The Wedding Invite (Lakeview) (Lakeview Contemporary Romance Book 6) (22 page)

“Paul? Who the hell is Paul?” Laura said frowning, although one look at Helen’s face told her all she needed to know. Paul was obviously some new Romeo she’d hooked up with. She didn’t
believe
this.

“He lives in Cork and we haven’t seen one another in a while. I just didn’t think you’d mind. I wasn’t that much later so –”

“That’s not the point though, is it? The point is that weeks ago you asked me to do you a favour, and because you’re my friend and you were stuck, I obliged. But it’s not an open-ended favour, Helen.
I’m
working too, although you don’t seem too concerned about that. If I was working in an office, would you expect me to take time off every day to collect Kerry – would you?”

“Well no, but – ”

“But nothing. It’s the same thing. But just because you don’t take me – and this business – seriously, don’t think you can walk all over me. Even worse, now you’re using me to spend time with some guy.”

“Oh, Laura, that’s not true,” Helen said, putting a hand on her arm. “I promise you, I have been looking for another childminder, really I have. But it’s difficult to get someone at this time of year …” She trailed off, her shoulders slumped. “Look, I’m really, really, sorry, Laura,” she continued, her voice barely a whisper. “I know I’ve been taking advantage of you, and I would have told you about Paul, it’s just …” she blushed slightly, “well, it’s early days with us, and I didn’t feel comfortable saying anything before now.”

“Helen, you did a very dangerous thing today. Forget the fact that I couldn’t contact you because it wasn’t convenient for me to collect her – what if something had happened? What if she got sick or there was an accident or something?”

“I know I know, damn … I just didn’t … I should have thought to leave my mobile on.” Helen bit her lip and looked away, her eyes troubled and upset.

“I just don’t know, Helen.” Laura gave a deep sigh and all of a sudden felt unbelievably jaded.

The entire afternoon she had been going over what she was going to say, and how she was going to put Helen in her place, but now that she was here, looking truly apologetic and pouring her heart out, she just didn’t have the same resolve.

Sensing that Laura had calmed down somewhat, Helen looked up at her, her beautiful eyes deep and sorrowful. “Laura, I promise I will make it up to you, and I’ll get moving on another childminder first thing in the morning. You know I really appreciate what you’re doing, and I promise you won’t have to mind Kerry for much longer OK?”

Silence.

“Laura?” Helen urged. “I swear.”

Eventually, Laura sighed again and nodded wearily.

T
he following Saturday morning
, Laura and Nicola drove into town for the dress fitting, accompanied by an unusually sullen Kerry. Apparently, Helen had gone out again with the famous Paul the night before, and had left her at Nicola’s for the night.

“Ever since she’s met this Paul, the poor child has been shunted from pillar to post,” Nicola said grumpily. “I’ve had her the last two Friday and Saturday nights and I’d say poor Kerry is sick of it.”

“But she loves staying with you,” Laura said, while at the same time feeling sorry for Kerry. Obviously, Helen was making this new guy her utmost priority.

“Maybe, but I’m sure she’d like to spend
some
time with Mummy at the weekends too – she hardly sees her during the week.”

Nicola sounded put out, Laura thought. She wouldn’t blame her.

“I’m going to have to confront her about it soon,” Nicola said grimly. “It’s not good for the poor kid.”

Laura grimaced. Nicola or Helen disagreeing with
anyone
was not a pretty sight, let alone with one another. If they locked horns over Kerry’s welfare, Laura wouldn’t want to be within throwing distance.

Laura looked at her. “You’re in very bad form today,” she said. Nicola looked tired, as though she hadn’t been sleeping well. Despite her friend’s insistence that meeting Dan last month had had a positive effect on her, Laura worried that she might have been deluding herself. She certainly didn’t look the better for it.

Nicola exhaled deeply. “It’s Dan,” she said, confirming Laura’s suspicions. “He rang me at work yesterday, wanting to meet up again.”

Oh dear, Laura thought. “Meet again – why?”

“He reckons we didn’t get all that much of a chance to talk properly last time, what with his having to leave unexpectedly.”

“And what do you think?” she asked carefully.

“To be honest, I don’t see the point. It’s over and done with. We’ve both got very different lives now, we’re moving on with other people, and we’re both happy with that – well,
I
am, anyway.”

Laura paused. “And Dan?”

“Honestly? I think he just wants us to remain friends. The thing is, I don’t want this causing trouble between Ken and me. He was wary enough about my seeing Dan again in the first place, and I know he wouldn’t be too happy about my meeting him for chats on a regular basis.”

“You couldn’t blame him though.” Typical Dan, Laura thought, as she settled Kerry in the back seat of Nicola’s Focus. Couldn’t he leave well enough alone?

Nicola got in front. “I know that, which is why I told Dan no – there’s no point in our meeting up again. But I’m not sure if he’ll leave it at that.” She sighed. “I haven’t told Ken about it, because as far as he’s concerned it’s all over and done with. I hate keeping anything from him, especially this.”

Laura frowned. “I feel guilty. If it wasn’t for me and my invites –”

“But it wasn’t your fault they got mixed up,” Nicola said, looking sideways at her. “Anyway, I doubt the invites had anything to do with it. Dan rang me as a result of the Motiv8 magazine feature. He would have contacted me in any case.”

Laura nodded. She wondered idly what Dan’s fiancée made of it all.

Nicola checked her rear-view mirror. “We’d better get a move on – poor Cathy will have been kidnapped or something by the time we get there.” She gave a broad grin, Laura having earlier relayed the conversation she had with her mother about ‘poor Cathy’ being left waiting all alone in the Big Bad City. “Now, do you have the neckpieces with you, and the earrings?” she asked, starting the engine.

“Damn I almost forgot.” Eyes wide, Laura put a hand to her mouth, having momentarily forgotten that Kerry was in the back seat. “Don’t tell your mommy I said that,” she said and for the first time that morning Kerry giggled.

Laura raced back to the workshop. She’d spent long enough working on the wedding jewellery to have it all ready for the final fitting – she’d have gone mad if she’d left everything behind.

Finally, she stood before the mirror in full wedding regalia. The dress was ice-white with a fitted bodice, and a slightly flowing chiffon-layered skirt – the hem on the rear dropping low to a short train. It fitted perfectly. Well, perfectly, Laura thought, apart from her spare tyre, but shrink-wrap knickers would soon put paid to that.

She looked at the others. Kerry, in her violet-coloured flowergirl dress was leaping around in delight, proclaiming that she was a fairy princess. Cathy was studying her reflection and making a determined attempt to suck in her (worryingly, Laura thought) rounding stomach. The boned bodice sat awkwardly on her midriff and the crushed silk skirt strained across her hips. Cathy either didn’t know, or hadn’t bothered telling Laura that she was pregnant again. Though, she didn’t look at all happy about it.

Neither for that matter, did Brid Cassidy. The bridal designer was today joined by an assistant named Amanda that Laura hadn’t met before, and the other woman, noticing Cathy’s expanding waistline, gave Laura a conspiratorial look. She knew that Brid could be temperamental at times, and this new development was not going to go down well – at all.

“We need to put an extra panel in there, anyway,” Brid concluded briskly to Cathy before turning to examine Laura. “What do you think, Laura? Are you happy with your dress?” She tugged gently at the straps. “I think maybe we could tighten these a tiny bit, just to lift you slightly at the bust and …”

“It’s perfect.” Laura glanced across at Nicola who was studying her earnestly, a proud look on her face. “You look beautiful, Laura,” Nicola said. “Just perfect.”

“Thanks,” Laura was pleased.

“Still, the rest of ye won’t hold a candle to
me
on the day,” Nicola added with a wicked grin. “I’ll be the talk of Glengarrah!”

Laura laughed. She understood her friend well enough to know that, despite her self-deprecation and offhand jokes, Nicola was a little self-conscious about going up the aisle. But Brid had done a fine job with the two-piece, and Nicola would look just as wonderful as everyone else on the day.

Laura opened the box and took out the jewellery she had designed for her bridesmaids. She smiled shyly. “See how this looks with it.”

The neckpiece was fashioned with silver so fine it looked like hand-spun thread. Each concentric circle was intertwined with amethysts, the stones accentuating the colour of the bridesmaid’s dresses. There were earrings to match, and the designs had a vague tribal-princess look – an effect that Laura had been trying to perfect for quite some time. Nicola and Cathy were wearing strapless and relatively undecorated bodices, and would be wearing their hair up, so with the neckpieces the overall effect would be stunning.

Brid and Amanda moved over to take a closer look. “Wow,” Brid gasped. “Laura, where did you get these – they’re fantastic.”

Cathy looked across with interest, but her face fell when she realised what she would be wearing. “I thought you’d buy us something,” she said mournfully. “Something we could keep.”

“But it
is
something you can keep!” Nicola gave Cathy a look of mild surprise. “This is astonishing, totally originally – Laura, this is just – incredible.” Nicola couldn’t think of enough superlatives to describe it.

Cathy was unmoved. “When I was Sharon Costigan’s bridesmaid, she gave us a gold T-bar chain each. I have enough of your stuff at home already. Honestly, every Christmas or birthday or –”

“You made these, Laura?” Brid interrupted, goggle-eyed in amazement. “But how?”

“Laura’s a jewellery designer.” Nicola said proudly. “Didn’t she tell you?”

“No, she did not.” Brid gave Laura a reproving look. “You never said a word.”

Laura reddened, unused to all this lavish praise. “I haven’t been doing it for very long,” she said, almost apologetically.

“Give us a look at the one you made for yourself,” Nicola urged, suspecting that Laura’s own piece would undoubtedly be something special. She wasn’t wrong.

The bridal neckpiece was again the same circle design, but using gold and mother-of-pearl, instead of amethyst. And then there was the corresponding tiara and Kerry was thrilled to see that Laura had fashioned a smaller tiara for her too.

“Now who’s a real princess,” Laura said, placing the replica tiara on Kerry’s little blonde head.

“This is just amazing,” Brid said, fastening the neckpiece on Laura, and standing back to admire the effect. “All this time, I couldn’t understand why you wanted such a plain dress, but now I do. This puts my work to shame.”

Laura laughed. “Don’t be silly, Brid, it’s just something simple.”

“Something simple? I wish the rubbish accessories I get in here was more like this. Instead it’s beads and bits of wire that fall to pieces in minutes. ‘Exclusive Tiaras’, my foot.”

Laura’s heart began to pound. This was the part where she should offer to show Brid more of her designs. Maybe she might become a customer. No, she couldn’t ask her, not now in front of everyone. It would be too embarrassing and she didn’t want Brid to feel as though she had to say yes. Laura was still her customer and she couldn’t put her on the spot like that. No, she’d wait until after the wedding – then she might say something.

Cathy had taken her neckpiece off, and Amanda was carefully examining the detail. “Do you specialise in bridal jewellery only, Laura?” she asked.

“No, not at all,” she replied, suddenly embarrassed by all the interest in her work. “But I’ve never done anything quite so elaborate before.”

“Really gorgeous,” Amanda said, putting down the neckpiece and picking up the earrings, which were basically miniature versions of the neck design. “Where are you stocked? You must be run off your feet with these.”

Laura reddened. “I am – sometimes I can’t keep up with the demand.” The words were out before she could stop them, and she gave a short nervous laugh to cover her discomfort.

But she couldn’t
admit the truth to this woman who was so admiring of her designs. Laura’s pride wouldn’t
let
her admit that most of the time, she sat twiddling her thumbs at home.

W
hen she was absolutely
positive that Dan and John had left for their late afternoon meeting in town, Chloe entered the offices of O’Leary & Hunt, Chartered Accountants.

“Hello,” she said to the young receptionist at the front desk, who had absolutely no idea that the blonde woman standing before her was her boss’s fiancée. “I’m looking for …” she made a great show of studying the folder she carried, “for a Mr Hunt, please.”

“I’m sorry, Mr Hunt is out of the office for the afternoon.” The girl spoke as though she had rattled off that line many times before.

“Would Mr O’Leary be available, then?” Chloe asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

“I’m afraid Mr O’Leary is meeting with clients at the moment. He’s also out for the afternoon.”

“Oh, dear.” Chloe feigned an unimpressed frown.

“Did you have an appointment?”

“No, it’s is a spur-of-the-moment visit, actually. I’m here on behalf of a previous client of Mr Hunt’s. I’m her legal representative, and I was really hoping to speak to one of the partners about my client’s affairs.” She flashed a business card.

“Oh. Well, if you’d like to leave your name and number, I can get Mr Hunt to phone you,” the receptionist offered.

“No, I’m on my way down the country this afternoon, and just popped in on the off-chance. I was really hoping to speak to someone, though.” Chloe sighed dramatically, but then her eyes widened, as if she had just thought of something. “Tell you what, maybe
you
could help me. You’re Mr Hunt’s personal secretary, yes?”

The girl blushed, flattered. “No, I’m only a student on work-experience here for the summer. Mr Hunt’s PA is upstairs. Would you like to speak to her?”

Chloe pretended to study her folder again. That was exactly what she’d like. Chloe had spoken to his PA on the phone a few times but luckily they had never met. The woman wouldn’t know Chloe from Adam, so hopefully by using the solicitor’s ruse she would be able to glean some information from her on events from a few years ago ie, Dan’s marriage break-up.

She looked up and smiled beatifically at the young receptionist. “If you wouldn’t mind checking that she’s free. It’s Miss Fogarty, isn’t it?”

The receptionist nodded, and dialled the extension. She spoke pleasantly into the mouthpiece. “Are you free for a moment, Shannon?” she asked. “There’s someone at reception hoping to speak with you.”