Four Weddings and a Fiasco by Catherine Ferguson

Author:Catherine Ferguson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008142230
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

A Summer Wedding

NINETEEN

When I wake next morning, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.

I stagger to the bathroom and frown at my peaky complexion in the mirror. Dosed up with brandy, I’d been expecting to crash out and sleep, but no such luck. I tossed and turned, finally falling asleep as the dawn was creeping through the curtains, only to wake an hour later after a horrible nightmare in which a vampire was chasing me through a dark forest.

I’ve had approximately one-and-a-quarter hours’ sleep.

And I seem to have developed a weird eye twitch.

I splash cold water over my face again and again, determined to stay strong, despite the shock of seeing Sienna the day before. I have a wedding to do today. Cressida and Tom are relying on me. I will not let my focus slip just because my sister has decided to waltz back across the Channel.

It’s a perfect June morning with a clear blue sky and a tinge of apricot on the horizon. First hurdle over, then. It will be dry for the photos. So no dodging the showers with Cressida hyperventilating over her hair frizzing up. The very thought makes my eyelid reverberate like a washing machine on ‘spin’.

A bath. That’s what I need to revive me. I’m too exhausted for a shower. All that moving about. Unfortunately, the bath is so relaxing, I fall asleep, then end up having to race around at high speed, completely undoing any sense of relaxation I’d achieved.

All set, I grab my gear and head out to the car. Cressida is expecting me at ten for the ‘getting ready’ photos at her parents’ house, where she spent last night.

I put my foot down and get there only a few minutes late.

I ring the bell.

And then a realisation hits me. It’s like a stinging punch to the stomach.

Bugger!

The batteries!

I should have recharged them last night. The shock of seeing Sienna has knocked me right off course.

A wave of panicky heat washes over me and my eyelid twitches into overdrive.

A figure appears in the frosted glass of the front door.

Stay calm, stay calm!

A tall, very thin woman, who I assume is Cressida’s mum, opens the door. (I’m assuming because she’s practically a carbon copy of Cressida. Even down to the tight smile that goes nowhere near her eyes.) She’s wearing a cerise skirt and jacket, and has the same dark brown helmet of hair as her daughter.

She observes my equipment. ‘Photographs? Excellent. I’m Mrs Wilson. Go on through. First door on the left.’

‘Thank you.’ I plaster on a smile and make for what I guess is the living room, my brain ticking over feverishly.

If I’m very lucky, the batteries I’ve got might see me through this session at the house. But there’s no way they will last the whole day. I’ll have to phone Harry as soon as I can and ask him to buy some on his way to the church.

I do a couple of swift deep breaths and tell myself to get a grip.

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