Page 30 of Summer at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

She heard the clunk of a gear, the slight rev of Tom’s truck engine, and the two vehicles started to move off down the lane.

Tom’s words lingered ominously in Rachel’s mind: ‘Don’t know why I’m even thinking of getting married again …’

The storm clouds up above suddenly looked a whole lot darker.

14

‘Mummy, can Daddy come and see me in my pretty bridesmaid’s dress for your getting married day?’ Later that day, Maisy was twirling around in her gorgeous cornflower blue, off-the-peg and in-the-sale, flower-girl frock.

It was one scenario that Rachel hadn’t contemplated; having Jake, her wayward ex and Maisy’s dad, there at her wedding to Tom. She certainly hadn’t sent out an invitation to him.

‘And Chelsea too. She’d love to see this. It’s like a princess dress.’ Maisy was still in motion, dancing on tippy-toes around the room.

Chelsea was Jake’s latest girlfriend, though heaven knew if they were even still together – what with his track record, most likely not.

Jill and Eve gave Rachel an empathetic grimace: awkward or what? Charlotte, who was having her hemline pinned up, merely raised her eyebrows whilst they awaited Rachel’s response.

The girls were having a trying-on session at the farmhouse, with Jill’s close friend and hobby seamstress, Jan, taking final measurements and pinning here and there, so she could make some last-minute alterations to the bridesmaids’ and flower girls’ dresses. Eve had offered to do the sewing for these too, but Rachel had insisted someone else do this job at least. With all of Eve’s work so far on Rachel’s wedding dress, and the many beautiful craft creations she was making for the tables and the tipi, as well as her own business to run, Rachel was concerned that her friend might be at the point of burn-out.

‘Umm … well, petal …’ Rachel floundered. ‘I’m not sure if he’d be able to come.’

‘Why not?’

Rachel didn’t want to go into the complications of adult relationships, and how having your ex at your wedding might be a little bit awkward. She tried to imagine having Caitlin there, no doubt cursing her from the pews, as Rachel made her way down the aisle. It really wouldn’t be fair on Tom.

‘So why don’t you just ask him?’ Maisy persisted. It all seemed so simple when you were six years old.

Rachel hated to disappoint Maisy, who was already looking confused. Oh crikey, would it be so awful if Jake turned up, even with Chelsea in tow? It’d be a busy day with so many other people there. It’s not as though she or Tom would have to spend much time with them … and he was Maisy’s dad after all.

All eyes were on Rachel now, Jan kneeling with a large pin poking from the side of her mouth, Maisy’s eyes pleading. She felt her resolve floundering. Maisy saw so little of her father as it was, with him living hundreds of miles away. ‘Well, I suppose we could ask him. But I can’t make any promises that he’ll be able to come.’

‘Yay!’ The beam on Maisy’s face said it all. ‘We can ring him tonight, and we can tell him all about my pretty dress, and the sparkly hair things … and the big tent and the lots of puddings.’

‘Y-es.’ Rachel was still trying to convince herself that she hadn’t just made the most dreadful decision.

‘Yippee.’ Maisy grasped Amelia’s hands and they did a little spin together, their lilac-blue skirts flying out in a whirl. The rest of the gathering couldn’t help but smile, but if anyone looked at Rachel, they’d see that hers didn’t quite reach her eyes.

‘He said “yes”.’ The words reverberated around the kitchen.

Rachel hadn’t long come off the phone call with Jake upstairs and was still rather incredulous.

‘Oh crikey, right,’ said Jill, floundering.

Unreliable, wayward, flippant Jake had only gone and said ‘he’d love to come’ to Maisy, backing it up with a, ‘Yeah, I’ll make it up there for your do’ to Rachel as she took the mobile from her daughter at the end of the call. ‘I was thinking of calling up to the farm soon and seeing Maisy again, anyhow,’ he’d continued breezily.

‘Bloody hell, Mum. That’s so typical of Jake.’ Rachel had popped down to fetch Maisy a glass of bedtime milk and found herself feeling all hot and bothered.

Jill was finishing drying the last of the supper dishes, tea towel in hand. ‘He might not make it yet …’ They both knew her ex’s tendency to let people down at the last minute.

‘Well yes, but how am I going to explain his presence to Tom if he does go and turn up?’

Once she’d settled Maisy, Rachel resolved to call Tom and explain. But, would that just be stirring up more trouble between them? From what she’d heard in the lane earlier, Tom was already feeling wobbly about the wedding as it was. And Jake could still let Maisy down. Maybe there was no harm in keeping quiet for now, just holding this little secret close to her chest.

How would she feel if Tom asked Caitlin to the wedding, Rachel mused? Not that that was likely to happen in a month of Sundays, their relationship being much like World War III at the moment, with a huge post-divorce bomb about to erupt at any point.

Rachel lay wide awake in bed that night, tossing and turning for what felt like hours.

Tom’s words in the lane were haunting her. Just as she tried to clear her mind and shake off the day, that scene in the lane reared its ugly head. Did he mean it? Did Tom really want to bow out?