Christmas at Tiffany's Read Free Page A

to give him the beta blockers I keep on standby for my nervous brides.’
    Gil chortled and looked at Kelly, dressed top to toe in black – the only one who didn’t look as if she was staying at a spa. ‘And how was your flight, Kelly?’
    ‘Oh, you know . . . a supermodel in full tantrum in front, a drunk sleeping on my shoulder and an air hostess with rage issues. The usual,’ she said drily.
    He looked at the women clustered around Cassie, whose blonde curls were poking out from the middle of them. ‘Why’re you all standing like that around my wife?’ he asked suspiciously. ‘You haven’t done anything to her, have you?’
    ‘No. We’re just getting her ready,’ Suzy said quickly.
    ‘It looks like you’ve got her so drunk she can’t stand.’
    ‘ Non! ’ said Anouk.
    ‘It’s just bad luck for you to see her before it’s time,’ Kelly explained.
    ‘It’s bad luck for me to see her in her wedding dress,’ he said, frowning. ‘Not at the anniversary party ten years later. ’
    ‘Pah! You say tom- aaaah- to, I say tom- ay -to,’ Kelly argued, making him grin.
    ‘Fine,’ he said, holding his hands up in defeat. He stood on tiptoe, trying to catch sight of his wife. ‘Well, just so you know, darling, our guests are arriving.’
    Cassie nodded from behind the wall of friends. ‘Ten minutes.’
    ‘Uh-huh,’ he said knowingly, backing out of the room. ‘I’d like to see the odds they’re offering for that.’ He shut the door on the telltale sounds of women in a rush – zips opening, wardrobe doors banging, the shower running. It was going to be half an hour, minimum.
    Cassie was still looking at herself in the mirror when Kelly got out of the shower. ‘You can see my knickers through this dress,’ she hissed, panicking. She knew the girls were going to make her wear the dress, and that Gil would disapprove. The girls knew it too – why else would they have hidden her from him?
    ‘Don’t wear any,’ Anouk said across the room as she applied her eyeliner.
    Cassie looked at her in horror.
    ‘I’ve already thought of that,’ Kelly said, going over to her bag and throwing a plastic packet on the bed. ‘Flesh-coloured too.’
    Cassie picked it up. ‘Spanx? What’s that?’
    Everyone rolled their eyes. ‘Sausage knickers, Cass!’ Suzy said. ‘They hold your fat bits in and give you a smooth line under the dress. I make all my brides in bias-cut wear them.’
    ‘What shoes have you got?’ Kelly asked, already dreading the answer. Don’t say pumps. Don’t say—
    ‘I’ve got some nice kitten heels I bought in the L.K. Bennett sale last Christmas.’ There was a heavy silence. ‘What? They’re my best ones.’
    Anouk sighed and went to the jumble of shoes in the middle of the floor. She picked up a strappy gold Louboutin with a four-inch heel. ‘Try that. We’re the same size.’
    ‘Oh, you have got to be joking. I don’t wear anything higher than a welly-boot all year round. You can’t seriously expect me to get down the staircase in those. I’d have to slide down the banisters.’
    ‘If that’s what it takes,’ Anouk shrugged.
    Cassie sighed and slipped them on, instantly rocketing up to six foot. She had to admit they were stunning with the dress, and they certainly felt more comfortable than they looked. But then she hadn’t tried moving yet. Which reminded her . . .
    ‘I hope you’ve all remembered there’s reeling later on. You’ll need sensible shoes.’
    ‘There’s no such thing,’ Anouk and Kelly declared in unison.
    ‘Sweetie, the only thing I intend to be reeling from tonight is the drink,’ Suzy said, wriggling into her dress and making them all – even Cassie – dissolve into laughter.
    Forty-five minutes later, the four women descended the winding staircase arm in arm like a daisy chain. Even Cassie couldn’t remain oblivious to the stares that met her. None of her friends – Gil’s friends – had ever seen her look like this before. She felt