‘No,’ Eva said. ‘You didn’t.’
Eva turned to Maddy and Adam. They stood side by side, dust-covered.
‘Let’s head outside,’ Eva said. ‘There could be further structural damage. We’ll figure out our next move.’
‘So, the wedding’s not over?’ Adam asked.
Maddy’s eyes widened at the question.
‘Doesn’t have to be. Let me have a chat with the officiant. This is a big place. Plenty of places to get married,’ Eva assured them, swallowing down a lump in her throat.
Maddy nodded. Adam placed a hand at the small of her back, protective and instinctive. Eva had to look away.
Thirty-Nine
Maddy stood in the gardens of Hawthorne Manor, her heels sinking slightly into the soft ground, her dress already picking up damp at the edges while her mother picked out bits of plaster from her hair and veil. She was desperately trying not to read anything into this. She’d never believed in fate. She didn’t think today was the day to change that policy.
Around her, the wedding had dissolved into clusters of people trying to make sense of it all. Wait staff had appeared and were handing out canapés and wine as if this were an intentional interlude rather than a near-miss with a falling ceiling.
Hannah was trying to brush plaster dust from her and Mary’s dresses while also reliving the moment with increasing exaggeration. Mary, as Maddy had come to expect, had two glasses of red wine in her hands. Maddy wasn’t sure what had happened to her this year. Had she always been an alcoholic? Or was it something about being around weddings?
Adam stood nearby, talking to his father. ‘I grabbed Maddy out of the way, of course. I wasn’t concerned for myself.’
Maddy felt removed from all of it. She could still feel the moment before the crash. The question hanging in the air. The words she had been about to say.
I do.
She would have said them. Right?
She exhaled slowly, pressing her fingers into the stem of her bouquet. It was looking a bit worse for wear, petals wilting, bits of plaster stuck in it.
This didn’t mean anything. Things went wrong. Buildings had faults. Handymen did bad jobs. That was all this was. Not fate.
‘Maddy.’
She turned.
Ralph was approaching her, his expression vigorously reassuring. Eva stood a few steps behind him, arms folded. She didn’t look at Maddy.
Maddy tried not to look at her either. But she was so bloody tall, you couldn’t miss her. Like a giant red beacon sending out a signal.Warning. Danger ahead.
Maddy focused on the venue manager and not her racing heart.
‘Firstly,’ Ralph began, ‘I am so, so sorry about what’s happened.’
Maddy nodded automatically. ‘Hmm.’
‘We’ve had the structure checked,’ he continued quickly. ‘The banquet hall is completely safe. No issues there at all. The damage is isolated to the ceremony room ceiling.’
Maddy nodded again. ‘Okay…’
‘So,’ he said, with a small, hopeful smile, ‘we can still go ahead with the wedding today.’
Maddy became aware of people nearby subtly leaning in.
‘We’ll relocate the ceremony,’ he went on. ‘Given the weather is dry, we can set up in the garden. Chairs, archway, everything. We’ll have it ready very quickly.’
Maddy glanced around at the open stretch of lawn, the scattered guests, the grey skies. A garden wedding.
