Page 138 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
“Come on, let’s go!” Dermot called, already heading down the path. “You’ve no time to lose!”
I ran after the Blues Brothers, clutching the card and ticket to my chest. “I love you all,” I called back to my parents, Maddie, Ursula, and Oscar as they followed us along the path to the waiting car.
“And I love you too, Sean,” I whispered, looking down at the card in my hand once more. “Wait for me, won’t you—please.”
Forty
I think Dermot fancied himself as a bit of an action hero, because we took off at breakneck speed in the very authentic-looking American police car that he and Finlay had arrived in.
I’d assumed they’d meant they had a normal car parked around the corner—not a replica from the originalBluesBrothersmovie. But it seemed that Dermot and Finlay took their business very seriously indeed. I was grateful now they hadn’t been able to turn up as Scarlett and Rhett today—because a horse-drawn carriage from the American Civil War wouldn’t have been traveling at anywhere near the speeds the “Bluesmobile” was doing right now.
But it wouldn’t have mattered what form of transport we’d taken once we began to hit the central London gridlock. As I sat anxiously in the back of the police car, waiting for us to shunt forward another few meters, I suddenly realized what I was wearing.
“Oh my God, I’m still in my wedding dress!” I panicked from the backseat. Finlay turned the stereo down that had been constantly playing theBluesBrotherssoundtrack since we left, and Dermot glanced at me in his rearview mirror.
“But you do look lovely in it,” he said, smiling.
“I know, but I can’t just roll up and meet Sean in a wedding dress I was going to marry another man in, now can I?”
“Hmm,” he said. “That is a bit tricky when you put it like that.”
“What choice do I have? I can’t very well change now. I don’t have the time or anything to change into.” I leaned forward between the two front seats and looked through the windshield. “Damn it, is this traffic ever going to move?”
It was just like Glasgow all over again—the day when Sean and I had ridden to the wedding on the back of mopeds. Except this time, I was the bride—running away from my own wedding.
And yes, I know I was in yet another movie. And yet again it was a Julia Roberts one. But I didn’t have time to reflect on that now, as we slowed right down and virtually came to a standstill a few yards away from the entrance to a church.
As we sat there waiting to move forward, I realized there must be another wedding taking place today, as the sound of church bells ringing filled the air.Ihopeyoursismoresuccessfulthanminewas, I thought as I sat well back in the car. I saw a man in full morning dress walk out of the church gates, and I wondered, as he walked toward us, if he was the nervous groom.
It was when he got right up to the outside of our car that an uneasy feeling started to spread over me.
He grabbed the door handle just as I went to push the lock down and thrust the car door wide open.
“You’re early,” he said, peering into the car. “The bridesmaids aren’t even here yet. I’m Max by the way, one of Graham’s ushers, we’ve not met before.” He held out his hand for me to shake.
“I…I’m not the bride,” I hurriedly said, trying to grab the door again and pull it shut.
“Don’t be daft, of course you are, Teresa—that’s just nerves. I didn’t know you were having a Blues Brothers theme?” he said, staring at Dermot and Finlay in the front seats. “But that’s cool—I like it. Now which one of you is Dad?”
“I’m telling you I’mnotthe bride,” I said, managing to wrangle the door from his grasp. “I’mnotTeresa. And this is definitely not my wedding!” and I slammed the door shut again.
“Get us out of here, Dermot…please,” I implored him, as I recoiled from Max’s flattened face pressed up against the car’s rear window.
“Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don’t fail me now!” Dermot called out as he thrust the car into gear.
“It’s from the movie,” Finlay explained, breaking his silence for the first time. “He’s been waiting his whole life for an opportunity to say that line.”
Luckily, just then a significant gap opened up in the traffic and Dermot was able to accelerate away from the church, leaving Max standing on the side of the road looking dazed.
“Oh God,” I said, my head in my hands. “I should have known this would be a disaster. Everything I do always is.”
“I think it’s only going to get worse, I’m afraid,” Dermot said, looking at the traffic backing up in front of us. “There’s no way we’re going to make it across London by midday.”
Finlay turned and looked at me. “Can’t you phone him?” he asked sympathetically. “And let him know you’re on your way?”
I looked up at him, surprised he had spoken again—Iguessed he was usually a man of few words. Then I looked down at my dress, and held out my hands. “All I came away with was these,” I said, holding up the card and ticket. “I don’t have my phone with me, and I don’t remember his number to use someone else’s.”
“Finlay, I think you’re missing the point,” Dermot said. “It wouldn’t be very romantic if Scarlett just called him up and said, ‘I’m on my way, but I’m stuck in traffic,’ now would it?”
