Page 5 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
‘Something like that,’ I admitted, though I didn’t add that, until that moment, I’d started to be afraid we were drifting apart because we’d seen so little of each other. ‘I said something about the dress making a really unusual wedding gown, but it wasn’t a hint – just a passing thought – and that was when he said: “Why not?” and that we’d set a date once the play opened.’
Of course, he’d then somewhat marred the romance of the moment by suggesting our wedding might provide a good bit of publicity for the play, what with my connection to Rosa-May Garland, who had inspired it …
‘So, had you been engaged for a while?’ Honey asked.
‘Not all that long, although we’ve been seeing each other for a few years,’ I said. ‘Our different working hours make things difficult, especially now Marco has gone into directing, as well. Unlike me, he seems able to manage on practically no sleep. He’s the brilliantly clever, edgy type, totally focused on his work.’
‘He sounds a pain,’ she said frankly, and I couldn’t deny I’d often thought the same thing … especially when his phone calls woke me up in the early hours so he could discuss the work in progress.
But on the other hand, he was also devastatingly attractive and almost impossible to resist when he turned on the charm.
I’d been amazed that he’d proposed to me in the first place. Actually, it turned out he’d never really intended to when he’dbought me the lovely Art Deco ring I’d fallen in love with when I saw it in the window of an antique shop. He said later he’d been surprised when both I and the shop owner had assumed we were buying it as an engagement ring, but that he’d gone with it because he’d suddenly realized hedidwant to marry me.
Honey’s deep, husky voice recalled me back to the present. ‘Did you say he still lived with hismother?’
‘In a way. He’s got a flat in the basement of her house and although it’s notentirelyseparate, it does have its own front door on to the area and steps up to the pavement.’
I sighed. ‘His mother loathed me at first sight. She’s very rich, frightfully posh and stuck up, and obviously thinks I’m not good enough for Marco. She knows I stay over at his flat some weekends, but she’s hoping the engagement comes to nothing.’
She’d made all that abundantly clear on the rare occasions when our paths crossed …
Marco called her ‘Mummy’, which always seemed odd to me, coming from a grown man. I mean, he’s nearly thirty-eight!
Honey said, ‘I expect you’ll have your own place once you’re married, and not have to see much of her.’
‘Yes,’ I said a little doubtfully, for the thorny question of where we were to live was yet to be resolved. Marco would have been quite happy to stay comfortably where he was, but apart from the fact that Mummy would be permanently hovering over our heads, as it were, there simply wasn’t enough room in the flat for all my things and space for me to work.
Picking up my glass, I found it full to the brim again, and drained it. The shimmer around me now took on a rosy tinge and I suddenly felt sure all those little problems could be resolved …
Honey seemed to read my mind, for she said, perhaps slightly sardonically, ‘So, once you’ve overcome a couple of minor hurdles, the future looks rosy all round? You’re in line for promotion in a job you love, your fiancé is about to have a huge hit with his new play and then you’ll get married and live happily ever after?’
‘Yes,’ I said firmly – but I still surreptitiously touched the wooden table under the cloth, for luck.
‘Then I’m glad for you, of course, but from my point of view it’s a bit of a shame, because otherwise I’d have offered you a job on the spot,’ she said, to my great surprise.
‘Ajob?’ I echoed.
‘Yes. I think you’re just the kind of person I’ll need to help me set up and run a project I have in mind, but it would mean relocating to west Lancashire. Pity, because it would have kept it in the family, too, now I’ve discovered I’vegotone.’
‘Kept what in the family?’ I asked curiously. And it was then that it suddenly occurred to me that we’d only talked aboutmeand I hadn’t asked her a single thing about herself!
‘I’ll tell you all about it anyway – you’ll be interested,’ she said, emptying the last of the champagne into our glasses before the waiter had the chance, and then upending the bottle in the bucket.
‘About eight months ago I inherited my great-uncle Hugo’s house in Great Mumming, which is a small market town in west Lancashire.’
‘I’ve heard of it. Mum came from Ormskirk, which isn’t far away. But do go on,’ I added hastily, before I started monopolizing the conversation again.
‘Hugo was ninety-six and an old rip – an ex-naval man – but we always got on well together and, anyway, I’m the last of the Fairfords in our branch of the family. Pelican House started lifeas a Tudor inn called The Pelican, hence the name. The original signboard is even still hanging in the hall. It’s been a private home for centuries, though, and much remodelled and extended over the years. The Fairford family relocated there when they sold Up-Heythram Hall, their great, draughty barn of a house up on the moors, to a Victorian mill owner with social aspirations.’
Thiswasall very interesting, but I didn’t see where it was taking us, or whereImight have come into the scheme of things – but I was about to find out.
‘As I mentioned,’ Honey continued, ‘when I was moving in, I had some of my things taken straight up to the attics, to sort later – and it looked as if the Fairford family had simply transferred the contents of the manor attics to those at Pelican House. They’re crammed with the junk of centuries, although so far I’ve barely looked beyond the first room. Butthat’swhere I spotted the two old trunks with the initials R-M.G. on them and immediately thought of our famous ancestor. So I had a look and –voila!– treasure trove!’
‘That must have beensoexciting,’ I said. ‘I suppose when you realized the importance of what was in them, that’s when you offered to loan the collection to the museum.’
‘That’s right. I thought it would be a nice idea to have it all on public display while I decided what to do with it in the long term. The house needed a lot of renovation and updating, so that’s taken quite some time.’
‘George was delighted when you offered him the chance to put the exhibition on,’ I said. ‘I think he hopes you might make the loan permanent.’
