Page 26 of The Wedding Pact

‘Raffa, great to see you,’ the man says, holding out his hand for a handshake.

‘Darian. Good to see you too,’ Raffa replies, his voice more businesslike than I’ve heard it before. He shakes the guy’s hand briefly before dropping it and stepping a little closer to me.

So this is his stepbrother.

Interesting.

He seems very pleased to see us, which I wasn’t prepared for after Raffa’s hints about their difficult family dynamics. But then Raffa has just spent an eyewatering amount of money to save this wedding from disaster, so perhaps it’s not so strange that his brother is greeting us so warmly.

‘Everyone made it okay,’ Darian says, waving his hand vaguely towards the rest of the party, who all seem to be staring over at us again now. ‘Thanks again for pulling this out of the bag.’

‘Yes, thank you, Raffa. We owe you bigtime,’ the woman, who I assume must be Margot, says, her voice suffused with happiness.

‘Glad to have been able to help,’ Raffa says, his voice a lot warmer this time. He drops my hand so he can move into her outstretched arms and receive a hug she seems very keen to bestow.

‘And Ida, it’s such a thrill to have you here at our wedding,’ Margot says, surprising me by already knowing my name.

I force myself not to look taken-aback. ‘I’m happy to be here. It’s lovely to meet you,’ I say.

‘I always knew Raffa had great taste in women and it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you in real life,’ Margot gushes.

Her cheeks look a little flushed and her voice sounds a bit breathy, like she’s genuinely excited to meet me.

It suddenly occurs to me that she recognises me.

‘You know who I am?’ I ask, incredulous. I mean, I know my show’s got popular recently but I didn’t really expect anyone at this wedding to recognise me.

‘Of course! We love your show,’ Margot says.

I shake my head, aware my smile must look a little dazed. ‘I’m still getting used to the new-found fame. It’s not often I’m recognised in real life.’

Margot smiles at that, then turns to Raffa and says, ‘Why didn’t you tell us you were bringing such a cool celebrity with you?’

Glancing over at him, I see a look of utter confusion on his face. Clearly he’s not actually checked out my show on HelSkel, like he said he would.

‘Trust you to bring someone who’ll get all the other guests hot under the collar,’ Darian says in a jokey tone, though I sense a sting of accusation under it.

Is he suggesting Raffa’s brought me to try and upstage him and Margot?

God, I hope not.

I glance over at the crowd of people again, who I see are now definitely looking directly at our little grouping in a fascinated sort of way, like they’re expecting some drama to kick off.

Okay, I need to put this right, and fast.

‘It’s all my doing, I’m afraid,’ I say, flashing them both a beseeching smile. ‘I begged Raffa to let me come. I’ve been desperate to meet his family. I’ve heard such great things about you all.’

I gently squeeze Darian’s arm and widen my eyes at him. ‘I hope you don’t mind me turning up uninvited. The last thing I want to do is to cause you any stress.’

Darian quickly puts up his hands in a show of friendly concession. ‘Not at all! No, sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that. You’re more than welcome here. We’re delighted you wanted to come. And it’s great to see my brother with a partner. It’s been a while, mate, hasn’t it? I can’t remember the last time you brought a date to one of our family gatherings.’

I turn to see Raffa giving his brother a tight smile. ‘Yeah. It’s been a while.’

There’s an awkward silence.

‘Well, anyway, thanks for having me,’ I say to break the weird atmosphere. ‘It’s a gorgeous venue.’

‘Isn’t it?’ Margot agrees, clearly hoping to lighten the mood too. ‘We’re so excited to be having it here.’