Sophie’s acting partner Dr. Broody, standing politely to shake hands, was tall enough, Emma was gratified to note. Not quite as tall as Matthew, which was of course more gratifying still, but certainly tall enough.

“Josephine here is planning her wedding,” said Nigel when they were seated. “Tying the knot in February, and half the young men in London will fall on their swords of a broken heart when she does.”

“What fun!” said Alice. “You’ll have a wonderful time, I adored my wedding day. Are you doing it in London or the country?”

“London.”

“Good choice, darling!” She clapped her hands approvingly. “Just like me.”

Alice had been married in the Jesuit church in Mayfair, with the reception afterwards at the Connaught Hotel; half of Hollywood had attended, and the photographs had circled the globe.

“We’re a London family,” said Emma. “We don’t really do the country very much.”

“Nor me, darling.” Alice shuddered delicately. “All those trees and fields, I nearly went mad when I was shooting The Trumpet-Major. You can give yourself a perfectly nice time on good firm pavements with a taxi rank nearby, and if you really must look at some grass, there’s always Gibson Square, isn’t there? Now let’s see.” She tapped her chin with a shapely finger. “What can I tell you about your wedding day? Oh, I know! Have you booked your honeymoon yet?”

“We’re doing it this week, actually.” They had debated, luxuriously, for several weeks between Barcelona and Athens, and finally settled as a compromise on Marrakech.

“Good, then I’m in time.” She leaned forward towards Emma and lowered her voice. “Now I want you to listen to me very carefully because this is very important. You may go where you like for the honeymoon; you may do what you like. You may do anything or you may do nothing. You may go white-water rafting in the Fiji Islands or you may go shrimp fishing in Southend-on-Sea.”

Shrimp fishing, thought Emma, entranced. She actually said shrimp fishing.

“But whatever you do,” continued Alice, “don’t—do not—travel on the day after the wedding.”

“Um …” Seeing a response was expected, Emma blinked obediently. “No?”

“Absolutely not.” Alice shook her head and wagged the finger reprovingly. “No, no, no, no, no. Think about it, darling. You’ll have all your very favorite people in the whole world all in the one place together and probably only for the one time in your entire life, well, except for your funeral, which isn’t really your life anymore anyway, is it?” She took Emma’s arm and looked earnestly into her eyes. “You must promise me—you must swear to me—that you won’t go leaping onto a plane the next day and leave them all alone without you. It’d make you all so terribly sad I just couldn’t bear to think about it.”

“All right, then,” said Emma. She must pay close attention, she thought, in order to repeat each word to Matthew when she got home. “I won’t.”