Mother of the Bride

Gamely Molly started on a round of social chitchat and offering people drinks. Nick was about to start peeling more potatoes when Noonoo announced that she and Marnie were both on a diet – remarkably the same one, so that there was no need to go to the trouble of preparing extra food. The diet involved eating only orange foods on Sunday, and some kind of strange combination of colours and supplements the rest of the week. Victoria Beckham was very keen on it apparently, and Noonoo had been taught the principles by a Taoist convert called Alan.

Not thoroughly enough, thought Molly darkly, as Noonoo squeezed past her.

Both women had brought along little pots of parboiled carrot sticks and steamed pepper to nibble on and, as Nick observed as he disappeared off to set the dining-room table, presumably Noonoo could top up in the week by snacking on her clients.

Jonathon had brought a couple of bottles of champagne, which he wanted someone to put in the fridge. Noo wanted to explain why they could drink it, despite it not being orange, Marnie wanted to nose around Molly’s house so she could sneer and Molly was getting hotter and more stressed.

Jess and Max showed up just before twelve. Jess arrived first, carrying two bottles of wine and a big dish of homemade tiramisu.

‘Some idiot has parked right across the drive,’ she said crossly, as she slid dessert onto the kitchen table. ‘We couldn’t get in. Max has had to park up the road.’

‘Jessica, Puss,’ said Jonathon, coming over to greet her before Molly could explain. ‘Did you see the new car?’

‘I could hardly miss it,’ grumbled Jess. ‘We nearly ran into it. Why did you leave it there?’

Jonathon hugged her. ‘And where is this man of yours?’

‘Halfway up to the bypass. Why don’t you buy a car you can park?’

Marnie laughed, air-kissing for England. ‘JJ darling, how lovely to see you. You know how your father loves his cars.’

Jess shook her head in frustration, while Marnie set about introducing Noonoo. Jess gave Molly a wild panicky look as Marnie started to explain who Noo was.

‘I’m not sure that we’d thought about having a –’ she began, but Marnie wasn’t planning to be thwarted.

‘Noo is an absolute angel, sweetie. And having a planner takes all the aggravation out of the arrangements and obviously nothing’s settled yet, so why don’t you just hear what she’s got to say and then you can make your mind up?’

‘Actually, Mum and I –’ But any protest was whisked away by the arrival of Max with Bassa on his leash. Bas was wildly excited to see everyone and started to yip and bark and wag.

Molly was putting the tiramisu in the fridge when Marnie started whining. ‘Oh darling,’ she complained stepping back, holding a hand to her face. ‘You know that I’m allergic to dogs.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Jess, catching hold of the lead and reeling Bassa in. ‘Sorry, sorry – we didn’t know you were going to be here.’

Jess glanced across at Molly, who held up a hand. ‘We’ll put him in the conservatory with Milo; I’m sure he won’t mind sharing his bed and biscuits.’

‘Oh, do you have a dog too?’ asked Noonoo, staring down at Bassa as if there was a fair chance that he might explode. Bassa had his own reply in mind. Giving Molly a knowing look he wandered across the kitchen, cocked his leg, and peed all over Noo’s precious portfolio. It took a split second for everyone to register what he’d done.

Noonoo shrieked, ‘Oh, my God, oh, my God! It’s handtooled leather!’ while Molly leapt in with kitchen roll, struggling with an altogether inappropriate fit of giggles, as she started to mop up the spreading puddle; good old Bassa, she couldn’t have put it better herself.

Picking up the portfolio Jess started machine-gunning apologies, while Max scooped up Bassa and bundled him through into the conservatory. In amongst it all Nick appeared with a tray of glasses. ‘Anyone like a sherry?’

Once calm had been restored and they had all eaten, Noo got to her feet and started to unpack her portfolio, arranging things on an easel, which Jonathon had brought in from the car. It wasn’t exactly how Molly had expected lunch to end, nor come to that how she had expected her discussions with Jonathon about Jessica’s wedding to go, but the way the day was shaping up Molly decided it was pointless fighting it.

‘Where’s the ring?’ asked Marnie conversationally, as Noo finished her arranging. ‘Or isn’t a ring what you do these days? I know fashions change – although personally I’ve never thought that diamonds date.’ She laughed.

Molly looked up, wondering what Jess would say. Jess smiled coyly. ‘Well, we’ve chosen it. It was wonderful – the jeweller let Max bring a tray of rings home so we could choose it together – but I haven’t got it at the moment. It was a bit big so Max took it back to have it altered.’

‘I’m going to pick it up when it’s been resized,’ explained Max.

Molly smiled. ‘What’s it like?’ she asked encouragingly.

Max glanced at Jessica, who beamed. ‘It’s absolutely perfect. It’s white gold with this lovely twist in the metal, a bit like a wave, and in the curve of the twist there is a solitaire diamond. It’s lovely and I’m so pleased with it.’ And as she spoke Jessica’s gaze met Max’s, who reddened furiously and caught hold of her hand.

‘It’s perfect, just like Jess,’ he said.

Molly felt herself smiling.

‘We wanted something that Jess loved and would wear every single day – something really special.’

Jess’s smile held. ‘And it is,’ she murmured. ‘It’s beautiful.’

Molly felt the tears welling up and for a moment she glanced across at Jonathon, whose eyes were glittering. Maybe he wasn’t that bad after all. Even if they didn’t love each other anymore they both loved their precious girl. Eyes twinkling, Max pressed Jess’s fingers to his lips. Molly had never seen Jess look so happy.

‘Sounds like the perfect time for a toast, I reckon,’ said Jonathon, sniffing away the emotion. ‘I think we should open the champagne.’

Nick obliged by bringing in the glasses and handing the bottle over to Jonathon so that he could pop the cork.

Once everyone had settled down Noonoo stood up, taking a second or two to compose herself and wait for hush before she opened up a flip chart. On the first page in a fancy font it said, ‘Welcome to your Perfect Wedding’.

A look went round the table between Molly, Nick and Jess.

‘My name is Noo Jacobson, and I’m a wedding planner and civil partnership co-ordinator,’ said Noo, as if no one could have guessed.

For one glorious moment Molly thought Noo was going to add, ‘And I’m an alcoholic,’ which, while it wasn’t particularly funny in itself, struck her as hilarious. Across the table she caught Jess’s eye – apparently a bizarre sense of humour was some sort of genetic failing because she too was rolling her eyes and trying to suppress a giggle.

Molly bit her lip; obviously Noo was going to give them the whole show whether they wanted it or not.

‘I successfully completed my training four years ago after a successful career in retail management – I have a wealth of experience and a solid track record in co-ordinating weddings alongside many other private and personal family events. Some time ago I realised I had a natural gift for creating the perfect wedding scenario for my clients and have specialised ever since.’

Molly felt her heart sink. This was a carefully rehearsed presentation more suited to an audience of fifty rather than the six of them gathered around Molly’s dining table. Alongside Jonathon, Marnie was saying, ‘I really wish that I’d known about Noo when we organised our wedding.’

Jonathon smiled wryly at no one in particular. ‘Me too, it would have saved me hours of listening to you agonising over every last detail and spending God knows how much on dresses and all the accessories, shoes, bags, hats – I mean how many outfits did you end up buying in the end? Five, six?’

Marnie shushed him furiously, while Noo continued, ‘I can provide my clients with almost any service, anything they require, both in the UK and abroad, including up-to-date advice on local customs, residency rules, legalities and visa requirements. So far I’ve arranged weddings in the Canaries, the Caribbean, Cyprus, the Maldives and Wales. My clients and I go on a voyage of discovery together, almost a spiritual quest to achieve their perfect day – and we often end up as friends, in fact one couple actually invited me to join them on their honeymoon.’

Molly closed her eyes; it was an image too far.

‘Anyway I’m here today to introduce you all to Joyful Heart Weddings,’ she said, hands together in front of her as if she was about to give a sermon. ‘We offer a wide range of traditional and concept weddings to a very discerning clientele. Marnie was kind enough to suggest that I come and talk to you about our service today.’ She nodded at Marnie, who smiled graciously.

‘First of all the obvious advantages to a busy working woman and her family, where everyone has numerous commitments with little time to spare, is that I can take all the hard work out of the wedding event for you. I have access to a wide database of suppliers, services and ideas. We can search out all those special little touches you’d like for your perfect day and present them to you in a complete managed package for one inclusive price with no hidden extras. We can stage-manage the entire event for you as well, offering peace of mind with our fully bonded all-inclusive insurance. And should you require it, besides the venue, the catering and all that wedding arrangements entail, we can even arrange that special honeymoon if you would like us to.’

Noonoo, mid-flow, flipped the page on the chart to a picture of a traditional wedding, the bride and groom standing in front of a church with their family. Molly heard Jess groan.

‘Can we just stop a minute here please?’ said Molly, jumping into a split second’s silence between the words. ‘I mean, I appreciate that this all looks very impressive and I hate to rain on your parade, but Jess and I have already spent hours planning the wedding.’

‘Yes, we’re more or less there,’ said Jess.

There was a little pause, during which Marnie looked daggers at Molly. Jonathon said, ‘Molly, I know you mean well but Marnie went to an awful lot of trouble to arrange for Noo to come over today and I think we should at least look at what she has to offer. Marnie said the service Noo provided was very good – you have to admit Mimi’s wedding was wonderful.’