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Mrs Craig Drew

Craig and Melanie Drew

Craig and …

What a waste of an envelope! But she sat in the sun looking at her writing and she couldn’t stop s teeks ago

Now, though, the honeyent’s yesterday, she had another couple of days off but then she would be heading for the reception desk at Price and Fairbrother Tonight, they hadpresents to open The flat suddenly see wanted to keep stuff like his Wellington boots and waterproof jackets and mittens Now, it was so full of boxes they could barely open the door And then there was apaper, tissue paper and cardboard to dispose of Craig was keen on recycling and deter it; Melanie hadthere, Mel? Bonfire? You can’t have a bonfire It adds to the carbon levels in the atht"

"You should beh They never rowed They agreed to differ

She smiled now and wrote Mrs Melanie Anita Drew three tiht The flat faced west so it would be like this when they got in fro and suh they had worked like slaves for the previous sixup ancient lino and rotten floorboards, pulling down sixties wood-effect panelling, ripping out old gas fires, and redecorating It had paid off It looked fresh and bright and new and Melanie was delighted with it all Married life, she thought now Married life She and Craig had known one another for three years but never actually lived together, so everything was new, everything was fun, as well as, occasionally, slightly scary

She looked around the room Then back to the envelopes Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you Midnight-blue Le Creuset cookware, pale blue Nigella Lawson kitchenware, china with hearts and stars, soft white fluffy bathrobes and towels, desk lamps, cutlery, mirrors, clocks, and acrystal beads that she had put down on the wedding list because it looked fun but which was so expensive she had not really thought anyone would ever buy it Her godmother, as an actress and liked what she called "a bit of OTT’, had The box it cae Thehated it

But it didn’t h It was daft and she was happy Happy, happy, happy

She put aside the thank-you notes and opened her laptop The wedding pictures had gone up on the photographer’s website and she had looked through the in every detail She was still surprised at how much she had missed on the day itself, and also, of course, howand his brother and ushers arriving at the church, the brides out of the car and her sister Gaynor al to be reassee of the reception which by soed as you watched--so that every ti she hadn’t previously noticed This ti to make his best allows

She also had two disks of pictures taken by friends, and she planned to post the best of these on the wedding-day-and-honey moon website she had set up That way some of the family on her father’s side, who hadn’t been able to join the to have a Septe May or June had been her choice, but she’d been shocked at how booked up everywhere got so far ahead and Septeanise Which had turned out well because most of May and June had been cold and wet and Septeloriously sunny

She sat back and closed her eyes and let the sun wars The day had passed so quickly, in a flash really, and yet ever since it seerown so that she could relive it in slow ain She thought that Craig probably didn’t Not that he hadn’t enjoyed it, because she knew he had But his attitude was: Right, that’s that, it was great, so what’s next?

If she was honest, it not only puzzled her, she was mildly upset

"Well, he’s a man, isn’t he?" Gaynor had said "Get over it"

If she didn’t have to go back to work, she could ireat raphs, unpacking and sorting the wedding presents, writing thank-you cards and then starting to get supper ready with all the new kitchen things She enjoyed her job They were a nice firm to work for, she liked everyone there and she knew perfectly well that once the novelty of all this had faded she would have gone off her head with boredom alone in the flat all day All the same, just another couple of weeks would have been nice

Meanwhile, there was tonight She was etables and a citrus and walnut salad Bread Cheese from the new Just Cheese in the Old Market Square--Lafferton’s latestand very expensive She got up to check on the recipe to see how er the chicken had to otten to buy walnuts That was the sort of thing you could do when you had the day at hoain if you found you had forgotten so The flat was less than ten minutes by car froet walnuts and a bottle of wine Wandering round the supermarket at half past three in the afternoon was part of the fun of these last days off Part of being happy

Melanie laughed at herself as she picked up her handbag and keys Being happy because you’re going to the supermarket in the e stepsister Chlo&euht that Chloë would have looked like that as a brides and a smile like half a melon Chlo&euar-alel and see woain as she went out

The street was quiet The sun had made the inside of her car too hot and as she didn’t have anything so fancy as air conditioning, she opened the s and door and waited for it to cool down It hile she waited that she saw hi the opposite pavearette, his head turned away frootten to doublelock their front door There had been burglaries in the area, a spate of theround-floor flats Had she double-locked it?

God, was she going to turn into one of those woo back nine tias off and another three to double-check that the light wasn’t on in the bathrooine and when she looked again the one

In the supermarket she picked up a copy of the local paper to read over tea in the café And there it was She hadn’t even reraph was quite large on the page because there were only two other weddings It was the one of her looking adoringly at Craig, the one which Gaynor had pronounced "Yuck" But Mel liked it Her dress looked its best, the silver beading shining and the silver quills in her hair looking as original as she had hoped She had never seen anyone else wearing them Pity about the lilies which the florist had foisted on her They looked huge and stiff, the stalks too long, and she hadn’t kno to hold them, up or down or what They weren’t like flowers, they were like soraph they juh, it was nice It was very, very nice

Melanie Calthorpe and Craig Drew

The istrar Carol Latter, between Melanie, elder daughter of Neil Calthorpe of Lafferton, and Mrs Bev Sest son of Alan and Jennifer Drew of Foxbury The bride wore a strapless dress in white jersey crêpe with a bodice encrusted with crystals and silver beading and silver quills in her hair, and carried a bouquet of calla lilies She was attended by Gaynor Calthorpe, bride’s sister, Chloë Calthorpe, bride’s stepsister, and Andrea Stannard, bride’s friend, ore burgundy off-the-shoulder dresses and carried posies of ivory roses with silver-ribbon accents Lily Mars, bride’s god-daughter, was the flower girl in a silver satin and tulle dress and carrying a basket of burgundy rosebuds Mr Adrian Drew, bridegroom’s brother, was best room’s old school friends, were ushers and the reception was held at the Maltdown Hotel The couple honeymooned in Gran Canaria and have rooent with Biddle Francis and the bride as a receptionist for Price and Fairbrother, Solicitors

She read it twice, read it again, and on the way out bought six e to Craig and then drove ho as she had felt when her father had pushed her on the park swings so high she had thought that if she let go of the chains on either side she would sile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>