Agony Aunt

Chapter Twenty-Six

The first of December at one pm was the exact moment that I got to watch my giddily excited and annoyingly happy older brother tie the knot with his absolutely beautiful, radiant bride. 

The sky was grey with snow but the sun wasn't needed to make this day bright. The happy smiles, the warm words of their personalised vows and the passion of their first kiss fueled up the embers inside and showered their loved ones with smouldering remnants of ash, like little droplets of confetti love. 

The ceremony took place underneath an archway in the rose garden, the wood was entangled with white roses, draped with icy blue ribbon and small lanterns that were filled with pale blue tea lights hung above their heads. Matching tall candelabras pathed the way along the processional where everyone stood around and watched the service that was short enough to avoid the harshness of the winter weather. 

The path around the garden was also lined with more lanterns that were filled with pale blue candles and when the bride and groom took their first few steps into marriage, the flames flickered with blessings. A shower of confetti littered the slabs and when the small paper snowflakes flurried to the ground, real flakes of snow dropped to our heads. 

The white marquee with enclosed sides that had been erected in the garden encompassed a wooden floor, canopies of icy blue material strung across the ceiling and lanterns hanging in between which offered the illumination of a warm romantic glow. The whole room had been decked out with a white and blue, frosty-themed winter wonderland. From the standing candelabras to the table decor and even the flower garlands that were suspended above the tables were simplistically elegant. 

The head table was situated farthest from the door, that was where our parents, Rowan, Aidan, Avery and Dan sat whilst the rest of the family crowded around the two small tables that veered off the main one like a U-shape. Work colleagues, schoolmates, neighbours and family friends were sitting at the cosy tables that overlooked the blushing bride and the even more radiantly happy groom. 

We had been seated for a couple of hours, the food had already been devoured and the champagne was loosening everyone's inhibitions. There was something about weddings that brought out the heart-stirring side of a person. They could be having a bad day or in the middle of a bad patch in a relationship but the moment they saw a couple so deeply in love, to witness that soul-connecting commitment, made them want to see the good side in life too. 

If a person was single, they were going to seek out that love for themselves. If they were in a relationship, they were going to want to appreciate their partner a little bit more and if they were on uncertain ground with their best friend, like I was. Then they were going to want to reciprocate that olive branch of a smile their friend had given them, just like Lilly had offered to me. 

I learnt all this from watching how people were behaving at the wedding. Nothing beats a get-together to delve deep into the psyche of a person, to see how their emotions can sway their reactions and thus the consequences of said actions. 

I had been watching one of Aidan's childhood friends, whose eyes kept lingering on a brown-haired woman at the next table. He would gaze at her when he thought she wasn't looking but I had observed that out of the corner of her eye, she had picked up on his stolen glances and when he would look away, she would then take her own opportunity to check him out. 

Then there was a couple who had arrived together in the midst of a quarrel, I could tell that by the way she had shaken the man's hand from her lower back in disapproval. Now, merely three hours later they were sat happily laughing and joking in between the sips of champagne they shared together. 

Of course, then there was Lilly and me. 

I lied to her. That day at the hotel, after Lilly had found the pregnancy test. I told her it must have been left there accidentally by the previous occupants. However, the only reason that stopped my conscience from kicking in was the fact that Lilly saw straight through my lies. She knew that test wasn't mine and that eventually led to me betraying Kayra by spluttering away her secrets.