The couple’s parents, best man and bridesmaids were all watching from the shade of nearby trees. “You look gorgeous, flower,” said the groom’s father, Geoffrey, from behind the photographer. “Have you got it?” asked the bride, her impatience palpable. The swan’s mate, meanwhile, continued to lurk over by the bank: graceful, serene and determinedly out of shot. Cunliffe, who had already suggested this remedy, realized. If both would clear out of the background it wouldn’t matter, but one of them was repeatedly diving, its fluffy pyramid of a backside jutting out of the middle of the lake like a feathered iceberg, its contortions ruffling the surface of the water so that its digital removal would be far more complicated than young Mr. Thankfully, the ugly mark was now hidden in the shadow cast by Mrs. He had fought off the mental image of steel slicing into that soft, pale flesh. Cunliffe-or Robin Ellacott, as she had been two hours ago-had said. He had even wondered whether she had made a botched attempt to kill herself before the wedding, because he had seen it all. It had given him quite a start when she had removed it for the photographs. She had been wearing a rubber and stockinette brace when the photographer arrived at her parents’ house that morning. The only thing that needed concealing, and it could be retouched out of the final pictures, was the ugly scar running down the bride’s forearm: purple and livid, with the puncture marks of stitches still visible. Cunliffe’s teeth were straight and white. Matthew Cunliffe, no need to angle the lady so that rolls of back fat were hidden (she was, if anything, fractionally too slender, but that would photograph well), no need to suggest the groom “try one with your mouth closed,” because Mr. There was no need for tactful tricks with the new Mr. He couldn’t remember when he had last been commissioned to photograph so handsome a couple. He was loath to change the couple’s position, because the soft light beneath the canopy of trees was turning the bride, with her loose red-gold curls, into a pre-Raphaelite angel and emphasizing the chiseled cheekbones of her husband. If only the swans would swim side by side on the dark green lake, this picture might turn out to be the crowning achievement of the wedding photographer’s career.

Happiness, dear Rebecca, means first and foremost the calm, joyous sense of innocence.

Lethal white galbraith