A couple of hours later, as the train pulled slowly into the station, Lucy spotted Claudia’s sister-in-law Tara waiting on the platform. She looked radiant in a coral maxi dress and white jacket, one hand resting on her bump. Lucy suppressed a familiar twinge of jealousy.
Lucy descended from the train and made her way over to Tara, enveloping her in a hug.
‘It’s so good to see you! Look at your bump… how exciting!’ said Lucy. ‘It’s been far too long.’
‘I know, isn’t it ridiculous how time flies?’ Tara agreed as she guided Lucy away from the station. ‘I have to warn you, Luce, it’s complete chaos chez Reynolds, as you no doubt expected! I’m so glad you are here. You can help Claudia do the final touches while Rob and I keep the rest of the family out of the way. You look amazing by the way, I love your dress!’ Tara kept up a constant stream of chatter as she led the way out into the car park, telling Lucy amusing anecdotes from the pre-wedding build-up over the last couple of days. She always enjoyed Tara’s company, she had a dry sense of humour which made Lucy laugh. ‘How was the journey?’ Tara asked as they clambered into her little red Nissan and began to make their way along the winding roads towards Claudia’s childhood home.
‘Oh, not bad at all, couldn’t have been easier in fact,’ Lucy replied. ‘How’s pregnancy suiting you? You look positively glowing!’
‘Ah, you’re too kind. I’m fine now, but bloody hell the morning sickness in the first few months nearly finished me off!’ said Tara, shaking her head at the memory.
‘And Rob? Is he excited?’ asked Lucy.
‘Oh, you know what Rob’s like,’ laughed Tara. ‘He’s been ready for this for the last ten years. He’s over the moon!’
Lucy was so chuffed for her dear friend Rob, a brotherly figure to her just like her own brother, Ollie, though definitely more settled. The thought of Ollie, the eternal backpacker, being anywhere near ready for fatherhood made Lucy chuckle. Knowing him, he was probably reclining on a beach somewhere in Australia with a beer in one hand and a surfboard in the other. Claudia’s brother Rob was the complete opposite.
Like Ollie, Claudia had always been one hundred per cent sure that she never wanted children. Dan was luckily of the same mindset; another reason why Lucy was convinced they were a match made in heaven. Claudia insisted she had been born without a single maternal bone in her body and was perfectly happy that way, a phenomenon that Lucy had never really understood. Though given that Claudia was verging on phobic when it came to all things medical, Lucy supposed it wasn’t that surprising. In contrast, having children was an idea that Lucy was never more than a thought away from, her biological clock was ticking louder and louder with every passing year. This desire to procreate was a deep, primal urge that was impossible to describe but deeply rooted within her. During the hours when Lucy lay sleepless and awake in the middle of a restless night, the fear of never having children would sweep over her. It was her darkest worry. In those moments, Lucy reassured herself that should fate let her down she would always be able to take matters into her own hands, after all, you didn’t need a man to have a child these days. But she prayed fervently that destiny would intervene and that she, too, would meet her perfect match, before it was too late for her to conceive. The trouble was, at thirty-five, her time was running out.
Lucy and Tara parked in front of the ramshackle cottage. Several of the latticed windows were thrown open to let the warm air into the house and the scent of freshly baked pastry came floating out to greet them.
Claudia’s mother, Sue, opened the front door to welcome them.
‘Welcome to the madhouse!’ she said, wiping the flour from her hands onto her floral apron as she did so.
Graham, her husband, was following close behind her.
‘Juicy Lucy!’ he chortled, reverting to her childhood nickname and enveloping her in a hearty hug. ‘Great to see you! How’s the big smoke?’ he asked.
‘Oh, you know, hectic, busy, exhausting!’ replied Lucy. ‘Nothing changes! How’s the bride?’
‘Oh, you know, hectic, busy, exhausting. Nothing changes!’ repeated Graham with a wink. It felt good to be back in Claudia’s family home after so long. She suddenly felt nostalgic for her own beloved parents and made a promise to herself that she would sort out a visit home sooner rather than later.
Having brought Lucy’s bag inside, Sue ushered Lucy straight upstairs. She found Claudia sitting serenely at the chintz dressing table amidst the clutter of her childhood bedroom, curling her eyelashes.
‘Luce!’ Claudia cried, putting down her tongs. ‘You made it!’
‘Oh my god, Clauds! I can’t believe this is happening,’ Lucy said, feeling her eyes well up at the sight of her dearest friend.
Claudia came over, skirting around the piles of discarded clothes, shoes and accessories that carpeted the floor, and gave her an enormous hug.
‘Don’t you start or you’ll set me off too!’ warned Claudia, patting the rollers that were secured haphazardly to her head, checking that they were still in place.
Lucy cleared a space for herself to perch on the corner of the bed as Claudia proceeded to give her a full report on the morning so far. The main drama had been caused by the seating plan. Each member of the family had refused point blank to sit next to drunken Uncle Alan, resulting in three entire tables having to be re-planned last minute. Claudia was laughing about it now, but she had clearly been at her wit’s end. Luckily, despite the late alterations, Claudia insisted that Lucy’s strategic placement next to the most eligible man at the wedding was non- negotiable. Apparently, he was a friend of Dan’s who had just moved back to the UK from America. Despite Claudia’s encouraging words, Lucy could picture him now: he was probably balding, had a paunch, and was nearly forty. She was only too used to the ever-shrinking pool of talent that remained available to a thirty-five-year-old woman. All the good-looking ones were already taken, like Jack. She did not have high hopes.
Having temporarily exhausted their chatter, they went into the spare room to admire the dress that they had chosen together back on a rainy February day in London. It hung like a work of art, glistening in its swathe of protective plastic. The art-deco silver beading that fringed the plunging back suited Claudia’s bohemian style perfectly.
Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, Claudia reached out and grabbed Lucy’s hand. ‘Oh my god, this is really happening, isn’t it, Luce?’ She turned to face her, her big brown eyes shining with excitement, tinged with nervous anticipation and a hint of sadness in acknowledgement of the era that was drawing to a close. ‘I’m not leaving you, you know. We’re still going to be exactly the same; this isn’t going to change us, right?’ Claudia said. She was only too aware of how tricky this day must be for Lucy, and was filled with regret that her friend didn’t have a plus-one of her own to accompany her.
Lucy said, ‘Of course not,’ and gave Claudia a friendly push. ‘Don’t be daft!’ But they both knew that things would be different from now on, they already were. Gone were the days when Claudia and Lucy had shared a flat during their first years in London. Friends since their days at Fairview primary school, they had spent secondary school apart when the Reynolds had moved away from Cornwall, and then reunited once again at Exeter University, falling back into stride as the best of friends, wingwomen to each other and the centre pair of an ever-growing crowd of friends, always laughing and getting up to no good.
Claudia had been on the single scene with Lucy for the majority of their twenties following serious relationships at university. Lucy had broken up with her boyfriend of two and a half years after realizing they had become more like friends than anything that would last the distance. Since then both girls had had the odd fling, dalliance and holiday romance, but nothing too serious. Then Claudia had met Dan at a work party just before her twenty-ninth birthday and that had been it! They had moved in together the next year and had never looked back. Dan was an extremely laid-back guy, the perfect counterbalance to Claudia’s chaotic lifestyle and personality. They complemented each other perfectly. Lucy was delighted that Claudia had found him and she was happy that she had gained a new friend in Dan, but she knew in her heart of hearts that the days of Claudia and Lucy, just the two of them, were over. She just wished she could find someone like Dan for herself.
At one o’clock, Sue called everyone down to the kitchen for a light lunch. She had made a quiche Lorraine with buttery, crumbly pastry that melted in Lucy’s mouth, a mixed salad and some warm French bread straight out of the oven. As they devoured their food, Graham, Sue and Rob swapped stories about Claudia’s childhood. Tara and Lucy wept with laughter as they heard about Claudia dressing up in her mother’s white petticoat aged six and insisting on going to the church to demand a groom.
After lunch Lucy got changed and helped Claudia to apply her make-up, put the finishing touches to her hair and get into her dress. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until a last-minute panic erupted when Claudia couldn’t find the glamorous beaded hairpiece that would complete her twenties-inspired look. Lucy searched high and low, frantically sorting through piles of mess whilst placating Claudia, who was sitting on the bed on the verge of tears, getting steadily closer to full-blown hysteria with every passing minute. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted the culprit wedged firmly behind the bed, and with a quick wipe to remove the coating of dust and fluff it had acquired along the way, fixed it in place with some spare kirby grips from the emergency stash she had brought in her clutch. There was just time for Lucy to pin the delicate veil to the back of Claudia’s head before she had to set off with Tara to drive the couple of miles down winding country lanes to the church.
Lucy was dropped off at the gate, where she spotted Rob on grandfather-sitting duty accompanying Graham’s father Bill in his wheelchair. They were perched under a large beech tree, sheltering from the bright sun in the leafy shade.
She looked up as a white dove flew over her head and settled on the lopsided cross at the top of the old stone spire. A good omen, Lucy thought, as she walked down the curving path through the gravestones towards the church.