Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time - Chp 5

When Edith ran past her to look through the same bag she just dropped, Margaret let out a sigh and stepped away. There was still a week and a half until the wedding but all the last minute running around was making her tired and dizzy. She had enough on her plate without adding the need to pacify Edith to the list.

"Margaret! Our last fitting is at two today?" Edith asked her.

"Tuesday next," she corrected. "Today we visit the florists."

"Right, I wanted to see the other Lilies they had in stock."

"You mean Orchids."

"Did I want Orchids?"

"For your mother's corsage."

"Right, she wanted Lilies to match her hair... dress."

Biting her tongue, Margaret stopped herself from correcting Edith again. She wanted to check her phone for messages, but not with her cousin watching her so closely. During the recent weeks, she had become everything to Edith; a personal assistant, a chauffeur, a food taster, a mannequin, and more. All her spare time and part of her working hours were spent trailing after the bride-to-be. Tara, her roommate and business partner was all alone at their bakery, keeping things running while she was there, keeping the bride from falling apart.

The bakery was a joint venture between the two, but truthfully, her best friend really did most of the work. It had been a small idea born out of a wishful dream during their second year at university. After graduation, the idea had grown older along with them, and after a day's hesitation, it became a reality when they opened up the store. Situated in a trendy part of the Docklands, the business had grown and prospered in a remarkably short amount of time.

As head baker, Tara's recipes and baking techniques drew interest and praise. Four other junior bakers labored with her daily, with two decorators and three sales associates to run the store. Margaret was the only one with a flourless job there, the others had teased. Left to do all the accounting, she primarily worked in the back office, occasionally bringing the work home when things grew too busy and noisy for her to concentrate properly.

Making Edith's wedding cake had removed that worry from the bride but added it to Margaret's slim shoulders. The constant promise that it would be perfect was extracted from her every day. Tara's choice of cake flavor and design were a guarded secret. Edith could prod all she liked, but nothing was said by either woman to spoil the surprise.

Going to the florist to make the final selections should be quick and painless, Margaret hoped. She knew Edith was still looked for her departure dress and searching for that could take up the rest of the day. Nothing looked right to the bride. Everything found was other too long, too short, not summery enough, too summery, the wrong color, the wrong style, or the wrong material? It made Margaret's head hurt to think about it.

She had other important matters to think of apart from the wedding.

Once again, Margaret silently whispered her annoyance in her brother's absence. It was wrong to blame Fred for not being around to help, but faced with the daunting task of seeing to the sale of their parent's home by herself made her angry more often than not. It should have been sold already, she inwardly grumbled. The old family home at Wandsworth, south of the Thames was well kept and in a wonderful location.

The realtor always sounded promising, but it was coming up to a month since being put up for sale and still there were no buyers. Word that the housing market was troubled only added to their disappointment.

"Margaret, did the name cards come in? They should have. The printers said early this week!"

"Something arrived this morning."