The Wedding Countdown (44 page)

‘You have no idea,’ smiles Eve, ‘just how great we are.’

We pause at the middle terrace and both girls hug me.

‘This is where we stop,’ says Nish.

‘Really?’ I’m disappointed because I’m really enjoying the tranquil gardens. ‘Can’t we walk a little further?’

‘You can,’ says Eve. ‘But you walk alone from here.’

‘Alone? Why?’

‘Because,’ says Nish, her voice trembling, ‘there’s someone waiting for you.’

‘Someone’s waiting? Who?’

Slowly they turn and Eve points towards the solitary figure of a man at the bottom of the terrace. Nish places her hand in the small of my back and gently pushes me forward.

‘Trust us, Mills. Go to him.’

As though in a dream I find myself walking away from the girls and with every step I take my heart beats faster. 

What’s happening?

The mystery man has his back to me and his head is obscured by a
sehra
, the traditional headdress that covers the face of a Pakistani groom. Normally it’s a curtain of tacky gold tinsel but this man’s
sehra
is made of fragrant jasmine flowers, which must have come from Auntie Shammi’s garden.

Subhi. How did he manage to get here so quickly? My feet carry me forward but my hands start to tremble because this doesn’t
feel
like Subhi, which sounds crazy I know. My heart is starting to race. I’m so awash with adrenalin I’m probably illegal.

Since when has Subhi worn Armani?

It isn’t the clothes that give the game away but the stance of that body and the definition of the muscles beneath the suit. There is only one person on the entire planet with such a physical presence.

It can’t be…

‘Wish?’ The name escapes my lips before I even realise I’m speaking.

Can he hear me over the drumming of my heart?

‘Is that a guess?’ asks a voice from behind the
sehra
.

As though they have a life of their own my hands push aside the hanging garlands of the
sehra
and it feels like I’m seeing daylight after an eternity locked in the darkness. With a cry of shock I stumble backwards and the
sehra
slips from my fingers.

‘Hey!’ Wish reaches out to catch me. ‘That’s not the reaction I was hoping for!’

He pulls off his
sehra
with one sharp tug and there he is, he really is, smiling down at me.

Please Allah-
ji
don’t let me wake up now. I don’t think I could bear it.

Neither of us says a word. We just stare like idiots. Am I suffering from heatstroke? Or is Wish really here in Pakistan?

‘Don’t look so worried; it really is me,’ whispers Wish, ‘and you’ve certainly cured my jet lag! Oh Mills, you look amazing.’

‘Who invited you to the
shaadi
?’

‘No one,’ says Wish. ‘I’m most definitely gate crashing.’

I feel dizzy and not just from the midday sun. ‘I don’t understand. Why are you here? Where’s Minty? What’s going on?’

‘Ssh.’ Wish places his finger on my lips. ‘There’s only one explanation.’

‘Which is?’

He takes a deep breath. ‘I love you. That’s why I’m here. Mills, didn’t you know? I love you with all my heart and all my soul. I always have and I always will.’

And there you have it: an entire Wall’s factory full of melting ice cream.

‘You love me?’

Wish nods and jasmine petals snow softly onto my upturned face.

‘I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you struggling with that photocopier. Remember, on your first day at
GupShup
?’ He shakes his head. ‘I haven’t stopped thinking about you since.’

‘You saved my neck that day,’ I recall. ‘Although just for the record I could have probably sorted it myself.’

‘Mills,’ Wish sounds serious and I notice how tired he looks. There are blue smudges under his eyes and his cheeks are shadowed with stubble. ‘Do you think you could stop joking for a moment? I know this must come as something of a shock but do you think you could ever feel the same way? Could you come to love me one day?’

I can’t help it. I start to laugh like a
pagal
as shock and joy and the stress of the last few hideous weeks overwhelm me.

‘Wish,’ I gasp when I get my breath back, ‘if you only knew how I’ve been dreaming about hearing you say that! I’ve loved you from that moment too and do you know what?’ I sober up suddenly as I look into eyes that blaze with tenderness and love. ‘I’ve loved you for every minute of every day ever since.’

‘Phew,’ smiles Wish, and out pops the dimple, ‘that’s a relief!’

‘But what about Minty? What about your engagement?’

Wish shakes his head. ‘We were never engaged, Mills. Some nurse got the wrong end of the stick, rang
The Sun
and before I knew it I was engaged. But I never, ever asked Minty to marry me. I called things off that evening you had dinner with Raza. I was on my way back to find you when I had the accident, and the rest…’ He shrugs. ‘Well, the rest is history. By the time I’d plucked up the courage to tell you how I really felt you were engaged to Subhi.’ His eyes cloud. ‘I didn’t know how I would bear it.’

I’m yanked back to reality. ‘Subhi! What about him? And my parents?’

‘What about your parents, eh?’ says a familiar male voice from behind me. ‘Were you ever going to tell them how unhappy you really were?’

I whip round and either I’m having a weird trip or my parents, Sher Rahim, Ophelia West, Jamal and my two best friends have joined us. Mummy-
ji
is crying and Ophelia offers her a hankie from her Mulberry bag.

No prizes for guessing which celebrity’s arrival caused havoc at the hotel.

‘Daddy-
ji
? You know about this?’

My father smiles. ‘Yes, Amelia, I most certainly do. Young Darwish has explained how he feels. I take it you feel the same way?’

‘Oh yes!’

‘I thought as much,’ my father tugs his beard. ‘I can see why. He’s a fine young man. Well, you have my blessing.’

‘What about Subhi?’ I whisper. ‘You’ve given your word.’

‘Let’s just say that Mutti’s word and mine have cancelled themselves out without having to be broken. Due to the slight change of circumstances–’

But I still don’t understand. Yes, my circumstances have changed but what about Subhi? Isn’t he going be angry about being dumped on the day of his marriage?

‘Subhi will still be married,’ continues my father.

‘Dad! I can’t marry Subhi! I love Wish!’

‘I’m not telling you to stop loving Wish, not when he has flown halfway around the world to plead his case,’ says my father.

‘Islam strictly forbids polygamy for girls!’ I point out in case Dad’s flipped and thinks I can marry them both.

My father chuckles. ‘
Astaghfirullah
! The very thought! Don’t worry, Amelia
beti
. No one will be breaking any halal laws if I can help it.’ He laughs softly. 'It’s very simple really,
beti
. Subhi is more than happy to call the marriage off. It appears he too loves somebody else and has done for some time. Apparently his feelings are reciprocated.’

‘Sana!’ I gasp.

My father nods. ‘When Darwish arrived at the hotel yesterday and told me how he felt, I was honour-bound to speak with Subhi first; if Subhi still wished the marriage to go ahead then Darwish gave me his word he would leave at once.’

No wonder Dad was impressed.

‘But Subhi jumped at the chance to marry Sana,’ says Wish. ‘Thank goodness!’

‘So the change of circumstances means Subhi will now be marrying Sana instead. Your aunt’s gone shopping for Sana’s wedding
lehenga
and she’s over the moon,’ finishes my mother. ‘Everybody’s happy!’

I glance at Wish. Happy doesn’t even come close.

‘Now if all of you don’t mind,’ says Wish, ‘there’s something I’d like to say to Mills. Alone.’

Like mist in the sunshine our friends and family melt away, strolling through the flowers until I can no longer hear their laughter and chatter.

Wish and I are alone and I haven’t felt this nervous since I opened my A-level results.

He smiles at me and then drops to his knees. Right on cue fountains all around us burst into life, but Wish is too busy fumbling in his pocket to notice. Is that a glimmer of a diamond that I see?

Wish gently takes my hands in his.

‘Hey,’ he says, looking up in surprise. ‘What’s happened here?’

‘False nails,’ I explain. ‘Mine were disgusting.’

‘Yours,’ says Wish firmly, ‘were perfect. All of you is perfect. Never change, Mills. I love you just the way you are.’

‘OK!’ I squeak, hardly able to think straight because his forefinger is stroking the henna patterns. Wow! If he can make me feel like this just from touching my hand then what will it be like when he…

Focus Mills, focus! I think the guy’s going to propose!

Wish clears his throat.

‘Amelia Ali, I love and totally adore you. You’re my world. But I have to know, will you do me the honour of marrying me and becoming my lawful wedded reading partner?’

I smile at him, a real smile this time and one that I know will be plastered across my face until my dying day. Wish, my best friend, my soul mate, and the one true love I always dreamed of looks up at me, his eyes sparkling with love and hope and desire.

And there’s only one answer, isn’t there?

‘Wish,’ I say, and as I speak I feel weightless with joy, ‘just try and stop me! The quicker the better too as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had my fill of time-wasters this year.’

‘From now on,’ Wish says huskily, ‘I promise we won’t waste a second.’

I stand on my tiptoes and brush his lips with mine. ‘Wish Rahim, that’s the best suggestion I’ve ever heard! Why wait? Let’s rearrange my marriage straight away!’

THE END

Chapter 1

You have insufficient funds to complete this transaction

Please contact your branch

The neon letters dancing across the cashpoint screen couldn’t have looked more complacent if they’d been flicking V-signs and pulling moonies. Although it was a sweltering June day, the kind when Londoners go mad picnicking in Hyde Park, Andi Evans was glacier cold. As the man queuing behind her cleared his throat irritably and the hot sunshine beat down, she stared at the screen in disbelief, her blood freezing from her insides out and spreading a chill of dread to the tips of her fingers and toes.

Insufficient funds? How on earth could there be insufficient funds in her personal account? Andi was always in credit and, unlike her sister Angel (who was probably single-handedly to blame for the economic downturn), she was never overdrawn. Not even as a student and certainly not now as a fully paid-up member of the adult world with rent and bills to pay, as well as supporting an actor boyfriend who rested so frequently he could double for Sleeping Beauty. No, Andi Evans always kept on top of her finances. She had to.

So what on earth was going on?

Fearfully she glanced back at the screen just in case she had been mistaken. Maybe the pressure of work and an evil boss was getting to her more than she’d realised? That must be it. The strain of working so hard and this morning’s big row with her boyfriend, Tom, had all been too much. She was seeing things.

Whipping off her sunglasses, Andi gave her eyes a quick rub – but when she returned her attention to the screen the message was still there, a baleful lime rebuke that made her feel sick.

You have insufficient funds to complete this transaction

Andi shook her head. There was no way she could possibly be overdrawn. Today was payday and her salary, together with the five-hundred-pound buffer she always kept in the account, meant that she had more than enough cash. Add to this a thousand-pound over-draft facility and it was impossible that she didn’t have any money. What was going on?

With a growing sensation of dread she pressed the balance only key and, seconds later, had to clutch the ATM for support.

Over two grand in the red?

WTF?

Andi’s every cell was paralysed with disbelief. Had somebody cloned her card? Or hacked into her account? Maybe the cashpoint had made a mistake? Even machines were allowed off days, weren’t they?

“Excuse me, love, but some of us would actually like to use that machine before we die of old age.”

The impatient words snatched her back to the present. Mistake or not, she couldn’t spend the next hour staring at the ATM. Apart from the fact that this wouldn’t explain the mystery of her missing money, Andi only had thirty minutes before she was due back at her desk and slaving over the latest bunch of recalcitrant figures. She didn’t dare be so much as a nanosecond late back either, because then Zoe, her boss from hell, would have even more of an excuse to make her day a misery. There was no way Andi wanted to give her any extra ammunition. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to make her new boss hate her so much, but from the first day Zoe had tottered into the office on her skyscraper heels and with her Cheddar Gorge cleavage on display, she’d gone out of her way to make Andi’s life a misery. Fortunately Andi enjoyed her job, which made it bearable; accounting might sound dull to most people, but there was a simplicity and beauty to balancing figures that she found hugely satisfying. The other thing keeping her sane was the fun email friendship that she’d struck up with one of her latest clients. She’d been dealing with the finances for the flotation of the Internet security company he worked for, so they’d been in touch regularly. She didn’t know his real name only his title at the firm, which was Project Manager B.  Similarly he only knew her as AE, but it didn’t matter though; Andi enjoyed chatting with him online and PMB’s funny emails just about compensated for the endless sarcastic comments from her boss. It was rather sad that talking online to a total stranger was the highlight of her day, but Andi preferred not to dwell on that thought too much.

“Quit,” was always Angel’s answer whenever the topic of Andi’s unhappiness with her boss was raised. “Tell the silly old cow to stick it up her bum, and do something else. Take a chance.”