Chapter 13

It all went perfectly, of course. How else could it go, with Dorothy in charge?

And this was no ordinary village wedding. The whole village was invited, plus a large contingent from Johnny's regiment, plus Tilly's friends, plus Johnny's school friends, plus Dorothy's boys, plus a whole array of VIPs, friends of Dorothy and James. There were far too many to fit in the church, but everybody was invited to the wedding breakfast up at Morpeth House, where an enormous marquee had been set up on the lawn in front of the house.

Sally came in promptly at ten o clock, just as Tilly had emerged from her extravagant bath, scented with exotic oils supplied by Dorothy. She not only did the girls' hair, but made up their faces as well. When she had finished they looked like film stars. And the dresses were perfect. The three girls stood in front of the mirror, hardly able to believe that the visions of loveliness before them were themselves.

At twelve thirty the village blacksmith, George Talbot (Tilly knew his name now), arrived in a beautiful horse-drawn carriage to convey Tilly, James and the bridesmaids to the church. Tilly wasn't sure whether it was the done thing for the father of the groom to give the bride away, but nobody seemed to think it was odd and she was very pleased to have his solid, comforting presence beside her. All her earlier panic had dissipated and now she felt as if she were floating on a cloud of euphoria. Everything around her seemed somewhat unreal.

The photographer was waiting outside the church to take the photographs of the bride's party as they arrived. Tilly was surprised. Those people she knew who had wedding photos only had the one of the bride and groom, taken after the service, outside the church. But the photographer assured her that this was how it was done in polite society. One was presented with a whole album of photographs to commemorate the happy occasion.

The service was beautiful. The vicar didn't talk too long and the choir was simply heavenly. Dorothy had imported some of the choir from King's, Johnny's old college, to augment the rather sparse village choir, and it worked really well. The King's boys were delighted to be paid and for the free trip and the party, and the villagers were delighted to sing with such a famous choir.

Johnny and Tilly made their vows in clear, confident voices, with no mistakes, gazing into each other's eyes throughout and when the vicar said, "I now pronounce you man and wife," a little sigh of pleasure went through the congregation.

When they emerged from the church, it was to see two lines of soldiers in dress uniform forming an aisle for them.

More photographs were taken and then the happy couple were taken back to the house in George's carriage, waving and smiling at the assembled crowds as they went.

"I feel like royalty," Tilly whispered.

"And so you should." Johnny bent his head down to whisper back," Today you are a queen."

They arrived back at the house before the main body of the guests and took their place at the entrance to the marquee. Johnny whispered the names and provenance of each set of guests as they came forward to congratulate them.

"Don't be put off," he said, as she looked a little in awe of some of their titles. "You are better than any of them."

And she laughed and felt a little less nervous. But she was very glad when that part was over and they were allowed to get a drink and sit down.

Ravi, the best man, came over, drink in hand, smiling broadly.

"We meet properly at last," he said. "And I must say, I'm very impressed. The dear boy has at last come to his senses and found a woman worthy of him."

He sat down beside her. "Did you ever meet Hermione?" she whispered demurely, and he laughed so loudly that people turned to look their way.

The wedding breakfast was delicious. Dorothy had brought in outside caterers and the whole thing was managed with the kind of pleasant efficiency that could only be achieved by very experienced staff.

The speeches went off without a hitch, although Tilly could never afterwards remember anything anyone said, except someone referred to debutantes and there was a general outbreak of laughter. "What did I tell you," Johnny said. "I'm never going to live the bloody thing down."

Afterwards, feeling a little woozy with the emotion and the champagne, Tilly allowed Johnny to lead her back to the house, where the wedding presents were stacked in the drawing room.

"My God" Tilly exclaimed. "Where on earth are we going to put them all?" And Johnny tapped his nose in a knowing gesture.

"What? What do you know that you're not telling me?"

"Oh, nothing," said Johnny, with an elaborately casual air.

She found out later ... much later. After she and Johnny had led the dancing, after she had gone up to her room to get changed into her going away dress - peach silk with a short-sleeved matching jacket, Polly's wedding present. They had gone downstairs and there were Dorothy and James waiting for them. It was early evening now and the light had almost left the sky. There were lanterns hanging outside the marquee.

"Come and see," Dorothy said, hooking her arm through Tilly's, "your wedding present from us."

Tilly looked back at the stack of presents in the drawing room. Surely they were going in the wrong direction?

She left the thought unfinished as Dorothy and James led her outside. A car, she thought, It must be a motorcar.

But they walked on past the drive where the guests' cars were parked, past the family garage, on up the hill towards the top barn. As they walked through the little wood, James took out a large torch and shone it ahead to light their way. Tilly remembered the sweet little cottage they had seen on that first day. She had not, she realised, been this way since. Her visits had all been too full of planning and measuring to allow for much walking. Or had she actually been steered away from this part of the grounds? She had a strong suspicion that that was the case.

And there it was ? the cottage. There was just enough light left to see it, silhouetted at the top of the hill. James swung the light from the torch across the façade. At first glance it seemed unchanged. But then she realised a rustic porch had been added in front of the back door. And windows. Where there had just been a blank barn wall, there were now two large windows downstairs and two more dormer windows upstairs. The additions were in perfect keeping with the building and if she hadn't seen it as it was before, she would have thought they had always been there.

She turned at looked at James, questioning. He smiled and produced a key from his pocket, and went forward to unlock the door.

"You knew, didn't you?" she said, as Johnny swept her off her feet and carried her over the threshold. "You knew and never said a word."