A Christmas Wedding(35)

Early the next morning, I kiss Alex goodbye and leave him to a day of Christmas shopping and sightseeing, while I jump into a cab and head to a sleepy village a twenty-minute drive away.

Rachel told me that Joe and Alice wanted to prepare for the big day together at home with their two small children, and we need to be there to capture the proceedings.

I’m nervous. Hebe was great grounding, but you never get quite used to working with famous people. Joseph Strike is a major celebrity, and even Alice is almost as recognisable as her fiancé these days. I hope I don’t balls this up.

To avoid any likelihood of the cab driver alerting the press, I get out of the car a good few hundred yards early and walk up the muddy country lane to the imposing gates at the end. I press the buzzer and they glide open after a moment, delivering a view of the stunning sixteenth-century Tudor mansion within.

I’m in awe as I crunch across the icy gravel driveway with my kitbag slung over my shoulder, looking around for Rachel’s car. I’m alarmed to find that it’s not there – she was supposed to arrive before me.

The heavy wooden front door swings open well before I reach it and a woman in a white fluffy robe and bare feet beams out at me.

Oh, my God, it’s Alice. The Alice!

‘Hello!’ she calls. ‘You must be Bronte!’

‘Hi!’ I call back.

‘Rachel’s running a bit late. There was an accident on the A1.’ She holds out her hand for me to shake as I reach her. ‘She tried to call you, but couldn’t get reception. It’s a bit patchy round here.’

Despite her bare-faced appearance, Alice is stunning. Her complexion is flawless, the sort that would make Maria weep – what a shame she’s not doing the make-up today – and her hair is jet-black and dead straight, falling to just below her shoulders.

‘Do you need to see my credentials?’ I ask, a bit taken aback that she’s opening her own front door. Don’t they have staff falling over themselves to do that sort of thing?

‘Nah.’ Alice waves me away and her green eyes seem to sparkle. ‘Anyway, Rachel showed me a pic. I know it’s you. You want a cuppa?’

‘I’d love one.’

‘Joe, this is Bronte,’ I hear her say as I follow her into a large, warm country kitchen, complete with natural stone flooring and an Aga.

‘Hey.’ Joseph Strike jumps up from the table where he’s spoon-feeding a baby. ‘Joe,’ he says, giving my hand a firm shake and smiling warmly.

Joe, not Joseph, I note.

He’s a lot taller than I thought he’d be, with short, dark hair and dark-brown eyes. He’s wearing casual grey cargo pants and a faded black T-shirt, but his biceps protrude from under his sleeves and I don’t need to have seen his films to know how defined his abs are under that top.

I try to still my beating heart.

Don’t be stupid, Bronte, they’re just people.

‘And who are you?’ I ask in a sweet voice, bending to put my kitbag on the floor.

‘This is Becca,’ Joe says fondly, taking his seat again. ‘Okay, okay, it’s coming,’ he chides his daughter gently, spooning another mouthful of soggy Weetabix into her waiting mouth.

I know her name, of course. And I know that she’s seven months old. But at that moment, I wish I didn’t. I wish this were just an ordinary wedding between two ordinary people. I don’t want to ask questions that I already know the answers to, and I genuinely wish that I didn’t already know the answers.

‘You want another coffee, Joe?’ Alice interrupts, filling up the kettle and putting it on the Aga.

Don’t they have a cook to do this sort of thing?

At that moment, a small boy wanders sleepily into the room, dressed in Spider-Man PJs. Alice scoops him up.

‘Good morning, precious,’ she says softly, kissing him on his nose. The child rubs at his eyes and yawns.

Unsure if it’s the right thing to do, but willing to take the risk, I quickly unzip my kitbag, getting out my camera and the lens I use to take portraits.

‘Is this okay?’ I ask Joe in a whisper.

‘Go for it,’ he replies.

I snap off a couple of candid shots so I don’t miss the moment, then put my camera down and smile at Jack, Joe and Alice’s son.

‘All right, little man?’ Joe asks him. ‘You slept well.’

Jack yawns again and buries his face against Alice’s neck.

‘Better than me,’ Joe adds with a wry smile at his fiancée.

Alice smiles and taps her son on his back. ‘This is Bronte,’ she says. Jack lifts his head to look at me with his soulful dark eyes. ‘She’s taking some pictures of Mummy and Daddy’s wedding day.’

‘Hi,’ he says in a cute, groggy voice. What a sweetheart.

Rachel arrives soon afterwards and the atmosphere remains laidback and lovely. Misha has gone straight to the country house where Alice’s parents and the couple’s close friends are getting ready. I really liked Misha when I met her earlier this week – we’ve never worked together before – but she has an easy-going, likeable nature, and apparently she and Alice have already bonded over morning-sickness woes.

It soon becomes clear that the Strikes don’t have any staff, at least not in their home. There’s a bodyguard next door who keeps an eye on security and who can be here at a moment’s notice if necessary, but on the whole the family appear to strive to have as normal a life as possible.