‘There is just one small technicality,’ Ralph added, his tone shifting slightly, more careful now. ‘Under UK law, the legal part of the ceremony has to take place within a licensed structure. So what we’ll do is position you and Adam in the archway of the French doors—technically inside the building—while your guests remain seated outside.’
‘So I’d be… half inside?’ she asked. ‘And everyone else is outside?’
‘Exactly,’ Ralph said. ‘Just within the threshold. The officiant will stand with you, and everyone else can enjoy the garden setting.’
Maddy almost laughed. Behind him, Eva’s eyes met hers briefly. Maddy looked away first.
‘And we can do that… quickly?’ she asked, her voice steadier than she felt.
‘Very quickly,’ Ralph assured her. ‘My team is already setting up. We’ll have you married in no time.’
Adam appeared at her side, casually joining the official conversation about the rest of his life.
‘Hey,’ he said gently. ‘This’ll make a hell of a story.’
Maddy looked at him. He was smiling. A little shaken but rolling with the punches. She really did appreciate that about him.
‘Yeah,’ she said, because it was the right thing to say. ‘A great story.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘We’ll laugh about it later.’
Across the lawn, staff began moving with purpose. Chairs were being carried, an arch positioned.
She glanced at the French doors, the place where she would now get married. A threshold. Not quite in. Not quite out.
Her grip tightened on the bouquet. This was still happening. And this time, there would be no collapsing ceiling to stop her.
‘How long?’
‘About twenty minutes?’ Ralph said.
She nodded. ‘I don’t want the to do the walk this time. Let’s just get it started without the faff.’ She turned to Adam. ‘If that’s okay?’
‘Whatever you want,’ Adam said with a shrug and a smile.
Yeah. Whatever she wanted.
Forty
The French doors stood open. Beyond them, the garden had been hastily rearranged into something that could, from a forgiving distance, pass for intentional. An arch had been wedged beside the doorway, leaning ever so slightly to the left. Chairs sat in loose rows across the lawn, slowly filling with guests who were muttering things like, ‘Round two,’ to polite laughter.
From where Eva stood, the whole arrangement looked like a bodge job. Hawthorne Manor had seen many garden weddings, but not this early in spring, and certainly not thrown together at speed. They weren’t ready for this.
And in the middle of it all was Maddy, standing very still in the doorway, trying to get married for a second time, her now rather grubby veil back down.
Adam was saying something to the officiant, smiling in that agreeable way of his. He looked like a man determined to be the right kind of groom under unusual circumstances. It was almost admirable.
But Eva couldn’t bear to look at him for long. She had done something terrible to him, something she couldn’t undo. And beneath that guilt, she envied what he had, and still furtherbelow that, she had an unshakable belief that he didn’t deserve Maddy.
But did Maddy? Eva didn’t think so. She thought this was as good as she deserved, a cheesy bastard who didn’t see her.
A breeze moved across the lawn, lifting the edges of dresses, stirring hair. Someone near Eva laughed lightly. ‘Well, at least it’s not raining.’
That’s right, aim low, she thought.
The officiant began, voice carrying just enough to reach the seated guests.
‘Thank you all for your patience.’
