When Steve Berry proposed to Holly on Easter
Sunday in front of a packed pub it set off an unstoppable chain of events which
consumed not just Steve and Holly but everyone around them.
Rather unconventionally, instead of picking a
date, or a number of dates, and then checking if the church was free, Holly went
to see the Reverend Marshall to see what dates he had available.
She was fully expecting St Mary’s to be fully
booked right through the summer and she was correct, but as luck would have it
there had been a cancellation only that afternoon and September 23rd was free,
it was cutting it a bit fine but she thought it was doable so even without
checking with Steve she booked it there and then.
Steve ever the bean counter was supervising
the installation of solar panels on the
rear aspect roof which would make a significant reduction to their electricity
bill.
Although in truth
supervising was actually just him sitting on the patio looking up at them
working while he drank a pint.
The Pig and Whistle
was a big pub and as he sat looking up to the roof it was patently obvious that
it had once been a hotel.
When he and Holly finally got around to fully
exploring the accommodation, they were amazed at how many rooms there were.
There were some rooms
upstairs that were used as little more than storage space.
In fact, there were sufficient rooms for
Holly and Steve to have a self-contained apartment and still make four decent
size bed sitters.
“They could be a
useful additional source of income” Steve suggested
“Not if we offered
them to the staff at a reduced rate” Holly suggested
“Hmmm” Steve responded
“Hospitality is not
the best paid job in the world” Holly continued “And they’re paying ridiculous
rents for a room half the size”
“Agreed then” he said,
so that was settled, they would offer them to the senior staff.
Petra and Ausra jumped
at the chance as they were living in a very dodgy street with some very
unsavoury neighbours, Stephanos was less keen until he realised it was twice
the size for half the rent.
Debbie declined as she
was already well fixed up living with her parents rent free and you couldn’t
get cheaper than that.
“Save it for when we
get a cook” Steph suggested, at that time he and Steve did the food between
them
“What do you mean?”
Holly said
“I’m a good pub grub man” Steph said “but I’m
not a chef”
“What do you think
Steve?” Holly asked
“Well we can both cook
ok, but our repertoire is limited, what we do, we do well” he replied
“What we need is a “chef”
who can take us to the next level and broaden our horizons”
“Well I’ll put that on
the list then” Holly said and grinned
Steve was taking a
short break before the lunchtime rush while Holly was upstairs trying on her
wedding dress.
The date was set for September
23rd at St Mary’s church which was just down the road, followed by the reception at the Pig and Whistle which would keep the
cost down.
He was thinking about the guest list, it
wasn’t substantial, as there weren’t many
family guests on Holly’s side, her parents, if they could be found, and two
cousins, and none at all on Steve’s side.
The only relative he
had was his father and apart from the fact he didn’t know if he was still alive,
he didn’t want him there anyway.
One person who would definitely
not be there was Uncle Phil who had passed away two months before the wedding.
Up in Holly and
Steve’s bedroom she was opening a large flat cardboard box the kind where the
lid fitted over the base like a very large jigsaw puzzle box.
She was accompanied by
her bridesmaids, Petra and Ausra, who were cousins, had come to Britain from
Lithuania, they were the same age as Holly and they had known each other for
almost ten years, and the three of them were the best of friends.
When Holly had the lid
off the box, she cast it aside and unfolded the tissue paper covering the
contents, then she slipped her hands inside and removed the beautiful white
silk wedding dress trimmed with Belgian lace.
“Wow that’s beautiful”
Petra said “was it your mamas?
“No” Holly replied and
laughed “my parents got married in a registry office and the bride wore denim”
“It’s lovely” Ausra
added
“It was my
grandmothers” Holly said proudly and when she tried it on, Holly looked
stunning.
Steve’s thoughts
turned to his best man, six months earlier he wouldn’t have hesitated for a
second, his best friend Graham Chatfield would have been the obvious choice for
best man.
But they had fallen
out, as it was Graham who had been the most vociferous about him burning his
bridges and ruining his life over some “silly tart”.
At the point Graham referred
to Holly as a “silly tart” Steve hit him, and they hadn’t spoken since.
Which meant the
obvious candidate was now Stephanos who he hadn’t got around to asking yet, so
he went back into the kitchen
“Steph!” he called “I
need a best man”
“Of course, you do” he
replied
“And you’re it” Steve
said
“Cool” Steph responded,
so that was settled.
Having returned the
wedding dress to its box and safely hidden it from Steve’s prying eyes her
thought returned to the day itself.
The wedding breakfast
was problematic as the cooks were also the Groom and Best Man and the
waitresses were the bridesmaids.
Of course, it was easy
enough to get outside caterers for the day, Holly had enough contacts in the
business to get someone that would do a good job and at a reasonable price.
It wasn’t in their budget,
but it looked like they didn’t really have a choice.
The other thing they
couldn’t really afford to take was a honeymoon, in terms of time away from the
pub and financially.
But their staff ganged
up on them and insisted they go, if only for a day or two.
They could quite
easily manage while they were away, so they agreed on a short break in the New
Forest, a B&B would keep it affordable.
A few weeks ahead of
the big day Holly and Steve were in the apartment eating breakfast and going
through the mail.
“I’m a bit worried
Steve” she said
“What about?” he asked
“The wedding” she
replied
“Why? Have we
forgotten something?” Steve said
“No everything’s
arranged, everything’s booked” Holly confirmed “Apart from my parents”
“So, what’s the
matter?” Steve asked puzzled
“The cost” she said “it’s
twice as much as we budgeted for”
“That’s because we
budgeted next to nothing” he corrected her
“I’m still worried”
she said stubbornly
“Well maybe this will
set your mind at rest” Steve said and handed her a solicitor’s letter.
It was from Uncle Phil’s
solicitor detailing a bequest and a cheque for the stated amount.
“That should cover it”
Steve said and stood up, he walked around the table and kissed the top of her
head
“Now you can get back
to worrying about whether I’m going to turn up or not” He said and left the
room whistling
“What do you mean?”
Holly said rushing after him “Why wouldn’t you turn up?”
The week of the
wedding was a little tense as Holly still hadn’t heard from her hippie parents.
She had left messages
at their various stopping off points and with friends she knew they were
regularly in touch with but had heard nothing back.
Also, during that week
were the Hen night and Stag do, though neither of them were reckless
exhibitionists so strippers and silly stunts were never on the cards.
On Wednesday night the
boys when out for a meal and a few drinks while the girls held the fort and the
following night they swapped.
On Friday night Steve
took Holly out for a romantic dinner and after delivering her home he went
across the road to the Abbeyvale Court Hotel for the night.
Saturday arrived and Holly got ready at the
pub, while Steve dressed at the Hotel, which would serve as his abode for his
last night as a single man and his first as a married one, albeit in a
different room for the nuptials.
The morning was very relaxed, he took a
leisurely bath and performed his ablutions but by lunch time when Steph arrived
with his suit and shoes etc. the nerves had set in and the joke he made to
Holly about not turning up was suddenly ringing hollow, what if she didn’t turn
up?
Holly despite having been a wreck all week
was calmness personified, and she had resolved to enjoy and savour every moment of their special day.
It was everyone else who were all at sixes
and sevens, but she managed to impress her calmness on everyone around her and
they got through the morning unscathed.
Steve was sat at the
front of the church with Stephanos and his stomach was doing somersaults.
“Have you got the
ring?” he said
“Yes” Stephonos said “but
if you ask me again, I’m going to throw it out of the window”
“Sorry” he said “Nerves”
When they had arrived,
the Reverend Marshall had said
“Just sit down and relax, when its time I
will walk past and touch your shoulder and that’s your cue. Ok?”
Steve just nodded
After about five
minutes he heard the Vicars footsteps and then felt his hand on his shoulder which
was his cue to get to his feet
“It’s alright I’m only
kidding” the Vicar said “she’s not here yet”
Steve could have
killed him at the time, but it actually stopped his stomach it its tracks.
The Vicar was on the
dais when he caught Steve’s eye and nodded and the bridal march began, so Steve
and Steph got to their feet.
“This is it man” Steph
said “now where’s that ring”
Steve just gave him a
sideways glance.
He could hear Holly
processing up the aisle and he was desperate to turn around and look at her,
but he daren’t, he thought his legs would give way under him if he saw her, but
then he could see her in his peripheral vision, a splash of white.
Steve stepped to his
left to join her and took a deep breath before he turned to look at her, and
there she was standing before him, a vision of loveliness, in a dress of
antique white silk.
“You look beautiful”
he whispered, and Holly smiled and giggled.
However, as they faced
each other there was a crash at the back of the church and without taking their
eyes off each other they said in unison
“The hippies”
And then after a
second or two they both turned to look at a middle aged couple at the back of
the church, Steve had no idea who they were but when Holly squeezed his hand he
knew it was her parents.
On Sunday morning Mr
and Mrs Berry left for their honeymoon in the New Forest, not however bound for
a B&B as originally planned, but courtesy of Uncle Phil’s bequest, to a
Country House Hotel and when they returned a week later they brought with them a
new chef.
No comments:
Post a Comment