One Perfect Summer

agreed to the engagement on the condition that they hosted the wedding. My parents were a little put-out. I’m their only child and my mum, in particular, had always assumed she’d play a large part in organising my Big Day. I feel bad for hurting her feelings, but I hope she’ll understand when she meets Lukas’s family. Things have to be a certain way when you come from high society. Or whatever.
    ‘Anyway, she’s dealt with most of the arrangements so far, so I’m trying to go with the flow.’
    ‘You’re a better woman than I am,’ Lizzy says. ‘Ooh, this one’s pretty.’
    I turn to see the glittering gown she’s extracted from the rail. I’ve been pulling out dress after dress and not really seeing any of them.
    ‘Mmm, it is,’ I agree.
    ‘Can she try this one on?’ Lizzy asks the sales assistant, who rushes over to take it from her. We continue looking.
    ‘Are Jessie and Emily coming to the wedding?’ she asks.
    ‘I hope so.’
    ‘I didn’t think the Husband was too keen on them.’
    He’s not keen on you, either. I keep this revelation to myself.
    ‘Can you stop calling him that? Anyway, it doesn’t matter what he thinks. They’re my friends and they’re coming to my wedding.’
    If they want to. I’m not entirely convinced that they will. News of my engagement went down like a lead balloon. At least Mum and Dad have come around to the idea. They may have expressed some concerns about us getting married so quickly – and in Germany – but they do like Lukas and they know he makes me happy.
    ‘Did you have a nice time?’ Lukas asks me later.
    ‘Yes, thank you. Lukas, you do know that I want to choose my own wedding dress, don’t you?’
    He frowns. ‘Do you honestly believe I would choose it for you?’
    ‘No, not really . . .’
    ‘Is this about your ball gowns?’
    Note the use of the plural, here. I attended my second and final Trinity ball in a dress that was once more chosen and paid for by Lukas. Lizzy doesn’t even know about that one, but it didn’t escape Jessie and Emily’s attention. I seem to remember that was the first time Jessie called Lukas a control freak.
    ‘That’s completely different,’ I say, brushing him off. ‘But this is my wedding dress. If nothing else, that’s the one thing I want to have my say on.’
    ‘Of course,’ he soothes, helping me out of my coat. I’ve barely got past the front door. ‘And you will have. Did you find anything that you liked?’ he asks casually as he hangs my coat on the hallstand.
    ‘Not really.’ My shoulders slump. He takes my hands and looks down at me.
    ‘Listen,’ he says gently. ‘I know you want to exert your authority, but don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.’
    ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
    A week later I fly to Paris to meet with his family’s dressmaker.

 
    It all spirals out of my control in the end. I don’t know whose wedding I’m going to, but it doesn’t feel like mine. I’m detached as I sit in my room at Lukas’s house – yes, in the guest wing – and it still feels lonely, even though my parents are next door and Lizzy and Callum are across the hall. That relationship has been tempestuous, to say the least. But they’re back on again at the moment and are even talking about moving in together. They both still live in Edinburgh, but I know Lizzy misses London.
    There’s a knock at my door. ‘Come in!’ I call.
    Frieda pushes the door open. ‘Rise and shine,’ she says, proffering a tray laden with cups, a milk jug, a teapot and extra hot water.
    I sit up in bed and smile at her. ‘Where did you get that from?’
    ‘I stole it from Mariella on the way up.’
    Mariella is the family’s longest-serving staff member.
    ‘How are you feeling?’ She places the tray on a table under one of the grand arched windows. There are four in my room alone.
    ‘Okay,’ I say.
    ‘Did you sleep well?’
    ‘No,’ I admit. It’s only six thirty now, but I’ve been awake since five.
    ‘It’s a big day.’ Even though she’s speaking quietly, I can hear the excitement in her voice. She’s one of my bridesmaids. Lizzy is my chief bridesmaid, and I have three others, one of whom I met only yesterday. Like I said, I’m going with the flow.
    Well, trying to. Lukas and I did have a bit of a row – if it’s possible to have a bit of a row – about Emily. I said if I was going to have five bridesmaids then she should be one of them. But his family is bigger