And it was, because the next thing I knew everything was blindingly bright and people crowded around me, propping me up with silky gold cushions like I was royalty.
“Sophie? My name’s June, and I’m the registered first aider on the premises. That was quite a fall you had. Does anywhere hurt?”
Nothing hurt, I just felt like a fool. “No, I’m fine. My head’s throbbing though.”
“She suffers from migraines,” Max explained.
“Have some water.” June offered me a plastic cup. “Sip at it though, in case it makes you feel sick.”
I tentatively drank, as everyone watched on.
“That’s the way,” June encouraged. “I’ve sent someone to get you a biscuit too. Nothing exciting, just a plain one, but it’ll give you a bit of energy.”
“Thanks.”
People stopped nebbing once they knew I wasn’t in a critical condition, and soon just Max and June were alongside me.
“Did it come on quickly?” June asked.
“I’ve been a bit dizzy but I put it down to rushing about. I’m the bridesmaid,” I explained. “This is my best friend’s wedding.”
I could see Tawna and Johnny standing in a welcome line, hugging people as they filed through for the sit-down meal.
“That’s probably it,” June agreed. “When I saw you go down like that it brought back all kinds of memories. When I was pregnant with my youngest I fainted three times in a week. I didn’t have a clue why I kept passing out. It was only when I went to the doctors and she asked if I could be pregnant that I realised,” she chortled.
A look of panic flashed across Max’s face.
“It’s just a migraine,” I blurted. That said, my unpredictable cycles were never easy to track. It was a pain never knowing when my period would arrive, but my hormones affected my migraines so I’d probably come on over the next few days. I’d half expected to be in full flow for the wedding, but nothing had come to fruition, thankfully.
“You don’t need my whole family history,” June clucked as she headed back to the reception desk, “but don’t you go overdoing it. Stay sat there for a bit longer, and get your husband to help you when you go through to the main hall.”
Neither of us corrected her.
“You scared me half to death there, Soph. You went down like a ton of bricks.”
“I’m sorry.” He did look like I’d given him a fright.
“I’m just glad you didn’t hurt yourself when you fell. Your head came dangerously close to the edge of the table. You still look pale too. Do you want me to fetch you something to eat? Find the biscuits June was talking about?”
I pulled myself up, using the chair to help me, even though spots were floating in front of my eyes. “I want to go and join everyone else. I can’t miss today, not after all the planning.”
After an unsteady walk, Max pushed the door to the impressive hall open, the tinkle of Darius striking a fork against a glass welcoming us.
“Food will be served in five minutes,” he announced. “And speeches will follow after the meal. But let’s start as we mean to go on by raising a toast, to the new Mr and Mrs Hamilton, and to the future.”
“To Mr and Mrs Hamilton, and to the future,” everyone echoed.
I raised my glassless hand into the air. The future.
Chapter 32
The migraine I’d been fighting on Tawna’s wedding day hung around, dizziness not only making me feel as though my head was split in two but also affecting my appetite. I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water.
I spent five days in bed, my mum and Max looking after me in shifts, while I complained the room was too bright despite the curtains being permanently drawn.
Max had gone above and beyond, ensuring I had hot water bottles, ice packs and whatever else I demanded in my poorly diva state. He’d driven to the supermarket at eleven at night to fetch me lollies to suck in a bid to keep me hydrated, and literally mopped my fevered brow. He was everything an ill girlfriend would wish for in her boyfriend, which is why when he’d told me he “needed to talk” I’d been baffled as to what was on his mind.
It transpired that after the wedding reception (which I’d been forced to leave early, my willingness to be the last woman standing beaten by the worst migraine of my life) Chris had gone to a casino with a group of people, and it had been Darius leading the way. Apparently he’d been throwing chips around with abandon, and when his lucky black 13 had come up trumps on the roulette wheel, not just the once, but twice, he’d been flashing the cash, insisting on buying drinks for the whole party. Chris said that hadn’t put even the slightest dent in his winnings. Put simply, Darius wasn’t short of money at present, but paying me back what he owed me wasn’t at the top of his agenda.
“He’s never going to change,” Max said. “You’ll never see that money again.”
“Probably not,” I agreed. “But I had to give it him. What if he hadn’t been lying about Nadia bribing him? She might have taken Summer to the other end of the country. He’s not a good man, but he’s a good dad to her, mostly. I didn’t want to let her down.”
“You didn’t let her down,” Max replied fiercely, without so much as a flicker of his usually jokey, smiley expression. “There’s only one person who’s done that, and that’s Darius.”
“We’ll have to go and visit her in Liverpool one weekend when I’m better. She’s the closest I’ve got to a daughter.”
“I’ll need to practise my hula-hooping.” At the wedding Summer had taken great delight in telling Max exactly how long she could keep a
