Page 132 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
But my heart was saying…
“David, I’ll be right back.”
“Scarlett, you can’t just run off in the middle of our wedding ceremony!”
But I was already halfway down the aisle.
“Get out of my way,” I instructed Cruella, as she tried to bar my exit through the doors.
“Miss O’Brien, I really don’t think you should go out there. I’ve managed to stop them from coming in. But it’s nothing, really. Please just continue with the service.”
“Get out of my way now—or Iwillmove you myself!”
She hastily stepped aside.
“And if you want to retain your reputation as London’s top wedding planner, then I suggest you try and stop themfrom coming outside for a few minutes,” I said, as I saw David, Maddie, and my parents all hurrying down the aisle behind me.
I ran the last few steps down the aisle and tugged open the heavy wooden doors at the end, and as I did so the music immediately got louder, because sitting alone on the steps of the church was a CD player. And it was playing a song that was instantly familiar: “When You Say Nothing At All” by Ronan Keating.
It was the theme tune toNottingHill, the song that had been playing while Hugh and Julia sat on the bench in the movie.
The song Sean and I had discussed while we sat in the park together the first night we met…
While the song was playing I became aware of two pairs of eyes watching me. The eyes were trying to disguise themselves behind two pairs of dark glasses, and they in turn appeared to belong to two bodies that thought they were hiding themselves behind two gravestones.
“Do you know something about this, by any chance?” I called, pointing to the CD player as I carried it to the bottom of the church steps.
The two pairs of eyes turned to each other, then one of the heads nodded, and slowly two bodies emerged from behind the graves. Then walking across the churchyard toward me came two men who wore black suits and black hats to match their dark glasses.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the shorter of the two men said, removing his hat from his head in greeting. “My name is Dermot, and this is my brother Finlay.”
Finlay gave a small bow of his head.
“And can I assume that you are the lady in question?”
I stared blankly at them.
“Scarlett?” he prompted.
“Yes, that’s me—but who are you, and what’s going on?”
“All in good time, miss,” Dermot said. “First we must apologize to you that we’ve turned up here today in this manner.” He smiled ruefully and straightened his tie. “And please also send my apologies to the lady inside who tried to bar our entrance for the slight, shall we say, altercation that took place a few minutes ago.”
“Who? You mean Cruella? Tall woman, silver hair in a bun?”
Dermot nodded. “That’s her.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it—I’m sure she can handle herself.”
“She certainly can. Finlay was unconscious for over a minute.”
I looked at Finlay, who nodded his agreement.
“Oh, er…I’m really sorry about that, Finlay.”
Just then the church doors burst open and, unable to be contained any longer, David, Maddie, and my parents burst forth from the church and poured down the steps behind me.
“What on earth is going on, Scarlett?” David demanded, looking with disdain at Dermot and Finlay.
