Enlightened (30 page)
I couldn’t believe it was finally here. The big day. The day I would vow to love and honour Nicholas until death did us in.
Our wedding day.
And to top it all off it was an absolutely beautiful day – the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, which for late March was pretty lucky. Someone somewhere was obviously looking out for us today.
Shaking my head in disbelief at my sheer luck I smiled. Wow. It felt quite surreal actually, all of us girls crowded into mum’s living room – we were down here because it was bigger than the bedrooms – and I gazed around at my closest family, Mum and Joanne, and my best friends in the world Stella and Louise and just tried to soak up the excited atmosphere and commit it all to memory.
Smiling affectionately I watched Mum and Louise as they fussed over Joanne’s hair, pinning and clipping it in various different trial runs as they tried to decide what style would best suit her for the day. It had taken a little persuasion, but after several long visits to Joanne in the residential centre where she lived, my sister had decided that she
would
like to be involved in my big day after all and so was being my third bridesmaid. Considering her condition this was a pretty big deal to not only her, but me and Mum too. Obviously with her fear of crowds and strangers Jo couldn’t travel on public transport, there were far too many possible triggers for her, and squeezing her in the car with Nicholas, me, and all the garb we’d needed to bring up for the wedding yesterday had been impossible, so my parents had driven down earlier in the week to get her. To be honest, I knew my mum would love it if Joanne lived up with them, or in a care home near them, but for now my sister was content to be near me.
I heard a muffled banging in the hallway outside the door to the living room and then it swung open as Stella waltzed in carrying a tray containing a bottle of fizz, a small jug of orange juice, and five glasses. ‘I might not be able to drink, but I decided we may as well start the day off as we may to go on!’ Placing the tray down she looked over to us with the champagne bottle hovering above the glasses. ‘What’s it to be, ladies? Champagne, Buck’s Fizz, or boring old orange juice like me?’
‘Champagne, please!’ I chorused at the same time as Mum and Louise. I was feeling a little nervy so a glass or two of fizz might help to relax me. Only one or two though, I didn’t want to be tipsy and falling down the stairs at the hotel as I made my grand entrance. Stella poured and disturbed the bubbling glasses before filling an orange juice for herself and turning to Joanne who was looking a bit unsure. Walking over to my sister I sat down and slid my arm around her waist. ‘Glass of fizz?’ I asked softly, ‘You can have one or two without affecting your meds, I checked with Nurse Claudine yesterday.’ I felt her relax against me before she looked to Stella with a shy smile and accepted a glass of champagne.
My mum suddenly cleared her throat and raised her glass. ‘To my two wonderful daughters!’ she managed, before choking back a sob and dashing towards Jo and I for a three-way hug. Clutching at them both I suddenly felt an immense wave of emotion sweep over me; partly from the excitement of the day, but also because a rush of memories about my sister’s attempted suicide flooded my brain. Even though she had a few issues now and would probably always be on the medication to keep her calm, I was so very grateful that she had survived.
‘You two are squashing me!’ Jo squeaked from somewhere in between me and Mum, and as I released my grip and saw the tears rolling down Mum’s face I suspected she was experiencing a similar set of feelings to me right now.
‘Enough of the tears! This is a happy day!’ Louise said, picking up her make-up bag and straighteners. Louise was one of those women who was just instinctively good at doing hair and make-up, unlike me, who was the complete opposite. As a wedding gift she’d offered to do me, Mum and all the bridesmaids today, which was not only very kind, but also saved the stress of having another stranger here with Joanne too. ‘Mum’s already done, although you might need a bit of a touch up with waterproof mascara now you’ve been crying, Leanne! Who’s ready to go next?’ she asked, wiggling the make-up in the air.
‘Oh! Me!’ Jo squawked, plonking her glass down and jumping from her chair. ‘I’m already showered and I loved the way you had my hair, can you make it look like that again?’ Jo asked, just as I heard Mum mumbling to Louise that she didn’t need clumpy waterproof mascara and that she just had something in her eye. Louise held back her laughter and instead flashed me a wink as she headed over to my sister and set down her bag. ‘Waterproof, Leanne, it’s the way forward,’ she announced to my mother, before looking back to Joanne. ‘Of course I can re-do that hair style, it looked beautiful, and I’ll do your make-up if you like?’
As I sipped on the deliciously cool champagne and allowed the chaos around me to continue I saw Stella wave the bottle at me before heading my way to give me a top up. The champers was relaxing me nicely, but I wouldn’t have too much more; as well as worrying about falling over I also wanted to remember every detail of today. Giggling, she nudged me playfully in the ribs, ‘So Miss Langley, soon to be Mrs Jackson, how are you feeling?’
At the thought of being Mrs Jackson and being married to Nicholas I couldn’t help but grin broadly, because as sappy as it sounds, he really was the love of my life. ‘Pretty amazing, really.’ There was one thing niggling at the back of my mind, but I’d been repeatedly telling myself I was being stupid so pushed it down yet again and decided not to mention it.
‘What’s the matter?’ Stella asked suddenly, causing me to turn to her swiftly. How did she know what I was thinking? Seeing my look of shock she rolled her eyes at me and then reached up to tug my hand away from my hair where it had been frantically twirling and tucking a strand behind my ear. ‘You’re one of my closest friends, do you think I hadn’t noticed that you do this when you get anxious?’
God, could everyone read me that easily? Nicholas had spotted my ‘little tell’ within hours of meeting me, although sometimes I felt completely transparent to him so it wasn’t surprising, but now with Stella’s words it became quite apparent that my traits were obvious to others beyond him. Well wasn’t that just frigging marvellous?
Jerking my head to indicate that we move out of earshot of the others we took a few steps back for more privacy. ‘I’m fine, no last minute nerves. I promise,’ I told Stella honestly. ‘The thing is, I am a little worried about Nicholas backing out.’
Frowning, Stella immediately shook her head, ‘There’s no way he’d do that. He’s completely head over heels with you, Becks.’
Nodding I chewed on my lip. ‘I know, but … our men aren’t exactly relationship experts, are they? I keep panicking that I’m pushing this all on him and that he’s going to freak out today.’ This had been my fear for a few months now, for a guy like Nicholas with basically no relationship experience this must all seem completely mental to him.
It had turned out to be really convenient that Nicholas and Nathan’s relationship pasts had certain similarities, because it was so good to be able to talk completely frankly with Stella about Nicholas and his issues without fear of judgement. Almost as soon as I’d said it I felt a relief just from having shared my concern and was immediately thankful for just how close Stella and I had grown since meeting.
Stella’s right hand rose up and began to fiddle with her necklace as a wistful look crossed her face before she nodded, ‘True. But he’s the one who proposed to you, he wants to be with you, Becky. And besides, you’ve kept the wedding pretty small to lessen the stress for him. He might be totally smitten with you, but he’s a tough enough guy to stand up for himself if he had really disagreed with any of the plans.’
I ran this through my head a few times and decided that Stella was probably right. I was no doubt panicking about nothing. ‘Would you put my mind at rest by giving Nathan a call for me to check that everything’s going smoothly over at the hotel?’
‘Of course. I’ll call him now. You need to go and get your hair and make-up on, it’s only two hours until we need to leave.’
Glancing around the chaos of Mum’s bombsite of a living room I could at least see some semblance of readiness beginning to emerge from the piles of breakfast plates, clothes, hangers, and make-up; Stella was dressed and looking gorgeous – Nathan was going to blow a gasket when he saw her – Mum was almost done, she was dressed and her hair was styled but she still needed her make-up re-touching. And there in the centre was Joanne, looking a little timid but beautiful in her navy silk bridesmaid dress, her hair all clipped up like a model and the final touches to her make-up being done.
Sipping my champagne I heard Stella giggle on the phone and felt my shoulders instantaneously relax; if she was laughing everything must be fine over with the brothers. Phew. As she ended the call I watched her make her way around the discarded shoes and champagne bottles towards me, still smiling. ‘I told you there was no need to panic. Nathan says everything’s fine.’
In my relief I took a large gulp of my champagne, choked slightly, and very nearly sprayed it all over Stella. ‘Nathan said there is not a cold foot in sight. In fact, Nicholas is so excited about marrying you that apparently he tried to call the registrar to bring everything forward by an hour.’ This time I really did spray some champagne, but thankfully it just sort of escaped my mouth and dribbled down my chin rather than spraying Stella’s gorgeous outfit. Nicholas tried to bring the whole thing forwards? Was he insane? Seeing my panic Stella grinned, ‘Don’t worry, it was just a moment of madness. Apparently they’re nearly ready now and are planning on heading down to the bar to greet everyone soon.’
My eyebrows rose at this news – Nicholas and Nathan, both a little awkward in company and prone to being rather blunt, would be greeting my nearest and dearest … God, it almost didn’t bear to think about!
An hour and ten minutes later and I was more primped than I had ever been in my entire life. Getting ready for a night out never took me longer than half an hour, but today I’d been subjected to curling tongs, a bronzer brush, eyelash curling … you name it, I’d had it! My stipulation had been to keep it simple, and although I’d been fussed over for over an hour, I had to say I was thrilled with the outcome. Light, natural make-up which emphasised my eyes, a classic up-do for my hair with several expertly curled strands hanging loose, and a light touch of gloss on my lips. I looked stylish, but down to earth, which was very me. In other words – perfect.
‘Okay. Now for the gown!’ Mum cooed happily, sweeping in with the huge white bag hung over her arm. Luckily I could step into the dress, so my hair and make-up could remain un-harmed. This hadn’t been a deliberate factor when choosing, but it was working out rather well now.
After Stella and Louise had finished pulling me about as they faffed with tightening the multitude of laces on the rear of the bodice – those lesson’s in the bridal shop had obviously paid off – I felt utterly snug as they finally released me as Mum dragged in the floor length mirror from the hall. Turning around I got the first look at myself done up to the nines, and upon hearing Mum’s sob next to me I almost started crying myself. Thankfully I managed to hold myself together and get a proper look, deciding that after the numerous options I’d had, this dress really was ‘the one’.
It was a strapless gown with an A-line cut and a sweetheart neckline. The bodice was pulled in tight thanks to Louise and Stella’s torture, and then the waist dropped down to pool the fabric at my feet. There wasn’t a train as such, I was far too clumsy to wear one without coming a cropper, but it kinked out enough to at least give the illusion of a small train.
The sound of a car crunching up my parents gravel driveway drew my attention away from the mirror towards the window and my eyes instantly widened. ‘Oh my gosh! I thought we were going in Dad’s car? Did you know about this, Mum?’ I asked as I watched a beautiful vintage car come to a stop outside.
‘Nicholas phoned up a few weeks ago to say that he’d ordered a car to take us to the wedding, but he didn’t mention that it was a vintage Rolls-Royce!’ my mum shrieked.
Grinning in delight I looked back out of the window at the stunning car. It had white and pale pink ribbons tied across the front, and even a few smaller navy ones to match the bridesmaid dresses. It was perfect, what an amazing gesture from Nicholas.
After some photographs with my bridesmaids and a good few with the car, and the lovely driver called George, we all climbed in and got ourselves settled. Joanne sat beside me and took a tight hold of my hand while Mum sorted out yet another tissue from her handbag to dab at her eyes. ‘See, Leanne, this is why I used the waterproof mascara the second time round,’ Louise said haughtily before grinning at me.
‘Ooh! Wait!’ Mum cried, causing the driver to pause and turn to us all. ‘How does the rhyme go? “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in your shoe.” Have we got all that sorted?’ Mum demanded. ‘It’s unlucky if you haven’t,’ she informed me in a serious tone. I just loved the way she chose now to say this, sat in the bloody car ready to leave, and then deems it to be unlucky if I don’t have them. Where the hell was I going to magic a sixpence from?
‘I’ve got the garter that Louise has lent me, that’s borrowed, and the cornflowers in my bouquet are blue,’ I said, mulling over what my something new and old could be.
‘The clips I’ve used in your hair are Victorian,’ Louise said helpfully, ‘Now you just need something new … and a sixpence, but I think we might have to forego that. I’ve a got a five pence if that helps?’
‘Ta-da!’ Stella announced from across the car, pulling a small silver coin from within her handbag. ‘I’d nearly forgotten about it!’ she said, handing me the coin. Sure enough, looking at the writing it stated that it was a sixpence. Looking at her in utter bewilderment, she simply shrugged and grinned, ‘You can get pretty much anything on e-Bay these days.’