She pulled out the beautiful mid-length gown. The tight fitted top came down in a deep plunging V-neckline and a silk-ribbon wrapped around the waist, fastening into a small bow at the back. It was a champagne satin overlaid with lace and Nell could see the longing in Cat’s eye. Her fingers reached out to touch it but whether out of respect for the dress or fear of her mother she drew her hand back.
‘You can touch it,’ Lexi said gently. ‘I always like to feel the fabric. You want to know it’s good quality.’
‘That’s fine.’ Cat thrust her hands into the pockets of her jeans. ‘It’s beautiful.’ The sadness in her voice resonated through Nell, pounding on her heart and willing her to help. If she could afford to, Nell would have bought it for her on the spot – but she also didn’t want to risk having another row by mentioning the dress situation again, and time was running out to get a new one with only three weeks to go. On the table in front of them were white and silver long-sleeved gloves, shorter wrist-length ones, and pillbox hats with tiny veils. Everything needed to complete a vintage-bride look. Nell decided to draw Cat away before she became even more depressed.
They moved back towards the lounge and Kieran joined them, placing a kiss on the top of Cat’s head as she pressed herself into his side. It was nice to see them happy. Cat looked up at him but there was a pinch at the sides of her eyes, and it was then Nell noticed the amount of concealer she’d used to hide the blue tinge of tiredness. To give her an energy boost, she grabbed four of the small chocolate brownie samples Niall had on his table and thrust them under Cat’s nose. The heavy chocolatey aroma made Nell’s mouth water and by the look on Cat’s face it was doing the same to her as she began to munch away happily.
She was just taking the last one when Nell spotted Brenda’s grey helmet-hair in the crowd. Two ladies accompanied her with similar uncompromising styles and fearful expressions, but as Brenda drew near, she was saying uncharacteristically nice things. Nell knew it was an effort to make her humble boutique hotel socially acceptable to the types of people Brenda mixed with – social climbers who were part of the tennis or bowls club. Knowing she would disapprove of Cat shoving brownies in her face at an unseemly rate, Nell stepped in front of her friend, obscuring her from view and as a warning, said loudly, ‘Brenda! I’m so glad you came.’
Cat ducked down and finished off the last of the brownie bites. Brenda clearly didn’t trust this unusually cheerful greeting and narrowed her eyes. ‘Nell, how lovely. What a fabulous job you’ve done here. It’s certainly extremely popular, isn’t it?’ She stressed the extremely for the benefit of her friends. Eyeing Kieran, who was too tall for Nell to shield, she said, ‘Kieran, darling.’ And gave him a kiss on the cheek. ‘Where’s Catherine?’
‘Here I am,’ she said, standing up. ‘I was just tying my shoelace.’
Seeing a spot of chocolate near her mouth, Nell panicked and dived in between mother and daughter. ‘Brenda!’ she shouted in a high-pitched squeak. ‘I – I – I absolutely love your dress.’
Well aware that everyone was staring at her as if she’d gone mad, she tried to signal to Kieran that Cat had something on her face using her eyebrows as semaphore flags. Brenda tried to sidestep around her, and Nell forced herself in front and grabbed hold of Brenda’s lapels, pretending to feel the fabric. ‘It’s such a lovely jacket. And it matches too – how marvellous. Where did you get it? I’d love one like that for my new role as wedding planner.’
Brenda gave an embarrassed chuckle as she tried to remove Nell from her person, easing off her vice-like grip. Thankfully, Kieran had somehow caught on and grabbed Cat’s face planting a whopper of a kiss on her lips and frightening the poor girl half to death.
‘Young love,’ Brenda joked to her friends, but her embarrassment at this public show of affection was clear. Kieran stepped away and relief swept over Nell as the chocolate crumb was now stuck to his cheek. ‘Oh, Kieran, have you been at the free samples again? It’s a good job you have such a physical job.’ She handed him a tissue but before he could use it, Cat reached up and gently wiped it from his cheek.
‘Darling.’ Brenda Wilson was not the type of woman to admit to a family feud, and it seemed that, in front of her friends, all previous disagreements were forgotten. Whether that would continue in private, Nell would find out later. Brenda cupped her daughter’s cheek. ‘You look a bit tired. Were you on nights last night? Cat’s a midwife,’ Brenda said over her shoulder to her friends.
‘Yes, we know,’ one of the women replied, obviously having been told before.
Brenda ignored the slight note of irritation. ‘Such a noble profession, isn’t it?’
‘Lates, not nights.’
‘Well, make sure you get a good night’s sleep tonight. No one wants to be puffy-eyed on their wedding day.’
Worried that things might go south fast, Nell said, ‘Was there anything specific you and your friends wanted to see, Brenda? Tom’s in the lounge and Niall’s just here. He’s even got some sample menus and tasters.’
At the mention of tasters, the women accompanying Brenda left her and headed in Niall’s direction. Without even a goodbye, Brenda hurried to catch up.
As time wore on, Nell was soon caught up answering questions about Holly Lodge and even roped Cat into explaining how she was going to have the place set up for her wedding. Taking down names and addresses, Nell arranged some appointments for the New Year for people to come back and talk more about their weddings. She could have punched the air but
