‘So you bought her a Roman betrothal ring and you had a Roman engagement.’ Saskia raised an eyebrow. ‘Does this mean you’re going to have a Roman wedding, too?’
Isobel groaned. ‘Don’t encourage him, Saskia.’
‘No. It’ll be an ordinary civil wedding,’ Alex said. ‘Close family only. As in you lot plus Helen and Polly and their husbands and the boys.’
‘Well, congratulations,’ Stuart said, raising his glass. ‘And welcome to the family, Alex.’
‘Thank you,’ Alex said, smiling.
‘Welcome to the family, Bel,’ Tom echoed, raising his own glass. ‘We’ve always thought of you as family anyway, but it’s good to make you officially one of us.’
Isobel swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘Thank you. I think I’m going to cry.’
‘No, you’re not.’ Alex, who’d made sure he was sitting next to her, scooped her onto his lap and wrapped his arms round her waist, holding her close.
‘So have you set a date or anything?’ Saskia asked.
‘No,’ Alex admitted, ‘but as we’ve known each other for years, there’s not much point in having a long engagement. As it’s a small wedding, it won’t take long to organise—so are you all busy in three weeks’ time?’
Isobel almost choked on her champagne. ‘Alex, I can’t possibly organise a wedding in three weeks!’
‘But I can,’ he said. ‘I’m twiddling my thumbs for the next month until I start my new job. Three weeks to the wedding, a week’s honeymoon—and this will give me something to do in the meantime and keep me out of mischief.’ He smiled. ‘Actually, it’ll be fun.’
‘Why does that set all the alarm bells ringing in the back of my head?’ Isobel asked.
‘Because you know what my brother’s like,’ Saskia said. ‘He could be planning anything.’
‘Alex, maybe we’d better wait until you’ve been in your job for a few months,’ Isobel suggested. And it would buy her some time, too. So she could find the right moment to tell him about what had happened with Gary. Explain about the miscarriages. She was marrying him under false pretences as it was. She couldn’t do it under double false pretences.
‘No, he’s got a point,’ Anna said, surprising Isobel. ‘You’ve known each other for years. Why wait? And a summer wedding will be lovely.’
‘I think so, too,’ Marcia said. ‘Don’t worry that he’s going to go over the top, Bel. We’ll keep him under control—won’t we, Anna?’
‘Absolutely,’ Anna said. ‘I foresee daily phone calls and updates.’
‘I’ll text you,’ Alex said, laughing at the horrified look on his mother’s face.
Saskia dug him in the ribs. ‘Don’t be mean. You know Mum hardly ever switches her mobile phone on and gets in a knot over texting.’
‘All right, all right. Daily updates. In a phone call,’ Alex promised.
‘I think we need a toast,’ Marcia said, beaming. ‘To Isobel and Alex. And may they have a very long, very happy married life.’
‘Isobel and Alex,’ everyone echoed.
Alex bent his head to whisper in Isobel’s ear, ‘Stop worrying. It’s all going to be fine.’
‘No snogging at the table, you two,’ Saskia directed. ‘Let the poor girl go back to her seat, Alex. It’s lunchtime. Flora’s been really patient but if we don’t feed her in the next ten seconds she’s going to start screaming.’
‘Just like her mother,’ Bryn said.
Alex laughed. ‘You can say that again.’ He lifted Isobel’s hand, kissed her palm and folded her fingers over the place he’d just kissed. ‘As my little sister’s being bossy …’
‘Yes, dear.’ Isobel fluttered her eyelashes at him, laughed and slid off his lap to reclaim her seat.
It was the perfect lunch. Everyone was laughing and talking and smiling, and Isobel’s heart gave a funny little throb as she thought how much she loved all the people there.
Including Alex.
But Alex didn’t feel the same way about her. If she wasn’t very, very careful, she was going to get her heart broken all over again. And this time she wouldn’t be able to put the pieces back together.
Isobel was really quiet on the way home, Alex noticed.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
‘Yes, of course.’
But her smile was fixed rather than genuine. He reached across to take her hand and squeeze it. ‘No, you’re not. What is it? The wedding?’
She sighed. ‘Yes.’
‘Going to tell me about it?’
‘I’ve been married before,’ she said softly. ‘I’ve done the church and the partying and it all went wrong.’
‘Because you trusted in love,’ he said. ‘This time, we’re going for something that lasts—we like each other and we get on well, so it’ll work. And I can guarantee this wedding’s not going to be anything like your first one.’ He slid her a wicked look. ‘For a start, the groom will be wearing an Akubra.’
‘You’re kidding!’
Oh, he loved this. She was so easy to tease. ‘You don’t want me to wear my Hunter stuff? OK. We’ll make it a Roman do and I’ll sweet-talk Rita into lending me that toga again.’
‘Alex …’
He could hear in her voice that he’d just pushed her over the edge into worrying again. ‘I was teasing, Bel. As our mothers are both keeping an eye on me, I can’t do anything too outrageous, can I?’
‘I suppose not,’ she admitted. ‘Though I’d be happier if you actually planned it with me.’
‘Bel, you’re up to your eyes at work. The last thing you need when you get home is to have to go through all the hassle of choosing this and booking that and seeing if there’s an alternative if we can’t have our first choice.’ He rubbed the pad of his thumb across the backs of her fingers. ‘Whereas I’m not officially at work for another month. I don’t have anything pressing to do, so it makes sense for me to be the one making the arrangements and chasing things up. And, actually, I’d get a huge kick out of giving you a surprise wedding. A day to remember for all the right reasons.’
She swallowed hard. ‘Alex, I really need to talk to you about something.’
‘Bel, it’s going to be fine,’ he said softly. ‘I’m not going to plan anything you’ll hate. Just trust me.’
‘I do trust you. It’s not that. It’s …’ She sighed. ‘Now isn’t the right place. But there’s something you ought to know. About me.’
‘Your divorce never came through properly?’
She shook her head. ‘No, that’s sorted. Gary made sure of that when his—’ for a moment, her voice cracked ‘—when his partner became pregnant.’
‘So there’s no legal bar to us getting married. Good. So do you want a church wedding or a civil wedding?’
‘I’m divorced,’ she reminded him. ‘I can’t marry in church.’
‘You could still have a blessing, if you want one.’
‘Civil’s fine. And something quiet, Alex. Not a media circus.’
‘It won’t be a media circus,’