‘I know how much these things can cost, that’s all I’m saying. That one we went to...’ Nathan scrapes the scraps from a plate into the waste bin and puts it into the dishwasher ‘... I don’t suppose they got much change out of fifty thousand’

‘Then more fool them’ Stephanie retorts, tipping the left over boiled potatoes into a bowl and handing him the saucepan to rinse ‘that’s a ridiculous amount to spend on just one day’

‘The most important day of their lives’ he defends the cost ‘and it’ll be the most important day of ours’

‘But to spend when you don’t really have to, it’s madness.  I’d much rather put the money away for a rainy day, spend it on something useful’

‘Like what?’ he asks, pausing with the pan brush in hand and turning to look at her ‘We’ve got everything we’re ever likely to need. I’m not saying I expect your mum and dad to shell out for something as flash as that but I don’t want them getting in a stress because they can’t give you what you want’

‘I want what they can afford’ Stephanie insists stubbornly ‘and if that means picking up a dress from the supermarket then that’s what I’ll do. A dress is a dress’ She elbows him to one side to run the tap onto the dishcloth and squeezes out the excess water.

‘You’ll look fantastic in whatever you end up wearing’ Nathan kisses the side of her face ‘but if it comes down to the difference between something they can afford and something you want, I’m there’

‘With the ever present wallet?’ her eyebrows flare and she takes the few paces back to the table to wipe it clean.

‘What’s the matter with that?’ he looks over one shoulder and then the other as she returns to the sink with the cloth ‘I’ve got it so why not make you happy with it?’

‘We still talking about money?’ Stephanie growls in his ear.

‘Behave!’ he twists out of her reach ‘And leave my arse alone, I’ll get water all over the floor’ he flicks his wet hands at her before turning back ‘You talk to your dad, see what he says’

‘I will not’

‘Then I will’

‘And embarrass him? I’ll be so mad if you do. They’ve got enough; they’re not going to go broke’

Nathan empties the washing up bowl, standing it on its end against the drainer ‘But nobody pays for everything these days, it’s fifty fifty now, bride’s parents and the groom’s’ he says, pulling a towel from the rail and drying his hands ‘There’s no family my side so it’s down to me. You check with them, you’ll see I’m right’

‘This is all academic; we haven’t even set a date yet’

‘Next week’ he suggests, his cheeks rounding over an exaggerated closed-mouth grin.

‘It’ll take longer than that to get the invites out!’ Stephanie turns from starting the dishwasher and slaps him on the arm.

‘Next month then’

‘If I’ve got to order a dress it could take six months for it to come and then there are the fittings!’

‘I thought you were getting it from the supermarket?’

‘I only said it wouldn’t matter if I had to, I wouldn’t care’

‘Which is it to be?’ Nathan grabs her around the waist ‘You can’t have it both ways’

‘Oh, shut up’ with her hands flat to his chest, she pushes him away.

‘No, come on, we need to set a date’ he brings the kettle to the boil again and fills the cafetiere. ‘Can’t be soon enough as far as I’m concerned’

‘Marie and Marcus are getting married this summer, how about next year?’ she suggests with a bright smile.

‘Are people only allowed to go to one wedding a year?’ he scoffs with a laugh.

‘I don’t want to steal their thunder’

Nathan looks taken aback, realising she is speaking seriously ‘Don’t talk wet; we’re only talking half a dozen people, tops. We wouldn’t have identical guest lists would we?’

‘No...’ Stephanie lowers her eyes, taking time to gather her thoughts ‘But part of the excitement is the run up and that would overlap. It wouldn’t be fair’

‘Rubbish!’ he closes the refrigerator and swings the plastic container of milk onto the worktop by its handle ‘Are you having second thoughts?’

‘Now who’s talking wet?’ she laughs and moves closer.

‘I thought once I’d actually got round to doing the deed...asking you... it’d be quick, you know? I thought we’d get right into making plans’ he turns his back to her while he pours the coffee ‘It’s been a bit of a downer’

‘Disappointed?’ she comes up behind him and puts her arms around his waist.

‘Yeah, I am. I really don’t want to wait until next year now I’ve made my mind up. If it wasn’t for upsetting your mum and dad, I’d say let’s do what Kester did and slope off to the registry office but...it’s okay...’ he senses her opening her mouth to object ‘I know what it means to them to see you marry in church so I’ll go with that’ he says, adding milk to their mugs ‘but let’s not hang about too long’

Stephanie hugs him closer and lifts her head from between his shoulder blades to put her mouth close to his ear ‘Shall we check out Dad’s diary?’

Nathan turns immediately and grins, returning the hug with even more enthusiasm ‘You mean it?’

‘Uh huh’

Dell Cottage, Washbrook Lane

Chapter Thirty-seven

Tawny House, Manor Road

The Annexe

‘You wouldn’t credit it, would you?’ Kester lays on his back with his arms behind his head ‘We might just as well have saved our breath’ he rolls his head to one side to grin at Helen ‘I tried, you tried, Dad tried...but Jeremy comes along and Bingo! Sorted’

‘We certainly owe him a very big thank you’ she agrees, laying down her hairbrush and getting up from the dressing table to climb into bed next to him ‘I know we were worried about her but she did take things to extreme’

‘We’ve still got to move out though, a promise is a promise and she wouldn’t think of going back on that’

‘True’ Helen props her pillows against the headboard and reaches for Daniel’s manuscript from the bedside table ‘but I can’t think of anybody I’d rather trust than Jeannie to keep an eye on things’

‘It may not ever happen again’ Kester rolls onto his stomach and rests on his elbows ‘I wish I hadn’t said anything to Dad now’ he mumbles, looking down and picking at his thumbnail ‘it sort of snowballed after that’

‘You would never have forgiven yourself if something had happened and you hadn’t told him’

‘But I could’ve talked it over properly with the quack after he’d given her the once over and then spoken to him. That would have been the better way around it. I jumped the gun a bit’

‘You weren’t to know. For all you knew, she may have had another blackout within a very short while and it might have been far more serious, think how you would have felt then. Your father would have been deeply upset you’d kept something from him if it had’

‘I didn’t intend for her to take us being worried quite so seriously’

Helen touches the tips of her fingers to his cheek ‘I think you did’ she says softly.

Kester looks up ‘Okay, I did’ he admits ‘It put the wind up me’ Resting his chin on his hands, he drags out a sigh ‘I can’t imagine life without her’

‘But it would be unfair of you to want her to go on and on, regardless of her quality of life’

‘Huh!’ he laughs ‘That sounds very final.  Have you got my name down for euthanasia when I get too old and decrepit?’

‘That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it’ Helen tweaks his nose between her fingers ‘She’s always been very much in control and thoroughly enjoyed life and being part of everything. The minute she realised we thought she should be taking more care of herself, she started to lose some of that get-up-and-go...and I’m talking a while ago, not this business with the passing out’

‘We never actually said anything to her until that happened, though’

‘She knew...and that amounts to the same thing. Now we’re saying she needs someone around all the time ‘just in case’ and it’s made her more noticeably dependent on someone else and that never has been the way she liked to see things’

‘I get you. We were here...but it was the same as it’s always been, me living by myself so I’m all grown up and not reliant on her’

‘Exactly. She didn’t have to admit she relied on you...or us now, for anything... even though the balance has changed over the years’

‘I buggered that one up didn’t I?’ Kester groans and sighs again.

Helen draws an impatient breath through her teeth ‘This manuscript is quite likely to hurt if I smacked you round the head with it!’ she says but follows it with a smile. ‘You did the right thing at the time’ she assures him, dropping a kiss on his upturned face ‘but now it’s all change....which brings me back to Jeremy, I think I’ll send him some flowers as a little thank you, we owe him that much’

‘He’s spending a few days in town with Martin so leave it a while...but he’d like that’ Kester moves his pillows and slides himself up the bed, rolling over to sit beside her  ‘How’s that going?’ he asks as she makes a book rest of her knees.

‘You’re not going to be satisfied with an ‘okay’ are you?’ Helen snuggles closer when he puts an arm around her shoulder ‘At the moment I’m enjoying it for the characters and the way their stories are woven together’ their heads touch ‘I’m trying to read it as anyone else would and forgetting what’s to come. It’s working so far. What was it he called Toby?’ she sniggers, carefully folding the pages she has read to the back and smoothing her hand over the one she has turned to.

‘A pompous prick...... amongst other less favourable descriptions’

‘And that’s the way Nicola’s partner comes over’ She looks up at him, her eyes shining with amusement ‘It’s very subtle but I should think any woman reading this would be screaming at her to leave him or wishing someone would come along and do him damage. It’s odd, being on the outside and looking in. I see my situation very clearly now where I didn’t at the time. Not because of the scenes he’s written, they’re entirely from his imagination but the relationship between me and him...Nicola and this Greg, it’s very well observed’

‘Too true to life?’

‘If you’re thinking that Toby would pick up on it being him if he ever had the chance to read it, definitely not; he wouldn’t ever associate himself with being a pompous prick’

‘I’ll tattoo it on his bloody head if I ever come across him again’ Kester growls and tightens his arm around her.

‘My hero!’ she flutters her eyelashes ‘But you’d have a long wait’ she nudges him in the ribs with her elbow then lays the back of her head against his chest while she reads ‘I wonder how he likes it in prison’ she muses after a few minutes.

‘I hope he’s going through hell but I don’t suppose he will be. Don’t these white-collar criminals get sent to open prisons?’

‘I have no idea and I don’t really care’