Under New Management (36 page)

“Come on Mollie, time to get dressed darling,” Lindy calls from across the huge, white room. Mollie turns and smiles at her mother and still in her silk kimono, walks over to stand in front of her. Suddenly Megan and Julie, dressed in their finery and carrying two bottles of pink champagne, fly through the bedroom door giggling. Megan moves to a long white table and opens the first bottle, “Come on you lot, get a move on! We’re supposed to be at the beach in half an hour.”

With a loud explosion, the cork shoots from the bottle and strikes the ceiling and the women all squeal. Miraculously, Megan manages to save the precious liquid and pours it into the waiting crystal flutes.

Mollie removes her robe and stands in her oyster pink underwear and nude stockings; a blue garter is around her right thigh. She steps into her wedding gown, a pool of satin and tulle, which Lindy has laid out on the floor. After much fiddling with the tiny buttons, finally she’s ready and the women each gush about how beautiful she looks. The oyster pink gown has spaghetti straps with a corseted bodice; the skirt is full and falls in a waterfall effect to the floor with a mermaid tail at the back. The dress is stunning.

Mollie’s hair is dressed in a half up half down style and falls in blonde waves past her shoulders. She has no veil, only a lilac orchid which is pinned into her hair above her right ear.

Her hand reaches up to the necklace at her throat and she runs her fingers over it lightly. The necklace is a beautiful string of pink Victorian cultured pearls, a wonderful surprise gift from Lord Sedgwick. Earlier that morning he had given her a very old oxblood leather case and Mollie had been dumbfounded when she’d opened the lid and saw the pearls on the satin lining. The colour is perfect and when she told him so he winked at her and tapped his nose conspiratorially. Mollie remained confused until Lindy enlightened her later.

Weeks ago Lord John had asked Lindy about the colour theme for the wedding day. When she had told him pink he had smiled and simply said, “In that case I have the most perfect of gifts for Mollie.” The necklace is a family heirloom; it had belonged to his great grandmother and Mollie couldn’t have been more touched.

Marylyn has lent her a bracelet of pink pearls, it seemed they were all in cahoots and she now has her ‘something old, new, borrowed and blue’. She couldn’t be happier.

As Lou’s hair is now complete, she joins Megan and Julie and they stand before Mollie ready for her inspection. They salute smartly causing her to giggle at their antics. Her three bridesmaids are gorgeous in pale lilac taffeta and tulle; their dresses are fifties style with stiff petticoats and corseted bodices. They each carry a smaller version of Mollie’s bouquet, a simple arrangement of long stemmed pink and lilac orchids with steel grass. The stems are tightly bound with pale pink ribbon. Megan hands round the champagne to the others, but picks up a glass of orange juice for herself. She had married Johnny only four months ago and is now fourteen weeks’ pregnant.

Mollie takes a gulp at her champagne; she feels very jumpy and watches her mother and Marylyn to distract her thoughts. They sip their drinks and chat comfortably. To Mollie’s relief they have become firm friends during the last year and often spend time together. David’s mother had barely acknowledged Lindy’s existence and as for Jim, well she avoided Jim like the plague. Then again, he had dragged her off her chair at the wedding reception, demanding in his booming voice, “Come on Cora you miserable old trout, dance with me.” Mollie sniggers to herself as she remembers the horror on Cora’s face as she found herself forced into attempting to move her bony body gamely to ‘I’m too Sexy’ by Right Said Fred, as Jim drunkenly lurched around her making lewd hand gestures. From that moment on Jim was dead to Cora, but to be fair he had been barely breathing beforehand where she was concerned, so it hadn’t taken much.

Lindy looks the perfect mother of the bride in her blue designer calf length fitted dress. Marylyn also looks splendid in a purple, soft and floaty two-piece. Mollie gulps the last of her champagne and puts down her flute onto the table. She takes a deep breath to calm the butterflies in her stomach and gives them all a wide smile, “Well then you lot, shall we? I don’t want to keep him waiting.” They all excitedly finish their drinks. Mollie leads them elegantly from the room and walks along the long airy hallway to the ornate bleached wood curving staircase.

The photographer who had been sent from the room while she dressed now jumps to attention and begins snapping. Mollie tries to ignore him. They have asked that he simply clicks away trying to capture as much as possible without their having to pose too much. Mollie wants natural shots for the most part.

Her father waits at the top of the stairs, next to the grand piano. Jim is dressed in a casual, cream suit which matches the other men. He also has a lilac orchid as a buttonhole and a wide, proud grin as he watches his daughter walk towards him. He bats away a tear from his eye and as Mollie reaches him he kisses her on the cheek whispering, “You look stunning girl, a real picture. I am so proud of you.” Mollie chokes back a sob, “Stop it Dad, you’ll ruin my makeup.” Jim chuckles and looks past her to the others. “You all look stunning! Beautiful, the lot of you,” and as he holds out his arm to Mollie, he waits for her to move to his side and link her arm with his. He leans down and gives her another kiss on her cheek. Mollie swallows and gives him a watery smile as she squeezes his arm towards her. Jim clears his throat gruffly and leads her down the stairs. At the bottom, Lindy and Marylyn leave them to walk down through the gardens and onto the beach.

After a few minutes the bridesmaids follow. Mollie and her father then walk from the house, heading for the beach and the gazebo where the ceremony will take place.

Kieran waits for Mollie with Jack at his side. Dan tries to calm a whimpering seven month old Jessica. He juggles her back and forth on his shoulder, crooning to her.

Julie had the surprise of her life when she was told by the doctor that her various ailments were caused by her pregnancy. She’d no idea that she was pregnant. She’d taken herself off to the doctor worried that she was seriously ill as she’d felt tired and lethargic for months. She’d thought it was a virus to begin with but she just couldn’t shake it. Then to discover that she was already four and a half months gone was a bit of a shock. It was also very worrying as Julie had indulged in a few good nights out during that time. However, Jessica May Brown is strong and healthy and shows no ill effects from her mother’s rare escapades. It is safe to say that Jess is the highlight of all of their lives. Usually she is a gorgeous, sunny child and they all adore her.

Kieran fidgets with his tie as he waits for his bride. His hands are damp with nerves. As he waits, his mind drifts back over the last year. So much had happened since that dinner party, when Serena had attacked them both. Using privacy laws, he had obtained an injunction to prevent the paper printing pictures of Jack and Mollie. As the photos weren’t owned by David, he wasn’t at liberty to sell them and without the photos the story was nothing but hearsay. Kieran smiles to himself as he remembers how euphoric he had been to win that particular fight. He couldn’t bear the thought of Mollie having to go through the humiliation of having her private life splattered all over the papers because of him. Later that night he and Mollie had got it together, at last.

Unfortunately Kieran couldn’t stop the story about him and Mollie. They did have a picture of them hugging in the kitchen. They wove a story around it and sold them as the latest new item. Kieran and Mollie had accepted this as a small price to pay and put up with the attention until the story died down. After all they could hardly deny it and didn’t actually want to.

As it turned out, David had his comeuppance. A minor story had been posted, complete with pictures of David and Mollie at their wedding. However, these pictures were very small in comparison to the main photo of David and Kevin in their fancy dress cowboy outfits. Someone had clearly sold a picture taken at the Sedgwick’s leaving do and the story had actually been rather kind to Mollie. Ironically, it had painted David as a liar and adulterer and it appeared that a number of locals had offered some salacious details about his affair with the local policeman. Kieran knew that David had made next to no money out of his betrayal.

To top it off, Mollie had been shell-shocked to receive a phone call from her then mother-in-law. Surprisingly, Cora Pratt had been full of remorse and apologised on behalf of her son. Mollie thought it had almost made it all worth it.

To finish off the whole nasty affair, Serena’s PR came up with a brilliant solution to her cock up. They slowly and cleverly leaked information dressing up the fiasco as a PR stunt to gain coverage for her latest film. They also hinted that Johnny had been paid a large amount of money to be involved. Kieran and Mollie were painted as unwitting participants, who were upset on Megan’s behalf, as they were not in on the stunt. Serena could not be vindicated where Kieran’s scratches were concerned as the photographic evidence from the following morning clearly showed them. No further comments were made concerning the assaults and the public were left to speculate. When they were all approached by Serena’s lawyers they agreed to go with it and received a generous donation to their favourite charities for doing so. All on the proviso that they didn’t have to comment only keep their mouths shut about the truth. Eventually the story was perceived to be nothing but a clever stunt and it disappeared quietly in a couple of weeks.

Mollie’s Decree Absolute was granted in February and Kieran had proposed to her a fortnight later at Jim and Lindy’s fiftieth birthday party. He arranged for the first wave of fireworks to spell out the words ‘Will you marry me?’ The night had been very special indeed.

Kieran is jolted from his thoughts as he watches his mother and Lindy arrive at the end of the candle lit aisle and walk towards him to take their places. Mollie’s arrival is due very soon and she’ll be waiting for the perfect moment. Kieran glances behind him and sees the sunset is almost ready for them.

With the rings safely in his inside pocket, Jack stands next to Kieran. He grins as he watches his cousin work himself up into a sweat. He thinks Kieran is a lucky man. Sometimes he wonders what would have happened if he’d not gone abroad, but stayed with Mollie all those years ago. Really though, he knows it wouldn’t have worked. Mollie isn’t right for him, but Lou on the other hand is perfect. They have been seeing each other for the last year and Jack is amazed that he has stayed in a relationship this long. Lou is brilliant, sexy, funny, soo funny and she takes zero messing from him. In fact Jack is often surprised to find that he is jealous over Lou. He hates her going out alone, he trusts her but he doesn’t trust other men around her and it definitely keeps him on his toes. Lou works at the Hall now with Mollie and Lindy. Mollie is working wonders with the place and turning a tidy profit. They are all very impressed with her. She even managed to negotiate an agreement with their tenant farmer who’d been living the life of Riley for many years. Mollie had demonstrated her canny business acumen by drawing up a new lease which was fair to both the estate and the Grant family. The Grants hadn’t been happy about it but their only alternative was to leave. Their rent now correctly reflected their earnings. She hadn’t dumped it on them immediately, but is giving them two years to build towards it. Jack thought this more than fair.

Jack glances over at Dan and smiles as he tries to keep Jessica from screaming the place down. He is really happy for his old mate and Kieran has looked after Mollie’s family really well. They are a proud lot and wouldn’t take handouts, but Kieran ensured that Jim and Dan were given the contract to renovate all the estate buildings and it is a very lucrative contract. Jim was happy to accept and now he and Dan can take it a little easier. They manage their firm but leave the hard graft to others. Although they still work hard, they now have a lot more free time. Jim and Lindy have taken up golf and Dan is enjoying spending time with his wife and new daughter.

Kieran catches Dom’s eye and his friend gives him a thumbs up sign. He sits with his beautiful wife and two young children. Kieran gives him a nervous smile and his eyes look at the other guests. He spots Lord Sedgwick. The old chap has become a great friend to both families. In fact, he is nearly a permanent fixture at the Hall. They invited him down for a weekend last December and he seems to have moved back in. No one minds though. Marylyn and Lord John get on famously and he is so unhappy in London. He’s in discussions at the moment with Kieran to buy back the old hunting lodge at the end of the drive. It seems he’s finally plucking up the courage to leave the vile Evelyn and his friends don’t blame him in the least.

Kieran’s heart jumps slightly as the bridesmaids appear and take their places at the end of the aisle. They all look amazing.
This is it!
The celebrant gives the congregation the signal to stand and Frank Sinatra’s ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ floats out from the speakers. Kieran watches as the bridesmaids come towards him. He smiles nervously, straightens his shoulders and clears his throat. Jack gives Lou a salacious wink which causes her to giggle and she throws him a look silently telling him to behave. Kieran’s breath catches in his throat as Mollie and Jim come into view. She looks truly dazzling and he can’t actually believe she is here and about to marry him. He is the luckiest man alive.

Mollie begins to walk towards him. She cannot believe how lucky she is to be marrying this glorious man. She drinks him in as she draws closer. He is beautiful; it is the only word for him and he has changed her life in every way.

She moves to his side. Her father raises her hand to his lips and kisses it softly before moving away to stand just behind her. Kieran takes her hand and she looks up at him. They both smile before turning towards the celebrant and the glowing red and amber sunset.

The End