Carla Burgess - Meet Me at Willow Hall - A perfectly charming romance for 2019!

Sons? As in plural? Did that mean Anthony was here too? Good God, no! I glanced at Elena to see if she’d heard, but she’d walked on ahead and was disappearing inside the marquee. Not wanting to be left alone, I darted after her to catch her up.

Inside, the ceiling of the marquee was swathed in twinkling fairy lights and the round tables were laid out with beautiful wedding products and services. Pretty wedding cakes of all different designs towered on the table next to the entrance, while a photographer displayed artistic black-and-white wedding shots on the stall next door. Everywhere I looked there was wedding stationery, bridal flowers, balloon arches, chocolate fountains, rose-petal confetti and photos of wedding cars and horse-drawn carriages. I wanted to tell Elena what I’d overheard, but she was deep in conversation with one of the stallholders. As I gazed around at the beautiful stalls, I realised this would be Anthony’s idea of hell and there was no way he’d be making an appearance here. If he was at Willow Hall, he’d be skulking inside the house, keeping well away from all this wedding nonsense.

Taking a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, I forced myself to relax and enjoy the happy atmosphere. Everyone was so friendly and Elena and I wandered from stall to stall, discussing ideas.

‘Ooh! Let’s check out that dress stall,’ Elena took my arm and towed me towards the back of the marquee. ‘They might have a bridesmaid dress for you.’

‘I doubt it. It all looks rather bridal,’ I said, allowing Elena to lead me towards the racks of dresses.

‘Hi!’ Elena greeted the sales assistant cheerfully. ‘Do you have any vintage-style bridesmaid dresses? Preferably tea-length. It’s for Rachel here. She’s my bridesmaid and, as you can see, likes a vintage look.’ She indicated my fifties-style sundress with a sweep of her hand. The sales assistant smiled at me but shook her head.

‘We have a tea-length bridal gown but no bridesmaid dresses here with us today. Would you like to try the bridal gown on to see if you like the style?’

Elena’s face lit up. ‘Oh, could we? That would be wonderful. Thank you.’

I started to protest, but Elena just grinned and shooed me on to follow the assistant, who was at another rack searching through the plastic-covered dresses. ‘It’s here,’ she said, pulling out an ivory silk dress. My heart skipped a beat as I looked at the lace bodice and full tulle skirt. ‘Come this way.’

She led me towards a makeshift dressing room behind the racks of dresses. I felt a bit of a fraud as I stepped into the ivory silk gown and allowed the woman to do me up at the back. It felt wrong to be trying on a wedding dress when I didn’t even have a boyfriend, let alone a fiancé. But as the zip went up and the lace bodice moulded to my body, I realised I loved it.

‘Ooh, that looks beautiful!’ the assistant murmured, standing back to look at me. ‘Fits you like it was made for you. Hold on, stay there.’ She ducked out of the little room for a moment, reappearing a moment later with a tiny silver tiara. ‘Here, pop this on,’ she said, placing it on my red hair. ‘Your hair looks lovely up like that. Here, let’s pull a few tendrils down around your face and you’re good to go. In fact, you could get married like that right now and everyone would be blown away. You look amazing!’ She put her hands to her face, visibly moved, while I blinked at her in disbelief. If this was a sales pitch, it was wasted on me. I loved the dress but there was no point in buying it when I didn’t have a man. ‘Now, go and show your friend. Come on!’

‘Oh! Can’t she come to me?’ I said, quailing at the thought of parading the dress in front of everybody in the marquee.

‘No, you don’t! You don’t get away that easily!’ She laughed. ‘You’re the perfect model for this dress and there’s a roomful of brides-to-be out there, so come on. You can be my model.’

Whipping back the curtain, she beckoned me out. Elena was waiting patiently at the front of the stall as I padded barefoot towards her. I was aware of people stopping to look, but I kept my eyes on Elena. Her face lit up when she saw me and she covered her face with her hands before placing them over her heart. ‘Oh, isn’t it gorgeous? You just have to wear something like that. It’s so you.’

‘I do love it,’ I said, turning slightly so the skirt swished from side to side. The silk whispered around my bare legs and I flexed my toes self-consciously as people gathered around to watch.

‘And here we have a tea-length bridal gown in ivory silk,’ the sales assistant said to the crowd of onlookers. ‘This is from our vintage collection and is also available in white or oyster. If you’d just like to turn around, Rachel, and let everyone see the detailing on the back.’

Obediently I turned while the sales assistant pointed out the pearl detailing on the buttons at the back of the dress. ‘I should get you to model some more really, shouldn’t I?’ she said to me cheerfully. ‘Well done! You can take a bow now.’

Turning back round to face Elena, my smile froze on my face as I found myself looking into the bright-blue eyes of the man standing directly behind her.

Running a hand through his dark-blond hair, Anthony Bascombe looked on in startled disbelief.

‘Rachel?’

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