David nodded, patting the piece of paper from his shirt pocket before retrieving it. He cleared his throat, but the sound barely reached Lily and she was only on the other side of Victoria, Ollie and his parents. Even that distance didn’t diminish the look of slight panic Victoria cast her from where she sat.

Stella took the reins and tapped her wine glass with her knife, but even then it took a few moments for the guests to quieten down.

Victoria’s dad pushed his chair back, scraping it against the stone flooring, which made his wife wince a little. Lily began to worry in earnest as the older man had to wipe his eyes before he could even open the page. A gentle, supportive laugh broke out amongst the guests, appreciating how overwhelmed he clearly felt at his only daughter’s wedding.

‘I …’ David cleared his throat again, and adjusted his glasses, peering at the piece of paper now held as far away from him as he could get it.

‘Did you bring the wrong glasses, dear?’ Victoria’s mother prompted, causing her daughter to roll her eyes.

‘No. No. It’s fine. Ehm. I … We today …’ Sniff.

Lily cast a look at Malie and Zoe, who were staring at her as if to say, Do something!

Will piped up from the other end of the table. ‘I could—’

‘No!’ both Ollie and Victoria cried at the same time.

‘Do you …’ Ollie began to offer David some kind of assistance, but in response he just waved the paper, looking incredibly uncomfortable and on the verge of irritable. Lily saw Victoria’s hands clench a little, then she rose from her seat, quietly stepped behind the table and over to where David was standing.

‘Mr Scott,’ she whispered. ‘Would you like me—’

‘Yes,’ he hissed with such vehemence she nearly laughed. ‘God, yes.’

Smiling, she took the paper he thrust at her with the speech he had prepared, but as she returned to her place at the table realized that she couldn’t read a word of the slanted scrawl. She looked out at the expectant faces of the eighty or so guests in front of her. Victoria’s face almost defined the word ‘imploring’, Ollie’s was more of a plea; she tried to ignore the miffed expression on the face of the best man and couldn’t be sure but was half convinced the golden lab was quietly growling.

Ignoring it all, she blanked her mind, calling instead for the calm and overwhelming love she had felt only moments before. She took a deep breath …

CHAPTER FOURTEEN