Celebrity Shopper (43 page)

Connor in full kilt regalia risks a wave. The big show-off! Yes, persuading him not to walk her into the room was a very good decision. He’d probably have done a dance or performed a soliloquy. The handsome young man beside him? It’s Andrei, Annie realizes … beaming at Lana.

Ed’s sister Hannah and her little boy Sid; her wonderful sisters Nic and Dinah are all in the front row with their men beside them, a twin on each lap and their mother between them. Annie thinks she might cry at the sight of them all looking at her so very fondly and she presses her lips together hard. Dinah can tell, so she points down. Down at their feet are three (
three!
) of the grotesque pink plastic
Annie Bags. Three of those disgusting bags of horror! Dinah has done this especially to make her sister laugh, because she suspected Annie might get all teary and emotional right here.

Now Annie really wants to cry because she loves Dinah so much.

Instead, she turns to Ed, standing in front of the registrar’s desk with his best man, Owen, upright and proud beside him.

They’re both in such serious, dark blue suits, with pink shirts and blue ties. Owen looks gorgeous. He seems taller and more handsome and more grown up than Annie has ever seen him before. She flashes momentarily back to when Owen was a bright-eyed, happy baby, always so giggly … and flashes forward to the handsome, wonderful man he’s going to turn into. She feels a rush of maternal pride. Somehow, she manages to shoot him a wink and he winks straight back.

Annie’s eyes are now on Ed and, finally, she lets her eyes settle. No. Because one of the babies squawks, so both Ed and Annie look anxiously round.

Dinah rushes an emergency biscuit to each of the twins. Peace is momentarily restored.

Ed and Annie turn to face each other again.

This is big
, Annie thinks, looking into his calm blue eyes. Yes, comes the tiny distracting thought, that tie is just so perfect for those eyes.

This is immense
, she reminds herself,
vastly important and monumental
.

Ed holds out his hand and Annie takes it. There is such calm and such love in those clear blue eyes, Annie knows that, whatever happens, it’s going to be all right.

So long as Ed is right here at her side, Annie knows she is going to be just fine.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,’ the registrar begins, ‘welcome to the marriage of Annie and Ed.’

Ed, never once taking his eyes from Annie’s face, carefully repeats the words of the registrar and makes his vow to Annie.

Annie listens to every single word. She hears this fresh and different promise for the very first time. The different words make this not like a second marriage, but like a new and very different marriage. All at once, Annie feels as if she is absolutely overflowing with love. For Ed, for her children, for their children, for her family, her friends, for Roddy, for absolutely everyone she has ever met and will ever meet.

She feels as if she is full of an infinite capacity for love that could never possibly run dry.
Oh, babes
, she tells herself,
you’re having a mystical moment
. She wishes she could rootle in her handbag for some extra-minty chewing gum to bring her round.

‘
This
ring is a symbol of my love for you …’ Ed says.

She hears the tiny stress on the word ‘this’.

Owen steps forward, grins at his mum and hands Ed a ring.

Ed carefully turns Annie’s hand in his, and then on to her fourth finger he slides a heartbreakingly perfect solitaire diamond that Annie has never seen before.

Together, they had tried on white-gold wedding bands, and she thought that was what he had bought.

This ring is not huge, it is not the kind of über-rock that Svetlana would sport, but nevertheless it is absolutely perfect. Annie has never owned a diamond before and doesn’t think she has ever seen a more beautiful ring.

‘Oh!’ she exclaims. She has been buying fantasy diamond rings for so many years now that she knows all the terms and specifications but she’s so overwhelmed that they all
muddle in her head:
this is a flawless carat, D-cut, Tiffany weight, radiant
…
oh
,
whatever, absolutely gorgeous ring!

She looks at Ed and gasps a little round: ‘Oh!’ at him once again.

He just tips her a wink and tries to rein in the smile about to burst over his face.

The registrar asks Annie gently if she is ready.

‘Yes,’ Annie replies.

Her hand, with its winking, blinking adornment is shaking slightly, even though Ed still holds it tightly.

‘I, Annie Louise …’ the registrar begins.

‘I, Annie Louise,’ she whispers.

Owen and Lana feel the enormity of the moment and instinctively move closer towards their mother. When she feels her children press in beside her, Annie finds her voice and the strength to make it through this wonderful promise.

Word by word she repeats it, until the registrar gives her the final phrase: ‘… to love and to cherish for the rest of our lives together’.

Before she can say these words, Annie swallows, she curls her toes and she wishes and wishes that they will all live long, very long and very happy lives together.

Then she looks at Ed and tells him with all her heart: ‘to love and to cherish for the rest of our lives together’.

Carmen Reid is the bestselling author of the
Personal Shopper
series, also starring Annie Valentine.

She has worked as a newspaper journalist and columnist, but now writes fiction full-time. Carmen also writes a series for teen readers,
Secrets at St Jude’s
. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with her husband and two children.

Visit
www.carmenreid.com
for competitions, exclusive content and Carmen’s blog!