Happy Ever After (7 page)

Saffron held up a swatch of the soft flowery cotton.

“Wow! It looks like a summer garden,” said Lola. “I love it.”

“Me too!” said Poppy.

It made a nice change from shiny and sparkly materials – and it would be much more comfortable to wear on a warm summer's day as well.

Just as Saffron finished taking and noting down all the measurements, Lily Ann from the Beehive Beauty Salon arrived. It was time to talk about the girls' hairstyles for the wedding. They flicked through the glossy magazines Lily Ann had brought with her and chatted excitedly about the styles they liked.

“Sally wants you all to have a hairstyle that
suits
you so I'm not going to try to make you all look the same. If we decide on the styles today, we can have a practice run nearer the time,” explained Lily Ann.

After that Holly Mallow arrived to discuss the charm bracelets that Sally had promised her flower girls. She explained that each bracelet must reflect the personality or interests of the person who was wearing it.

“For example, if you like ponies, I can make a horseshoe charm for your bracelet.”

As they were all chatting about the bracelets, how they wanted to wear their hair and whether or not they might grow it a bit before the wedding, Sally arrived at the little shop for a wedding dress fitting.

“Does that mean we get to see the dress?” asked Poppy.

“Well, I
might
let you have a peek,” said Sally. “As long as you promise not to tell Sol anything about it!”

“Pinkie promise!” chorused the girls.

Ten minutes later Sally came out of the fitting room. The girls gasped. Sally hardly ever wore dresses because she was always working with plants and soil and water. This dress wasn't super fancy but it was just right and she looked amazing. It was creamy white with puff sleeves and a full skirt, complete with an overskirt.

“Sally, you look just like a princess!” exclaimed Poppy.

As the girls left the shop, Poppy's thoughts turned back to her family. She couldn't wait for Mum and Dad to find the secret notes; she was sure that after the special surprise dinner everything would be perfect again. Poppy decided that instead of going straight home, she would walk down to Bumble Bee's with Honey to check that Granny Bumble had everything ready for Mum and Dad's meal – and to see if anyone had dropped by with wedding day memorabilia.

Meanwhile at Honeysuckle Cottage, Mum had almost finished a big tidy up of her study. Since Grandpa was looking after the twins for the afternoon, she had decided to do a few things that she never managed to get done when they were around.

“There, that feels better,” she said to herself as she opened the window to let in some fresh air. It was nice to smell the summer flowers through the open window, and the gentle breeze spread the perfume throughout the house.

When she had finished in her study, Mum decided that she would have a lie down and read her book for a bit. But when she got to the bedroom she thought she might have a quick tidy up there before she settled down with her book. She always felt so much more relaxed when everything was in order.

As she put away clean clothes and dusted the surfaces, she noticed that the drawer of James's bedside table was slightly open. She pushed it shut, and as she did so a small piece of paper fell out onto the floor. She picked it up to see what it was – and could hardly believe her eyes. It seemed to be a love letter to
her
husband!

What she didn't realize was that a similar letter for
her
had been gathered up with some old papers on her desk and thrown into the bin.

Chapter Nine

“DO YOU THINK
your mum and dad will definitely find the love letters?” asked Honey as they walked to Bumble Bee's Teashop.

“Yeah, of course they will. It will be a perfect evening. And once they remember what it's like to go on dates, they can do fun stuff all the time. Come on, Honey, let's run. I'm dying to see if anything has been handed in for the memory box!”

“You seem very happy, Poppy!” said Granny Bumble as she set down a delicious strawberry cream tart for both the girls.

“We've just seen the fabric for our dresses and
it
's lovely. Plus everything is all ready for Mum and Dad's anniversary surprise!” replied Poppy.

“Jolly good,” smiled Granny Bumble. “I've got the meal under control, so tomorrow night, when the table is set and the fairy lights are on, just give me a shout and I'll deliver the food. Oh, and just wait till you see all the pretty things that have been delivered for your wedding box!”

She opened a boutique bag and revealed the wedding day menu, supplied by the chef at the Hedgerows Hotel; the order of service, handed in by the vicar; the invitation, supplied by Aunt Marigold; plus one of Mum and Dad's thank-you notes. There was also a brilliant photograph
of
their going-away car, which had been beautifully decorated by their friends from college.

“Wow! These things are great!” exclaimed Poppy. “Thank you for looking after everything for me.”

When she had finished her snack and double checked with Granny Bumble that everything was set for the following night, Poppy walked back to Honeysuckle Cottage with the bag of memory box goodies. She went round the back and sneaked into her bedroom via the French windows so that she could stash the bag away without anyone seeing her. Then she went back out into the garden and re-entered the house by the kitchen door.

Poppy found Mum sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in her hand. She seemed to be in a very strange mood – she looked like she had been crying.

“Hi, Mum. Are you OK?” asked Poppy.

“I'm fine, thanks, love. Just a bit tired. Why
don
't you go and play in your room?”

“OK, see you later,” replied Poppy. She was a bit worried about her mum but she was also pleased to have an opportunity to sort out the memory box without anyone disturbing her.

Poppy spent ages arranging the wedding things beautifully; when the wedding box was finished she hid it in her toy cupboard. She was so happy with the way everything was working out. She was convinced that the surprise date was going to be a huge success.

Half an hour later Poppy heard Grandpa and the twins come back so she raced into the kitchen to say hello. Grandpa stayed for a quick cup of tea and then went home to watch his favourite nature programme on the telly. Mum took charge of Angel and Archie and set about making supper. She was very quiet and Poppy thought she still looked miserable. Poppy couldn't think what might be wrong and Mum didn't seem to want to tell her – maybe she was just tired, like she had said.

While Mum was feeding the twins, Poppy heard Dad's car pull into the drive. A minute or two later he came in through the back door.

“Hi, everyone, I'm home!” he called. “The house looks great. You have been busy today, darling.”

“Not as busy as you have obviously been lately!” stormed Mum.

Dad looked completely baffled.

“Poppy, can you keep an eye on the twins, darling?” asked Mum. “I need to talk to your
father
in the other room.”