that she was outside the church, she couldn’t escape what she was about to do.

  “Last chance to change your mind.” Sue met Julia’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. “Say the word, and I drive us far away from here.”

  Julia knew her sister was playing with her, but she didn’t consider the offer for a second. Nerves aside, she couldn’t have been surer that she was doing the right thing.

  “Maybe next time.” Julia passed the mirror back before inhaling deeply. “I’m ready to become Mrs South-Brown.”

  Under a canopy of giant umbrellas, they hastily made their way to the entrance of the church, where the front doors already stood open for them. Once safe and dry in the vestibule, the bridesmaids fussed around Julia, adjusting her dress and hair. When they were satisfied that she was perfect, Roxy slipped into the church to announce their arrival. The chatter from the guests died down instantly.

  “Wait!” a familiar voice cried.

  Julia spun around as her eighty-four-year-old gran, Dot, hurried into the church under the protection of an umbrella—not that she needed it, thanks to her bright yellow hat, twice the width of her slender frame.

  “I lost track of time!” Dot panted as she caught her breath and collapsed the umbrella. “Oh, look at you, Julia! Perfection!”

  “Thanks, Gran,” Julia replied with a smile as Dot kissed her on both cheeks. “Although, maybe you should go and join the choir for your big debut before they start without you.”

  “Righty-oh!” Dot wagged her finger before scurrying to the doors that led to the nave. “Wish me luck!”

  Seconds later, another elderly member of the Peridale Harmonics Choir, Percy Cropper, hurried into the church with a tea towel over his bald head. The comical, rotund man dabbed at his face as he smiled his apologies for his lateness before tossing the towel onto the table containing the church activities flyers.

  “Very lovely,” he said quickly to Julia before following Dot into the church.

  Sue glanced over her shoulder at Julia and the sisters shared a quick smile. They’d had their suspicions that an unlikely romance had been blossoming between their gran and Percy since she had joined the choir. The tea towel from Dot’s kitchen all but confirmed it.

  Seconds later, the deep and lively notes of the organ filled the air. The doors into the church opened from within, revealing the rows of guests waiting patiently for a glimpse of the bride. They rose to their feet as the choir b
egan to sing. Taking their signal, Sue, Roxy, and Jessie set off, walking down the aisle in a neat line.

  “Ready?” Brian whispered after kissing her temple.

  Julia nodded. He pulled the veil over her face and held out his arm. She gratefully looped hers through his; her knees were suddenly unable to fully support her weight in the heavy dress. Gulping down her fear, she clung tight to her father. Her feet moved forward, not that she had any control over them. She was sure it was the closest to an out-of-body experience she would ever experience.

  The guests all turned to gaze at Julia, their faces all wearing the same doe-eyed expression. Cameras flashed, capturing her from every angle. Despite the weather, the turnout appeared strong.

  Her old school friends, newspaper editor, Johnny Watson, and wedding planner, Leah Burns, were the first faces she saw. They held hands, showing how in love they had grown since they had started dating at the end of the summer. Their familiar smiles eased her nerves a little.

  Her eyes danced over the faces of the Peridale residents she had invited. They all smiled at her, some of them dabbing their watery eyes. She hoped she was smiling back behind the veil because she couldn’t seem to control any part of her body as she drifted closer to the front of the church. Sue’s husband, Neil, held their twin baby girls, Pearl and Dottie, who were being remarkably quiet in their pretty pink dresses. Julia’s father’s wife, Katie, was in the front row of Julia’s side of the church, with Julia’s baby brother, Vinnie, wriggling in her arms. He looked adorable in his tiny tuxedo, grinning under his mop of dark curls.

  Barker’s side was filled with people from his book publishing company and former colleagues from the police station. The only family member who had returned the RSVP—his eldest brother, Casper—stood next to Barker as his best man. Casper’s wife, Heather, proudly grinned from the front row.

  Julia looked at the choir, who were harmonising with the organ, their ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ floating around the grand building. Julia’s gran and Jessie’s brother, Alfie, were stood in the back row, sharing the same delighted smile as they watched her walk.