Mother of the Bride Read Online Free

she’d be gone, too. Soon there would be just Paddyand herself and Barney the dog left rattling around the house. Helen suddenly felt old, as if a big chapter of her life was beginning to close while another one opened.
    She glanced at the clock. It was only 6.55 a.m. She made another cup of tea and some toast for herself. She was dying to phone Fran Brennan with the news. She’d give her best friend another hour. When Paddy was up and dressed they’d phone Dan’s parents. She had met Eddie and Carmel Quinn only once, briefly, when they had bumped into each other at a charity fund-raising concert with Amy, but they had seemed nice. Hopefully they were equally pleased about the engagement, and the fact that they were all going to be in-laws. She was dying to tell everyone the good news. Her eighty-four-year-old mother Sheila would be thrilled with the romance of the proposal in Italy and news of her first grandchild’s wedding. It would give Sheila something to look forward to: at her age, births, marriages and deaths became huge milestones.
    From her friends, Helen knew that a daughter’s wedding was fun but also a lot of work. It was going to be such a happy time, and she couldn’t wait till Amy got home to sit down and talk about their wonderful wedding plans! It was so exciting!
    Helen put Barney on the lead as she crossed over to Fran’s house. Fran, in her navy tracksuit, congratulated Helen with a big hug as the two of them set off for their regular morning walk through Linden Crescent and down through the big public park close by.
    â€˜Go on, tell me all about it. I love news of engagements and weddings!’ Fran encouraged. Katie, her eldest daughter, had got married only three years ago. She had enjoyed every minute of organizing the wedding – and now was the proud granny of two-year-old Saoirse.
    â€˜Well, it was very romantic,’ Helen began, retelling the whole story about the proposal overlooking the canal in Venice.
    â€˜Lucky Amy,’ said Fran enviously. ‘When Tom and I got engagedit wasn’t very romantic! I was twelve weeks pregnant with Greg. Poor Tom nearly had a fit. We were terrified telling our families. I think Gladys Brennan thought that I was a brazen hussy and had trapped her son and forced him into marrying me. Funny, because when Greg was born she was mad about him. He was her favourite out of all her sixteen grandchildren.’
    â€˜I remember when Paddy asked me to marry him it was coming up to Christmas and my family was upstairs in bed. You could hear my dad snoring!’
    â€˜Talk about romance.’ Fran laughed.
    â€˜We were sitting at the fire with the Christmas tree lights on and Paddy took me totally by surprise when he proposed. We bought the ring the next day in town, and came home and told my parents. It’s so different to now. Couples fly off somewhere exotic, like New York or Paris or Venice, to pop the question!’
    â€˜Engagements are great! But they’re nothing compared to the wedding, as that’s what it’s all about!’ insisted Fran. ‘You know me, I love weddings.’
    â€˜You are such an old romantic,’ Helen teased. Fran couldn’t see a wedding car pass or watch a bride going into a church without getting emotional.
    â€˜But when it’s your own daughter’s wedding it’s so much fun, Helen, I promise. I know there’s a lot of work and stress organizing things, but it’s great. I loved it! It’s just such a special time. I really enjoyed helping Katie organize her wedding, and I’m sure that Amy’s wedding is going to be wonderful. You’re going to have such fun!’
    â€˜I hope so.’
    â€˜Have you met Dan’s parents yet?’ quizzed Fran.
    â€˜Only very briefly, but I think we should have a family get-together dinner when Amy and Dan get home. The dad, Eddie, seems grand, but Carmel . . . I’m not that sure