TWENTY ONE
All Hayden could remember about the party was being poured into a taxi at half past two in the morning. He was very apologetic to Eleanor about his behaviour, but she told him everyone needed to let their hair down occasionally.
Preparations on the wedding began in earnest in March, with invitations being sent out and the venue (a hotel in Gloucestershire near her parent's place, which had been booked in the autumn) being visited and staff there met. Hayden and Eleanor had decided to keep things simple, with everything being held under the same roof: signing the register, meal and dance. They had chosen to have an evening do, since a lot of friends and family would be travelling from the north as well as from London. The hotel could accommodate those who wanted to stay the night and who were willing to shell out for the inflated rates they charged. Others chose to stay locally in cheaper places.
Eleanor wasn't very keen on wearing white but in the end was persuaded to by a combination of her maid of honour, Diana (a friend from King's College), and her mother. They said that a wedding wasn't the same if the bride didn't wear white. Since Eleanor knew that her mother was already disappointed that she wasn't getting married in a church, she decided it was the least she could do to keep her happy.
On the eve of the big day, Eleanor, who was staying with her parents so that they could work on last-minute alterations to her dress, suffered traditional prenuptial nerves. In her case, perhaps, 'traditional' may not be the right word, as she was basically uncertain whether she should be getting married at all -- especially, to a man. Ironically, her bout of nerves seemed so natural to her mother that it helped still her general sense of unease about the marriage. The fact that the two of them behaved so little like a couple in love -- which had been kind of charming in its quirkiness at first -- had begun to concern her more and more as the big day drew closer, and yet she couldn't bring herself to talk about it with her older daughter.
All went remarkably smoothly on the day itself until the reception. When it came to his turn to give a speech, Hayden appeared overwhelmed by the occasion and was hardly able to string two sentences together. Even allowing for the fact that he wasn't a natural as far as public speaking went, Eleanor's mother for one felt he should have been able to utter the normal pleasantries and votes of thanks. No one seemed to think anything was amiss, though, putting it down to wedding day nerves and a glass of champagne too many.
When the time came for Eleanor and Hayden to have the first dance, Hayden, who had been putting in some practise after his dismal display at the New Year's Eve ball, made a great impression and redeemed himself at least in part in the eyes of Eleanor's mother. They danced three of four numbers together before the maid of honour staked her claim to Hayden and Eleanor was approached by the groomsmen. Everyone was having a high old time of it, including Caroline, who made a great hit with Eleanor's father, even if her mother didn't warm to her at all.
After he had come down from the euphoria of his dance with his new bride, Hayden felt an emptiness inside. Not being someone who was used to dealing with depression, he sought comfort in the bottle -- something which his groomsmen were more than happy to indulge him in, while of course joining in too. Most of them were single and had little prospect of attachment given their lack of social skills and general nerdiness.
By the time Eleanor checked on him, his condition wasn't much better than it had been on that fateful night when she had met Zari. At this rate he wasn't even going to make it until midnight. Under her guidance, two of the groomsmen who were in better shape than the others helped Eleanor get him up to the bridal suite, where Eleanor took over, got his outer garments off and put him to bed. She also took the chance to change out of her wedding dress into the dark blue dress she had brought along for the occasion.
By the time she got downstairs again, it was half past eleven and the party was still going strong. After explaining to her mum and dad that Hayden was suffering from a touch of flu (a patent untruth which both of them left unchallenged), she milled among the guests, catching up with old friends and family members. There was only the occasional enquiry about her new husband, to which she made a standard reply about his feeling a little unwell before the wedding and having gone down with a bout of man flu. This seemed to satisfy everyone, none of whom knew Hayden very well.
It was shortly after speaking to her uncle and aunt from Tunbridge Wells that she saw Caroline there, gazing at her quizzically from the side of the room where the bar had been set up. In all the hustle and bustle of the day, Eleanor hadn't really noticed her or even thought of her. Now, she knew from the smile that began to spread across the older woman's face, as well as from the beating of her own heart, which threatened to burst the buttons on her dress, things were likely to take a very sudden and dramatic change -- unless she made the decision right there and then to turn on her heels and leave the room. She remained standing where she was, holding her glass of Perrier.
Knowing that she had Eleanor where she wanted her, Caroline stayed exactly where she was. Even though she was quite sober, the room started to spin around Eleanor as if she was on a carousel. Even though the room contained a number of people and some of them were speaking to her, Eleanor wasn't aware of any of them. After gathering her wits as best she could, she made the first step across the room towards this woman who she knew spelt only bad news for her on this of all days.
As soon as she arrived at her destination, Caroline took her hand and whispered in her ear.
'One o'clock in my room. Wear white.'
Eleanor trembled. She wanted to withdraw her hand from this woman's grasp, but found that she had no power. She wanted to tell her that such a meeting was out of the question, but couldn't seem to find the words. She knew she should leave immediately and find sanctuary with her mother, or her sister, or her aunt from Tunbridge Wells, but she simply didn't want to.
After what seemed like a lifetime, Caroline walked off without a care in the world. Eleanor thought of following her to call the whole thing off, before realising that no arrangement had actually been made. Caroline had merely invited her to her room and she (Eleanor) had neither consented nor declined.
Before she could think about things any more, Diana bounced up to her in that energetic way she had.
'There you are! We were wondering where you had got to.'
Eleanor mumbled something about catching up with old friends before happily taking the chance to return to the dance floor with Diana. She really let her hair down to the music, delighting her friends with her abandon and dispelling concerns that her enjoyment of her big day had been spoilt by Hayden's indisposition.
