Page 50 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘Oh my,’ I hear Suzy say as Claire walks past us on the arm of her father. ‘She looks beautiful.’
I turn to look at Suzy, who is a couple of seats away from me, and I see she’s hurriedly searching for tissues in her bag. Eddie next to her reaches into his jacket pocket and gives her a small pack after taking one for himself, and Suzy smiles gratefully at him.
Mandy, sitting between me and Eddie, glances at them, then she turns to me looking equally as moved. ‘Can you believe one of us is getting married?’ she whispers.
I shake my head, then I turn to my right and smile at Rob, who’s sitting on the other side of me.
Rob is one of the reasons we’re so squashed up.
He came into the church later than the rest of us and there weren’t many seats left. Mandy waved him over and we all shuffled along the pew as much as we could to fit him on at the end. He had to put up with a few Hugh-Grant-based,Four Weddings and a Funeraljibes about him arriving late.
I’ve never seen Rob look quite as smart as he does today. He’s wearing a navy-blue suit with a waistcoat, a white shirt and a blue paisley tie. Quite different to how he looked this morning up on the rocks overlooking Morvoren Cove.
But then I guess I look a fair bit different too.
I’m wearing a three-quarter-length, sleeveless purple silk dress, a bargain I found in a vintage shop in Glasgow. I’ve teamed it with long beaded earrings and a matching choker necklace I bought from a craft market, and around my shoulders I have a colourful silk pashmina that I borrowed at the last minute from my mum. On my feet I wear purple silk slingbacks – again a second-hand find, this time from a charity shop near my college. And even though I spent ages blow-drying my long hair, in the end I chose to pin it up loosely on top of my head with a few loose strands framing my face.
When Rob wedged himself in next to me, he was quick to tell me I looked beautiful, and I was equally complimentary about his own outfit.
The service seems to fly by; we sing hymns and listen to Claire and Jonathan exchange their vows. Just before they go off to sign the register, we’re surprised when Suzy stands up and excuses herself. But as Claire and Jonathan disappear to the back of the church, we realise why. Suzy appears in front of the pulpit and proceeds to sing the most beautiful rendition of ‘Ave Maria’, while the whole of the church sits spellbound.
By the end, we’re all reaching for Eddie’s packet of tissues. Rob, who has a little more room now Suzy has gone, turns to me and I see he too has misty eyes.
‘How amazing is our Suzy?’ Rob says, blinking hard.
‘Incredible.’ I dab at my face to mop up the tears. ‘I knew she could sing, but that was something else.’
Claire and Jonathan walk back down the aisle a married couple, and we all follow them outside into the fresh air again. The warm, dry weather has held for the wedding and their photos are taken in the most beautiful bright light, that makes everything, and everyone, look perfect. We all mill about outside the church, waiting for the moment we’re dismissed and can head off to the reception.
‘My mermaids!’ I hear Claire call after the photos seem to have gone on for ever.
‘Er . . . can I have themermaids?’ the photographer asks hesitantly.
We gather, some of us a little reluctantly, in front of the church around Claire and Jonathan, and have a couple of photographs taken.
‘Now just the bride and her friends,’ the photographer says, and Jonathan steps aside to talk to a group of his own mates. ‘Can you all squeeze a little closer together, please? That’s it, arms around each other.’
As we move closer to Claire, I feel Rob’s hand around my waist as we pose for the photograph. Then, as we all smile for the camera, I feel his fingers delicately caress my side with the gentlest of movements – and I’m pretty sure as the photographer clicks the shutter, that this photograph will capture the biggest smile I’ve ever had in front of a camera.
The reception is held in one of the larger hotels in St Felix, one that sits high up on the hill as you exit the town.
As Claire promised, we all sit together at one big table for a three-course meal, with a couple of Jonathan’s cousins and their partners, then, after the speeches, we gather in the hotel bar while the main reception room is prepared for the evening, when there will be a disco and a private bar, and yet more guests arriving.
‘It’s been a good day,’ Mandy says contentedly as we relax on a couple of sofas. ‘Better than I thought it might be.’
‘Why do you say that?’ I ask. ‘Didn’t you think you’d have a good time?’
‘It’s not that. I just thought it might be weird being back here again with all of you. I know Claire has never left and you visit all the time, Frankie, but I hardly ever come home now. Like I said to you, I should, but I don’t.’
‘I have no reason to come back any more,’ Eddie says. ‘Now my mum has remarried and moved away, other than Claire I have no ties here.’
‘How is your mum?’ I ask. We all knew Eddie’s mum well when we were teenagers. She was extremely protective of Eddie, and therefore protective of his friends too.
‘She’s really happy, thanks. Colin has been so good for her. She loves living in Brighton with him now. It’s weird, though, knowing my house is still there, but that someone else is living in it.’
‘My parents are going to be selling up soon too,’ Suzy announces. ‘The real-estate market here has boomed recently – they’ve decided to cash in on people wanting holiday homes in St Felix.’
‘I’ve noticed a lot more For Sale and Sold signs around the town on this visit,’ I say. ‘I don’t blame your parents at all for selling up if the market is good, but how do you feel about it?’
