Chapter One
When Mollyâs big brother, Luke, announced he was getting married to his Australian girlfriend, ten thousand miles away, Molly burst into floods of tears.
âThatâs not fair!â she sobbed. âI want to be your bridesmaid.â
âYou will be my bridesmaid,â Luke assured her.
âHow?â Molly demanded.
Luke grinned. âBecause youâll be at my wedding,â he said.
âWeâre ALL going to Australia!â cried Mum. âEven Gran!â
Luke ruffled his little sisterâs red hair. âYou donât think Iâd get married without you, do you?â he teased.
Molly had only seen photographs of Lukeâs bride-to-be. Chloe was long-legged, with a cloud of dark hair, sparkling brown eyes, and the smile of a film star. When she next phoned Luke she asked to speak to Molly.
âLuke tells me youâve agreed to be my bridesmaid,â said Chloe.
âYes! Where will you get married?â Molly asked excitedly.
âOn sunny Mango Beach, where Luke and I first met,â Chloe replied.
âYou canât get married on a BEACH!â giggled Molly.
âYou can in Australia,â Chloe replied.
âWOWEE!â laughed Molly. âIâm going to be a SUNNY bridesmaid!â
Mum couldnât believe that Chloe had told Molly she could wear anything she wanted.
âDoes she really mean ANYTHING?â Mum asked Luke.
âThe weddingâs on a beach, Mum. Weâll probably all finish up in our swimming costumes!â joked Luke.
âWhat about the other bridesmaids â Chloeâs twin sisters? What will they be wearing? asked Mum.
âHow do I know?â said Luke.
âYou are the groom,â Mum pointed out crossly.
Molly decided it was time to ask some questions of her own.
âHow old are the twins?â she said.
âSixteen,â Luke told her.
âThey wonât be wearing the same style of dress as me,â Molly pointed out. âBig bridesmaids always wear something more grown up than little bridesmaids.â
âSee! Molly knows,â said Luke with relief.
Chapter Two
Molly knew exactly which dress she wanted to wear. Sheâd seen it in the Blushing Brides shop in town. A pink net dress, with a tight waist and billowing skirt. It had gold leaves at the top of the skirt and on the shoulders. The model in the shop window wore it with a gold tiara and gold embroidered satin shoes. It was gorgeous but very expensive.
âDonât worry,â said Luke. âIâm only buying one bridesmaidâs dress and thatâs Mollyâs. She can have the pink dress if she wants.â
âThank you, Luke,â cried Molly as she gave her brother a big hug.
Luke smiled and hugged her back but Molly could see that there was something on his mind. The truth was that Luke and Dad had just heard on the radio that their favourite football team, Tottenham Hotspurs, were playing Manchester United on the wedding day.
âI donât believe you!â snapped Mum when she saw Luke with his head buried in the sports page of the daily paper. âItâs your wedding day and all you can think of is football!â
âThatâs not true!â Luke protested. âI love Chloe and I canât wait to marry her. Itâs just that Iâm disapppointed that Dad and I wonât be able to go to the game, like weâd planned to.â
âYouâre not going to cancel the wedding just because of a silly game of football?â Molly asked in a panic.
âOf course not,â laughed Luke.
âWeâll probably be able to see the game on satellite television in Australia,â said Dad, hopefully.
A few days later Molly, Mum and Gran went to the Blushing Brides shop in town where Molly slipped into the dress of her dreams. As it settled in a billow of lacy folds around her Molly smiled at her reflection.
âItâs beautiful!â she cried as she spun around in front of the mirror in her bare feet.
The dream dress, the gold shoes with tiny pink pearls stitched around the toes, and the gold tiara were all laid in a shiny silver box and covered with layers of sliver tissue paper. Holding the box, Molly smiled all the way home. She was going to be a bridesmaid in twenty-three days and she was going to wear the most beautiful dress in the world!
Chapter Three
On the day of their departure, the whole family were up at dawn. They were blearyeyed but very excited. Gran had repacked her suitcase five times and still hadnât enough room for her knitting! Mumâs wedding hat was in a box that Dad sat on twice! Mollyâs pink dress was in a suitcase on top of her other clothes and Dad had lost the key to it!
The groom was the most relaxed of all. His outfit was waiting for him in Australia, so he didnât have anything to worry about.
At the airport Molly anxiously put her precious suitcase on the check-in counter.
âWhere will it go?â she asked.
âIn the hold of the plane,â the check-in assistant replied. âItâll be perfectly safe,â she added with a reassuring smile.
Molly watched her suitcase shunt along the moving ramp then disappear into a dark hole with all the other bags and cases. She worked out how many hours it would be until she had her hands on the case again. Twenty-seven and a half hours! Goodness, what were they going to do in the plane for that long?