Magical Weddings (33 page)

“Maybe it’s a sign,” Rosie said after a few moments of gazing silently into her glass. “Maybe that wasn’t actually my dress.”

“What are you saying? You cried when you saw yourself in it.”

Rosie looked sheepish. “I saw your face in the mirror when I came out with it on and you looked so happy for me. That might have been the real reason for the tears.”

“Of course I was happy for you. You’re my best friend.” Cait reached out to trace a groove in the old wooden table with her finger. “Actually, I’ve been worried you didn’t believe I was happy for you both, that you thought-,”

“That you still had a thing for Guy?” Rosie asked gently.

Cait nodded, and felt some of the tension ease when Rosie laughed for the first time that day.

“Cait, out of the two of us, am I the only one who really knows you actually have a thing for Matthew?”

Cait’s mouth dropped open and Rosie shoved her glass towards her.

“I literally can’t talk about that,” Cait said, taking a gulp of wine.

“You’re going to have to eventually. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

Cait frowned, her finger going back to rubbing the groove in the table. “We’ll see.”

“That’s your plan? You’re going to just sit back and see? What if while you’re watching, some other woman comes along and you end up having to see them together all the time?”

Cait shifted in her seat and quietly admitted, “I tried not sitting back last time and it didn’t change anything.”

“You never know,” said Rosie, “maybe all that exploring has taught him to see what he left behind.”

Cait snorted and reached for the bottle to top up her friend’s glass. “So what are we going to do about your dress,” she said, changing the subject back.

“I guess I wear the repaired version,” Rosie sighed. “I do really love the lace-work on it. I don’t know what it is about lace that I suddenly find so romantic.”

“Other than me going on about it incessantly for the last few months,” Cait offered.

“Oh, have you?” Rosie asked innocently. “I can’t say I’d noticed.”

The two friends looked at each other and then broke out into giggles.

“Hey, you know that sketch you’re always carrying around a copy of?” Rosie asked suddenly.

“The ‘Caterina Rosso’ dress?”

“Yeah. Have you got it with you today?”

Cait reached into her bag and pulled out the plastic protective folder she had placed it in. Carefully she put it on the table between them.

Rosie sighed wistfully as she looked down at it. “It’s so incredibly beautiful. Why couldn’t I have found a dress like this one?”

“Because it’s one of a kind,” Cait said reverently, staring at its flowing lines. “Although, I’m now realising how similar the dress you picked out is.”

“Mmmn,” Rosie agreed. “But hey, at the end of the day, all that’s really important is Guy and I standing up in front of everyone we love and getting married, right? Not whether I have the perfect dress.”

As Cait stared at the sketch she heard the sincerity behind the sentiment but she could also feel Rosie staring down at the sketch of the dress too and probably wishing she could find one exactly like it in perfect condition.

“What are you two looking at, then?” A male voice interrupted.

Cait and Rosie looked up guiltily to find Guy and Matthew standing by their table.

“Bride business,” Cait said, hastily putting the photocopy back into her back and giving Rosie a pointed look.

“I rang them when you were at the bar getting the wine,” Rosie said and scooted over to make room for Guy.

Cait could feel the heat from Matthew’s body as he took the chair closest to hers and knew that the next thing she would feel was a blush travelling along her skin.

Guy lifted his pint glass in toast and said, “Cheers to the gang all being back together again.”

Cait met Matthew’s eyes over the rim of their raised glasses. She hadn’t spoken to him since she had asked him to leave Rosie and Guy’s apartment the week before. It was hard to realise she had missed him. To distract herself she raised her own glass again and said, “And cheers to a speedy recovery for your father, Guy.”

The four of them toasted Guy’s father and as they all lowered their glasses to the table, Cait couldn’t help but sneak a quick peek at Matthew again.

“Okay,” he said, his face turning a dull red, “I have one more toast to make. Today, I-,”

“Hey, excuse me,” said a man stopping abruptly in front of their table, “aren’t you that guy off TV?”

Matthew hesitated and then grinned, and said, “Probably.”

“Thought so,” the man said enthusiastically. “My girlfriend and I are huge fans. When’s the next series out?”

“This winter,” Matthew replied, shaking the man’s outstretched hand, “and make sure you watch it because it’s going to be the last one.”

“No way,” came the disappointed reply.

“Rule number one,” Matthew said, “Go out on a high. Besides, there really aren’t that many more places for me to explore.”

“I guess. I have to tell you that you are single-handedly responsible for getting my girlfriend to visit Cambodia with me. Furthest she had been before that was France! We had an incredible time—although she drew the line at dirt-biking through the mountains like you did. That was awesome.”

“Great. Thank you. Do me a favour and keep it quiet that I’m in here tonight? Only I’m celebrating my friends’ engagement—it’s their night, not mine,” Matthew said, keeping it friendly but making it clear he wasn’t interested in the whole pub stopping by for a visit.

“Got it. I’ll, um, say goodbye then. Nice meeting you,” and with a nod to the rest of them, he left their table.

As soon as they were all alone again, Cait asked what Rosie and Guy probably already knew. “So what’s the real reason you’re not doing another series?”

Matthew shrugged and then admitted, “Combination of insurance, health and safety, and hurting my back on the last location.”

“What?” Guy interrupted. “You never said anything about injuring yourself?”

“I’m fine. Takes more than falling halfway down a mountain to put me down.”

Cait felt the blood drain from her face. “What?”

“I was exaggerating,” Matthew assured. “Really. I busted a rib and put my back out for a couple of weeks which gave health and safety something to have endless meetings about and the next thing you know, I’m not allowed to this and I’m not allowed to do that. To be honest, it was never supposed to be a forever gig.”

“You didn’t want to go into other presenting work?” Cait asked quietly.

“Nope. I decided there was something in Bath that could hold me.” Matthew raised his pint glass again, “Today I signed the paperwork on the fifth ‘Matt’s Atlas’.”

Cait raised her glass and over the top of Rosie and Guy’s cheering said, “Matt’s Atlas? Why does that name feel familiar?”

Matthew cleared his throat, “You know that coffee shop I took you into last week?”

“Matt’s Atlas,” Cait murmured as realisation hit her. “I’d been meaning to go in there ever since it opened. That’s your place?”

“It is. It’s nice to hear you were drawn to going in, especially as I know your loyalty to the one near the Museum and Assembly Rooms.”

He winked and Cait went red. No way was she going to tell him how much she loved the world theme or that she had been in Matt’s Atlas several times since he had taken her there.

“What were you doing in my local coffee shop if you own Matt’s Atlas?” she asked.

“Recon,” he said with another wink. “It’s always good to check out the competition. Plus, I was on my way to a meeting with the bank.”

That explained the suit, then. She tried to get her head around the rest of his announcement. “Wait a minute…you said you signed off on the fifth Matt’s Atlas?”

He nodded. “Uh-huh. That one’s in Edinburgh. I have the one here, and three more already open in London.”

“Next year, the world,” Guy chimed in, adding a bemused “What?” when Rosie elbowed him in the ribs.

“That’s the plan,” Matthew agreed, keeping his attention focussed on Cait.

“You have been busy,” Cait said, knowing a little of the sarcasm had snuck through into her delivery when Matthew’s gaze narrowed a fraction.

“Filming only takes up a few months of the year. I had to find something else to do with my time.”

“I see, well,” she picked up her glass and downed the rest of her wine, “here’s to the start of your global coffee empire.”

“You seem a little upset,” Matthew said, his blue-green eyes darkening with the spark of impatience.

“Of course not,” Cait brushed the notion aside, pasting a grin on her face. Why on earth should she be upset? Just because she had learnt that he was always going to up and leave—that, at best, she would see him on an ad-hoc basis only, because far from being in Bath for good, it turned out that realistically he was merely going to use it as a base.

Cait fought against letting the disappointment solidify inside of her. She wanted to be as happy for him as Rosie and Guy were. She didn’t want to sound harsh or selfishly upset. She didn’t have the right. They were hardly more than friends with potential.

But it was because that potential had been cut off at the knees that she felt so upset, she realised, suddenly bouncing up from the table.

She added feeling foolish into the mix when Rosie, Guy and Matthew all stared up at her but she really needed to leave and hide her disappointment in private.

“I’m sorry,” she said ducking her head to avoid eye-contact. “I have to go. I have so much work to do.” Fumbling around in her bag she located her purse, took out some notes and put them on the table. “For the next couple of rounds,” she jabbered. “Rosie, I’ll call you tomorrow to find out what you decided about ‘the thing’.”

She was nearly at the door when she felt Matthew’s hand on her arm. “Hey, wait up. You really have to go? You can’t stay for one more drink?”

“I’m sorry. It’s late and the exhibition is creeping up on me fast. I need to keep on top of the workload.”

“You’re sure that’s all it is?”

“Of course,” she said trying not to let her pride fall as far as her heart had. It was good that she had found out about his work now, she thought. Before they grew closer again and she fell even harder for him.

“Why don’t we get together later in the week? Maybe go out for a meal?”

“I have too much work to do,” she repeated lamely.

Matthew blew out a short breath. “I thought we agreed neither of us were running away from this?”

“Who’s running? I explained. I have work.” Cait yanked her arm free. If he kept touching her she would give in. “The world doesn’t stop just because you come back to town for five minutes.”

She turned around and walked out of the pub, keeping her pace steady all the way back to her apartment.

There. See. She didn’t run from anything.

She walked.

Venice 1615

Light was barely breaking through the clouds as Caterina and Matheo walked silently down to the dock to catch the boat that would see her leave Venice forever.

Tears threatened as she thought of the farewell hugs from her mother and father but she refused to submit to them. There would be time for tears when they were away safely and she had found some corner of privacy.

She cast a quick glance Matheo’s way.

He looked weighed down by more than the bags he was carrying, his beautiful eyes only meeting hers when absolutely necessary.

Not that she could blame him for any regret he had. This was hardly how he had described his leaving Venice to her.

She hiked her own bags higher on her shoulder, hardly noticing the weight. Inside, she had all her worldly possessions and all the lace her mother had been working on. Alongside the lace, stitched into the fabric of her bag, were a small collection of semi-precious stones that if ground to powder and sprinkled upon the fine thread while incantations were spoken, would produce different types of magic.

Possibly.

Caterina was not married, so there was no way of telling whether the magic would work. Part of her hoped she would never even have to try. She did not think magic was for her.

She glanced once again to Matheo and unable to bear being alone with her thoughts any longer, she said, “Are you upset that we are now stuck with each other?”

He shot her a dark look and she wanted him to know that she was fully prepared to make sacrifices if necessary. “I will appreciate your protection aboard the boat, however when we reach land, I think it will be better if we part ways.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Caterina.”

“Oh, he speaks,” she shot back, but in truth his words had pushed any more of her own straight back down her throat.

When they were on the boat, and had time, she would find a way to explain how sorry she was. Never in a lifetime would she have thought that picking up that piece of magic lace and taking it with her to the palazzo would invoke such terrible consequences. The fact that instead of seeing her safely married in three weeks time, her parents would be dealing with the gossip that their daughter had run off with the groom’s best man, would be unfathomable were it not for the fact that that was exactly what she was doing at this very moment.

Would anyone still go to her mother for lace when the rumours surfaced? Caterina had made her promise she would never let Maria know that it was her who had crafted the lace. If there was to be any retribution sought, Caterina wanted it all aimed at her, not her family.

She thought about Guido having to try and carry on working amongst the gossip. Deliberately she brought her friend Rosa to the front of her mind and concentrated on wishing Rosa the desire to help Guido should he need it. Briefly she considered trying out her magic on those two, but quickly dismissed the idea. She had brought enough turmoil to people already without taking more risk.

She slid another look to Matheo. “Why did you come to the house last night?”

“After you were led away I hid out by the main palace gates. I had no invitation so I knew I could not walk around searching for you and then claim I was lost if I was stopped by a guard. The more time passed without you reappearing, I started to wonder if you had been led out through another exit. You did not really think I would not check you had arrived back safely?”