The Guest List (11 page)

Heidi felt ill. Now the day was completely tarnished. None of this was turning out like she planned, far from it.

‘Heidi? Are you going to congratulate Cara and Kim?’ her father asked, having noticed that she’d barely uttered a word.

No, she damn well wasn’t
.
Not at least until she got some congratulations sent her way first.

‘Actually, I have some news myself,’ she said, raising her chin once again and trying to regain her posture. She looked at Paul. Yes, she would include him in the announcement. It was more than she could say about the other women in the family, who as usual had made it all about them alone. ‘Rather,
Paul
and I have some news.’

Her husband smiled, and gently put a supportive arm around her shoulders.

‘Oh. What is it?’ her mother asked, pausing a little.

‘We are going to have a baby. Our
first
baby,’ she reinforced, as if anyone had questioned whether this was their first or fourteenth.

‘Oh my goodness! Oh Heidi!’ Betty rushed forward once again and threw her arms around her youngest daughter, pulling Paul into her embrace at the same time. ‘Oh I can’t believe this. So much good news in this family these days! We are all so lucky!’

Heidi pushed away. ‘Please Mum, you have to be careful, you can’t be so rough with me.’

‘Oh for heaven’s sakes sweetheart,’ Betty laughed happily. ‘I think I know what you can and cannot do when you are pregnant.’ She enveloped her daughter in another hug.

‘Yes I know it can feel bit like that, especially with your first, but really, you’re not breakable,’ Kim added, and Heidi looked daggers at her.

‘I’m six weeks, Kim. The early days are especially delicate,’ she informed her.

Kim waved a hand. ‘Seriously, don’t stress about it. Most women wouldn’t even know at this stage, and babies are hardy.’

‘Kim’s right, love,’ Betty agreed. ‘Women have been having babies for thousands of years, there’s no need to be fragile.’

Heidi reminded herself that this sort of attitude was exactly what you’d expect from Kim. She breathed a sigh of relief when Paul stepped forward to take a protective stance in front of his wife. ‘Well Kim,’ he said, ‘Heidi and I are taking a different approach. We’d rather she took things easy and I’ll do my best to make sure she does.’

Kim chuckled. ‘Oh, right. Ben!’ she called out to her husband, laughing, ‘you’re on piggyback duty for the next few months.’

Heidi’s brother joined in with the laughter and she glared at him too. She couldn’t believe that Ben bought into Kim’s carelessness. What kind of a mother was she?

‘It’s great news Heidi, congratulations. We’re thrilled for you,’ Cara put in then, evidently trying to break the tension. Her attention diverted momentarily from Kim, Heidi was momentarily grateful for the fact that it had been Cara to make the concession and congratulate her first.

She raised a small smile. ‘Yes, congratulations to you too, and you Shane. But weddings are a lot of work you know, you have so much planning to do. Still,’ she added with a sigh, ‘at least you can spread the plans out over a year or so, and can set your own schedule. You can’t do that with a baby; you only have so much time.’

‘Oh, there’s not that much to it, really,’ Kim laughed airily. ‘You just buy a six-pack of Babygros a week or two before, then sit back and wait for it all to kick off. Although, some people can even schedule it these days,’ she said, looking knowingly at her husband, who winked.

Heidi stared at Kim in horror. ‘Childbirth is a beautiful and natural thing. You don’t
schedule
a baby!’

‘Well, try it once and see how you get on. Maybe afterwards you’ll be singing a different tune,’ her brother said shortly, and she remembered again that Kim had supposedly had difficult births with her first two.

Drama queen.

She shook her head, trying to wrap her thoughts around all that was happening. It wasn’t fair, why did Cara have to get engaged? And why did Kim need a third baby? They had ruined everything for her. And to make it worse, neither of them was acting like her pregnancy was a big deal.

She turned her attention back to her family. Her mother and Kim had already gone back to buzzing over Cara’s ring. ‘Now, about this wedding, Cara,’ her mother was saying. ‘What did your parents say, Shane? I’m sure they must be thrilled!’ Heidi noticed that at this, Cara looked slightly green around the gills.

Well don’t demand the spotlight if you can’t handle the attention
.

Heidi knew that
she
could handle it, but no one was paying her the slightest bit of notice.

‘Let’s get dinner organised first and then we can chat all about it,’ Betty continued, beckoning to Cara and Kim as she headed out of the room. Then she turned her attention to Heidi. ‘You too, love; all hands on deck in the kitchen.’

Heidi stared at her mother in absolute horror. Did they really expect her to help out? In a steaming hot kitchen, carrying heavy plates and helping with dinner? She needed to relax!

‘Although, you might want to grab an apron, pet,’ Betty continued, ‘you don’t want to mess up that pretty top.’

‘Mum, I can’t do that; I need to stay off my feet.’

Her mother looked at her, confused. ‘Are you not feeling well?’

Heidi answered too quickly. ‘No, I feel fine, but I am
pregnant
!’

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kim exchange an amused glance with Cara. ‘Well, the baby’s got to eat too,’ her sister-in-law said. ‘And aren’t you starving? I know I am.’

Ben chuckled. ‘Yeah Paul, now is definitely the time to put locks on the cupboards. If my little sis is anything like Kim she’ll eat you out of house and home.’

Heidi felt like crying. This was horrible. Not only had her big news been trumped by everyone else’s, but her family were acting as if having a baby was no big deal; almost as if you could continue to go on and lead a normal life while you were pregnant.

They were even making her do work, for goodness’ sake! Cooking in the kitchen like some kind of slave.

This was turning out to be the worst day ever.

On Monday morning Cara sat at her desk, outlining to Conor all that had happened over the weekend, and how her and Shane’s plans for a small, fuss-free wedding were being very quickly hijacked from all directions.

‘Sounds like you’re really getting it from both sides,’ he said sympathetically. ‘Have you heard from Shane’s parents since?’ He was perched on the corner of her desk with a cup of coffee in hand.

‘No, not a word. Shane tried calling his father yesterday, but it went straight to voicemail. I’m not sure what to do. I thought this was supposed to be a happy time.’ Cara placed her head in her hands and massaged her temples. ‘The only ones who haven’t given us any grief are Kim and Ben. Even Heidi could barely bring herself to congratulate us yesterday at dinner . . .’

‘Well, if you’re describing the scene accurately, it sounds to me like both your and Kim’s announcements somewhat overshadowed your little sister’s news. Talk about bad timing.’

Cara shrugged and sat back in her chair. ‘Well, that is true; she did seem a bit deflated. But we’re all thrilled for her and Paul, and I think we made that clear. She doesn’t have to give me the cold shoulder, just because I happened to have a little bit of news too. But that’s Heidi for you.’

Conor smiled and shook his head. ‘Women – ye can be such catty creatures. And from what you tell me about your sister, she subscribes to the belief that the sun and moon and stars revolve entirely around her precious backside.’

Cara chuckled guiltily. ‘Oh stop it, she’s not that bad.’ Although it did indeed describe Heidi to a T, but still she felt duty-bound to defend her sister. ‘As for the wedding, I just don’t know what we’re going to do. Shane is being steadfast, insisting that we are going to do whatever the hell we want, but it doesn’t feel right – not when everyone seems dead set against a small wedding.’ She shook her head in frustration. ‘Everyone has an opinion; everyone thinks we should do things this way and that. Honestly Conor, my head is spinning.’

‘Then don’t take the advice,’ her boss said. ‘And if someone feels the need to tell you what they believe you need to do, simply smile politely, nod and tell them to feck off.’

Cara smiled at the notion. She knew Conor was right, but at the same time she also knew that he had no idea what it was like to be in this situation. She wasn’t a confrontational person and she felt at a loss as to how to control the wedding tsunami that she felt was starting to brew around her.

‘You know, you really aren’t in the position to be giving this kind of advice, seeing that you’ve never been engaged or married yourself,’ she teased.

‘You’re probably right, what would a consummate bachelor know about weddings?’ Conor stood up and patted Cara on the shoulder. ‘Really though, I do have one piece of advice for you and I think it’s quite important.’

Cara rolled her eyes. ‘Let me take notes, I’ll add it to the list.’

‘Ah don’t be so dramatic. But honestly, even if you don’t take anyone’s else advice, just keep this in mind. Remember, whoever holds the purse strings for the wedding has the control. Don’t accept a cent from anyone else if possible. Then you and Shane will be the only ones calling the shots. All the decisions will be yours and the rest of them will just have to go along with it.’

It was the best piece of advice Cara had received yet.

She nodded and ran a hand through her hair. ‘You’re right and in fairness, I’m probably getting my knickers in a twist over nothing. I just didn’t expect so many people to want to stick their oar in. It is only one day after all. Why so much fuss and drama?’

Conor shrugged. ‘Heck if I know. But now do you understand why I never bothered with all this palaver? Too much stress babe, way too much.’

Cara smiled, already feeling a whole lot better. Conor was like that, always able to calm her down and get her to focus on the important things in life. He was like that with everything, so easy-going and laid-back. Nothing fazed him.

So maybe she should try and be more like that about the wedding. Let nothing faze her. Let people say what they wanted.

She was meeting the girls tonight – a group of old friends who, now that most were married and some had kids, rarely got to see one another. But when news of Cara’s engagement broke they’d arranged to meet up for a celebration. No doubt it would be an early night but it was bound to be good fun.

Exactly what Cara needed.

‘There she is! Cara! Over here!’

Later that same evening as she walked into O’Shea’s, a popular Greygates pub, Cara looked in the direction of the voice of her best friend, Maria.

‘Hey!’ she grinned, as she made her way across the room to where Maria and her other friends, Lilly and Samantha, sat.

As she approached the table Samantha started to bounce around in her seat. ‘Oh come on, come on. I want to see. Show us the sparkler!’

Samantha reached forward and grabbed Cara’s hand, pulling her close. Caught by the unexpected action, Cara almost tripped on the thick carpeting under her feet but she had to smile at her friend’s enthusiasm.

‘Oh it’s just gorgeous!’ Lilly gushed, brushing her straightened dark hair over her shoulder so she could take a better look. ‘Congrats Cara – Shane has amazing taste.’

Cara pulled her hand back as she took her seat. ‘Sorry I’m late . . .’

‘Well I see you haven’t changed much!’ Maria laughed. ‘Besides, I’m sure you’ve loads going on at the moment with all the wedding plans.’

Cara smiled a non-committal smile.

‘Well, seeing as we’re celebrating, we took the liberty of ordering champagne in your honour,’ Lilly said, pouring her a glass.

The four women toasted and Cara sat back in her chair, already feeling more relaxed than she had in days.

Yes, this is going to be a fun night
, she thought.

After taking a sip of champagne, Samantha placed her glass back on the table and locked her blue eyes on Cara in a steely gaze. ‘So tell us – what have you organised so far?’

‘For the wedding you mean?’ Cara furrowed her brow. By her count, it was only Monday. She had been engaged now for approximately . . . five days. ‘Well, it only all happened last week, so outside of telling our families and what not . . .’ She shrugged.

The three women looked at Cara with confusion.

‘What do you mean? Surely you’ve set a date though?’ Lilly frowned.

‘Well, no, not—’

‘Cara, honestly, that’s the first thing you should do, and you need to do it ASAP,’ Lilly informed her knowledgeably. ‘I picked the date within forty-eight hours of Simon asking me. There’s tough competition for dates now, you have to remember that.’

‘Yes, really Cara, you need to be on top of this,’ Samantha agreed, nodding sagely. ‘You have to get the deposit down, before all of the good hotels fill up.’

‘Definitely,’ Maria chimed in. ‘When Brian and I went looking, I almost went bonkers when I found out that Powerscourt was booked out for nearly two years in advance! But of course we were blessed because of that cancellation . . .’

Cara placed her glass on the table and tried to quell the rising tide of anxiety that was threatening to strangle her. This is what she had hoped to avoid tonight, all the stress and lecturing. Why did everyone feel the need to bestow their unsolicited wedding advice upon her?

‘Really girls, I appreciate the advice but it’s grand,’ she said with a tight smile. ‘At the moment, Shane and I are just enjoying being newly engaged. As for the wedding, there’s no panic. All that will fall into place.’

But Lilly was shaking her head in disagreement.

‘Well OK then, if you don’t want to take charge, you probably should call the woman who did my wedding, do you remember how great she was? Let me get her number for you.’

Cara thought back. From what she could recall of Lilly’s wedding planner she was a bossy old biddy who had spent the day barking orders at everyone including Lilly and her hapless groom.

Ah, that would be a definite no
, she muttered silently, as she watched Lilly scroll through her BlackBerry contacts.