Page 102 of Christmas at Sturcombe Bay
He hesitated, frowning. “I’ve obviously done something to upset you.”
“What could you possibly do to upset me?” She refused to let herself look at him. “What you choose to do isn’t that important to me.”
“So I have done something. What? Tell me what it is.”
All he got in return was a glare that could crack rocks. She turned an aloof shoulder to him and stalked into the office to get paper for the printer. When she came out, to her relief, he was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“It’s looking very Christmassy,” Jess murmured to her sister.
“Mmm . . . Ben, stop banging your heels.”
The organist was playing a Mozart sonata, and heads were turning as a ripple of noise from the back of the church suggested that the bride had arrived.
Julia laughed softly. “They got her here, then. She wanted to skip off to Las Vegas and be married in jeans by an Elvis impersonator.”
“That would have been fun! But she looks lovely.”
The music changed to Handel’s Passacaglia as Cassie and her father began their walk down the aisle. Not in jeans, but in a long white satin dress with a short train, and silk flowers in her hair.
And following them, Liam’s little daughter Robyn, in a pretty pink dress, her blonde curls gleaming, her eyes wide and shining.
“Liam looks happy,” Jess murmured as the bridegroom turned and held out his hand to take Cassie’s, lifting it to his lips to lay a kiss on her fingers.
“He does. He deserves to be. It was such a tragedy, his first wife dying like that.”
“I remember her. Robyn looks a lot like her, doesn’t she?”
“Mmm. I saw her mum and dad here. They’re sitting at the back somewhere.”
“Oh, it’s nice that they came.”
She fell silent as Eva, the vicar, stepped into her place in front of the altar, smiling at the wedding guests in the packed pews. “Dear friends and family, we welcome you today to witness and celebrate the marriage of Cassandra and Liam . . .”
The first hymn was ‘Love Divine’, the voices rising into the high vaulted roof. As she sang, Jess gazed around the church. Itwasn’t very big, but it was old. Jools had told her it was built in the thirteenth century, though the Victorians had added the porch and the bell tower.
It had been decked out for Christmas with a large Christmas tree covered in tinsel and shiny baubles on one side of the altar. On the other side was a nativity scene — a wooden stable lined with straw, little plaster figures of Mary and Joseph and the shepherds gathered round the manger, with a couple of sheep, a three-legged cow and a slightly chipped angel perched on the roof.
The end of each pew was trimmed with a sprig of holly, shiny scarlet baubles and a bow of scarlet ribbon. There were garlands of holly and pine around the walls, and the altar itself was decorated with more garlands.
Paul was there, of course, on the other side of the aisle. He was one of the ushers, and he’d escorted his mother to her place in the front pew.
He was looking very smart, in a beautifully tailored morning suit that moulded his wide shoulders to perfection, a white waistcoat and a pale-blue cravat.
But she wasn’t going to let her gaze drift in his direction. Anyway, she couldn’t really see him properly with all the Ellises and Channings in between.
She hadn’t seen him for the past couple of days — he hadn’t been down to the hotel. Which suited her just fine. She’d be happy never to see him again. She couldn’t wait for Christmas to be over so she could look properly for a new job.
She enjoyed hotel work, so it would be great to find something in that line. Maybe she’d even try something in London. A complete change, a whole new scene.
Cassie and Liam were reciting their vows.True love, now and forever. Yeah, well, it seemed to work out for some people.Cassie’s mum and dad, and Graham and Diane Ellis, Julia and Lisa. They were the lucky ones.
She could have fallen in love with Paul Channing — there was a lot about him to love. That cock-eyed sense of humour, that easy laugh, his closeness to his family. His consideration for his grandmother and the loyal elderly visitors to the hotel.
And the fact that he didn’t play the celebrity, even though he was often on television, commentating on football matches.
But there was that one thing that killed any chance of it stone dead. After her parents’ divorce and her experience with Glenn, she was never going to risk getting involved with a man who didn’t know the meaning of commitment.
