‘I’m pretty sure Mrs Bird’s watching,’ Evie said eventually.
‘I don’t care,’ Dan said. He kissed her again. ‘I love you, Evie Green.’
Epilogue
Now - One year later
Evie
‘Come here.’ Evie’s mum held out her arms and Evie stepped into them, cautiously, for a non-squishy hug. They’d spent a long time getting ready this morning and they didn’t need a crushed dress or ruined hairdo disaster at this point. ‘You look beautiful, Evie.’
‘You look beautiful, too, Mum.’ Evie blinked away sudden tears. This was huge. Well, obviously. Getting married to the right person was, ideally, a one-off, for life.
‘And me,’ said Autumn.
‘Yes, of course you too,’ their mum said.
Autumn, looking fairy-tale gorgeous in her bridesmaid’s dress, did a big pirouette and then ran in for a group hug.
‘Careful,’ screeched Evie and her mum in unison and they all held hands in a little circle instead.
‘I love you,’ Evie’s mum told her daughters.
‘Love you too,’ they both said.
‘Right. Ready?’ Evie’s mum finished smoothing Evie’s dress where Autumn had creased it slightly, and then held her arm out.
‘Wait.’ Evie rearranged her mum’s jacket from where it had been knocked lopsided. ‘There. Yes. Ready. Deep breaths all round.’ She blinked back yet more threatened tears – thank goodness for waterproof mascara – and took her mum’s arm and checked over her shoulder that Autumn was in position behind them, and they started walking down the aisle, to a very shaky organ performance from Mrs Bird of Wagner’s ‘Bridal Chorus’.
Sasha, Lucie, Fiona and another couple of friends from the village had done an amazing job of decorating the church in holly, ivy, berries and twiggy things for the perfect Christmas wedding backdrop.
The church was rammed with guests, all glammed up inBridgerton-themed outfits, put together with a fair amount of historical inaccuracy but a lot of enthusiasm, many of them wearing hats made by Evie’s mum, who’d been in millinery overdrive for the past few months, and all beaming at them as they processed past.
And there was the groom, turned to greet them, his face splitting into the most gorgeous grin.
‘You look stunning,’ he mouthed as they arrived at the front of the church. He didn’t look bad himself in his tight Regency trousers, shirt, waistcoat and jacket.
Evie felt happy tears pricking her eyesagain. This mascara had cost a fortune, but it was going to have been worth every penny if she didn’t end up with panda rings on her face by the end of today.
‘I love you,’ she whispered to her mum, and then let go of her arm and took her seat on the front pew next to Autumn, while their mum moved to stand next to her about-to-be-husband, Grant, and Laura, the vicar, began the service.
Evie looked over at Dan, looking very handsome as a slightly reluctantly garbed Regency gentleman, sitting on the other side of Autumn and holding a wriggling toddler Katie, and smiled at him. She felt like her heart was going to burst with joy watching her mumfinallymake it official with the only man Evie had ever met who she thought could make her mum happy. And it was even better having Dan here to enjoy the day with.
* * *
Six hours later, Sasha did a massive yawn, patted her tummy and said, ‘I’ve got to go to bed now. Pregnancy’s really hard work when the baby’s pressed up against your lungsanddown against your bladder. Where are the kids?’
Sasha was eight months pregnant and exhausted, and had volunteered to babysit Autumn and Katie in Evie’s mum’s house while all the adults partied in the marquee in Sasha’s mum’s garden. Evie’s mum and Grant had been planning to organise the reception themselves in Grant’s pub until Sasha’s mum had insisted that shewantedto host her best friend’s reception, and surely Jenny and Grantdidn’twantto do a busman’s holiday pub evening. Sasha’s mum was staying with her new partner, Doug, the architect who’d asked her out a good year ago, and who she’d eventually started going out with on Valentine’s Day this year, and Evie’s mum and Grant were staying in Sasha’s mum’s house tonight before going on a Christmas honeymoon tomorrow, while Evie and Dan looked after Autumn.
Evie wasn’ttotallysure that Fiona had bargained for full-onBridgerton, but once she’d got her head round it, she’d embraced it, like all the guests had.
When Dan got back from settling Katie in her travel cot in the cottage, Evie was in the middle of a square dance partnered by Grant’s brother. She caught sight of Dan on the other side of the marquee and got the little heart flutter she always got when she saw him after any time apart, even after a year very much together.
When the dance ended, they threaded their way across the floor to each other, beaming away, like there were no other people around them, and Evie walked into Dan’s arms as the band struck up a waltz.
* * *
The party finally wound up at around one thirty. Evie and Dan watched Mrs Bird accept the offer of a walk across the green with her Zimmer frame and Albert Fox, the elderly neighbour she’d spent the entire evening dancing with.
