Ashleigh and Pippa made their way back downstairs to the main hall in complete silence. Ever since Pippa refused to explain what she had meant and what she was going to say, Ashleigh felt as though there had been a somewhat awkward feeling between the two girls.

“Right, this is where I leave you. You go ahead and join Mum and the rest of the ladies in the sitting room and I shall join you all in a short while, okay,” stated Pippa as the pair stood at the bottom of the staircase.

“Sure,” replied Ashleigh with a smile.

“Very good, I’ll see you shortly,” said Pippa before she turned and made her way to the door that led to the downstairs bedrooms.

“I wonder why Pippa has one of the bigger downstairs bedrooms and poor old Wes has to settle for one of the upstairs, smaller rooms,” thought Ashleigh as she then quickly turned her attention to the door of the sitting room. “Well…here goes,” she thought, taking a deep breath and clutching her handbag as she began to make her way toward the sitting room door.

She opened the door ever so slowly and peered inside, not a lot had changed from when she was there previously. Even though they were all in the same room, the group of ladies seemed separated into smaller clusters, depending on their relationship with Pippa. On one side of the room was Tiffany, who Ashleigh had recognised from her and Pippa’s shopping trip and so Ashleigh presumed that the woman she was talking to must be Pippa’s other friend Rose along with Pippa’s cousin Eloise. Sitting by the fire was Vivian who still appeared to be deep in conversation with Elle, with Bridget sitting in the single chair by the ashtray. 

As she entered the room, Ashleigh closed the door behind her which instantly drew the attention of Vivian.

“Oh Ashleigh my dear,” asserted Vivian, getting to her feet and walking to intercept Ashleigh on her approach. “Come, come my darling, let me introduce you to everyone,” she added linking Ashleigh’s arm whilst grasping a rather large glass of red wine in the other hand.

The pair walked back to where Vivian had been sitting,

“Obviously you have already met Bridget, so let me introduce you to my daughter-in-law, Elle,” stated Vivian, “Elle, this is Wesley’s girlfriend, Ashleigh.”

“How very lovely to meet you, welcome to the family,” said Elle, getting up from her seat to greet Ashleigh.

“Nice to meet you too,” answered Ashleigh, before she was swiftly whisked away by Vivian to the other side of the room, where the other ladies were standing and chatting.

“Excuse me, ladies, I hate to interrupt, but I have someone that I would love you all to meet,” stated Vivian.

The group of women promptly stopped their conversation and looked toward Vivian and Ashleigh.

“Ladies this is Ashleigh, she is currently dating my Wesley,” announced Vivian.

“That sentence alone has two things I never imagined I’d hear…Wesley has a girlfriend…and worse still…people are referring to me as his girlfriend,”  Ashleigh thought to herself, “I honestly don’t know whether to laugh or cringe at that statement.”

“Hi,” muttered Ashleigh with a smile.

“Ashleigh this is my niece Eloise and Pippa’s two best friends Tiffany and Rose,” said Vivian.

“Is she trying to make a point with the whole…Pippa’s two best friends thing? Does she see through the story of me and Pip being friends for a long time?” thought Ashleigh.

“Nice to meet you all,” said Ashleigh rather nervously.

“Nice to see you again Ashleigh,” stated Tiffany.

“Nice to see you again too,” replied Ashleigh with a smile.

“Oh…you two have already met?” asked Vivian.

“Yes we have, Pippa brought Ashleigh into the store today, your makeup is holding up nicely,” answered Tiffany with a huge smile on her face.

“Oh…how lovely,” stated Vivian, “Oh dear Ashleigh…I’ve just realised you don’t have anything to drink…we will have to fix that,” she added before signalling to a well-dressed, middle-aged gentleman who stood quietly in the corner of the room, so quiet in fact Ashleigh never even noticed his presence. “Gerard, my dear.”

The gentleman rather quickly raced over to where the ladies were standing. No sooner had he got to them, than Vivian spoke up.

“A drink for the lovely Ashleigh…” stated Vivian.

“Yes Mrs Ashton-Burns,” stated Gerard before turning to look at Ashleigh, “Will that be red or white wine Miss Ashleigh?”

“White please,” stated Ashleigh.

Gerard then quickly raced off back to where he was standing where there was a table containing several large wine bottles as well as a few large, upturned glasses.

“So, Ashleigh do you think it’ll be long before we’re gathered for another wedding?” asked Eloise. A question that almost made both Tiffany and Rose spit out their drinks in shock.

“Eh…excuse me?” answered Ashleigh with a rather puzzled look on her face.

“ELOISE! What type of question is that to ask someone you just met,” snapped Vivian.

“Well, sorry Aunt Vivian…I just meant how long does she think it’ll take before Wesley pops the question… I just know that Jude wasn’t dating Elle for very long before they got married” Eloise responded.

“Holy shit! What is it about this family and trying to get me and Wes to marry?” thought Ashleigh.

“Ashleigh I do apologise for my niece…she can be a little too…” started Vivian,

“Blunt,” Tiffany interrupted with a giggle whilst receiving a glare from Eloise.

“Direct and full on,” said Vivian, which also warranted a glare from Eloise, just as Gerard returned with Ashleigh’s drink.

“One glass of white wine Miss Ashleigh,” stated Gerard, handing the glass to Ashleigh.

“Thank you,” replied Ashleigh as Gerard turned to Vivian.

“Just what I need right now…alcohol,” thought Ashleigh as she instantly took a large gulp of white wine.

“Will that be all Mrs Ashton-Burns?” asked Gerard.

 “Yes, thank you, Gerard, we shall call if we need anything else,” replied Vivian.

With that said Gerard turned and headed back to where he had been standing.

“Anyway, as I was saying darling, Eloise means well and she’s absolutely lovely… once you get to know her that is,” said Vivian with a giggle. “And on that note, I had better go save Elle from Bridget…god only knows what she is subjecting that dear girl to,” she added before turning and heading back towards the fireplace.

“So Ashleigh, how long have you and Wes been dating?” asked Eloise, once again rather upfront and straight to the point.

“Erm…not long at all really…a few months,” replied Ashleigh, trying her best to hide her nerves.

“Never in reality…but I guess a few months sounds way better to everyone than the truth,” thought Ashleigh, taking a huge gulp of her wine to try and steady herself.

“Oh…okay…and this is the first time you’re meeting his family huh?” stated Eloise.

“Yeah…I mean…you know Wes…I think he wanted to keep it private…you know…in case things didn’t work out,” replied Ashleigh with a nervous giggle.

“In fact, he even kept it from me until yesterday…the bastard…” she thought.

“So… how did the two of you meet?” asked Eloise.

“Oh my god, Eloise, will you give the girl a break,” said Tiffany, “She’s here meeting everyone for the first time, not for an interrogation,” she added.

“You’re right, I’m sorry Ashleigh…Welcome and I look forward to getting to know you better,” said Eloise with a smile.

“It’s quite alright and thank you,” replied Ashleigh.

At that moment, the door to the sitting room opened and in walked Pippa, wearing a beautiful white dress, her hair perfectly pinned up on her head.

Almost everyone rushed toward Pippa to greet her, with the exception of Bridget, who remained in her seat by the fire and Ashleigh who opted to watch from afar. Ashleigh watched as Gerard quickly poured a glass of wine and rushed over to her.

“Thank god for that,” thought Ashleigh as she slowly made her way toward the fireplace to take a seat.

As she sat down, she took her cigarettes from her bag and looked up to see Bridget, who was no longer looking toward Pippa, but instead now looking at Ashleigh.

“Not rushing over to see the bride-to-be huh?” asked Bridget in her rather low, croaky voice.

Ashleigh lit up a cigarette and placed the pack back into her handbag,

“I don’t see the point…why flock and make a fuss now when we will all get to spend time with her eventually this evening,” replied Ashleigh, “Besides…I think I’d hate everyone crowding me like that,” she added before taking a drag of her cigarette.

“You make a fair point, young lady, why not just let her make her way into the room,” croaked Bridget.

Ashleigh sat and watched as, sure enough, Pippa made her way over toward the fireplace where she and Bridget sitting. For the first time that evening, all the ladies were gathered around the fireplace rather than spread out across the room.

“Well ladies, first of all, I just want to say thank you…I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my last night as a single lady than to be surrounded by the women I hold dearest to my heart, I love you all, each and every one of you,” announced Pippa, as she looked around at those in attendance, smiling as she looked at Ashleigh.

As the pair made eye contact, Ashleigh couldn’t help but smile. Even though she had known Pippa for a long time and given the history between Pippa and Aaron, something just felt different. In the past twenty-four hours, Pippa had gone from simply being the sister of Aaron’s best friend to almost Ashleigh’s best friend.

“We all love you too Pippa,” stated Ashleigh without a single thought for what she was saying. Hearing these words somehow appeared to make the smile on Pippa’s face even wider.

“What…what did I just say?” thought Ashleigh, “This feels…so weird…I do love Pippa…but not… in the way…I once thought I did…man this is getting weird…I need…I need Monday now…I need to get back…I need…I think…I need to get back to how I was…before…”

Ashleigh’s thoughts were soon interrupted by Gerard topping up the wine in her glass.

“Let us raise our glasses ladies, to Pippa and Edward,” stated Vivian.

“To Pippa and Edward,” replied everyone as they took a sip of their wine.

“Now let us have a lovely time in making it a memorable evening for Pippa,” added Vivian.