Page 68 of Unworthy
I smiled. Bit of luck really that this particular branch of the Church of England was so keen on water sports.
“And Aubrey,” Verity said turning to Dad, “you look in fine fettle this morning – splendid set of pins you have there.”
Dad laughed. “Well, it might traumatise the congregation, but I am a stickler for the dress code.”
“Your father’slegsareexposed, Yazmin,” Mum said in horror, making the sign of the cross over her chest. “And that shirt…”
“Everyone’s wearing Hawaiian shirts, Mum. Just chill, okay?” I wrapped my arm around Mum as we were walking and gave her a kiss on her temple. She huffed, but it did coax a small smile out of her.
“You’ve been on about me “chilling” since you were ten years old, young lady. I think you might know by now – I’m not daft and I’m not chilled.”
“Come on Mrs H,” Dee said, twirling on the spot with her arms spread wide and her long hair flying out behind her. “Nothing like some sand between your toes first thing in the morning. This is hands-down the most comfortable I’ve ever been at one of these things.”
Mia slipped her hand into mine, and I turned to look at her. Her other arm was secured under my niece’s bottom, as Mia held little Sophie on her hip. “You look beautiful, Yaz,” she said in her quiet voice, which just about carried to me above the wind. Sophie kicked her stubby legs and launched herself at me. I caught her in my arms and blew a raspberry into her soft neck, eliciting those gorgeous baby giggles I loved so much.
“Sophie!” Mia exclaimed, reaching for her. “Careful of your Auntie. You don’t want to mess her up.”
“It’s fine, Mia,” I said, giving Sophie’s soft cheek a kiss before I let her go back to her mum. “There’s not really any make-up to mess up. Maybe I should have let Verity–”
“No,” she cut me off, her hand going to my arm to bring me to a stop. “You look beautifulyour way. Perfect.”
The other three had also stopped with us and we formed a small circle in the sand.
“She’s right,” Verity said, taking my other hand. “Your way is perfect.” Verity had not made a secret of the fact that she was very happy to be gaining an official little sister. She’d thrown herself into wedding planning with a vengeance, but I was worried about her. There were dark circles under her eyes recently and, despite her genuine joy for me and Heath, she still seemed anxious for some reason. I could read people well and Verity was hiding something. But that was a talk for another day. For now, I simply smiled at her and squeezed her hand.
“All the make-up would have come off anyway once we were in the water, so it would have been a bit pointless.”
Verity had brought a suitcase of products to the house that morning, but all I had allowed her to apply was a touch of waterproof mascara. Mia had pinned half my hair back and added the flowers that Dee had picked on her way over. My dress was white, but simple and light. The only jewellery I was wearing, apart from my engagement ring, was the shell necklace Heath gave me last month. He’d managed to sneak a cheeky diamond and a sapphire in there as well, passing them off as “cheap crystals with healing energy”. I knew better after speaking to the jeweller, who’d been surprised that one of his most expensive commissions of the year had been something where he had to incorporate a couple of shells from Bournemouth beach with stones that cost thousands of pounds.
“What do you mean by ‘in the water’, love?” Mum asked, her tone a little panicked, as some of the colour drained from her face. Verity made an eek face behind Mum’s back and I stifled a laugh.
It had taken a while to convince Mum that a church wedding and reception at a local hotel with canapés and posh drinks was off the menu. It was probably best that she found out the rest of the plan as we went.
I heard Mia giggle as we started moving forward again. Mia, Dee and Verity were all in the same dress as me but in blue, and Mia had threaded flowers through all of our hair. None of us was wearing shoes. But that wasn’t out of place. The crowd of family and friends we were heading towards were all either barefoot or in flip-flops. There were a lot of boardies and Hawaiian shirts on display. Quite a few of the women (especially from my cohort) were in bikinis with cover-ups over. The vicar was striding towards us now and even he had paired his black shirt and dog collar with a pair of boardies. The man was a legend.
“Right,” he said with a wide smile. “There’s not exactly an aisle but if you’re ready, then we can cut a path down through the crowd and–”
One minute the vicar had been in my line of sight, and I’d been concentrating on what he had to say, and the next Heath was there blocking him from view and the vicar’s words trailed off.
“You’re here,” Heath said, his voice rough with emotion and his expression a little fierce. I smiled up at his handsome face and rested a hand on his chest.
“Of course, I’m here, you daft article. Where else would I be?”
He let out a breath, closed his eyes in what looked like relief for a moment, then his head came down and he kissed me. And not just a peck on the cheek. No, this was a full-on kiss, complete with him lifting me up off my feet and causing my small bouquet of daisies to fall to the floor while Winnie barked at our feet.
“Er… we’re not quite at that part yet, chaps,” the vicar’s amused voice cut through the kiss haze and I pulled back. Heath lowered me to my feet but kept me within the circle of his arms. The crowd was all riveted to our premature display of affection and there was a growing amount of laughter, which then turned to applause as we tore our eyes away from each other to look at them.
“She’s not yours quite yet, son,” Dad said, his voice full of amusement at Heath’s expense. “I haven’t given her away.”
Heath cleared his throat and an uncharacteristic blush hit his cheekbones. “Right. Yes, well. Jolly good. I’ll just…” He trailed off and looked back down at me.
“You have to let me go now, handsome,” I whispered. “But I’ll see you in a sec. I’ll be the one in the white dress by the sea. Right?”
“Right,” he whispered back, a smile spreading over his face. “Okay.”
“Come on, you chuffin weirdo,” Max cut in, having followed Heath to me. His daughter launched herself from Mia’s arms into his and he settled her onto his hip. “Get your paws off my sister until it’s legal, you cheeky sod.” He grabbed Heath’s arm with his free hand, pulled him away from me, turned him in the other direction and marched him towards the shoreline through the crowd. “You look good, kid,” he threw over his shoulder at me with a wink. Heath was still smiling as he allowed Max to drag him away. But once they got to the shoreline, his smile dimmed a little and I could see the tension back in his face. My friend Toby started playing his guitar. Dad took my arm. The crowd parted, and we started making our way through the sand.
Heath
