Page 3 of The Silent Bride
‘I’ll text him to come over.’ Daisy lunges forward for her phone.
‘Okay, you do that, I’m going to have a quick shower and get into my pyjamas.’ I neck my glass of wine and leave her to finish texting Laurence.
By the time I’m showered and changed into my pink-and-grey check pyjamas, Laurence is already ensconced on the living-room sofa. As I walk in, he brandishes a bottle of champagne. ‘Congratulations, Porter. That was fast work!’
I look at Daisy. ‘You told him?’
She claps a hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, yeah, sorry. Hope that’s okay?’
Bit late now, I think. But I guess she’s just excited for me. It’s a shame though, because I really wanted to be the one to share my news. Laurence comes over to give me a hug, his messy blond hair damp with rain. ‘So happy for you both. But I’d be even happier if we could at least meet the guy.’
‘I know, I know. Sorry. Seth’s so busy at the hospital we hardly get time for just the two of us, let alone meeting up with friends. But the good news is that he’ll be moving down here after the wedding. He’s got a job at Southampton Hospital.’
‘Pleased to hear it,’ Laurence says. ‘I can’t believe you’re getting married. When did we all get so grown up?’
Laurence Kennedy is a successful counsellor with his own practice. He studied psychology at uni which is where he met his girlfriend, Francesca. Although she decided that field wasn’t for her – she found it too stressful – and ended up working in an animal shelter instead. Fran has become really close with me and Daisy, but there’s a different vibe when it’s the four of us. When she’s around, Daisy and I are careful not to be over-friendly with Laurence or share jokes from our school days that might make her feel excluded.
‘So anyway,’ I say, shoving him along the sofa and accepting a glass of champagne. ‘I was just in the middle of telling Daisy how Seth proposed.’
Laurence nods. ‘She told me about the lift in the five-star hotel, so you can carry on from there. Sounds like he might be too classy for the likes of us.’
‘Oh, definitely,’ I reply with a grin.
‘So, carry on,’ he says.
‘Oh, right, okay. So we get out at the top floor and it’s this nondescript corridor next to a fire exit.’
‘Oh, I know!’ Daisy interrupts excitedly. ‘I bet it was one of those helicopter proposals, wasn’t it?’
I experience an irrational burst of annoyance. First she cuts me off when I’m telling her about the proposal, then she tells Laurence my news without me present, and now she’s ruined my story by guessing correctly. And, added to that, she’s made his proposal sound run-of-the-mill, when I thought it was devastatingly romantic and unusual.
Daisy and I have had quite a competitive relationship since school. Nothing serious or mean, just a subtle rivalry over popularity, career, boyfriends etc. Up until I met Seth, Daisy was winning hands-down in the boyfriend department, but now that I have a fiancé who’s also a doctor, well, it’s unfortunately put her nose out of joint. It sounds petty and ridiculous, but I think it’s a childish hangover from our school days. I guess we should have grown out of it by now, but I can sense her trying to stifle her jealousy. It’s a habit I wish we could break.
I blink and try not to let my disappointment show at her attempt to minimise my news. ‘It was incredible,’ I reply. ‘We took off from a helipad, the blades were whirring ... I felt like I was in some kind of action movie. Then we flew across London just before sunset and we saw all the lights and the landmarks. He proposed while we were over the Thames.’
‘Sounds amazing,’ Laurence says. ‘Let’s cheers.’ He holds his glass aloft. ‘Congratulations, Porter. Wishing you all the happiness in the world.’
‘Congrats, Alice,’ Daisy adds.
We clink our glasses and take a sip.
The thing is, despite my excitement at Seth’s proposal, there are still a few little niggles in my head that I need to deal with. Nothing is ever perfect though, is it? Relationships, like everything else, are all about compromise. But I won’t think about that now. No. Tonight is all about celebrating, and that’s what I’m determined to do.
Chapter Three
NOW
I literally can’t move. I don’t dare catch anyone’s eye. I’m partway down the aisle and I can feel Dad staring at me, holding my arm too tightly. He’ll be irritated that I’m going off script. That I’m making a scene. Although he’s not showing it. No. For the sake of everyone here – especially his business colleagues – he’s being the model of concern.
Why am I even worrying about what Dad is thinking? That hardly matters when right this second I’m gazing at a stranger who’s standing where my groom should be. I simply don’t recognise him. This man is tall, dark-haired and handsome, same as Seth. But it isn’t him. I close my eyes tight and snap them open again, vainly hoping that everything will have righted itself. But I still find myself staring at the same handsome stranger.
I wonder if we might have somehow shown up to the wrong wedding? No, everyone else is here. Mum, my sister and maid of honour Elizabeth and her husband Graham. My friends and family. I see them all. A whispered muttering starts up and guests begin to shift in their seats, uncomfortable that I’ve stopped my traditional walk down the aisle. Can’t any of them see that it’s not Seth? Is it going to be up to me to say something?
‘Alice,’ Dad says quietly. ‘Are you feeling okay? Are you well?’
I open my mouth but I can’t find my voice.
‘You’re not having second thoughts, are you?’ he hisses in my ear.
