The Passengers(100)
PART FOUR – TWO YEARS LATER
Chapter 68
Libby made her way slowly down the staircase, careful not to trip over the hem of her dress.
She studied her reflection in the full-length porch mirror one last time. With the aid of an arrangement of pins and a can of extra-strength spray, her hair had remained in place since leaving the stylist earlier that morning. And after performing make-up duties and helping Libby into the dress, Nia left the house and would greet her later at the location.
‘Are you coming?’ Libby shouted, directing her voice back up the stairs.
‘I’ll be there in a minute,’ a faint male voice replied. ‘Just trying to find my other cufflink.’
‘It’s me who’s supposed to be late on our wedding day, not you.’
‘You said you didn’t go in for all that traditional stuff, otherwise we wouldn’t have been together this morning?’
‘It’s a bride’s prerogative to change her mind.’
‘Found it.’ As Matthew Nelson appeared at the top of the stairs, Libby returned to the lounge where the couple took in one another’s appearance for the first time since they’d dressed in their wedding outfits. Smiles spread across both of their faces.
‘You scrub up well, Miss Dixon,’ Matthew beamed. Once he reached the lounge, he took her hand in his.
‘You don’t look so bad yourself, Doctor Nelson.’
‘Have you got everything?’
He patted the pocket of his baby-blue suit jacket. ‘I have the rings, the licence and the proof of ID.’ Matthew placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her lips.
‘Don’t smudge my lipstick,’ Libby teased. ‘We’ll have the rest of our lives for that once you’ve made an honest woman of me.’
‘Can you believe we are actually doing this?’
Libby shook her head. ‘Not considering the circumstances in which we met.’
‘I fancied you from the moment you walked into the inquest room.’
‘I know that now. But at the time, you disguised it very, very well.’
‘Well, I could hardly ask you out for coffee while on jury duty, could I? I was going to wait until the end of the week before approaching you.’
‘I would’ve said no,’ she teased. ‘I thought you were a pompous prick.’
‘Of which you remind me frequently. And now?’
‘And now I think you’re a loveable pompous prick.’
Matthew’s Smartwatch buzzed and he glanced at the moving images on the face. ‘The car is outside. So, shall we go and do this? They were definitely just twinges you felt and not contractions?’
‘Definitely,’ she replied and rubbed her swollen stomach.
Matthew leaned forward to kiss her belly and speak to their unborn baby. ‘As much as we’re looking forward to meeting you, you need to stay in there a few more weeks. We don’t want to see you until then and especially not today.’
‘Yes, Dad,’ Libby replied on their child’s behalf.
When Libby had purchased her strapless ivory column dress following her acceptance of Matthew’s proposal, she wasn’t aware she was pregnant. Now, with five weeks left until the due date, she had frequently returned to the bridal gown shop for it to be let out.
Matthew entwined his arm with his wife-to-be’s. ‘Ready?’ he asked and Libby nodded.
‘Let’s go then.’
Once outside the home they had bought together earlier that year, they saw the awaiting vintage black polished Mercedes Benz on the driveway. Libby appreciated it was the model she had hired, an old-fashioned Level One car and that the hire car company had attached ivory ribbons from the wing mirrors stretching to the grille. A chauffeur in a smart grey suit appeared and opened the rear door for her. She climbed inside, careful not to crease her dress. Then once Matthew joined her, she settled into her seat as the car began its journey from their home in Hove towards Brighton’s register office.
Many of Libby’s friends admitted to being bags of nerves before they married, but she hadn’t shared their fears. She knew instinctively that they belonged together, even following Alex Harris’s claims they were DNA Matched. When Commander Riley had debriefed her after Alex’s death, he’d revealed that during a digital forensic search of his phone, an email confirmed Alex had received the test results and he’d asked if she wanted to know the outcome.
Libby had shaken her head. As much as she believed in the truth, this time it would serve no positive purpose in her life. Now, on her wedding day, she was never more convinced she had made the correct decision. Sometimes ignorance could be bliss. Test or no test, Matthew was Mister Right.
Recognising that had come out of the blue. When the story of her confrontation with Alex reached the news wires, the death of the man behind the hacking collective had made international headlines. Days later, Matthew was the only member of the jury to have checked up on her welfare.
Email exchanges became text messages, text messages became video calls, and it wasn’t long before she realised he was nothing like the man she had served with on that infamous jury. Then later, when he was attending a medical conference in Birmingham, she accepted his invitation to dinner, and Libby realised there was more to it than a friendship. It was only as they sat opposite one another sharing tapas that she recalled how on the day of the hijacking, Matthew had shown her more attention than she realised at the time. He had stood up to Jack Larsson on her behalf and comforted her when Bilquis’s car was detonated.