Page 91 of A Wedding in Tuscany

Now that Vanessa’s gone and this wedding is back on track, all I can think of is Lou’s warning about ‘bad luck’. But this isn’t my call. ‘Hang on.’ I click-clack back to the bedroom. ‘Cat, Jean-Luc is at the front door. He wants to talk to you.’

She looks up, her face radiating love. ‘Did he really send Vanessa away?’

Well, he did?after she made the decision for herself?but I’m not telling Cat that. It will remain a secret till the day I die. ‘Yes.’

‘And he told Cécile off?’

‘Oh, yeah! And he told her he was proud to be joining our family?and that she owes you an apology.’ Cat’s expression sours. ‘It’s okay. She’s not coming anywhere near you without one of us by your side.’

Cat nods then scrunches her nose in contemplation. ‘Actually, after all this … I sort of … I want to arrive at my wedding?does that make sense? I don’t want him to see me in here like this. I just want to be the bride.’

‘Totally get it. I’ll go tell him.’

I turn to leave. ‘But tell him that I love him more than anything and I can’t wait to marry him,’ she calls out loudly.

‘I love you too, chérie,’ Jean-Luc’s voice echoes along the hallway.

‘See you upstairs,’ she shouts.

‘D’accord, mon amour.’

‘Oh, for god’s sake,’ I mutter to myself, re-joining Jean-Luc at the front door. ‘So, we good?’

He grins then plants a kiss on my cheek. ‘Oui.’

‘Well, then get the hell outta here. We’ll be five minutes behind you.’ He jogs back to the bottom of the staircase to the loft and disappears. I return to the bedroom, where Mum is smoothing down Cat’s dress and fussing with her hair.

‘Right, you’ve chewed off all your lipstick, so let’s re-apply,’ I say, retrieving the tube from my clutch. Cat lifts her chin obediently and stretches her lips wide. In several swoops of colour, she’s perfection again.

‘So, shall we get this road on the show?’ says Dad, another of his favourite malapropisms.

Cat grins at him. ‘I’m ready, Daddy.’

We reform our bridal procession of four and head down the hallway past the kitchen, stepping out onto the driveway for take two. I swear to god, if anything else goes wrong, then maybe the universe is trying to tell us something.