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Lottie’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she took a seat in one of the cane chairs on Millie’s tiny balcony, tossing her magenta hair over her shoulder as she sipped her coffee and settled down in her front row seat waiting for the impending fashion show.
Millie unzipped the bag and removed the most exquisite dress she had laid eyes on. Pale aquamarine in colour with a smattering of matching sequins outlining the neckline, it shimmered in the early morning sunlight like a waterfall.
‘Try it on!’
‘I don’t know what to say…’
An avalanche of emotions ambushed Millie and a lump appeared in her throat. She couldn’t believe Anisha had offered to lend her such a beautiful garment. Tears gathered along her lashes and she tried to swallow down her feelings, but Lottie wasn’t fooled and she ditched her coffee to draw Millie into a hug.
‘You absolutely deserve to wear a dress like that to watch Imogen and Alex get married, Millie. If it wasn’t for you, and Ella, the wedding would probably not be taking place. So, put the dress on, brush a little coconut oil through those gorgeous curls of yours and I’ll give you a lift up to the hotel.’
‘Thank you, Lottie. For everything. I couldn’t have done any of this, the cookery school, the recipes, the wedding, without you and Ella and Denise, not to mention Dylan, Henri, Travis and Leon. You’ve all be so kind, and I feel like I’ve known you forever!’
‘Haven’t you missed someone from that list of amazing people?’
Millie experienced a squirm of discomfort. She had intended to keep her feelings for Zach locked securely away, with the key hidden in her pocket so that she could enjoy the celebrations without constantly wondering where he was and what he was doing, and more importantly who with.
‘Look, Millie, I don’t know what’s going on with Zach and Clio but trust your Auntie Charlotte – they are not back together, I just know it. You absolutely have to talk to him before you leave tomorrow. I haven’t said this to you, but there’s something special between the two of you, something I can’t quite put my finger on, but when you’re together I can see the spark that you bring out in each other. Okay, lecture over. Now, off you go and get ready. You don’t want to be late, do you? That’s the bride’s prerogative.’
Millie decided that arguing with Lottie would only reaffirm what she knew already – her friend was right, she couldn’t deny the feeling of elation whenever she was around Zach.
She took a quick shower then slid the dress over her body, buoyed up by the fact that it fitted like a second skin. She dragged a comb through her hair and managed to tame it into a passable chignon, trying not to remember the last time she had worn her hair like that. With a slick of nude lipstick and a spritz of the designer perfume Jen had given her for her birthday, she was ready to attend the first wedding since her broken engagement to Luke.
And yet, it wasn’t Luke’s face that was meandering through her thoughts. She could honestly say, hand on heart, that she felt no lingering regrets that their relationship had ended.
‘Wow! You look fabulous, Miss Harper!’ Lottie declared, hugging Millie for the third time in the space of thirty minutes causing her to cling tight onto her emotions with the last of her fingernails. It wouldn’t do to turn up at the wedding of the decade with bulging red eyes and tears on her cheeks.
Lottie drove Dylan’s open-topped Jeep in the same carefree way she lived her life and by the time they swung into the hotel’s car park, Millie felt as though she’d been dragged through the tropical rainforest on the back of a tractor. She patted down her hair, collected her purse and promised Lottie that she would hop into a taxi for the ride back to the villa as soon as the ceremony was over so that she could be back to help hand round the drinks.
She glanced around the pristine gardens at the front of the hotel. The neatly clipped lawns and flowerbeds sporting a profusion of colourful flowers that could rival any English stately home, but what tipped the balance of magnificence was the view. The cerulean of the sky, the sapphire of the Caribbean Sea, the terracotta of the town’s roofs at the foothill of the Pitons, the lush emerald landscape of their flanks, all melded together into a poem for the eyes.
She made her way to the hotel reception, surprised to find it was deserted; no sign of the nightmare that had taken place at the hotel over the last two weeks. She checked her watch – fifteen minutes to go – and made her way towards the rear of the hotel where the gazebo was situated, realising when she got there she was the last guest to arrive and every one of the pretty white seats, tied with pale pink ribbons, had been taken.
Several guests lingered at the back of the seating area, chatting to friends, laughing at jokes, exclaiming at the beauty of the scene. The wedding gazebo looked amazing, its white wrought ironwork entwined with a profusion of flowers, paper birds and butterflies. The hotel had clearly pulled out all the stops to make the venue as spectacular as possible.
Before Millie had chance to enquire about extra seating, the string quartet struck up Ode to Joy and she turned to see Imogen appear on the hotel terrace, walking proudly on her mother’s arm along the red carpet, a wide beam of happiness on her face as she made her way towards where Alex was waiting for her in the gazebo. Millie couldn’t control the turmoil of emotions as she watched Imogen stride towards her new life as Alex’s wife, especially when she saw the bittersweet expression on Julia’s face as she performed the role her late husband would have given anything to perform.
From her place at the back of the congregation, part hidden by the flower-decked white wooden screens that framed the wedding party, Millie listened to Imogen and Alex exchange their vows and then read a poem to each other they had written only the night before. It was a truly moving experience and there wasn’t a dry eye in the garden afterwards, every single guest rising to their feet to applaud the newly-weds when they sauntered back down the aisle to accept the congratulations of their guests.
Imogen’s dress was simple yet glamorous; a long strapless column of ivory silk with hundreds of crystals scattered from the waist to the hem glistening in the midday sun. She wore a single white orchid in her hair and carried a bouquet of white calla lilies and roses. Carla and Harriet looked amazing in matching ivory bridesmaid dresses, carrying posies of white and pink flowers to add a splash of colour to the ceremony, along with Julia’s elegant pale pink mother-of-the-bride outfit that at one stage she had no doubt feared she would never get to wear.
The wedding guests obviously knew what had happened to Imogen’s wedding cake and the favours, had gossipedad infinitumabout the devastation wreaked on the Hummingbird Suite by their wedding planner, and the reasons behind it. It was like a plot from a romcom movie, especially when it had looked as if the whole ceremony would have to be cancelled. The fact that it had been pulled off with such style was testament to what the power of love could achieve.
After offering her own congratulations, Millie decided to take a shortcut through the gardens back to the front driveway so she could get a head start on the guests heading for the wedding reception at the villa. Forgetting she was wearing unfamiliar heels, she lost her footing and stumbled into a huge Camellia bush. Before she had chance to realise what was happening a pair of strong hands reached forwards and dragged her upright.
‘Need a bit of assistance?’ asked a familiar voice.
‘I… what are you doing here?’
‘Always the tone of surprise! Should I have left you in the bush?’
‘No…’
The corners of Millie’s mouth twitched, and when she met those dark brown eyes that had frequented her dreams more often than she cared to admit, her heart gave a sharp nip of desire and a giggle spluttered from her lips. She did make a habit of being rescued from arboreal catastrophes.
‘Just so we’re straight. I’m not a gatecrasher. Imogen and Alex invited me to the ceremony last night, but when I called round to collect you this morning, you had already left.’
Zach was standing inches away from her, his proximity causing those sparkles of electricity Lottie had referred to earlier. The heady fragrance of his lemony aftershave, mingled with the aroma from the blousy flowers, caused her to close her eyes for a second to appreciate the olfactory sensation. When she opened them again, Zach gaze scorched right through her.
