Someone Like You(53)

Julia reached out, gripped Lizzie's shoulders. 'You make it sound so  simple. Tell me again that I'm doing the right thing, Lizzie. I need to  hear that right now.'

Lizzie realised that Julia might be harbouring more than a slight  concern over whether her dress matched her shoes, so she plonked herself  down on the bed next to Julia, her arm about her shoulders, and gave  her a reassuring squeeze. It now seemed it was her job to steer Julia  through this bout of collywobbles, too.

Dan had called her the guardian angel of Middle Point. He'd accused her  of assuming it was her role in life to try and fix things for everyone  else. Maybe he was right. Was it such a bad thing to want to help  people? Especially the people she loved?

'Breathe, Jools.' Lizzie pushed Julia's head between her knees.

'Don't get me wrong. I'm absolutely crazy about Ry. Have been since I  was eighteen. I want a life with him, the whole shebang, including  babies.' Her voice was wobbly and half muffled by her robe.

'Beautiful babies they will be, too.'

'But I'm feeling … ' Julia pulled herself upright and looked Lizzie squarely in the eyes. ' … kind of scared to death.'

'Jools, he's the one for you. Always has been. Always will be. You know that in your heart, don't you?'

'Of course I do.'

'So what's so scary about marrying Ry?'

Julia blew out a deep breath, clutched her hand on her heart. 'I think  I'm scared of being so happy. Of being right here on the brink of  getting everything I never knew I wanted. All those years away from  Middle Point, away from Ry, were all years of absolutely, definitely not  wanting any of this. And now look at me.' Julia sniffed and smiled at  Lizzie. 'I'm sitting here about to put on mother's wedding dress and  about to get married, old school.'

'You are getting married in a pub with a celebrant and absolutely,  positively no mention of the word "obey". That's not totally old  school.'

'True,' Julia laughed. 'But the promises Ry and I will make to each  other will be old school. You know, that one about forever? And that  other one which mentions for better, for worse. 'Til death do us part  and all that. That's the scary part.'

Julia's words spun around in Lizzie's head. For better, for worse.  Worse. That was the hard part, she knew. Making the decision to share  your life with someone meant you had to share everything. She knew that  in her head. And now, she felt it in her heart, too.

'It is scary,' she finally said in a whisper. 'But, Jools, any time you  take a chance in life, step out of your comfort zone, it's a little  scary, isn't it? But good scary. And it can be life-changing scary as  well and, you know, full of all the amazing possibilities of what  tomorrow might bring. We're all scared sometimes, Jools. It's what you  do with it that counts.

'Just think about where you are. You changed your life, came home to  where your heart is. You're about to marry the guy you've loved since  you were a teenager. All that's worth being a little terrified, isn't  it?'         

     



 

At the sound of her own advice, Lizzie felt an unwinding in her own  heart. What had she done with her fear? She'd let it lock her away.  She'd never been brave enough to conquer it, to do something worthwhile  with it. She'd let it imprison her. Once again, she'd been free with  advice but not so free that she was willing to follow it herself.

Lizzie startled a little when Julia's arms gathered her in a tight hug.  She held on for a long while and they sat in the quiet of the white  bedroom, enjoying these last few minutes together. Finally, Julia patted  Lizzie's knee.

'Do I need to check the make-up?'

Lizzie gave her a careful inspection. 'A little smudgy from tears.' She  grabbed her best friend's hand, tugged her to the bathroom. 'Let's go  get you looking beautiful.'

Dan checked his watch. Ten minutes past five. He figured Julia and  Lizzie had to be arriving any minute, so he did his best to settle the  groom. He tried to talk cricket and even cracked a joke about the fact  that Ry was about to become an old married bloke who might never have  sex again, but Ry didn't seem to be paying any attention.

Because his bride had entered the building.

And then Dan realised he wasn't hearing what he was saying either because right behind the bride was the bridesmaid.

Lizzie looked like a blonde angel, her baby blues bigger than ever,  alive with excitement, her smile a hundred megawatt scorcher. She was  following a couple of steps behind the bride, walking towards them from  the lane at the side of the stone pub. The crowd uttered a collective  sigh as they realised things were about to get underway and damn it if  Dan's eyes didn't get a little misty. The two men came to their senses  at roughly the same time, judging by the way they surreptitiously  elbowed each other.

'Good luck, mate,' Dan whispered through tight lips.

As Julia began the slow walk towards the rest of her life, Ry blew out a sigh.

'Look at her, will you?'

Dan was looking, but not at the bride. And when, for just a moment,  Lizzie glanced at him, something strange happened in his chest. All the  panic that had lived there for so long was replaced by a dead-set  certainty about what he wanted for his life. All the uncertainties about  what he might face, the unanswered questions about his future all  locked into place. One by one.

Dan's eyes were like burning summer sun on Lizzie's skin. She'd allowed  herself a fleeting glance at him, just a little one, as she'd followed  Julia into The Market, and he'd been looking at her, too. She almost  tripped over her feet when she realised what he was wearing. Black  tuxedo trousers skimmed his strong thighs and a blindingly crisp white  dinner shirt hung from his broad shoulders. But the whole outfit was  flipped on its head. He wasn't wearing a jacket or a tie, and his  shirtsleeves were folded up casually to mid forearm, setting off his  tanned arms. His hair was pushed back off his forehead in a strong wave  and his eyes shone. Lizzie bit her tongue at his all-over killer  gorgeousness. When he saw her appreciation, his eyes did a quick  once-over of her dress, and then the look in his eyes transformed from  lustful appreciation into something so unexpected that she had to look  away fast before she melted.

How she made it through the ceremony, she didn't know. The wedding  celebrant, a remarkably young woman with a perky attitude and a warm  smile in her voice, conducted the proceedings with aplomb. Lizzie  managed to take the bouquet from Julia at the appropriate time for the  exchange of rings. Everything else was a complete blur and, before  Lizzie realised it, the ceremony was over and Ry had bent Julia  backwards in a dramatic kiss that had all the wedding guests hooting  with happiness and clapping until their hands hurt.

Being so close to Dan, after weeks of avoiding him, was unbearable. All  the happiness in the atmosphere around her had seeped into Lizzie's  heart, willing her to want a piece of it for herself. And maybe, just  maybe, her share of it had been standing two bodies away from her,  looking entirely too fine-looking in the closest thing to a suit she'd  ever seen him wearing.

Immediately after that kiss, Ry and Julia were surrounded by guests, all  wanting to congratulate them. She found Barbra at her left elbow,  swallowing a sob of happiness and dabbing at her face with a tie-dyed  handkerchief.

'Oh Lizzie,' she sighed, 'Look at them, will you? How gorgeous are they?  What beautiful grandchildren they're going to give me.' She shot a  cheeky wink at Lizzie. 'Will you be next?'

And then Harri was there too, her walker a handy device to part the crowd and barge to the front.

'You all right, Harri?' Lizzie asked, reaching out to hold her elbow and guide her forward.         

     



 

'I'm bloody marvellous, Lizzie. I just need to congratulate the happy  couple.' She raised her eyebrows quizzically and smiled broadly. 'This  giving you any ideas?'

Where the two mavens in league with each other or something? Lizzie  shook the comment off with a playful glare and stood on tiptoe to see  where Dan was. Barbra had found him and was hugging him within an inch  of his life.

'Hey, Mosquito.' Joe leaned in to whisper in her ear. 'I need a hand with something.'

'What is it?' Lizzie had one eye on her brother, the other on Dan.

'I just saw someone head into the ladies. She looked a little … upset.'

Lizzie turned, gave Joe her full attention now. 'What do you mean upset?'

'Like tears running down her face upset.'

Lizzie did a quick scan around to see if she could pick who was missing. 'Who was it? Someone from the wedding?'

Joe nodded. 'About this tall.' He held a hand up to his chest. 'Long  black hair, incredibly shiny, and she's wearing killer high heels.  Leopard skin. Big round earrings and red lips.'

Lizzie let out a sigh. She knew exactly who that was. She turned on her  heel and took two steps before stopping, turning around to scrutinise  Joe's expression.

'Hey, Stinkface.'

'Yeah?'

'You certainly paid a lot of attention to this mysterious woman with the tears.'

Later Lizzie thought she must have imagined it, but it seemed like Joe  was actually blushing. Blushing. Her big, old, cynical, hack, journalist  brother.