Under the Boss’s Mistletoe

‘And the wedding’s already planned,’ he pointed out as they headed back to the car park. ‘We’ve got the table decorations and we know the menu. We’ve even had the photos done already. Tina’s got her bridesmaid’s dress, and I’ve got my tuxedo-unless you want me in breeches and a cravat, of course! So all you need to do is buy the dress and tell your family.’

‘Are you sure you don’t mean next Christmas?’ asked Cassie. ‘What happened to Mr Sensible? I thought you’d be saying it was crazy to rush into marriage!’

‘It is,’ said Jake with a smile. ‘But let’s do it anyway.’

A gleaming, mean-looking motorbike had the car park to itself. Jake handed Cassie a helmet when they got back to it and put on his own. ‘Hop on the back,’ he said, kicking the machine into gear. ‘And we’ll go and see if the vicar can fit us in for a Christmas wedding.’

EPILOGUE

Christmas Eve

CASSIE woke on her wedding morning to a glittering world. Under a thin, blue winter sky, a hard frost rimed every twig and every blade of grass. But by lunchtime the clouds had blanked out the meagre December light, hanging so heavily they seemed to be muffling the slightest noise, and Portrevick was enveloped in the stillness and strange, expectant silence that comes before snow.

In the pub, they were taking bets on a white Christmas at last, and the children were wild with excitement at the prospect of bulging stockings and presents under the tree. Cassie had always loved Christmas, too, but this was her wedding day, and all she was dreaming about was the moment she stood in front of the altar with Jake. Until then, she hardly dared let herself believe that it wasn’t just all a dream.

At four o’clock it was already dark, but there were flares lining the path to the church, and the trees were strung with fairy lights. Tina took the faux fur stole Cassie had worn on the brief journey from Portrevick Hall with her father and laid it on the porch seat.

Cassie’s father offered her his arm. ‘You look beautiful, darling,’ he said. ‘Your mother and I are very proud of you, you know.’ His voice cracked a little at the end, and he had to clear his throat.

‘Thank you, Dad.’ Cassie’s eyes stung with tears. ‘Thank you for everything.’

‘Promise me you’ll be happy with Jake.’

‘I will.’ It was her turn to swallow a huge lump in her throat. ‘I know I will.’

‘In that case,’ said her father, reverting to his more usual, reassuringly brisk manner. ‘Let’s go.’

And then they were walking up the uneven aisle of the old church. How odd, Cassie found herself thinking with a strange, detached part of her mind. She had spent so long planning weddings for other brides, so many years dreaming about her own, that she thought she would know how it would feel.

Everything looked exactly as she had always imagined it. Lit only by candles, the little church looked beautiful, and was filled with the people she loved. Her mother was there, trying not to cry. Liz had started already, and was wiping her eyes with a handkerchief as she smiled tremulously. Her brothers were doing their level best to look as if they weren’t moved, and not quite succeeding.

The flowers were simple, stunning arrangements of white, and tiny wreaths hung at the end of every pew. Cassie had a blurred impression of warmth and colour as everyone turned to smile as they passed. Yes, it was just as she’d imagined it.

What she had never imagined was that none of it would really matter. The only thing that mattered was that Jake should be there, waiting for her at the altar.

And there he was. Cassie’s heart gave a great bound of relief as she saw him turn. He was looking serious, but as she got closer she saw that he was not serious so much as anxious, and she knew with a sudden, dazzling certainty that he had been afraid she wouldn’t come, that all that mattered to him was that she was there.

Her father lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, and Cassie smiled at him brilliantly before he stepped back to join her mother. Then she turned to face Jake at last.

He smiled at her as he took her hand, and she smiled back, twisting her fingers around his. All at once it was just the two of them in the warm candlelight. They had forgotten the church and the watching congregation, and Cassie could feel herself beginning to sway towards him, turning her face up for his kiss already.

The vicar cleared his throat loudly, and they turned to him with identically startled expressions. He smiled. ‘If you could spare us few minutes of your attention…?’ he murmured.

‘Sorry,’ they whispered back, and he raised his voice.

‘Dearly beloved…’

The familiar words rang like a bell in Cassie’s heart. This was what her wedding was about. It wasn’t about the beautiful dress she was wearing, or the gasps when the guests saw the great hall. It was more than an excuse for a party. It was about Jake and about her, about the love they shared and the life they would build together.

Her eyes never left Jake’s dark-blue ones. She was intensely aware of his hand, of his voice making his responses steadily, of the smooth coolness of the ring he slid onto her finger. At last she was in the right place at the right time. It wasn’t a dream. This was where she was meant to be, and this was the man she was meant to be with.

Cassie’s heart was so full, she could hardly say ‘I do’. Even when she thought it couldn’t possibly be any fuller, it kept swelling, and swelling until the vicar declared them man and wife, and then she was afraid it would explode altogether. Giddy with happiness, she smiled as Jake took her face between his hands and kissed her.

‘You look beautiful,’ he said.

Cassie had seen how radiant other brides looked, and now she knew exactly how they felt. She was brimming with joy. It felt as if it were spilling out of her, shimmering away into the candlelight.

In a blur, she dropped the pen twice before she managed to sign the register, and then she was sailing back down the aisle, Jake’s fingers wrapped firmly round her own.

The church doors were thrown open and a magical scene awaited them. Great, soft snowflakes were drifting steadily to the ground, blurring the warm, flickering glow of the flares and glimmer of the tiny lights in the trees.

‘Oh Jake, it’s perfect!’ gasped Cassie, and promptly tripped over the porch step. ‘Just as well we decided not to have a video,’ she muttered out of the corner of her mouth as Jake hauled her upright, and behind her she heard Tina smother a fit of giggles. ‘Thank goodness I had you to hang on to, or I’d have gone flat on my face!’

Jake’s hand tightened and he smiled down at her. ‘That’s the thing about being married,’ he said. ‘We’ll always have each other to hang on to now.’

Cassie’s smile widened. ‘So we will,’ she said, and then stopped, catching sight of a carriage drawn up outside the lych gate. In the light of the flares there, she could see that it was pulled by two white horses.

A car would be more sensible, Jake had said once, and it was a car she had expected to take them back to the great hall. But Jake, her sensible husband, must have remembered her fantasy and arranged the carriage for her instead.

Her eyes shone as she looked up at him. ‘It’s my dream!’ she breathed, but Jake shook his head and smiled.

‘It’s not a dream,’ he said. ‘It’s real.’

JESSICA HART’S TOP TEN TIPS FOR A SPARKLING CHRISTMAS PARTY!

Invite all your neighbours as well as your friends, even if you don’t know them very well. Everybody loves to be invited to a party-and it’s a great way to meet that person you smile at in the street every day but whose name you don’t know…

It’s much more fun if everyone is jammed in together, so put your guests in a room that’s not quite big enough