Jimmy Delaney
"Stop looking so sad," Camille whispered in my ear as we posed for post-wedding photographs. "She didn't die, she just got married. Now smile for the photos."
I tried my best to look as happy as I could but despite Camille's words, I felt as if a part of me was missing as I watched Sophie and Daniel pose as the newly announced Mr and Mrs Whitaker. Unlike when Emma married, seeing Sophie become someone's wife was a wholly different ball game.
Despite being the eldest, Sophie had always been the one needing the most protection. Outwardly, she seemed confident and as if nothing ever bothered her but to those of us who had seen her at her lowest, she was nothing like the person she pretended to be. She was prone to bottling her emotions up inside, burying them in the deepest, darkest parts of her soul, never to be seen again. Only a very special person would be able to heal those wounds other had inflicted upon her. From the vows Sophie had written, Daniel was just that person.
"Hey, Dad," Sophie's voice carried to me as she wrapped her arms around my waist and guided me towards the orangery. It had been just over an hour since she and her new husband exchanged rings and said 'I do' and the reception would be beginning soon. I watched as the family that had gathered for the group photographs walked ahead of us, leaving my daughter and me to trail behind them. "Are you ok? You look a little down."
I kissed her forehead as we walked side by side. "I'm just a little sad," I admitted. "Where did the years go, Sophiekins? It was only yesterday that you grasped my index finger in your tiny hands and opened your eyes to the world. Now look at you. You're married."
As if to prove a point that she was still my little girl, Sophie dropped her arm from my waist and grasped my index finger with her hand. I didn't even try to hide the smile that stretched across my face as we caught up with everyone else. Parents should never have favourites but if someone asked me right this second which of my children I loved the most, it would be Sophie.
The cocktail hour was wrapping up while the evening guests arrived in time for the reception. The bride and groom circulated the room, as did the rest of the immediate family, thanking as many people as we could for coming. Most of the day guests were family and I made sure to speak to Camille's side of the family.
The French and I had a strained relationship; ever since Camille and I eloped, her family have hated me and the fact that my family are religious where hers are not has been a source of contention. When the children were younger, Camille and I weighed the pros and cons of sending them to a religious school as well as the Lycée Francais in London but ultimately decided that neither school was the right fit. The fact that we had looked into a French education didn't seem to matter to Jacqueline because she was stuck on the religious element of the other school, regardless of the fact that they didn't attend there.
Honestly, it was a minefield. But they were my in-laws and you have to get along with them. First, I approached the Wicked Witch, or La Sorcière Méchant, as I liked to call the Monster-in-law.
"Jacqueline," I greet her, kissing both cheeks in that continental way the French do. "C'était un beau mariage, non?"
"Si tu le dis," Jacqueline said, turning her nose up in the air in a way that instantly annoyed me.
"Aye, I do seh sow," I mutter in the thickest Irish accent I can muster. Having lived outside Ireland for over thirty years, I had lost a certain amount of my native accent but when called upon, I can conjure it up in an instant and make myself unintelligible to even those closest to me. Of course, Sophie's wedding was great. There was no doubt about it but nothing seemed to make Jacqueline happy. Turning away from Camille's mother, I nod in the direction of her father, Arthur. "What's the craic?"
Needing a drink, I head to the bar and order a Guinness. "Hey, Mr Delaney," the Aussie prick that's been after Charlotte brightly greets me. "Let me get you that drink, sir."
"It's an open bar," I remind him. "That means the drinks are free."
"Right," the bloke- Fitch, Finch, Foster- laughs nervously. "Um, Mr Delaney, I just wanted to seek your permission to court your daughter."
I sipped the Guinness slowly, savouring the taste that somehow made everything more tolerable, before setting it back down and turning to the little twerp at my side. "Look, none of my kids need my permission before they start dating anyone, especially Charlotte. To be frank, she'd be insulted to know that you even asked me. Charlotte is a very modern woman and is no man's possession. Now, feck off, you're irritating me."
Unsure of whether or not I was serious, Crocodile Dundee blinked at me. When I gave him a blank stare, he laughed nervously, took the two champagne flutes from the waiter and disappeared back into the growing crowd, leaving me to enjoy my pint alone. I stood at the bar, unwilling and unwanting to 'host' anymore until someone announced that we were to take our place for dinner.
Even though I had no idea where I was supposed to sit, I entered to main part of the orangery where the reception was being held and looked around, spotting Camille waving at me from the crowd. Making my way to her, I gave each table I passed a cursory look to see who was sitting there, shivering when I saw the name Jeanne Renaud, Camille's sister. There was no one on this earth that was worse that Jeanne.
"Who am I sitting next to?" I ask Camille.
Before she answered, I felt someone tap my shoulder. "Hey, Uncle Jimmy!" My niece Keira beamed at me. "Look, we're table buddies."
"Ah, jeysus," I grumbled. Seeing a waiter pass, I grabbed him by the arm and said, "It's going to be a long night. Keep the double whiskeys coming and there'll be a hefty tip in it for you."
Keira Delaney
"Hey, Uncle Jimmy," I say, poking the man next to me. When his cold glare fell on me, my smile widened. "What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back?"
Since sitting down, I've been sharing all my best jokes with my favourite uncle but he doesn't seem impressed by any of them. Honestly, it's like someone sucked all the fun out of him. He's been drinking his continuous supply of whiskey and only giving monosyllabic answers to questions others ask him. When I ask him anything, all I get is silence. I should feel insulted but I'm actually flattered with this special treatment I'm getting.
"A stick!" I give him the punchline when he doesn't answer. I thought he may crack a smile at that, but no. He nodded his head, turned away and drained the glass of its amber contents. I sigh and look to my left. "That was a good joke, though, wasn't it?"
Logan Leahy, my stalker that I've let into my life on a permanent basis just so that I can kiss and have sex with whenever I want to, grinned and closed the gap between us so he could kiss me. "It was the best," he clarified. Now that the dinner was over and the plates had been cleared away, Logan reached out for the game packet that had been left out for us. "Shall we try and do some of these?"
I scanned some of the questions and knew instantly which ones would apply to my cousin. She can't plan for shit, so the first one was definitely Daniel. Sophie was the cook, the one that's most stubborn, undoubtedly she wears the pants and at the door, she would have a mountain of shoes piling up. Neither would be the first to admit that they were wrong, but if I had to choose, I'd go Daniel. He would also be the one that decorates, has the cleaner car, and empties the dishwasher most. Sophie would have the most speeding tickets while Daniel could probably eat the most.
"But then," I reason, taking this quiz very seriously. "It would depend on what food they're eating. If it's anything Charlotte's made, I would have to go with Sophie on that question."
"So, we're going with Sophie?" Logan asked, wielding the pencil over the red lips on the paper. I nod in agreement. "Is it Sophie that does yoga?"
I frown. "I don't think she does, but let's just say her because I can't imagine Danny Boy doing it. The dogs listen to him more and she's the one who made the first move."
Logan looked at me with a strange twisting thing going on with his mouth when I told him the last answer.
"Really?" He asked as one of his eyebrows defected further up his forehead. "I don't think she was the first to make a move. It's got to be him."
As things do with Logan and me, things escalated quickly with our discussion turning into an argument in zero point two seconds. Logan, who knew nothing about the couple, was adamant that Daniel had made the first move but I had insider knowledge of Sophie, and she would have been the one to make the first move. After how all her relationships have ended, she would never let a guy get that close unless it was on her terms. She had to be the one who made the first move.
The sound of a glass clinking brought the room to a standstill as we all looked at my cousin, Lucas, who was now stood up and looking the most self-conscious that I've ever seen him. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began, his voice shaking but still coming out clear. And in one breath. "As many of you know, I'm the brother of the bride and it is my honour this evening to kick off the speeches. Before we begin, however, I've been told that on each table there's a Wedding Speech Bingo card. To facilitate your evening, I've packed as many of those phrases into this speech as I possibly could. So, here goes."
Before Lucas could say another word, Logan and I rushed to find the bingo card. Because we are not competitive. Or childish.
"Where do I begin?" Lucas started. Logan crossed one of the phrases off. "I remember when Sophie rang me to tell me that she was getting married. It was about an hour after she was bailed from an American police station but the details are inconsequential. She had never sounded so excited before and she kept repeating how lucky she was to have found the man of her dreams. 'It was the best day of my life,' she assured me," Lucas continued. By now his nerves had disappeared and his words were flowing flawlessly, a sharp contrast to the speech he made at Emma's wedding.
"Well, we can only hope that today has been an ever better day in your life. Today, I am so proud of my big sister for the woman she has become. Every father has the opportunity to walk his daughter down the aisle, but how many brothers have the same honour? I would just like to say a special thank you, then, to my sister for allowing me to be a part of her big day," Lucas smiles down at Sophie. "So, if we could all raise a glass as we toast the new Mr and Mrs Whitaker."
Glasses were raised and a loud, heartfelt 'cheers' reverberated around the room. "Thank you," Lucas finished, just as Logan crossed out the last phrase on the bingo card and I shouted, "Bingo!"
Daniel Whitaker
It was hard to concentrate on anything going on around me other than my blushing bride. The guests all laughed at something but I'm not sure what they laughed at- I was too focused on the way Sophie's face lit up with pure joy and happiness as her head fell backward and the sweetest sound escaped her lips.
She is too beautiful.
"That's your cue," someone said as they forced me up from my seat to address the crowd.
I vaguely remember that Lucas had just given his speech which meant that I was the next person in line to speak. I knew before I turned to the crowd that I wouldn't be able to speak; as soon as I saw Sophie walk down the aisle in my grandmother's wedding dress, she took my breath away and I haven't quite recovered yet. I'm not sure I ever will, either. For as long as she and I are married, she will continue to take my breath away.
"I, uh... hello?" I nervously speak, much to the amusement of the hundred and fifty pairs of eyes on me. "So, I'm the groom and I, uh... I'm supposed to make a speech but at the moment I can't really think of what to say."
An excruciating silence lingered. "Do your vows, you idiot," one of my groomsmen said as a piece of paper was shoved into my hands. "Read it."
Despite the fact that, dotted around the room there were backdrops that had parts of our vows written on them, Sophie had yet to hear mine in its entirety. "Ok, so earlier in the church I couldn't say my vows because my darling new wife floored me with her beautiful words," I tell the crowd earnestly. "Hopefully, I can redeem myself now.
"There was a time when I believed that someone's voice couldn't change my life," I say the words I had long ago written coming back to me. From the way Sophie grinned at me, I knew that she approved already. I laughed as I continued my vows. "How wrong was I? Ever since I heard yours, you've upended my world. See, once I knew you, I never wanted to know anyone else.
"You stir in me what I was certain others had killed and it's as if I never really knew love until then, in that moment I met you." I steal a glance in Sophie's direction to see her wiping away stray tears. Immediately, I turn to my brother and demand some tissue, but he didn't have any to spare. Thankfully, from somewhere in the crowd, Hugo threw a handkerchief that landed perfectly in front of Sophie. When she was done wiping away the happy tears, she looked up at me expectantly.
"I just want the chance to love you like you deserve to be loved. Yes, there are going to be days when you're undone, stressed out, tired, spent... And I'll still love you just as much in those moments as I ever have, maybe a little more, because it'll mean you let me get close enough to know the real you. That's all I want. I love you, Sophie Evangeline Whitaker-" I say, testing out her new name. I think the sound of it on my tongue and I can't help the smugness that took over my features. "Not like I did yesterday, though. I love you right now, more than I ever have and yet, a little less than I will tomorrow. I will dedicate my life to making up for all the years I was supposed to be kissing you. I love you and I will continue to love you until death do us part. And even after that, I will love you still, because this love I feel for you is infinite."
Silence lingered again in the room before I heard someone from the crowd shout out, "Soppy git!" I knew exactly who the voice belonged to- Lily Southcliffe, a friend of mine from way back when. Searching the room for her, I make out her striking red hair first but the electric blue dress she wore was also a giveaway. I shake my head to reprimand her, but it didn't work. "Kiss her!"
As soon as Lily had started that chant, others joined in until eventually, Sophie took to her feet and reached up to take my face in her hands as she kissed me. "You're too bloody perfect, Mr Whitaker."
"Not as perfect as you, Mrs Whitaker," I replied, still loving her name like that.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Elias said as he stood and took the microphone from me. Tapping the mic, he checked that it was working before he spoke. "Hello, everyone. Now, from the really embarrassing photos these two included of the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, you probably already know who I am, but just in case you don't, I'm Elias and I'm that soppy git's best friend.
"I did have a speech prepared but it's a tough act to follow Daniel's so I'm not even going to try," I hear Elias laugh before he turns serious. "Sophie, the guys and I have known Daniel for many years, but we've never seen him as happy as he is when he's with you. You've changed him for the better and without you even knowing it; you've changed us all for the better, too. My family and I thank you for that. Now, I think that's enough emotional talk for tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating the bride and groom as we ask them to take to the floor for their first dance as man and wife."
Camille Clément
In life, all a mother really wants is to see her children happy. For so many years, I never thought I would see that for Sophie. In her life, she has had more unhappiness than I wish to count but I always knew her day would come.
Granted, I never thought the man that would make her glow like this would be Daniel Whitaker, but even in Sophie's darkest moments of this year, she has loved him more than he probably deserved but now I understand that unwavering devotion she has for him. He brings out a side of my daughter that I thought others has broken, trampled on and buried long ago.
Seeing them dance together, lost in their own perfect world, I felt mixed emotions; on one hand, I was sad that my daughter was leaving us but on the other hand, I knew that the man she now called her husband would take care of her better than any other person on this earth. His love for her was clear for us all to see and for that, I was grateful to Daniel.
The first dance came to an end but that was just the beginning of the dancing. A song began to play and I saw Sophie walk to the perimeter of the dance floor, her gown brushing the floor and giving an illusion that Sophie was walking on air. She came to a stand before me and kissed both cheeks before she turned to my husband.
"Papa," she addressed him. I hadn't heard any of my children call James that since their teenage years kicked in and they stopped being out babies. It brought a tear to my eye that on the day our eldest daughter became a grown up, she would still always be our bébé. "May I have this dance with you?"
James would never admit this, but he had been somewhat hurt when Sophie asked Lucas to walk her down the aisle. He had the honour at Emma's wedding, but as her father, he would have relished the chance to kiss his daughter one last time before she became a wife. The father of the bride speech he wasn't so fussed about because we all know that James is a terrible public speaker, but the walk... that hurt. This dance, however, was something special between them- father and daughter.
He took Sophie's hand and twirled her onto the dancefloor before he pulled her close and they swayed together. They spoke throughout the song, laughed together, hugged and they even cried, but it was a moment that I knew both would cherish forever. No one could take that away from them.
After Sophie and James had their dance, they bowed and curtsied to everyone as the DJ announced the dancefloor open to the guests. As part of their invitation to guests, Sophie and Daniel had asked them all to submit a song choice so that the set list was tailored to everyone's tastes and ensured that the dance floor would always have at least one person dancing on it.
"Mrs Clément?" Someone addressed me. Looking to where the voice came from, I saw Daniel holding out a hand for me and motioning towards the dancefloor. It was only then that I recognised the song that played. It was an old Madonna song, Vogue, and it had been the one that I had noted on the card for the playlist. "I can even do the moves if you want."
To prove that he could, Daniel lifted his arms and demonstrated the movements from the music video. I laughed at his stupidity but nodded and pulled him to the dancefloor, nevertheless. While the song wasn't conducive to slow dancing, Daniel kept me in hold, seizing his chance to speak to me away from the ears of his wife.
"Camille," he began. "I know you haven't always been my biggest fan but I hope that I have begun to prove you wrong. I don't think I've ever told anyone this, but I can pinpoint the moment exactly when your daughter stole my heart."
In recent months, Sophie had spoken extensively about how she fell in love with Daniel but I had never heard it from his perspective. For some reason, I never put much emphasis on his feelings because my daughter always came first, but Daniel is family now.
"It was at one forty-three am on January first, twenty-sixteen," Daniel smiled to himself. "The exact time that I made that first phone call to her. See, I knew after that, once I knew her, had a taste of her voice, that I would never be able to live without her in my life. She stole my heart then and she's continued to steal fragments of it ever since. Little by little, until she held it fully in her hands. I can't complain, though, because I stole hers, too."
The song's chorus kicked in then and Daniel pulled away to mimic the moves from the Vogue music video, dancing as if his life depended on it. Witnessing Daniel dancing is akin to seeing a rare bird in its natural habitat in the wild- it needs to be seen to be believed.
"Allez, Camille," Daniel said in a French accent that has improved immensely this year. "Dancez! Strike a pose, Vogue."
Feeling sorry for him, I threw my own inhibitions to the wind and embraced a side of me that I hadn't seen since the mid-eighties, dancing with passion to the song that played. It helped that the next song was a classic eighties song, I Wanna Dance with Somebody. For this song, Daniel stepped aside as another you man took his place.
"Alors, Maman," Lucas said as he threw some questionable moves. "Dansons!"
Elias Marshall
"Have you seen Nola?" My gorgeous wife, Jenna, asked as I spun her on the dancefloor. I shook my head. "I better go look for her and make sure she's ok. Keep dancing and while you're at it, look for a nice sensible girl for Michael will you? No bimbos! He keeps going for the same type and that hasn't been working for him. Oh, and sort Fletch out, too. He's moping over Charlotte far too much for my liking."
I laugh as Jenna struggles against the tide of people and heads off to find our daughter. I could already guess where Nola was- running around with Evie's kid as they tried to complete the I Spy game card that Sophie and Daniel had printed especially for them. I have to hand it to my friends, they certainly had put a lot of thought into the games that people could play at the wedding.
I mean, who but Sophie and Daniel would have a Wedding Speech Bingo?
Bumping into someone, I reach out an arm to balance the red head and apologise profusely for throwing her off her groove. I was just about to go for round two of apologies when I clocked who the woman was. "Wait, aren't you Lily Southcliffe?" I ask. When the woman ducked her head, I knew that it had to be her. I'd heard that Daniel and she had been friends when they were kids, but I never thought I'd see her at Daniel's wedding. "Oh, wow! I absolutely loved you in that BBC drama that was on over Christmas. Even Nola was getting engrossed in it. Shit, I don't have a pen! Um, could I have a photo taken with you?"
Ever so politely, Lily agreed and posed for a photo, smiling into the camera. "Well, you know my name, how about I find out yours."
"Elias Marshall." I had to pinch myself just to confirm that I was most definitely awake and that I was managing to hold a real, decent conversation with a BAFTA winning actress. Suddenly, Jenna's words came back to me. "Are you single? See, I have this friend who is a relationship- and dating- disaster zone."
"Haha," she laughs, although I sense we've stepped into a weird stalker zone. "Thank you for your kind offer, but I'm in a relationship. I hope it works out for your friend, though."
Ok, so maybe I was aiming a little high in trying to set up Michael with a world famous actress. I should set my sights on someone more down to earth, someone that looks like she wouldn't eat my friend for breakfast. Someone like...
"Hello, I'm Elias," I introduce myself to the next woman I think could be a good match for Michael. Dressed in a red jumpsuit and has that fashionable thing going on with her hair where it's dark on the top and then gets lighter- there must be a word for that- this woman seems like a good sort. Shy, perhaps, but she smiles a lot. "I don't believe we've met before."
"Amber Rochester," the woman gives me a kind smile. "I'm a friend of the bride."
"Are you single?"
In an instant, the smile vanishes from Amber's face. "You're married, or did you forget? If you're going to cheat, at least take your ring off first, you heartless prick."
Without giving me a chance to defend myself, the woman slapped my cheek and then slinked off to the bar. From behind me, I hear someone roar with laughter at my misfortune. When I turned around, I really shouldn't have been surprised to see who the culprit was. Alice Fletcher.
Isaac's sister- I think one of two that he has- flew in from Australia especially for the wedding, although I think her main purpose as Fletch's Plus One wasn't to keep him company at the wedding, but rather to make Charlotte jealous. I think it was working because even though the two women had yet to speak to each other, Charlotte kept sending Alice death stares.
"Let me show you how the pros do it," Alice said as she dragged me off the dancefloor and towards a group of women that were huddled by the bar. Throwing her blonde hair over her shoulders, Alice readjusted her strapless midnight blue dress and pasted a bright smile on her lips. "Hey, ladies! I'm Alice, a friend of the groom. Pleasure to meet you. Oh em gee, are they Charlotte Olympia and Barbie Pomeline sandals? I would kill for a pair."
"Oh, yes, they are," the woman that Alice had been speaking to answers in an enthusiastic tone. It was amazing how women were more inclined to talk if the topic of conversation was fashion. It's like their own little language. "I'm Lucy Elizabeth Vincent but everyone calls me Vinnie. I work for Vogue so shoes like this just fall into my hands."
"Or onto your feet, huh?" Alice joked with the woman a little more. "So, Vinnie, I have this friend who was recently left crushed when his long-time girlfriend broke up with him just before Christmas." Vinnie gasped. Alice turned to me and winked before her attention went back to the woman. "It's super sad to see him at the wedding all on his lonesome and well, we were kinda hoping you could help us cheer him up. His name is Michael and he's a doll."
After Alice pointed Michael out to Vinnie, the woman who we had just met weaved her way through the crowd and nervously went up to Michael. Words were exchanged and soon enough, they were dancing to some song I had never heard before, although it sounded vaguely like something Jenna would listen to.
"I have to hand it to you," I say to Alice above the sound of the music. "You are your brother's sister, alright."
"Oh, look!" Jenna beamed as she appeared at my side. "You found someone for Michael. Well done, babe."
"Yeah, babe," Alice scoffed. "Well done."
Ignoring her, I turned back to my wife. "Did you find Nola?"
"Yes," she giggled. "She and Ewan are off completing that I Spy card they've got. They're spying for something old but Nola keeps telling Ewan that they can't use Connie as that something old. Now, hubby, twirl me to the dancefloor."
Isaac Fletcher
"I'm sorry, but what's your name again?" I ask the blonde that I had been dancing with for the best part of half an hour. I wasn't dancing with her in an interested kind of way, but more of a I'm-Lord-of-the-dance-and-you-can't-keep-me-off-a-dance-floor kind of way. Honestly, I'd dance with anyone. "Isabelle, right?"
"Isabella, actually," she corrects me. Despite forgetting her name, Isabella continued to dance with me, her sky blue dress floating around her thighs every time I spun her around. She was, if I remember correctly, a childhood friend of Sophie's, which was kind of strange because Isabella is funny, sweet, very kind and ridiculously energetic. Sophie, however, was a sloth in comparison. "I didn't know that you and Charlotte were a thing. No one told me."
I frowned. "Charlotte? We're not a thing."
"Try telling that to Charlotte's face," Isabella said as she took a step away from me. "She's been glaring at me ever since we started dancing. I know when to back off a guy, so thank you for the dance Fletch, but I have a self-preservation thing going on. See ya!"
Groaning, I decide that maybe Lord of the Dance needed a break and took off to find some people that I might recognise. True enough, just off from the bar, I found Daniel and Sophie huddled alongside some familiar faces, all of whom had a drink in their hand. One such person was my sister, Alice, who held out a bottle of Corona for me.
"You look like shit," Alice says directly. When Sophie laughed- actually, she snorted like a pig- Alice looked slightly amused but chose to ignore the unladylike noise coming from the bride. "I love you, big brother, but you do look like shit. What's going on?"
"What's going on is that Charlotte is scaring away all the women," I explained, giving Sophie a pointed look. She wasn't paying any attention, though, as the cogs of her mind were working overtime as she tried to comprehend what Alice had said. When Sophie opened her mouth, I intercepted her question and provided the answer. "Yes, Sophie, Alice is my sister. Family."
Sophie gave a sadistic smile then. "I take it Charlotte doesn't know this? Please don't tell her! This will drive her crazy with jealousy. Where's Sammy? I need Sammy."
Before anyone could stop to question her, Sophie was dashing through the guests on a mission to find her new brother-in-law. Not that anyone should try and question Sophie Whitaker- the woman was batshit crazy, no doubt about it. But her craziness balanced Daniel's seriousness which is why I've chosen to like Sophie despite her character flaws.
"So," Kiara Andrews, a co-worker of Daniel's said as her brown eyes bore into mine. I was never a fan of Kiara's, mainly because she was one of the few women that turned me down. Yeah, she's a lesbian, so what? I've slept with lesbians before. And then there are the weird sci-fi movie references she likes to make. That's enough to send anyone crazy. "You have a crush on Charlotte, huh?"
"It's not a crush, Kiki," I sigh but still manage to utilise the nickname she abhors. Fletch 1, Kiara 0. "A crush is what you have for her. I have an undying love for Charlotte."
"Is that what you call your erection nowadays, Fletch?" Kiara countered. If she thought that was going to hurt me, she was mistaken. My hard on is called The Boss. "No wonder she doesn't want to screw you."
We traded barbed comments for a few minutes but really, I was winning the argument. Kiara was a pipsqueak compared to the genius that I could sprout out at a drop of a hat. People bow down to me for the crap I say.
"Stop!" Someone shouted. Looking to my left, I saw Alaina Girard throw her hands up in the air and form the time-out gesture. "You two are fucking annoying. Grandissez! You are not children. Charlotte is an adulte and you both are acting silly. C'est un casse-nul. Laisse tomber! Point final! Putain de merde, I need a drink."
Storming off, Alaina kept muttering in her native French, catching the attention of one of Sophie's continental cousins. Needing a translation of what she said, I looked to my friend, but Daniel was too busy laughing his arse off. "Oh, that was good," he eventually managed to say. "I knew there was a reason I asked her to tutor me in French."
"What did she say?" Kiara asked.
"She told you both to grown up," Daniel told us. "Your argument is a pain in the arse, drop it, end of story. Then she said, fucking hell, she needs a drink. Which are my sentiments exactly. By the way, that's the first time I've seen Alaina that worked up because usually she's really sweet and polite, but you two really know how to get on people's nerves."
Downing my drink in one long gulp, I set the empty bottle on the table and then took off to dance some more. It wasn't long before a woman in an olive coloured dress began to dance with me. I recognised her from somewhere but for the life of me, I didn't know where. Had I slept with her? No, I would have remembered sleeping with her because not many of the women I've been with have raven dark curly hair.
"Where do I know you from?" I eventually ask, although I have to get within inches of her ear to ask. The music had been gradually getting louder. "Are you one of Sophie's friends?"
She shook her head. "I'm Lasha," she answered, the palms of her hands finding my shoulders as she reached up on her tiptoes to speak into my ear. "I'm a friend of Daniel's. I was his interior designer. Kinda. We met when he was kitting out his new house."
"Ah," I nod, I was about to say something else but a tap on my shoulder stopped me from speaking. Looking at the person who had interrupted us, I'm faced with a serious looking Charlotte Delaney. Fuck. "Hey, Lottie."
"Put your dick away, Skip," she says in a humourless tone. "We're getting the send-off ready and the guys say we need your help. Think you can drag yourself away?"
Charlotte Delaney
"That was totally uncalled for, Charlotte," Isaac growled as he trailed behind me. In my mind, I totally agreed with him- it was uncalled for the way that I spoke in front of the woman he was dancing with, but what about his actions? He's been flirting with everyone all night and parading it in my face. And what about the blonde twelve-year-old that was his Plus One? It can't have been nice for her to have to see him getting that close to other women. "If you're jealous, you could just tell me. You didn't need to create a scene."
I stopped in my tracks. "I am not jealous," I said through gritted teeth.
Liar.
"Liar," Isaac repeated my inner thoughts. "You haven't stopped scaring people off all night. Why won't you just admit that you like me?"
"Will you two save the lover's tiff for later, please?" Michael begged. "It's almost midnight and we've got to get the car decorated, the sparklers out and the fireworks set off, so stop pissing around. Oh, God, I'm starting to sound like my mother."
Emma and Adam were quick to split us up into groups. Jenna and Elias were in charge of getting the sparklers ready to be dispensed while Michael, Fletch, and Samuel were in charge of the fireworks. The rest of us were trusted to get the car ready, while Adam and Emma returned indoors to help Daniel and Sophie change their outfits.
The cans we were tying to the car were spray painted with Daniel and Sophie's initials, the date of their wedding and the words 'just married' courtesy of Nola, Ewan, and Finn, with Baxterley's supervision. Hugo, being the tallest, was busy spraying the windows of the car with the newlyweds' initials, while I struggled to know the string under the bumper.
"Scoot," Hugo said as his hands fell to my hips to slide me aside. He took off his jacket and laid it out on the ground before he got down to lie on his back to finish the job. When all the cans were in place, he stood up and admired the end result. "Voila!"
When he retrieved his jacket, he dusted it off and then draped it over my shoulders, explaining that it was cold and that he didn't want me to be sick in the morning. As always with Hugo, I couldn't help but blush under his gaze. Ever since Sophie brought him home and introduced Hugo to the family, I've had the overwhelming desire to kiss him but I've never had the guts to do it. With Emma's question lingering from this morning, I had to wonder if this was the perfect opportunity to make my move.
"Hey!" Isaac's voice shouted from where he and the guys were struggling to line up the fireworks. "Hugo, a little help here mate."
Left alone, I leaned against the car as I waited for everyone to finish whatever they were doing before we could go inside and let everyone know that the clock was ticking down and that the newlyweds would be departing soon.
"Room for one more on the hood there?" A thick Australian accent asked as I was joined by Alice, Isaac's Plus One. "You're Charlotte, right? We haven't had the pleasure. I'm Alice."
I tried to be as polite as I could but the pangs of jealousy stabbed at my chest. Alice was utterly gorgeous so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that Isaac would go for a woman like her. Blonde hair that cascaded down her shoulders, piercing blue eyes that could rival the Caribbean Sea for clarity, and legs that went on for days and days and days, no one could compare to Alice. Why would I even try? She was prime steak. I'm a McDonald's chicken nugget. There's no competition.
"Congratulations," I say with only the slightest bit of bitterness in my tone. "Isaac's quite the catch."
"Isaac?" Alice asked, a crease forming between her perfectly shaped eyebrows. Ugh, even her eyebrows are gorgeous. "Oh, Fletch. Haha, well no one has ever described my brother as a catch before. A walking, talking, breathing STD maybe but never a catch."
"Ha," I scoffed. Wait, her what? Shaking my head to induce some clear thinking, I turn to Alice and confused ask, "Your brother?"
"Isaac Fletcher," Alice nodded, pointing gown to the garden where Isaac was mucking around with Samuel and Michael. Hugo was stood to the side, too French to be playful. "That bogan is my big brother. I know, you'd never guess because I'm so fabulous and he's such a pillock but that oaf is of my blood. Mores the pity. I'm convinced he's adopted but DNA says otherwise."
I blinked. "Your brother? He's your brother? You're not dating?"
"Ew, no," Alice shuddered. "But while we're talking about who is dating whom, that brooding Frenchman, is he yours?"
I shook my head.
"Mind if I have him? I have a thing for accents and the guy inside told me he had a girlfriend already," Alice sighs with disappointment. "Shame, Lucas was cute too. But him, he's hot. What's his name?"
I blinked. "Hugo. Hold up, though... Isaac is your brother?"
"Oh, dahl, how much did you have to drink? Do you have amnesia?" She laughed as she slid off the bonnet of the car and started making her way down to the garden. "You know my brother has the major hots for you right? If anyone should be congratulated on landing such a catch, it's you. Later, Lottie."
Sophie Whitaker
"Ready?" Daniel asks as he comes behind me and rests his chin on my shoulder. Staring into his eyes through the mirror, I feel my smile grow as I contemplate us leaving. When I nod, Daniel moves away from me and extends his hand for mine to take. "Shall we, Mrs Whitaker?"
Hearing my new moniker is enough to get me all giddy once again as the butterflies flutter once more. Whenever someone addressed me as Mrs Whitaker this evening, I could feel the heat reach my cheeks but it was the best feeling ever, knowing that I had married the man that I love.
Adam and Emma had already taken our luggage out to the awaiting car and as we walked through the deserted orangery, we could hear the commotion of the guests outside. I knew there was something planned for our going away, but I didn't know what. All I knew is that it coincided with the stroke of midnight which was only five minutes away.
Stepping out into the chilly night, everyone cheered as they waved their sparklers in the air. Nola and Ewan were busy trying to spell out the word 'love' while the grown up were beaming. In amongst the crowd, I could see several familiar faces, including Jasmine Gough. I hadn't seen her for most of the evening but as she cosied up at Samuel's side, I sent her a smile that I hoped showed her how happy I was and how wrong she had been. When she gave a small nod of her head as a reply, I knew that it was her way of building bridges. Perhaps in twenty-seventeen we could once again be friends and maybe even family if she and Samuel were to work out.
Another face that I could see was Arabella Foster-Banning's. She was here as a guest of Jago Francis-Burke at my request. While Jago and I go way back, I wouldn't have thought of inviting him but the opportunity to have Arabella here to witness someone else celebrating the life she could have had was a chance I couldn't pass up. The way her face twisted just went to prove why it was such a good idea to have her here. I blew her a kiss in my last act of revenge before I quickly forgot about her and greeted Kizzy.
"Well, boss," Kizzy said as she and Vinnie quickly rearrange the neckline of my dress. I scoff at her use of my old nickname because I haven't been Kizzy's boss in a really long time. "Great wedding."
"Beautiful, Sophie," Vinnie agreed.
The same sentiments were voiced by everyone that I stopped to speak to as Daniel and I made our way through the crowd and towards the car. Daniel was eager to have me stop to meet a few of his friends, especially two colleagues of his- Kiara and Alaina. Alaina, I quickly found out, was the secret weapon as to why Daniel had managed to learn French while I was out in New York. And there was me thinking that I was the reason he mastered the language.
"Congratulations," both women said before Daniel moved us along to introduce me to a very famous face.
"Lily, this is Sophie," he said, waving his arm between Lily Southcliffe and me. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Daniel and Lily laughed. "Told you she was a fan."
After we moved on, I managed to say, "Lily Southcliffe? Holy shit!"
I met Lasha, the woman who had helped Daniel decorate our house. Incidentally, the woman whose fault it was that we now had far too much kitchen electricals and nowhere to keep them. As we continued to walk towards the car, I pulled Daniel towards Amber Rochester and Isabella Cortazzo, two friends that I'd had known for decades.
"Your hubby is gorgeous," Amber smiled while Isabella laughed and said, "If it doesn't work out, I want first refusal of him."
"Yeah, that's never going to happen," I promise her.
"Ok, everyone!" The ever loud Fletch shouted above the commotion. "Let the countdown to midnight begin."
As everyone did the countdown, Daniel wrapped me in his arms and pulled me closer. Three... Two... One... "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
"Happy anniversary, wifey," Daniel smiled as he leaned down to kiss me once again.
"Happy anniversary, hubby," I laugh.
Looking around, most of the guests that had coupled up were sharing New Year's kisses with their partners, but one pairing caught my eye more than the others. In full view of everyone, Charlotte and Fletch were kissing each other with fervent passion that would have been indecent in some countries. When Elias, Samuel, Michael and Daniel all whistled at them, Charlotte flipped them the bird while Fletch laughed bashfully.
"Sophie?" I heard my father's voice call to me. When I turned around, I saw my family and Daniel's all waiting for us. "Come here and give your dad a hug, will ya?"
Mum and Dad hugged me tightly before Emma and Lucas joined in. Charlotte, having managed to break away from Fletch for long enough, threw her arms into the mix as I pulled in Adam and Milli, who were both on the outside of the group, looking in. "You're family, too, you know," I reminded them
From the corner of my eye, I could see Daniel wrapping his arm around his grandmother as Samuel and Evie crowded around with Ewan, Finn and Alistair watching on. Just as I had done, Daniel beckoned them into the fold. Moments later, fireworks lit up the night sky as Elias, Michael and Fletch set them off.
With one last round of hugs and kisses to family and friends- and waves to the three pyromaniac amigos- Daniel escorted me into the car. When the door shut and it was just the two of us, we looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"We did it," I say. Looking down at my gold wedding band next to the emerald engagement ring, I smile. "We're married, Daniel."
"I know, Sophie," he laughs. Pulling out some cards from his jacket pocket, Daniel says, "The guys gave us some recap cards. Basically, they're cards that sum up the year." He flipped the pack open and pulled out the top card, reading the headline. "Best moment of the year?"
I pretend to think about it for a moment, scrunching up my face. "Um, not sure."
"I can tell you my best moment, easily," Daniel says.
"If you're going to be soppy and say 'getting married' then I concur," I beat him to it.
Daniel, however, shakes his head. "That wasn't the best moment of the year for me," he says. Moving closer, his hands cup my cheeks as he gently kisses my lips. "The best moment of the year for me was the entire year. Talking to you, meeting you, loving you, marrying you... it's been the best adventure yet."
I wipe a tear from my cheek. "I love you, you know?"
"I know. We're Danphie, remember?"
"That we are."
"Oh, yeah, just one more thing," Daniel says as he clicks his fingers. "Before I forget... I love you, too."