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As the plane bumped down on the runway, Mrs Tang nudged her sleeping daughter.
“Milly, Milly,” she whispered. “Wake up – we’re in England!”
Milly blinked and yawned.
“It feels like the middle of the night,” she muttered, still half asleep. “
It is the middle of the night – in Australia!” laughed her father, Mr Tang. “Here in Newcastle it’s midday. Come on,” he added excitedly. “It’s time to meet your Aunt Nancy!”
Milly’s stomach lifted with excitement. Aunt Nancy was Dad’s youngest sister, who she’d never met. A few months ago she’d sent Milly a beautiful bride doll, the very one she was now holding in her arms. With it had come a letter asking Milly to be a bridesmaid at her wedding in a strange, faraway place called Northumberland, in the north of England. Milly had been astonished! She’d always dreamed of being a bridesmaid, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she’d be a bridesmaid in England. She’d immediately written back to Aunt Nancy: “YES! YES! YES! I’d love to be your bridesmaid!”
Aunt Nancy had phoned them in Sydney several times, asking for Milly’s measurements, from her shoe size to the size of her head! She even knew exactly how long Milly’s silky black hair was.
“Why does Aunt Nancy need to know everything about me?” Milly asked her mother.
“She’s having a bridesmaid dress made for you so she needs to know your exact measurements,” Mrs Tang explained.
“But what if I grow and the dress doesn’t fit me?” cried Milly.
“Aunt Nancy has thought of that,” Mrs Tang assured her. “She’s arranged for your final dress fitting to be in December, a few days before the wedding.”
“December will be boiling hot,” said Milly, thinking of their Australian summer where temperatures were very high.
“No it won’t, it will be freezing cold!” laughed Mr Tang. “It’s slap-bang in the middle of the English winter which is always damp and chilly.”
“How can you get married when it’s damp and cold?” puzzled Milly.
“You wear the right kind of clothes,” Mum explained. “Aunt Nancy’s having a velvet dress made for you. It’s soft and silky but it’s also very warm.”
Milly’s mouth fell wide open as she gazed in disbelief at her mother.
“Velvet!” she gasped. “Isn’t that what you cover sofas with?”
Mr and Mrs Tang laughed at their clothes-mad daughter.
Aunt Nancy and her fiancé Leo were waiting for them in the arrivals hall. Mr Tang spotted his sister first.
“Nancy!” he cried, as he lifted her high in the air and swung her round like a little girl. “Hi, baby sister,” he said, as put her safely back down on the ground.
“Hi, big brother!” she replied, as she hugged him tight. “Ah-ha!” she cried, as she spotted Milly beside Mrs Tang. “There’s my little bridesmaid! Welcome to Newcastle.”
Milly gazed up at her beautiful Aunt Nancy.
“Hello,” she said, then shivered from top to toe as a blast of cold wind zipped through the arrivals hall. “Brrrr! I’m freezing!”
It was even colder outside the airport.
“Quick, get into the car,” urged Leo. “The wind’s bitterly cold.”
Milly dived into the back seat of the car and snuggled up close to her Aunt Nancy. She’d never been this cold in her life!
“When will it get warm?” she asked.
Aunt Nancy burst out laughing.
“Not for months!” she replied. “In fact, according to the weather forecast it might even get colder.”
“Colder!” gasped Milly, shivering in her flimsy Australian clothes. “What am I going to wear?”
“We’ve got heaps of warm clothes at my house,” Aunt Nancy assured her. “I’ve been collecting them for months now.”
“If it gets any colder it will surely snow,” said Leo.
“Wow! You mean, it might snow for your wedding?” cried Milly.
“Our wedding’s on the 21st December,” Leo replied. “It often snows in these parts after Christmas but it rarely snows before.”
“Oh, I hope it snows!” sighed Milly, who’d never seen snow in her life.
“So do I,” laughed Aunt Nancy. “Then you can be my Snowy Bridesmaid!”
They drove into Newcastle over a high metal bridge. Milly gazed in amazement at the churning grey water below the bridge.
“Look!” she cried excitedly.
“That’s the River Tyne,” Leo told