‘And the man from the boat, was it Colin or Callum or something? Christian? I can’t remember. He’s picking you up in the car and taking you to the registry office, correct?'
Nina sighed; she had told her mum the arrangements at least four times. 'Yeah, that’s the plan. It won’t be long, but I factored in plenty of time for any problems, just in case. So all being well, I’ll see you there.'
'Yes, darling, okay, see you there. Love you.'
47
Afew minutes or so later, Nina let herself into the back of the property by the harbour, walked over to the office area, and then made her way up towards the top floor. Checking the time, she went into the bathroom and analysed her make-up and hair. Bianca had outdone herself and both looked amazing. She had nothing to do apart from getting dressed.
She checked her watch to see how long it was before Colin arrived and went back into the bedroom, unzipped the heavy-duty cover over her dress, took the bodice off the hanger, pulled it up over her body, and struggled a little bit to get the zip done up. She then pulled on the skirt and attached the little poppers to the bodice. Looking in the mirror, she smiled at her reflection. A tiny little hint of happy sadness, if there was such a thing, about Andrew, flitted through her brain.
It didn’t last long and Nina hugged herself and found herself humming as she popped on the beautiful wedding shoes she’d treated herself to from a handmade shoe boutique in Chelsea. She’d walked past the boutique many times on her way to work and never in a million years had she ever thought she’d be making an appointment to buy a pair of shoes, but here shewas, popping her feet into a pair. Not only that; she was happy, settled, and ready for life with Robby. Things were good.
With plenty of time to spare, she slotted her phone, lipstick, and various bits and bobs into her bag and stood at the top of the steep stairs for a second, wondering whether or not it had been a good idea to get ready on the third floor. Deciding that there was no way she was going to traverse the stairs in the shoes, she slipped the heels off, put her bag on her arm, held onto the bannister with her left hand, gathered the dress up with her right, and balanced the shoes in the crook of her arm. By the time she got to the second floor, she realised she definitely should have got dressed downstairs. Doing the same thing on the stairs going down to the ground floor, she finally made it safely to the bottom, slipped on the shoes, and stood for a minute on the ground floor looking out towards the harbour, wondering if Colin had arrived yet.
A few minutes later, she was outside the back door, scooping her dress up with both arms and wondering whether or not, at this point, it would have been a good idea to have Sophie or Nancy with her. She looked at the back gate with the dress ruffled up in both arms, pondering how she was going to get it undone without letting the dress fall to the ground. Paying attention to the gate and keeping the dress off the ground, she didn’t take any notice of the two little steps down from the patio. Just as she placed her foot onto the second step, its mossy top forced the sole of her new shoes to slip.
Before she knew it, in a split second, her feet came right out from underneath her. In a flash, she was trying to break her fall, putting her arms out as if in slow motion as she waited to hit the ground. It was her chin that took most of the impact first, cracking into the side of a patio brick. It was swiftly followed by her palms grazing the grass and patio edge. For a second, she just lay completely still on the ground, pain in her left elbow, andas she turned her palms over, she could see that little bits of grit were lodged into the heels of both hands.
Nina’s heart pounded, and for a second, she wasn’t quite sure what had just happened or what she was going to do. She tapped her chin nervously and, as she did so, felt warm liquid on her chin. Standing up, she stared down at the dress. Considering she’d had a mighty fall, there wasn’t too much dirt on it. Cupping her chin, she didn’t really know what to do next. Just as she was standing there in a daze, not sure what to think about her throbbing elbow or her chin, she heard a car pull up outside and then someone called out, 'Hello, anyone there?'
Nina called out, her voice sounding panicked. 'I’m in here. I have a problem!'
'What problem?' Colin asked.
'Let yourself in over the gate. I’ve fallen over!'
'What? Oh my God!’ Colin yelled as he let himself in, and two seconds later, he was standing in front of Nina. ‘Are you okay? What the heck have you done with yourself?'
'I think so,' Nina said, still cupping her chin.
Colin swore. ‘There’s blood all over your chin. What are we going to do?'
Nina shook her head, still in a bit of a daze.
'Do you think you need to go somewhere and get looked at? Hospital?'
'No, no, I’m fine. It’s too late anyway,' Nina said. She looked down at her dress. 'I just need to get you to brush the dress off.'
Colin shook his head and interrupted her, 'You can’t go like that. You’ve got blood running down your chin. Right, where will I find flannels and stuff like that? Or towels?'
'Top floor in the airing cupboard, or there’s a bunch of towels in the kitchen area. I think I have antiseptic wipes in the bathroom.’
A few minutes later, Colin was back with a small bowl full of warm water, a pile of flannels, and a couple of cloths. Nina took her hand away from her chin and gasped at the blood on her palm. Colin started to dab her chin with one of the warm, wet flannels.
Nina winced as Colin dabbed. 'Oh gosh, that’s really sore.'
Colin put his glasses on and squinted at Nina's chin. 'Yeah, it’s not looking good. I think you’re going need to get a stitch.'
'I can’t get a stitch! I’m about to get married!'
Colin held another cloth to Nina’s face. 'I think it’s stopped bleeding now. It looked worse than it was with the gravel in there. It’s a graze and a bit of a cut. Thing is, I think it might keep opening. I’m no doctor, obviously, but my kids have done this enough times.'
'What am I going do?'
Colin squinted again and got even closer. 'I think there’s a bruise coming already, too.'
With her dress bunched up around her, about ten minutes later, Nina was sitting on a garden chair with a clean flannel cupped on her chin and a glass of water Colin had fetched beside her. 'How are you feeling now?' Colin asked.
