A Winter's Wedding (18 page)

‘Agreed. I’ll just bin them now,’ Emily said, and she folded the outfit neatly and placed it in her kitchen bin. ‘Do you know that the wardrobe is almost empty now?’

‘You’ve done a lot of de-cluttering these last few months,’ he said, putting his arm around her.

‘I have, haven’t I?’ she agreed. ‘All I have left in there are a few power suits and some pairs of court shoes that I thought would be just the ticket for the magazine industry. Before I found out that most of the photographers and stylists wear casual clothes. They nearly died laughing the first day I turned up for work. How naive was I, Dylan? I’ve done nothing but make mistakes my whole life.’

‘You haven’t made mistakes your whole life.’

‘Trust me, I have.’

‘Only until you met me?’ he said, kissing her tenderly.

‘Until I met you,’ she said, kissing him back.

19. Christmas in Appleton

‘Oh, Dylan, I hope they like me,’ Emily said, checking her make-up in the passenger-seat mirror.

‘My family is really nice, Emily. They just want to meet you; they won’t bite you or anything. And we really can’t put this off any longer. Mum has been begging me to bring you to meet them all for months and months now. If we didn’t agree to this dinner, they’d have come to London in a minibus looking for you.’

‘I know,’ Emily said, patting her fringe – even though it didn’t need patting.

‘You’ve nothing to worry about, babe. They’ll love you just as much as I do,’ he said tenderly.

‘Yes,’ she smiled. But she wasn’t fully convinced.

Emily almost wished they could get a flat tyre, or that the motorway would suddenly be closed for repairs, or that there’d be a genuine emergency back in London and they’d have to do a U-turn. She glanced into her handbag at her mobile phone, but it stayed resolutely silent.

‘It’s a pity your parents couldn’t come with us,’ Dylan said.

‘Yes, isn’t it?’ Emily agreed. ‘But they’d already bought the cinema tickets.’

And then she felt a wave of guilt, for she’d warned her parents that she’d kill them both in cold blood if they accepted Dylan’s offer to bring them to Appleton to meet his family. And the guilt was doubled when Emily remembered that her father was still due a visit to see Sylvia’s stables, which were en route to the village. But Emily knew in her heart that she’d have enough to worry about without her parents disgracing her at the dinner table. She’d have her hands full just trying to put on some semblance of being a normal, happy human being. Mind you, they’d been behaving quite normally recently. Maybe she should have brought them along for the company? But then again, it was nice to have Dylan to herself for the drive to Appleton.

‘Why are you jittery about today, anyway?’ Dylan asked.

‘I have no idea.’

‘It’ll be fine.’

‘Maybe I was born this way?’ Emily said. ‘Maybe my parents were born anxious, and I inherited a double set of anxiety genes? I don’t know.’

‘Look, I promise you that five minutes after you’ve met them, you’ll wonder what all the fuss was about.’

‘I do hope so.’

‘I think it’ll be fun to celebrate Christmas early, don’t you think?’

‘Yes, yes,’ Emily muttered. ‘I hope they like the gifts I got them. That chocolate shop was half empty by the time I got through the list.’

She stared out at the green fields flying past her window. Some of the distant hills were topped with snow. Dylan’s mum and dad were going away skiing for Christmas, and his three sisters were spending the day with their in-laws. So Mrs Shawcross had come up with the great idea of having a big turkey dinner on the 17th of December.

Emily had bought gifts for everyone, and she was wearing her best jeans and one of Arabella’s designer jackets. But all she wanted to do was open the car door, roll out on to the hard shoulder and walk all the way back to her flat in the city. She wouldn’t mind the lofty ceilings and the freezing sitting room tonight, she thought to herself, if she could only curl up in bed with a good book.

‘I do love you even more than I did already for doing this,’ Dylan said, caressing her knee.

‘You’re welcome,’ she said, giving his hand a little squeeze and then placing it gently back on the steering wheel.

‘Nicely done,’ he said, laughing. ‘But I can hold the wheel with one hand, you know. I’ve been driving round the farm since I was fourteen.’

‘Have you really?’

‘Yeah, I can drive a tractor too. I can do hand signals and everything!’

‘I sometimes wonder what it’d be like to be a more confident person,’ Emily mused.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, like you are. I’d love to be like you – you know, the way you just do things without a lot of over-analysing. You just decide to do something, and then you do it. And I bet if it didn’t work out, you’d just laugh it off and forget about it.’

‘Well, sure I would. You only live once; why bother with regrets?’

‘Some of us must be hardwired to hang on to our regrets. I wish I could be like you for just one day, Dylan.’

‘You’re not that bad.’

‘I am, though, I am that bad. Sometimes I annoy myself, because I get so annoyed about silly things – and certain people. I wish I could just sail through life oblivious to all irritations. And that’s why I love my job – because it’s got nothing to do with people.’

‘You interview people all the time,’ Dylan pointed out.

‘Not really; I ask them a few set questions, and then I compliment their home and take a sip of tea. And they’re usually so exhausted from staging their houses, they’ve barely got the energy to talk to me or look at me. On a good day I’m out of the place in less than an hour. I spend more time choosing pictures for the magazine than I do actually talking to anyone.’

‘But you’re a lovely person, Emily. It’s only you who thinks you’re not good with people. Arabella thinks the world of you, and so do I. The only person who doesn’t like you is Jane Maxwell. And that’s only because you’re so nice and friendly, you make her feel like a sour old bossyboots by comparison. Which she is, of course …’

‘Well, thanks for that very lovely vote of confidence. I’ll do my best to chat to everybody. Have you got a dog at the farm?’

‘Yes, we have five dogs,’ he told her.

‘Oh good, I like dogs! Maybe we could take them for a walk?’

‘Well, they might not want to let you out of the door … You know, I must say, your parents seem to be totally loving their stay in Jake’s house,’ Dylan said then, eager to distract Emily from her pre-meeting nerves.

‘Aren’t they just? I’ve never seen them so animated. They’re guarding that house as if their lives depended on it,’ she agreed. ‘They’re obsessed with the burglar alarm, did you notice that? I think Dad holds his breath until he’s pressed in the code. And Mum even bought fresh gerberas out of her own money when the first lot died. She thinks they’re a mandatory part of the decorating scheme.’

‘And the entire house is immaculate. I thought you said your mum never did any housework?’

‘Oh, she never did. But she says that was because her own house was a hovel, and she had no heart in it. Now that she’s living in a mansion, it’s a different story altogether.’

‘It was very nice of Jake to send them a bit of money for Christmas, wasn’t it? Maybe we can find them another gig when Jake comes home,’ Dylan suggested.

‘Yes, maybe. I think my mother is praying every night that Jake will go to India next, for a year …’

‘You know what? He just might do that. He says he can run the company from his laptop.’

They chatted on about Emily’s parents and their Great London Adventure, and the rise and rise of Sylvia’s shop, until they reached the turn-off for Appleton. The motorway was suddenly replaced by an old narrow road with high hawthorn hedges on either side. Then the flat, ploughed fields gave way to lumpy, grassy fields full of sombre-looking dairy cattle. In no time they were pulling up outside a stone-clad double-fronted farmhouse with a massive conservatory at the side. Dylan’s parents, his sisters and their husbands and children were all inside, setting the table for dinner, patting the dogs and generally being very normal and family-like. They waved excitedly when they saw Dylan’s car arriving.

‘Well, they have been busy. They’ve hosed down the yard specially,’ Dylan told her proudly. ‘And would you look at the size of that Christmas tree in the conservatory? Usually they have a small one in the porch, but that beauty must be ten foot tall.’

‘They’ve gone to so much trouble,’ Emily whispered.

‘Come on, now,’ Dylan said encouragingly. ‘My mum is probably more nervous than you are.’

‘Why would she be?’

‘Because you’re a big fancy stylist from London, and she’s a humble farmer’s wife from the country, that’s why. I bet she has big bunches of flowers in every room to distract from the saggy cushions and Dad’s dusty old collection of pewter tankards.’

‘Okay, let’s do it,’ she said as he jumped out of the car and raced round to open the passenger door.

‘They’ll love you,’ he said again.

Then everyone was coming out of the conservatory door and hugging Emily, saying how gorgeous she was. The dogs were licking her hands, and the snow was making everything seem prettier and even more significant and sentimental than it might have been. And Emily knew it was going to be all right. They bundled her inside as she tried not to feel too guilty that she’d denied her poor parents this lovely day out. But then Mrs Shawcross was asking her a thousand questions about her work, and Mr Shawcross was taking photos. Sylvia was pouring her a glass of wine, and Dylan’s other two sisters were admiring her very stylish 1950s-style fringe. And they were all asking her what she saw in Dylan, and exclaiming that he must have cast a spell on her. Which was a joke, of course, since Dylan was the most gorgeous man Emily had ever seen. But it was very funny to pretend that Dylan had had to enchant Emily to get her to go out with him. Emily noted that Mr Shawcross was simply an older version of Dylan, and she could see why his wife still adored him after more than three decades of marriage.

Within ten minutes they were all seated around the table, tucking into the most enormous plate of Christmas dinner.

‘Me and you’ll go to the pub for a quick pint later, Dylan,’ Mr Shawcross said after dessert had been served. ‘Let the women here have a good old gossip.’

Emily held her breath. Was she ready to be left alone with the girls?

‘Sorry, Dad, not this time,’ Dylan said cheerfully. ‘I promised Emily we’d go for a walk round the village, just the two of us. Maybe a couple of the dogs can come with us? I want to show her where I grew up – my old school and everything. Is that okay?’

‘Of course it is, lad,’ Mr Shawcross said at once.

He smiled at them both, and then winked at his wife. They both knew this was no casual romance.

‘I think I can hear wedding bells ringing,’ Sylvia teased.

‘I think you can hear bells ringing inside your head most days,’ Dylan replied dryly.

‘Uncle Dylan is madly in love with Emily. Mummy said so,’ said one of Sylvia’s young daughters.

‘Shush, you little rascal,’ Sylvia scolded.

‘You started it, Sylvia,’ her father reminded her.

‘So I did,’ she admitted.

‘And Mummy said Uncle Dylan was definitely going to marry Emily,’ the little girl said excitedly. ‘Are you going to marry Emily, Uncle Dylan? If you
are
going to marry her then I want to be a bridesmaid. And I want to wear the pink dress with red roses on it. It’s in the window of the Cath Kiddy shop in the village. So it won’t be hard to get me ready for the wedding.’

There was a moment of dead silence, and then the room erupted into raucous laughter. Even the dogs knew there was something exciting going on, and they leapt out of their baskets and did a few laps of the dining table.

‘Well, let me see,’ Dylan said eventually, rubbing his chin like a character from Dickens. ‘I was hoping to marry
you
one day, Molly. But if you’d rather be a bridesmaid then I suppose I shall just have to settle for second best and marry Emily instead.’

‘Yes, I think you should,’ Molly said gravely. ‘You’re getting very old now, and I really want to wear that lovely dress. If we wait for me to grow up, you’ll be
far
too old.’

‘Okay, then. It’s settled,’ Dylan said.

‘Go on, then. Ask her,’ Molly urged, wanting everything settled immediately.

All eyes were on her; Emily thought she was going to faint.

‘I’ll ask her later,’ Dylan said gently, ‘when nobody’s watching.’

Emily’s face was as red as a beetroot. She tried to take a sip of wine but knocked her glass over with a loud clatter instead.

‘Oops,’ she said, dabbing at the wine with a linen napkin. ‘Oh no! Have I ruined this lovely napkin now too?’ she added.

‘Shall we go for that walk?’ Dylan said, getting up from the table.

He thought Emily deserved a break now.

‘Oh yes, what a good idea. I’ll fall asleep if I don’t get some air, I’ve eaten that much. Thanks for a delicious dinner, Mrs Shawcross,’ Emily said graciously.

She stood up and nodded a temporary goodbye to everyone at the table.

‘We won’t be long,’ Dylan told his mother.

‘That’s all right,’ Mrs Shawcross said. ‘Take as long as you like, and we’ll crack on with the washing-up.’

‘We’re still giving out the presents after supper, aren’t we?’ Molly said.

Everyone laughed again.

‘I want to get my presents first, because I have to go to bed at nine o’clock,’ Molly added.

‘This one is a born manager,’ Sylvia said proudly. ‘We’ll not go far wrong with Molly in charge.’

Outside it was still snowing but, by the looks of it, it wouldn’t lie. Dylan and Emily put on their coats and ventured out into the icy afternoon with the two oldest dogs. The Christmas-tree lights cast beautiful shadows across the newly cleaned yard.

‘So what do you think?’ Dylan asked Emily, giving her a tender kiss by the garden gate.

‘I love them all.’

‘I knew you would. So will we stay the night? I don’t think anybody noticed that I didn’t touch my wine. So I can still drive, if you feel a need to escape.’

‘I think I can manage one night in the country, okay,’ she smiled.

‘Great! We’re staying in my old room. You would have had the guest room all to yourself, but with everybody staying over tonight it wasn’t possible.’

‘I’d rather stay with you,’ she said.

‘Right, let’s crack on; I’ve loads of things to show you before it gets dark,’ Dylan began, taking Emily’s hand and setting off down the lane at a brisk pace.

The dogs were delighted with the extra walk, and they skittered along obediently behind their favourite member of the family. Already the moon was visible in the sky. Emily thought she had made a reasonable impression on the Shawcross clan. She began to relax and even enjoy herself.

Sometimes it was annoying having so many feelings, she thought to herself. Because when the feelings were negative, they were very draining. But when they were good, they were very good indeed.