Baby It's Cold Outside (26 page)

‘Are you a witch, Esme?'

Obviously I caved immediately.

‘Yes,' I said, looking down at my soggy boots. ‘Do you mind?'

‘Mind?' Tansy said. ‘Mind?'

‘Jamie said you don't have much time for weird stuff.'

Tansy clutched my arm.

‘I don't,' she said. ‘But this is different. This is real.'

‘Oh it's real all right,' I said. ‘Bit too real sometimes.'

I sat down on the arm of a sofa.

‘How did you work it out?' I asked.

‘There were always rumours about Harry at Harvard,' Tansy said. ‘Of course, I didn't know her then, and it took me a while to work out she was who people talked about. Then there were a few strange things that happened – like how come Jamie didn't know where the spare room was in your mom's house.'

I grinned.

‘We don't have a spare room,' I said.

Tansy rolled her eyes.

‘And I saw you do something,' she added. ‘To the cake.'

So she had seen. And I'd thought I was being so careful.

‘I think it's great,' Tansy said.

‘Really?' I was still nervous about what Jamie would say if he knew she knew the truth.

‘Really,' she said.

I tried not to think about how much easier this whole week would have been if we could have just used magic in the first place and instead concentrated on the here and now.

‘God,' I said. ‘Jamie said you'd freak out.'

Tansy looked surprised.

‘Really?' she said. ‘He always did think I was much more straight-laced than I actually am.'

I giggled, feeling almost dizzy with relief that finally everything was out in the open and we could be ourselves. Tansy threw her arms around me and hugged me and I hugged her back. Wonders would never cease. Then we both turned and looked at Parker, who was looking much perkier.

‘I think we should get you home, young man,' Tansy said to him. ‘Warm bath and PJs on.'

Parker looked horrified.

‘I'll have a bath if I absolutely have to,' he said. ‘But what about the wedding.'

‘Oh my god,' Tansy said. ‘The wedding.'

‘What time is it?' I asked Jamie, registering for the first time that he was wearing his suit, though he'd taken off his tie. ‘Can we still do it?'

He looked at his watch.

‘It's just after five,' he said. ‘Can you be back here by six?'

I made a face.

‘Six-thirty?' I asked.

‘Deal,' Jamie said.

‘Do you have your dad's car?' I asked Jamie. He nodded.

‘Michael, can you take that and drive Tansy and Parker back up to the house?' I asked, realising Tansy was in no fit state to drive herself. ‘There's a key under the doormat at Eva's.'

‘People really do that, huh?' he said, with a smile.

Well no, actually, they didn't, but as soon as they'd gone, I'd make it happen.

‘Jamie, we can run over to Millicent's and tell everyone what's happening, then if you and the guests can start coming back here, I'll get Dad to drive me, Harry and Chloe back home to get changed.'

Jamie kissed me.

‘I love you, Esme,' he said. ‘I can't wait to marry you. Even if it is a few hours late.'

I beamed at him.

‘Then let's go,' I said.

Chapter 41

Millicent's lounge was full of people, chattering and drinking tea. They all looked like they were having a lovely time but as soon as we walked in, they fell silent and looked up at us – fear on all their faces.

‘Parker's okay,' I said. ‘He's fine. He's gone home with his mum.'

There was a collective sigh of relief, then everyone started chatting again. Harry appeared next to us. She kissed Jamie on the cheek and gave me a hug, proving just how worried she'd been.

‘What's happening,' Harry asked. ‘With the wedding?'

‘We're going ahead,' I said. ‘If everyone's still up for it? Is Kirsty here?'

She appeared at my elbow, looking somewhere in between her funeral persona and her on-stage character. She was wearing a fifties-style pencil dress that hugged her curves and fell to below her knee, making her walk like a Hollywood starlet. Her hair was pulled back into a roll and she had bright red lips. She looked amazing and also completely different to how she'd looked all the times I'd met her before.

‘I'm ready,' she said, squeezing my arm. ‘Do you want to go now?'

I looked down at my jeans, mucky from sitting on the cave floor with Parker, and from falling in the snow, and my battered North Face jacket and grinned at her.

‘I'm going to get changed first,' I said.

Harry took charge, as I'd hoped she would. She found Dad, who was regaling a group of guests with stories about his cricket team at home, and roped him into driving us back home. Kirsty rang her dad and asked him to bring his car up again, in a little while. Jamie and Louise rounded up the guests and began shepherding them back across to the cafe, and I rang Mum – who'd been waiting at home in case Parker arrived – to tell her to get dressed.

‘Tansy and Parker just got here,' she told me. ‘Poor wee mite was freezing but he's in the bath now. He'll be grand.'

‘We're all coming back to get changed,' I said. ‘But we don't have much time.'

‘Don't worry,' Mum said – and I could almost hear the glint in her eye. ‘Suky and I can sort that out,'

Chloe, Harry, Louise and I all piled into Dad's car and we drove up the hill to home. Mum and Suky were waiting, excited as children.

Mum bustled Dad into the living room and gave him the remote control.

‘Watch sport,' she said. ‘We'll shout for you when we're ready.'

Dad happily complied.

The rest of us raced up to my room and stood looking at ourselves in the mirror in dismay. It wasn't pretty.

Lou's short hair still looked fine, but Harry, Chloe and me were less than perfect. Harry's make-up was all smudged where she'd been crying, and blowing her nose, Chloe's wild hair had been whipped by the wind and was escaping from its neat roll, and I was a disaster. As far as I could tell, I had barely a trace of make-up left on my face and my hair was a tangled mess, because I'd rammed a beanie hat on top of it when I'd gone to find Parker.

‘Oh dear,' I said, giggling. ‘I don't really look like a bride.'

‘Don't worry,' Suky said, winking at Mum. ‘We've got it.'

She and Mum joined hands and together they muttered some words I couldn't quite hear but I thought might have been “as it was”. At once the room filled with sparkly light that swirled around each of us.

As the swirls passed, our hair smoothed itself out and rolled itself up once more, our make-up stopped being smudged and looked immaculate again. Even Chloe's curls meekly tucked themselves into her bun.

‘Amazing,' Chloe said, gazing at our transformed reflections. ‘Think how much time that would save in the morning.'

I shook my head.

‘Dangerous,' I said. ‘The magic has a very different idea of how we should look, than what we think. This was okay because we had a template.'

Chloe rolled her eyes.

‘So many rules,' she said, giving me a nudge. ‘Not sure how you keep up.'

‘Dresses,' Harry said. ‘Come on, we don't have much time.'

Chloe and Harry put on their blue gowns, while I wriggled into mine. It was perfect. The bodice hugged my waist perfectly – Leona really was very clever – while the skirt swirled around my knees. I pulled on my gloves, which came above my elbows and hid my bandaged wrist, and really did make me feel like Audrey Hepburn – just as Leona had promised. Louise, who wasn't a bridesmaid, went to her room and came back wearing the most beautiful silk shift in a shimmery taupe that sat just above her knees and showed off her toned legs.

‘Beautiful,' she said, looking at us.

‘You too,' Harry said, giving her a kiss. ‘We all scrub up quite well, don't we?'

Mum and Suky appeared at the door, both in their wedding garb. Mum was wearing a black dress with white trim and a little boxy jacket – it was very Jackie Kennedy. And Suky was wearing a floaty pink maxi with a matching shawl. They both looked fabulous.

I sat down suddenly on the bed.

‘Oh my god,' I said. ‘This is it. I'm bloody well getting married.'

‘Finally,' said Chloe, with a cheeky smile.

‘I feel sick,' I said.

‘No you don't,' Chloe said, sitting next to me and putting her arm round my shoulders. ‘It's just excitement. And to be honest, you haven't really got time to be nervous, because we really need to go.'

I looked up at Harry, Mum and Suky and smiled. A bit shakily, I had to admit.

‘Mum,' I said, reaching for her hand. ‘Thank you for being – well, for being you. Sorry I was such a cow when I was younger.'

Mum laughed and squeezed my fingers.

‘Suky, Harry,' I said. ‘Thank you…'

‘Oh Ez,' Harry said. ‘We don't need a long gushy thing now, just because it's your wedding day.' She gave me one of her dazzling smiles that made you feel like the sun had just turned its face to you, and blew me a kiss. ‘We know, Ez. We know.'

Chloe and I stood up and Mum gathered us all into her arms for an enormous hug.

‘It's like a team talk,' I said with a giggle, as we all stood, clasping hands.

‘It is a team talk,' Mum said sternly.

‘Esme, you and Jamie have been through a lot to get here today and there will be more ups and downs on your road together. But we will all be here to help you through.'

‘Good,' I said. ‘Judging by everything that's happened so far, I'm going to need you.'

We all clattered downstairs in our unfamiliar heels and I woke up Dad who'd dozed off in front of the football scores.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes and looked at me with a smile.

‘You look beautiful, Esme,' he said. He sounded quite emotional, which was very unlike him. ‘I'm proud of you, sweetheart,'

‘I'm proud of you, too,' I said, kissing him on the cheek. ‘You're brilliant,'

‘The cars are here,' Mum said, poking her head round the door.

‘We did okay, didn't we?' she said to Dad, but nodding her head at me.

‘You did most of the work,' he said.

‘Ah but you were always there, backing me up.'

‘I'm here, you know,' I said. ‘When you've finished the self-congratulations.'

Mum and Dad laughed. It was strange seeing them together. I'd never known them as a couple, just as two separate, very different people – but at that moment I could almost picture the people they once were.

‘Come on then,' I said. ‘Let's go to this wedding.'

Chapter 42

Kirsty's dad, Cameron, and his assistant, Ben, had brought up two cars – one Range Rover and one black six seater that looked a bit more hearse-y but not so's you'd notice. Mum, Suky, Tansy, Parker and Michael went in that car, while Harry, Lou and Chloe got in the Range Rover.

‘I'll drive you down, love,' Dad said as I went to follow them. ‘Be nice to have a bit of time.'

I got into his car, arranging my dress carefully around me on the seat so it didn't crease. It was dark now of course – well after six p.m. on a winter's night – and we watched the tail lights of the other cars disappear down the hill, before Dad started the engine and pulled out of our drive.

‘Jamie's a good man,' Dad said as we drove down the hill – at a much more leisurely pace than we'd driven down earlier. ‘And he's lucky to have you.'

I put my hand on top of his on the gear stick and gave it a quick squeeze.

‘We're lucky to have each other,' I said.

As we pulled up outside the cafe, I felt a lurch of nerves again.

‘It's going to be okay, isn't it?' I said, getting out of the car.

Dad pulled me into a hug.

‘It's going to be great,' he said. ‘You look beautiful and so do all those bridesmaids. Jamie will be blown away. And you know what? Even if everything goes wrong…'

‘And it might,' I pointed out. ‘It has so far.'

‘I'm not leaving that cafe until you're married,' Dad said with a smile. ‘Shall we go?'

Mum and Suky had lined the path to the café with lanterns. They were flickering in the dusk, lighting up the snow and looking very beautiful. It was magical. I glanced at the candles – there were about two hundred of them as far as I could tell – so it probably was actually magical.

He offered me his arm and together we climbed the stone stairs to the gallery. Mum was waiting at the door, along with Kirsty. When they saw me arrive, Kirsty held up a hand for me to pause, blew me a kiss, then wiggled down the aisle in her pencil skirt.

‘Ladies and gentleman,' she said in her clear, calm voice. ‘Please welcome our bride, Esme.'

In the corner of the room, Frankie pressed play on the iPod and At Last by Etta James started to play – it was “our song” because it had taken us so long to get here, and it was absolutely perfect. I heard the guests all get up

I looked at Mum and Dad.

‘This is it,' I said with a smile. All my nerves had disappeared and now I couldn't wait to get married.

Dad gave me a kiss, and I looped my left arm through his, and the other through Mum's, then we were walking down the very short aisle waving at the guests and giving a thumbs up to Parker. It was only a few steps but it felt like a long walk. I was glad I didn't have a bouquet to hold, as I wasn't sure what I'd have done with it. Behind me, I heard Chloe whisper ‘amazing' to Harry. She was right. It really was. The room looked gorgeous, lit up by hundreds of candles and with the loch gleaming through the windows.

At the end of the aisle, next to Kirsty, stood Jamie. He looked so handsome it nearly took my breath away. He was wearing a navy suit with a narrow tie and he was fidgeting from foot to foot which made him seem very nervous – and very young. My heart flipped, the way it had the day I'd first met him in the cave, and the day our paths had crossed again after ten years apart, and the day he'd proposed, as I did the washing up in our Edinburgh flat.