Baby It's Cold Outside (21 page)

Suky nodded.

‘If it doesn't get any busier, I'll close up when this lot have gone and come up and help you,' she said.

Together, Mum and I went outside and round to the back of the café, where the entrance to the gallery was. There were stone stairs leading up the outside of the building to the door – luckily Allan had kept them gritted and there was no snow on them.

The gallery itself was breathtakingly simply. The door opened on to what was basically a blank space. The same size – obviously – as the café downstairs, yet it seemed bigger because there was nothing in it. The door was on the back wall at one end and to our left and right, on the short ends of the rectangular building, were huge windows – the whole walls were made of glass meaning the light flooded in. Each end offered an incredible view across the shore of the loch in both directions. The long walls were painted white and used as hanging space when the gallery hosted exhibitions. Allan had cleverly installed folding doors two thirds of the way along the space, so it could be divided in two. We were going to have the ceremony in the smaller room, with the meal in the larger bit. Then we'd planned to go downstairs to the café for drinks, while Allan's helpful hired muscles moved all the tables to one side for the evening party. It was all going to look lovely, I was sure. But for now, it was just a big empty room.

‘There's a lot to do,' Mum said, looking round. ‘But we'll get there. Allan must be upstairs. I'll go and find him and we can bring in the stuff.'

We tracked Allan down in his tiny office on the third floor, tucked away in the eaves. He was sketching the snowy view in a large pad.

‘Hello ladies,' he said when we knocked on the door. ‘Let's get cracking.'

He led us back down the stairs to the back of the café where there was a small square outhouse. He unlocked the door with a key from a large bunch and stood back so we could see inside.

‘There are five round tables and lots of chairs in here,' he said. ‘And I've stacked all the boxes of decorations that arrived, near the door.'

I stepped inside the little building.

‘It doesn't look like all these tables should fit in here,' I said.

Allan smiled. ‘Eva did her thing,' he said.

‘Ah,' I said. Witches had a way of adapting storage space, that was for sure.

‘So we've got to get all these upstairs,' I said, looking round at the tables that were stacked neatly at the back of the room. ‘That's not going to be easy.'

The café had a small service lift that Allan used to bring refreshments up from the café when he was holding an event in the gallery. I wondered if the chairs at least would fit in that, though I didn't think we would be able to squeeze the tables in.

Mum giggled like a little girl.

‘Tansy's at the house right now, isn't she?' she said.

‘She's got Parker this afternoon,' I said.

Mum nodded briskly.

‘In that case,' she said, waggling her fingers. There was a shower of her beautiful cloudy grey sparks, lighting up the dim interior of the outhouse and the tables, chairs and boxes of decorations all disappeared.

‘Easy,' Mum said with a smile.

Allan locked the door again and we all trooped back upstairs. Mum shut the main door to the gallery.

‘Just in case,' she said.

And then we got to work. Without breaking a sweat we pointed and sparkled the chairs into rows in the smaller section of the room, facing the huge window which was where the registrar – Kirsty – and Jamie and I would stand while we said our vows.

We arranged the tables in the larger section of the room with more chairs around each one, and Allan – who obviously wanted to feel useful – assembled a long trestle table that he moved into position along the back wall. That would be for the buffet – whatever it was.

Once the chairs and tables were in place, it started to look more like a wedding venue. But we still had quite a lot to do.

Mum popped downstairs to the café and came back with Suky and Eva, along with mugs of tea and a plate of cakes for everyone.

Allan kissed Eva and handed her his bunch of keys.

‘I'm going to leave you lot to it,' he said, as he headed off downstairs. ‘See you later.'

Munching on the cakes, we all unpacked the boxes.

‘This is the fun part,' Suky said, rubbing her hands. ‘I loved doing the table decorations for Harry's wedding.'

I'd chosen my white, silver and pale blue colour scheme to reflect the frostiness of a beautiful Claddach winter. Of course, the sheer amount of snow outside the huge windows meant there was no getting away from the ice and snow – but it was too late to change it now and I thought it would look pretty all the same.

We all sat round one of the tables and I arranged all my goodies.

‘I've got silver and blue ribbons for the backs of the chairs,' I explained. ‘White table cloths with sparkly silver snowflakes to sprinkle on top. There are silver candles to go in the middle of each table and some other bits.'

Suky was right. It was fun. We pointed and sparkled, moved chairs into position, threw cloths on top of tables and tied the ribbons round the backs of chairs. The whole room zinged and glowed in the gloomy twilight.

Chapter 32

Finally we all sat down again and looked at what we'd done. The chairs looked pretty with their coverings of silver and blue. The table confetti sparkled and would be even brighter once we lit the long tapered silver candles. There were transfers of snowflakes on the windows looking wonderful against the real ones that were still falling quietly outside. Now it was dark, the room looked even more striking. I was thrilled but Mum seemed uncertain.

‘I think there's something else we need,' she said with a wink at Suky. She shot shimmery sparks at the ceiling and as they drifted downwards, falling in my hair, a huge disco ball appeared in the middle of the room.

I clapped my hands in delight.

‘Perfect!' I said.

‘It looks lovely,' said a voice. Harry was standing in the doorway looking, I had to admit, absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing her shiny, super-tight trousers again, her glossy hair was artfully arranged in big loose curls and her face was perfectly made-up. Of course the effect was tempered a little bit by her ski jacket and snow boots but in her hand she carried an overnight bag and a pair of killer heels with the red soles that told me they were her treasured Louboutins.

‘Wow,' I said. ‘Why are you all dolled up?'

Harry put down the bag and shrugged off her coat, revealing a sheer black over-sized top that she was wearing over a black sparkly vest.

‘I'm going to a party,' she said.

I was a bit put out.

‘Whose party?' I said. ‘Where is it? Why am I not invited?'

Harry sat on one of the silver-covered chairs and pulled off her snow boots, then stuck her manicured toes into her black heels.

She looked up at me with a cheeky grin that didn't fit with her sophisticated appearance.

‘Your party,' she said. Theatrically she stood up and with a flourish of both hands she blinded us all momentarily with an enormous ball of sparkly light like a huge firework.

As Harrysparkly light like a huge firework.th and the ceiling, the room was transformed. The glitter ball began turning, Abba started playing through the speakers and the buffet table suddenly groaned under the weight of a plastic tablecloth covered in L-plates, plastic glasses with straws in the shape of willies and bottles and bottles of wine.

‘HEN PARTY!' Harry yelled. A glass of champagne appeared in my hand and I laughed.

‘Just the four of us?' I giggled over the top of Dancing Queen. Mum and Suky were laughing too.

‘No,' Harry said. ‘Everyone's coming. I invited everyone earlier, but I've just sent Louise and Tansy on a bit of a wild goose chase to get Millicent. I wanted Tansy out of the way so I could do all this.'

She bent down and pulled my make-up bag out of her holdall.

‘Here,' she said, throwing it at me. ‘Do your face and I'll get you an outfit. What do you want to wear?'

I didn't have to think for long.

‘My gold Kate Middleton dress,' I said. ‘It's in Edinburgh. And my nude heels.'

Harry rolled her eyes. I knew she thought I dressed too conservatively but I didn't care.

‘Okay,' she said. ‘I'll bring it up in a second.'

I darted up to the small loo next door to Allan's office and quickly did my make-up. Some witches rely on magic for their appearance but Harry and I actually agreed that using magic for make-up often backfired – leaving us looking more like an extra from Priscilla Queen of the Desert, so we preferred to do it ourselves. I put on my usual foundation but made my eye make-up much heavier than normal and added some sparkly green eyeliner. Then I pulled my curls into a messy roll on the back of my head, letting some tendrils fall round my face, just as Harry knocked on the door.

‘Here's your dress,' she said, handing it over. ‘Mum, Eva and Tess are ready and Lou just texted to say she's on her way.'

I grabbed her and hugged her tight.

‘Thank you, H,' I said. ‘You've been so brilliant this week. I'm really lucky to have you.'

Harry let me hug her for about a second then wriggled away.

‘You're my baby cousin,' she said, looking at her feet. ‘You're special.'

We grinned at each other for a moment then normal service resumed.

‘Put on your old lady dress and come downstairs,' she said. ‘We've got a lot of Prosecco to get through.'

It wasn't an old lady dress, I thought as I pulled it on. It was lovely. I'd bought it in Reiss, which was why I called it my Kate Middleton dress, but it wasn't boring. It was a beautiful shade of champagne that I loved, with a pleated, beaded chiffon skirt that fell to just above my knee and which, if I twirled round fast enough, swung out like the girls' dresses on Strictly. The bodice was completely covered in sequins and fastened round my neck leaving my back bare. It was gorgeous. I knew I looked good in it, and I didn't get to wear it often enough so it was the perfect choice for my impromptu hen party.

As Harry and I went down to the gallery, everyone else began arriving. Tansy and Lou led the way. Tansy was wearing a slim-fitting black dress with a round neck that looked very expensive.

‘Nice dress,' I said to her. She smoothed it down over her hips self-consciously.

‘Thanks,' she said. ‘Funniest thing. I've got one just like this at home. I couldn't believe it when Harry showed me the one she had in her wardrobe.'

I glanced at Harry who was at least two inches taller than Tansy and who'd never worn a dress like that in her life. She looked back at me, her eyes wide with innocence.

‘Come on then,' said Louise, who'd slicked her hair back and was wearing amazing smoky eye make-up. ‘Let's get this party started.'

We had so much fun. As well as the family, Harry had invited Leona and all the women who were helping with the sewing. Millicent and her gorgeous teenage daughter Imogen turned up, as well as Immy's friend Nell, who helped out in the café when she was home from university. Kirsty was there, and she'd brought along a friend who played in the band with her. It was a riot. We danced ourselves silly and drank all the Prosecco and most of the wine. We played silly games that Harry and Lou organised and ate lots of cake and sweets. It was brilliant.

Eventually, when my feet were aching in my Kate Middleton nude courts, I sat down at one of the tables and watched everyone, smiling to myself. Kirsty's friend had brought along her guitar and she was strumming away while Kirsty sang. Louise and Harry were swaying to the music – Harry was a demon for taking over the dance floor when she'd had a few drinks – along with Immy and Nell. Mum, Suky and Eva were huddled in the corner with Leona, obviously swapping some hot gossip. Tansy plonked herself down at my table and threw her arms round me.

‘Oh Esme,' she said as I unwound her arms from my neck. ‘I've had such a good time tonight.'

She hiccupped and I realised she was absolutely plastered. That surprised me a bit as she didn't seem the type to ever allow herself to get out of control, but I quite liked it.

She leaned over to me.

‘I'm so sorry your friend isn't here,' she said. ‘A girl needs her best friend at her bachelorette party.'

I nodded glumly.

‘I need my best friend at my wedding,' I said, thinking of Chloe's dress hanging up in Leona's shop. ‘And my dad.'

Tansy stared at me, her eyes taking a while to focus.

‘Family is very important,' she announced. ‘Very important. Dads are important.'

‘They are,' I agreed, thinking now was probably not the time to point out she'd kept Parker away from his dad for years.

She was obviously thinking along the same lines though.

‘How do you think Parker's getting on with his grandmother,' she said.

I patted her arm in a reassuring way.

‘She's lovely, Jamie's mum,' I said. ‘Really lovely. She'll adore Parker.'

‘What about you,' Tansy said, waving her glass in my face. ‘Do you adore Parker?'

I drained my glass. I wasn't nearly as drunk as Tansy. In fact, I'd stuck to water for most of the night, finding I couldn't face too much wine. Perhaps the bump on my head had affected me more than I'd thought.

‘I do,' I said, thoughtfully. ‘He's a lovely kid.'

‘He is,' Tansy said triumphantly. Then her face crumpled.

‘I just hope he doesn't hate me for everything I've done.'

‘Noooo,' I said, reaching over to glug more wine into her glass, then sloshing more into mine.

‘This,' I waved my hand expansively taking in the room, the café, Claddach, Scotland… ‘This is just the beginning. We're all his family now. He's going to be the most loved little boy ever.'