Stop The Wedding!

Izzy had some tricks up her sleeve to make sure her sister’s big day wouldn’t go ahead . . .

WHY won’t it do up?” Katie said in frustration as she struggled with the zip of the bridesmaid’s dress. “You haven’t put on weight.”

“I must have,” Izzy replied. “Oh, well. I’d better take it off.”

Katie turned her daughter round to face her and immediately frowned.

“Have you got something tucked down the front?”

“Oh,” Izzy said. “That’s just my lucky dog.”

“Izzy, if you want to take it with you, we can put it in your little bag,” her mum pointed out. “Then I’m sure your dress will fit. What a relief.”

Katie laughed and pulled up the zip. The dress fitted perfectly.

Of course it did. Izzy had only had to try it on around a thousand times over the last few weeks.

She scowled. She’d been caught out, but she wasn’t finished yet.

Laughter came from the next room, where Izzy’s older sister, Polly, was shut in with her best friend, Brinda, who was helping with her hair and make-up.

Brinda was a bridesmaid, too, along with Izzy’s cousins, Phoebe and Ginny, who were getting ready in the spare room with Auntie Annette.

Downstairs, Dad was pacing the floor, practising his speech, while Uncle Ben urged him to stay calm and have another cup of tea.

Katie started brushing Izzy’s hair, and pulled it through the bun ring. She’d nearly put in what felt like the millionth pin when she gasped.

“How did that happen? Your bun is sticking out the side of your head! I knew we should have paid a hairdresser to do this.”

Izzy smirked at her reflection and gave the bun a wobble just as the door opened and her cousins came in, followed by Auntie Annette.

“Don’t you girls look lovely?” Katie remarked with a smile.

“What happened here?” Annette asked.

“The bun’s gone wonky.” Katie cast an envious look at her niece’s buns perfectly placed atop their heads. They had on their little flower tiaras and looked perfect.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” Katie cried despairingly.

“I used to do your hair in a bun all the time for your dancing lessons, do you remember?” Annette smiled. “Perhaps you’re too nervous. Shall I do it?”

“Please,” Katie replied. “I am a bit shaky.”

Izzy regretted not letting her mother do her hair.

Auntie Annette was much rougher and she had to grit her teeth as she combed and sprayed, then combed and pinned and sprayed some more.

“There,” Annette said when it was done. “She could walk through a tornado and that bun wouldn’t come undone.”

Izzy wobbled her head. Her aunt was right. That bun wasn’t going anywhere – but neither was she.

She hadn’t run out of ideas yet.

When it was time to get their shoes on – pretty little white silk pumps – Izzy limped across the room.

“Oh, the pain! I can’t walk! They pinch my toes.”

Katie bent down and poked the end of the pumps.

“There’s plenty of room. Perhaps some tissue paper got left in there.” She took the pumps and felt around inside the toes.

“There aren’t any lumps or bumps. Put them back on, Izzy. You’ll be fine.”

“But what if I fall over and ruin things?” Izzy insisted. “I don’t think I should be a bridesmaid.”

They all looked at her as if she’d gone mad.

“Don’t you want to be a bridesmaid?” Annette asked.

“Of course she does,” Katie declared. “When Polly said she was getting married, the first thing Izzy asked was if she could be bridesmaid. Do you remember, Izzy?”

“Perhaps she’s nervous,” Annette suggested.

“Izzy? Have you met my daughter?”

Annette laughed. “True. But something’s wrong, so what is it, Izzy? You can tell us.”

Izzy pressed her lips together and Annette turned to the other girls and told them to go downstairs and wait with their dad.

“Make sure you hold your skirts up!” she called after them. “And don’t touch anything!”

But they’d already reached the bottom of the stairs and were giggling.

It was all right for them, Izzy thought.

“Now, then,” Annette began.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Izzy insisted.

Her mother and aunt exchanged looks.

“OK. Let’s go downstairs. We’ll have to leave for the church soon,” Katie said. “Remember to hold your skirt up.”

“Don’t you look beautiful?” Izzy’s dad said when she came down the stairs.

He turned to Katie. “As do you! This family has brushed up pretty well, don’t you think?”

“I do.” Katie smiled at her husband. “Have the flowers arrived yet?”

“Yes, and I’m just going out to see if there’s any sign of the cars.”

Katie hurried back up the stairs.

“Are you all right, Izzy?” Phoebe whispered. “You look as if you’re going to cry.”

Phoebe was the same age as Izzy, while Ginny was three years younger. She’d always got along well with both her cousins.

“I’m not going to cry,” Izzy said, as her chin wobbled and her nose stung.

“It’ll be OK,” Phoebe said, stroking her arm. “Don’t worry.”

“You don’t know what it’s like,” Izzy mumbled.

“Don’t you like your dress?” Ginny asked.

“I love it.”

“Did Mum do your hair too tight?” Phoebe asked. “It hurts when she pulls it back, but it looks lovely.”

“We look like twins,” Ginny said, sliding her hand into Izzy’s.

“Triplets,” Phoebe corrected her.

Despite the maelstrom of feelings swirling in Izzy’s stomach, she laughed.

“That’s better.” Annette smiled. “I’ve never seen you look so unhappy.”

That’s because I’ve never been so unhappy in my life, Izzy thought.

She had one last trick up her sleeve.

When the car came to take them to the church, she’d run into the loo and stick her fingers down her throat. Then she’d smother her face in talcum powder so she looked pale.

That was what someone did in a book she once read, and they even put the thermometer in a cup of tea.

She felt Auntie Annette watching her and it was almost as if she could read

She had one last trick up her sleeve

her mind.

Gales of laughter drifted down the stairs. How could they be so happy?

“Girls, go and find your dad and tell him we’re about to leave,” Annette said, then held her hand out to Izzy.

“You come with me. You look a bit flushed. Fresh air will do you good.”

They stepped out into the back garden, where the sun was beating down and all the flowers were bursting into life.

The grass looked greener and the birds were all busy, going into the bushes carrying twigs and long strands of grass in their beaks to make their nests.

That was what Polly had been doing for the last couple of weeks.

She and Charlie had been building their nest, taking sheets, duvets and bits and bobs of furniture round to their flat.

All Polly’s ornaments and things had gone from the shelves in their room, leaving it looking bare.

Katie had been running up curtains on her sewing machine and making matching cushions, and Polly and Charlie had been painting like mad.

Annette checked the garden bench was clean and ran her hand over it.

“OK, it’s safe to sit down,” she said, and they sat down together.

“Isn’t it a wonderful day?”

It would be better if it was raining, Izzy thought. Then no-one would see her tears.

“I remember when your mum and dad got married,” Annette went on. “I was a bridesmaid. You must have seen the photos.”

“Yes.” Izzy sighed, rolling her eyes.

“I was about the same age as you,” Annette went on. “At first I was over the moon that your mum was moving out and I’d get a bedroom to myself.”

Izzy felt a prickle of interest.

“She was always telling me off,” Annette added conspiratorially. “You know how bossy your mum is.”

Izzy laughed. She couldn’t help herself.

“Then came the wedding day,” Annette continued, puffing out her cheeks. “Oh, boy!”

“What happened?” “Well, we woke up as normal and your mum sat up in bed and said, ‘I’m getting married today, Nettie!

“‘Tomorrow morning you’ll wake up and this room will just be yours.’

“A lot of her stuff had gone already, of course, but I’d never thought about her not actually being there.”

Izzy felt a warmth run through her body.

“I know I used to annoy her and she used to moan, but she’s my big sister and I suddenly realised I’d miss her.

“I didn’t want a room of my own any more. I wanted my big sister.”

“Did you?” Izzy whispered.

“Yes! It’s perfectly natural. You’ve shared a room with her all your life, so of course you’re going to miss her.”

“What did you do?”

“I put on a brave face, but at the meal it all got too much when I thought about going home and being alone.

“I ended up bursting into tears right in the middle of Grandad’s speech.

“But everyone was so kind and your mum said things would be even better because we could have girlie days out and movie nights,” Auntie Annette said.

“And I soon got used to having a bedroom of my own.”

“Did you?” Izzy was doubtful.

“Oh, yes. Once it was my room, it meant I could have friends round for sleepovers.”

Izzy allowed a small smile.

“I hadn’t thought of that. Can Phoebe and Ginny come for a sleepover?”

“I don’t see why not,” Annette replied.

“Was that what was upsetting you? Thinking you’d miss Polly?”

Izzy nodded. She felt too choked up to speak now it was all out in the open.

“Well, I’m glad you told me.” Annette hugged her.

“Because you wouldn’t want it to all burst out in the middle of your dad’s speech when he’s been rehearsing so hard, would you?”

Izzy laughed, but she couldn’t stop the tears sliding down her cheeks.

Her aunt whipped a tissue out and mopped them up.

“Polly will always be your sister, you know,” Annette reminded her.

She squeezed Izzy’s hands.

“Nettie!” Uncle Ben shouted from the house. “The car’s here. Time to go.”

There would be no need for the talcum powder or any of the rest of it.

Today was going to be a very good day, and Izzy wasn’t going to cry or get upset.

As it turned out, she was wrong.

She did cry when they came out of the church after the ceremony, but her mum and aunt had cried, too, and no-one seemed to mind, least of all Polly, who gave her a big hug.

“Best bridesmaid ever,” Polly whispered. “Love you, Izzy.”

“Love you, too,” Izzy replied, a huge smile on her face as she hugged her sister tightly. ■