Hitched! (19 page)

My father’s expression sharpened. ‘Who’s George?’

‘A friend,’ I said stiffly, longing all at once for George to
be there beside me.

‘He’s more than a friend, Daddy. Frith’s in love!’ Saffron
laughed and turned to me. ‘Don’t pretend you’re not, Frith. I’ve seen you
together.’

Dad’s brows drew together. ‘What do you know about this
George?’

I didn’t answer. I was staring at Saffron in dismay, while my
heart plummeted, bounced, crashed down again.
Frith’s in
love
, she had said.
Don’t pretend you’re
not
.

How long had I been pretending? Of
course
I was in love with him. I had done exactly what I swore
wouldn’t do. I had let down my guard, let myself go. I had jumped into the
abyss, and now look how much it was going to hurt.

‘He’s lovely, Daddy,’ Saffron answered for me. ‘He’s just right
for Frith. They’re perfect together. He is coming, isn’t he? And Roly?’

‘Of course.’ My lips felt stiff, and I lifted my chin at my
father’s glower. ‘You’ll meet him at the rehearsal dinner. I thought you wanted
to have some family time this week?’

‘I do.’ Saffron clapped her hands together. ‘Daddy, come out to
lunch with us to celebrate!’

‘Now, precious,’ he said indulgently, patting her as she hung
on his arm. ‘You know I’ve meetings. You and Frith go and enjoy yourselves,’ he
said when she pouted. ‘Buy yourselves something nice.’

That was his answer to everything: take the money and go
away.

* * *

It was a long week. Saffron was even more skittish than
usual, alternating between suffocating affection and tantrums. ‘Is everything
OK?’ I asked once in a rare moment of stillness while we were getting ready to
go out.

‘Why wouldn’t it be?’ she said instantly.

‘Nothing...it’s just...we haven’t seen much of Jax.’

‘He’s busy,’ said Saffron. ‘Anyway, we’re not like you and
George, all over each other the whole time.’ She jumped up. ‘Oh, I forgot to
tell you! Dad’s girlfriend has gone to Australia to shoot some show, so she
won’t be at the wedding after all. I’m not sorry she won’t be there, but she
might have thought about my seating plan! Now, show me what you’re going to wear
tonight.’

Saffron was appalled by my clothes. She insisted on buying me a
whole new wardrobe, and she was in such a brittle mood that I let her, although
there was no way I was going to be able to wear any of it in Shofrar.

Every time we went out, we had to run the gauntlet of the
paparazzi, with the deafening whirr and click of the cameras and shouts to
Saffron to look their way. She barely noticed the flash lights that made me
squint as I stumbled after her, but I found them exhausting and I longed to be
back at Whellerby.

I was glad when it was time to go to the castle Dad had taken
over for the wedding. A vast, spectacularly ornate building, Castle Peart
dwarfed Whellerby Hall, with none of its faintly shabby charm. Everything at the
castle was glossed up and so luxurious it was suffocating. We had the spa to
ourselves for a day before the others started to arrive. I’d never been much of
a one for pampering but I hoped it would relax Saffron. She was so thin and
tense, I was afraid that she was going to snap like a twig.

Still, the rehearsal went off without a hitch, although I was
worried by the way Saffron and Jax avoided eye contact. I just had to get
through tonight, I told myself, as I got ready for the rehearsal dinner. The
wedding was the next day, and then it would be over.

TEN

By the time I waited with Saffron and Dad in the great
hall of the castle to greet those guests lucky enough to have a coveted
invitation to the rehearsal dinner, I was exhausted and nearly as twitchy as my
sister.

Gradually the hall filled with famous faces. I heard from a
waitress that the paparazzi were going wild at the gates. Rumours were going
round about extravagant ruses to get in and scoop the photos. Hard-faced men
from
Glitz
, which had bought the rights to the
photos, patrolled the hall on the lookout for illicit cameras while their
official photographers clicked away. I managed to dodge out of their way. I knew
no one would be interested in me and, anyway, I was waiting for George and
Roly.

Where were they? I tugged at the dress Saffron had made me buy.
A traffic-stopping red, it was short and strappy, with a fabric that clung to
every curve, and I was unsteady on vertiginous heels with jewelled straps
wrapped around my ankle.

Rarely had I felt as uncomfortable or exposed. I’d been trying
to make small talk, but what did I have to say to those people, swooping on each
other with raucous cries, exchanging air kisses? They weren’t interested in
environmentally sound insulation systems or quality testing for steel
reinforcing bars, and I wasn’t interested in Paris fashion or the latest
celebrity gossip.

I didn’t belong there, any more than I belonged anywhere. I
seemed to have spent my whole life standing at the edge of a party, I thought. I
was certain that everyone was avoiding me and a wave of loneliness and
insecurity hit me with such force that I actually wobbled on my heels.

Then George walked in, and the world tilted and slid back into
position with what I could have sworn was an audible click.

He stood with Roly, his eyes searching the crowded hall. For a
moment I didn’t move, I just drank in the sight of him. The light glinted on his
hair, and I saw women’s heads turn with interest, but for once I didn’t notice
how good looking he was. I didn’t think about the blue eyes or the
heart-clenching line of his jaw or that devastating crease in cheek. I just saw
George.

George, who was looking for me. His gaze crossed mine, then
caught, and his face lit up with a smile, and it felt as if a hand had reached
inside my chest and were squeezing my heart so hard I could hardly breathe.

I forgot my uncomfortable dress. I hurried through the press of
people towards him, but at the last minute one of those ridiculous heels caught
on the edge of a flagstone and I pitched forward into George’s arms.

This,
this
is
where you belong
. My body seemed to shout with the certainty of
it.

‘That’s what I call a welcome!’ George said, making the most of
the opportunity to feel me up as he set me on my feet.

‘I’m so glad to see you!’ I kissed him fervently. ‘And you,
Roly,’ I added with a smile.

‘You l-look...am-mazing,’ Roly stuttered.

‘Saffron made me wear it.’ I plucked self-consciously at the
clinging fabric. ‘I feel half naked.’

‘That’s good. It’s the kind of dress that makes a man
determined to get you completely naked as soon as possible,’ said George with
grin. ‘That means we’re halfway there.’ He turned me so that he could view me
from every angle. ‘How does it come off?’

I was feeling better already. ‘That’s something you’re going to
have to work out for yourself,’ I said pertly.

Saffron descended with a squeal just then, dragging my father
over to introduce him to them. Roly turned crimson when she kissed him, but my
father was looking at my hand that was still entwined with George’s. His beetly
grey brows snapped together and I had to resist the urge to tug it away. George
must have sensed it because his fingers tightened.

‘Challoner?’ Dad barked as Saffron drew Roly away. ‘Not one of
the banking Challoners?’

‘Not any more,’ said George evenly.

‘What does that mean?’

‘I don’t work for the bank any more.’

‘Well, you’d better not be sniffing around my daughter in the
hope of an easy living,’ my father growled. ‘She’s too stiff-necked to take a
penny from me! If that’s the way she wants it, that’s fine by me. Saffron can
have it instead. At least
she’s
a loving
daughter!’

I set my teeth. ‘I don’t need your money, Dad.’

‘No, you don’t need anything, do you? You’re always so damned
sure you can do it all by yourself!’

He turned away in disgust, and I bit down hard on my lip to
stop the tears that clogged my throat. I was barely aware of George’s arm coming
round me.

‘You know what?’ he said. ‘I think your father loves you a
lot.’

‘He’s got a funny way of showing it!’

‘I know,’ he said gently, ‘but I think I’m right.’

I shook my head, but I didn’t want to argue. I was too glad he
was there.

Every moment of that evening was recorded by the photographers
from
Glitz
. Jax, it seemed, had sold the rights to
the wedding photos for a ridiculous amount of money. I didn’t understand it. Why
did they need more money? Saffron already had more than they could possibly know
what to do with.

What should have been a family ceremony had turned into a
business in which all sorts of people had a vested interest, and I was dreading
the next day. It didn’t feel like a wedding at all. It felt like a performance.
My father had spent unspeakably large sums flying in rock stars for his little
girl’s big day, and Saffron’s dress was a stupendous creation designed to make
people gasp. The house was full of people making a fortune out of the wedding,
publicists and stylists and event managers. I longed for it to be over.

But none of it seemed so bad with George there.

* * *

George had worked out how to take off my dress by the
time we got to bed.

The really dangerous thing, I realised, lying snuggled up next
to him afterwards, was that I wanted to talk to him as much as I wanted to make
love to him. I told him about shopping with Saffron and how worried I was about
the lack of connection between her and Jax. He told me a funny story about Frank
and the barmaid from The Whellerby Arms, and passed on a verbal report from Hugh
about progress on site and made me laugh.

Only then did I realise how tense I’d been all week. I fell
asleep pressed against George’s warm, solid body and refused to let myself think
about how much I was going to miss him.

* * *

‘I can’t do it,’ said Saffron.

The other bridesmaids were gathered in the suite next door and
I was shaking out the long beaded train while she stood in front of the cheval
mirror. She looked beautiful, but unreal, like someone modelling a bride’s
dress.

‘Sorry?’ I said.

‘I can’t get married. I just can’t.’ She started shaking as I
stared at her, aghast. ‘But this wedding, it’s cost Dad millions, and
Glitz
have bought the photos... Oh, God, Frith, what
am I going to do?’

Pulling myself together, I put my arm around her shoulders.
‘Well, the first thing is not to worry about
Glitz
.’
I met her eyes in the mirror. ‘You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to
do, Saffron, but tell me what’s happened.’

‘Jax and I just don’t have what you and George have. I watched
you two last night. Even when he wasn’t touching you, you were connected
somehow. I saw the way you looked at each other, just a glance or a smile. I
don’t think I spoke to Jax all night,’ she said bitterly.

‘It’s difficult when there are so many guests to talk to.’ It
came to something when I was making excuses for Jax.

‘He shouldn’t be able to keep his hands off me!’

‘No,’ I said. ‘He shouldn’t.’

‘And he slept with a girl on the tour,’ said Saffron abruptly.
‘He said it didn’t mean anything. He thinks it doesn’t matter, but I think it
does.’

‘It matters all right,’ I said.

‘Will you tell Dad?’ Saffron pleaded in a tiny voice. ‘
Please
,’ she said. ‘Please, Frith. I can’t do it. He’s
going to be so disappointed in me.’

‘He loves you, Saffron. Nothing’s going to change that.’

‘I can’t do it.’ Her voice started to rise, and I held up a
hand.

‘OK, OK, I’ll do it. Don’t cry. Let me think.’

I called George on his phone. He and Roly were in the
spectacular star-shaped chamber where the ceremony was due to take place.
‘What’s going on?’ he said, whispering.

‘Can you come up here? I need you!’

He knocked on Saffron’s door a few minutes later, Roly behind
him.

I practically dragged them into the room and explained the
situation. ‘We have to get Saffron out of here before the publicists and
everyone else get wind of what’s going on.’ I was already having a hard time
keeping the other bridesmaids at bay.

‘Absolutely,’ said Roly. ‘We can’t have her being pestered by
reporters. It’s all very distressing for her.’ He drew himself up. ‘Let me take
her to Whellerby Hall until the worst of the publicity is over and she’s decided
what she wants to do.’

So Saffron quickly changed out of her gown, threw a few clothes
in a bag, shoved on a hat to disguise her distinctive hair and George snuck them
out of the servants’ entrance to Roly’s car.

‘They’ve gone,’ he said when he came back. ‘They followed a
florist’s van out the back gate.’

‘OK.’ I wiped my hands on my bridesmaid’s dress and sucked in a
breath. I was dreading this. ‘Now I need to tell my father.’

George came with me to where Dad was pacing at the top of the
great staircase.

‘Where’s Saffron?’ he demanded when he saw me. ‘We’re over half
an hour late!’

‘Dad, I’m sorry, but she’s decided she doesn’t want to get
married after all,’ I said.

‘
What
?’ roared my father. ‘Is this
some kind of joke?’

I shook my head. ‘She’s gone.’

‘But...but...’ Before my horrified eyes I saw my father’s face
contort and, clutching at his chest, he toppled forward onto me.

* * *

I don’t know what I would have done without George.

It was George who called a doctor while I panicked over my
father, George who drew Jax and his best man aside so that I could break the
news.

Jax, understandably, was furious. ‘We had a deal!’ he kept
shouting. ‘
Glitz
have already paid us for the
photos!’ It seemed to me that he was far more upset about the loss of money than
the fact that Saffron had left.

It was left to me to tell the guests what had happened, but it
was George again who gently but firmly persuaded the wedding party to disperse.
The paparazzi outside the castle went wild when they realised what had happened,
and I was glad Saffron was safely away with Roly.

I went to sit with my father. The doctor said that it wasn’t a
heart attack as I’d feared when he crashed over me, but the stress had brought
on a seizure. His face was still grey, and his eyes were closed, but he opened
them as I leant over him in concern.

‘Saffron’s safe,’ I said. ‘With a friend.’

‘Why did she do it? I thought she wanted this wedding,’ he
said, his fingers clutching querulously at his sheet. I had a sudden, sharp
vision of what he would look like when he was old.

‘Better to realise it’s a mistake now than go through a
divorce,’ I said. ‘You wouldn’t want that for her, would you?’

‘Is this all my fault?’ I’d never heard him say that
before.

‘No.’

‘I just wanted her to be happy,’ he said, and he sounded so
wretched with worry that I put out my hand without thinking and covered his.

‘I know you do, Dad,’ I said.

There was a pause, and then he turned his hand up to clutch my
fingers. ‘I know you don’t believe me but I want you to be happy too,’ he
said.

My throat was so tight I couldn’t speak. ‘I am happy,’ I
managed eventually.

‘With this George?’

I swallowed. ‘For now,’ I said.

I went back to London with him. There was no way Saffron could
come back with the paparazzi camped outside the door, his girlfriend apparently
wasn’t bothered enough to fly back from Australia, and there was no one else. It
wasn’t as if Dad would have been alone—he had servants and a PA and any number
of employees in and out whole time—but he’d looked so old and wretched, I
couldn’t bring myself to leave him on his own.

Without Saffron, my father and I had little choice but to talk
to each other. Our conversations were often spiky and we disagreed about almost
everything, but at least they were never boring. Dad hated the fact that I
refused to accept any money from him.

‘Stop trying to buy me!’ I said in exasperation at last.
‘You’ve always done that!’

‘I just wanted you to need me,’ he said. He must have been
feeling low, or he would never have said anything that unguarded.

‘I did need you, Dad,’ I said after a moment. ‘But I needed a
father, not a bank account.’ I hesitated. ‘I still do.’

No more was said but when I went to say goodbye, he opened his
arms hesitantly. I bit my lip, then went into them, and felt them close around
me as they had done when I was a little girl. He didn’t say anything, but he
held me very tightly, and my chest was tight when I stepped away.

‘You’ll let me know how you get on in Shofrar?’ he said
gruffly, and I nodded. Suddenly it didn’t matter that he could see that I was
close to the tears that always made me feel so weak.

‘I’ll keep in touch,’ I promised, and he pressed his lips,
exactly the way I did when I was struggling not to cry.

‘I’d like to hear from you,’ he said after a moment. ‘Thank
you, Frith.’

* * *

I wouldn’t take any money, but I let him send me back to
Whellerby in luxury. His chauffeur took me all the way to the cottage door.

The last few days I had wanted to spend with George had gone. I
had only two days for a last visit to site, to put Audrey up on blocks and to
say my goodbyes.