‘If Keegan ever makes it,’ he said gloomily.
‘They’ll get here. I have every faith in Jay.’
Connor scrutinised her. ‘Yes, I can see that.’
‘Do you want me to update your guests on the situation?’ she asked before Connor said any more about Jay. ‘Or do you want to tell them?’
‘Me? No, you do it. You’d be so much better. I can hardly speak for nerves as it is.’
‘OK. Fine.’
Lottie stood on the dais and addressed those guests still sitting in their seats. ‘We may have a little while longer to wait for the bride due to a – um – minor transport malfunction,’ she said. ‘It’s all under control and I can assure you we will have a bride. In the meantime, do please return to the drawing room for some more champagne.’
There were a few sighs but most were only too delighted at the prospect of more fizz. Connor was sinking a glass himself and Lottie hoped they wouldn’t all be sozzled by the time the actual ceremony took place. She arranged refreshments for the registrar and then retreated to an anteroom to check her phone. Keegan was over an hour late now and Lottie couldn’t even get hold of Jay.
Just as she was beginning to wonder if Keegan had changed her mind after all, Lottie received a message from Jay.
Get everyone on the steps of the house ASAP.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Lottie walked into the drawing room and picked up the mike. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention, please? I have some fantastic news. The bride is on her way any time now. Can I please ask you all to either come outside to the steps of the house or keep a lookout from the window of the ballroom for the arrival of the bride?’
Connor hurried over. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Yes. Don’t worry. She’s on her way. I think you should come outside,’ she told him.
‘Thank God for that.’
Spotting a posy of flowers on a chair, Lottie rescued it and gave it to Alicia, who had a pint in her hand. ‘Keegan’s on her way,’ she said. ‘I think it would be a good idea if you waited here in the doorway.’
Sighing, Alicia put down her glass and took the posy and Lottie noticed the Hunter’s poking out from the bottom of her bridesmaid’s dress.
‘No time to change them now,’ Alicia declared. ‘Look, the queen is here.’
A collective ‘oh’ rippled through the guests gathered at the windows and on the terrace.
Rushing outside, Lottie almost had to rub her eyes in disbelief. A traditional sleigh driven by Cush and pulled by two reindeer made its way up across the field towards Firholme. Behind it was the tractor driven by Jay carrying Keegan’s parents. She whipped out her phone to video the arrival for the twins, wishing they could have come to the wedding and seen it for themselves.
The sleigh drew closer as guests crowded onto the porch steps to take pictures and videos. Keegan was grinning from ear to ear and waving like royalty. The photographer dashed out, snapping pictures of the sleigh and the reindeer in their red harnesses with jingling bells. They looked magnificent against the backdrop of snowy fells, and the lake glittering in the valley below.
Cush brought the deer to a halt a little way from the steps and called: ‘Stand back, folks, and if you could dampen down the excitement a little, that would be good.’
She climbed down from the sleigh, leaving Keegan sitting serenely inside, wrapped in her cloak with its furry hood.
‘Oh, my word, it’s a real-life Snow Queen,’ Fiona cried.
‘Looks more like the White Witch to me,’ Alicia muttered in Lottie’s ear. ‘I love those gorgeous reindeer though.’
Jay and some of the grounds staff manoeuvred an accessibility ramp into position between the sleigh and the steps and placed a red carpet on it.
Connor appeared to be dumbstruck.
She gave him a gentle nudge. ‘Your bride is waiting,’ she said.
Snapping into action, he walked down the steps and handed Keegan out of the sleigh, while Cush soothed the reindeer. Meanwhile, Jay helped her parents out of the tractor. Her father stood next to her while her mother spread the cloak out. Dozens of phones were still snapping and videoing, and the photographer was having a field day.
Lottie stood at the top of the steps and clapped her hands. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, could you please all make your way back inside to await the entrance of the bride?’
Her announcement had the desired effect and guests made their way back into the house where they were directed into the ballroom to take their seats for the ceremony. Lottie went to help the bridal party. To her relief, Kai had already ushered Connor back inside the house, and Keegan’s mum was on her way up the steps too, which left the bride and her father waiting at the bottom.
Lottie was keen to get them out of the cold as soon as possible.
‘This is going on the front page of my website!’ the photographer said to Lottie. ‘Just one more with the sleigh!’ he called.
She’d heard that phrase ‘just one more’ a hundred times before, so she took charge before Keegan and her dad turned blue.
‘We’re ready to start. Please go back inside,’ she said firmly, then turned to Keegan. ‘You look amazing.’ She was struck by how she’d changed over the past few weeks, from being shocked and hurt that Connor was getting married, to simply being proud that she’d organised a wedding to remember against all the odds.
She saw Keegan and her father safely into the house where Alicia was waiting, as meek as a lamb. Making sure there were no stray guests to be rounded up from outside, Lottie met Jay outside the doors.
‘Where’s Shayla?’ she asked, a little concerned about her boss being stranded.
‘She says she’ll be along soon because the stranded car is being towed away, but I’ll drive down to her in the tractor to make sure,’ he
