Spring Blossoms at Mill Grange by Jenny Kane (a court of thorns and roses ebook free txt) 📗

‘I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to seeing him in a suit.’ Helen’s blush spread down her neck as her mind leapt to Tom’s potential reaction to her bridesmaid’s dress. ‘And Dylan of course. I bet he looks fantastic.’

Mabel raised her glass. ‘Like a mini Tom Cruise.’

‘Not that mini.’ Sybil nudged Mabel’s elbow, almost sending her drink flying. ‘Tom Cruise is on the short side I believe.’

Tina smiled as Mabel’s eyes rolled again. ‘I think you need something to soak that champagne up, Sybil, or you’ll be buttering the jam and creaming the tea pot tomorrow.’

‘Don’t you worry about me. Lead lined stomach.’ Sybil tapped her waist. ‘Anyway, I remember your orders. No drinking after 10 p.m., and tea and coffee on standby to round off the evening. Gone are the days of strippers and tying folk to lampposts.’

‘I thought it was the stag that got stripped naked and tied to a lamp post.’ Helen got up to look out of the window. ‘Nope, you’re okay Tina, not a single naked man with a ponytail in sight.’

Tina laughed. ‘How about naked men without ponytails?’

‘At least three, possibly four.’

Thea lowered the glass of orange juice she’d been sipping. ‘I haven’t seen you like this for ages, Helen. I’d forgotten about your post-alcohol silly side.’

‘Out of practice.’ Helen twirled a curl of hair around her fingers. ‘I don’t think I’d better have any more, though!’

‘It wasn’t a criticism.’ Thea felt bad for commenting. ‘I just meant that it’s lovely to see you so relaxed.’

Mabel raised her glass which was already almost empty. ‘Love of a good man that is.’ She hiccupped, making everyone burst out laughing.

‘Okay!’ Sybil got to her feet, ‘if Mabel is at the hiccupping stage, we need cake!’

‘Scones!’ Helen and Tina chorused.

‘But you’ll be having scones tomorrow at the wedding.’ Sybil shook her head, ‘Surely you don’t want them now as well?’

‘Don’t be daft, woman.’ Mabel got up, swaying slightly as she did so. ‘I’ll give you a hand. We could eat your scones all day every day forever.’

As they tottered towards the kitchen, Sybil chuckled. ‘I think most of you already do.’

Watching them leave, Tina said, ‘I believe Mabel is tipsy. I never thought I’d see the day.’

‘She told me she can take Bucks Fizz like its lemonade when we chatted earlier.’ Thea smiled affectionately. ‘I suspect she could, once upon a time. I’m damn sure Sybil was right about her being a heartbreaker.’

Tina tapped the side of her nose with a wink. ‘When Bert was in the hospital, he told us how he’d fallen for Mabel the second he saw her red hair. It was love at first sight.’

‘A red head.’ Thea looked towards the kitchen, from where the clatter of plates being none to gently stacked, could be heard. ‘That figures. Saucy lot the red heads.’ She winked at Helen, who blushed again.

Tina drained her glass, before gesturing to Thea’s half full one. ‘Have you had anything to drink at all?’

‘Orange juice.’ Thea winked. ‘One of us has to make sure the bride gets home in one piece.’

‘That’s why we have the curfew and coffee.’ Tina held up the champagne bottle. ‘Can’t I tempt you to one?’

‘No thanks.’ Thea turned to see Sybil and Mabel tottering across the tearoom with a steaming pile of cheese scones. ‘And now I’m even better!’

*

‘It’ll be a miracle if any of us fit into our dresses tomorrow,’ Thea muttered to herself as she hit the fresh air.

Sybil, having run out of orange juice, and not wanting to be responsible for a bride with a hangover, despite Tina’s earlier good intentions, had asked Thea to fetch some from Moira in the pub.

It was good to be away for a moment. Although she’d begun to relax with the arrival of the scones, and had certainly laughed alongside her friends as they’d chatted through butter heavy mouthfuls, Thea still felt as if she was experiencing life through the wrong end of a telescope.

She checked her watch. It was already nine thirty. If Tina really did want them all to be good girls and back to Mill Grange at ten, she was going to have to confiscate the last two bottles of champagne Sybil had lined up in ice buckets.

Despite it being packed, Thea could hear Bert laughing as she weaved her way through the pub garden. He, Sam and Tom, were sat at a patio table, swathed in coats to keep off the evening chill, with a suspiciously large number of empty glasses in front of them, and nothing more nourishing than some packets of crisps to fend off the hangovers they’d promised Tina not to have.

Waving as she headed to the bar, Thea called to Moira, who was serving at least three people at once, with her usual good humour. ‘Sybil’s out of orange juice. Any chance?’

‘She warned me that might happen. I put a few cartons in the back room. Can you help yourself?’ Moira added a straw to a cola, while pulling a pint. ‘Tell Sybil we’ll sort the money out on Monday.’

Giving the landlady a thumbs up, Thea sidled past the bar and down a narrow corridor to a room she’d been to twice before. Her palms tingled as she remembered how she’d had a meal with Shaun there, during what they’d since labelled their first ‘non-date’. The second time she’d been there, she’d run away. Having been tricked into thinking she was having a meal with Shaun, she had been greeted with the prospect of dinner with her former boyfriend, John.

‘Well, this time, you are simply fetching orange juice, so stop panicking and get back to the girls.’

As soon as she pushed the door open, the inevitability of it hit her. ‘Seriously!’

Shaun jumped up from the sofa. He looked guilty. ‘Hi, Thea. Sorry for the cloak and dagger bit, but I didn’t think you’d come if I’d asked.’

Thea’s pulse galloped as she stood in the open doorway, her arms