Page 62 of A Wish For Wilma
By those who love you, those who choose
To never leave you, never lose
The ties that bind us. You we’ll keep
Safe in our hearts with love so deep.
Dahlia snuffled and her eyelids fluttered as she gazed at Archie.
‘I don’t think there’s a dry eye in the house.’ Kath fished a tissue out of her jumper sleeve and mopped up fresh tears.
‘I’m not crying,’ said Rob in a gruff voice. ‘You are.’
Jinnie made no pretence of holding it together. ‘Archie, that was — so unlike you. I’m in absolute bits! Look at me! How did you — what did you— Oh, brother, you nailed it. You absolutely did.’
‘Are we going to carry on weeping and wailing?’ asked Wilma. ‘Those turkey sandwiches won’t eat themselves and I reckon Dahlia’s ready for another feed too.’
‘Please don’t tell me you’re going to whip out a boob, Jinnie,’ said Archie, hastily handing the baby to his sister. ‘Gross. I’ll be in the kitchen eating all the stuffing.’
Rob and Kath disappeared too. Jinnie got comfortable, Dahlia latching on with ease this time.
‘You’ve got this.’ Wilma smiled, her weary heart lifting at the sight of her great-granddaughter suckling away without a care in the world. Newly minted, and destined to be the apple of Wilma’s eye.
‘Have you decided what you want Dahlia to call you when she’s old enough to talk?’ asked Jinnie. ‘Nonna, or Gan Gan?’
Wilma hadn’t given it much thought: too many other things had been whizzing around her mind. She made a snap decision. ‘Great Gran will do fine. Or just GG to start with.’
As they settled around the table with their sandwiches and the rest of the fizz, Wilma wondered what Gus was doing. Immediately, an image of him and Shirley canoodling came into her head and she batted it away crossly. She so badly wanted to tell him about Dahlia. To book a trip somewhere nice, and enjoy the easy banter and companionship they’d shared.That’s in the past tense, Wilma. All done.
‘You’re a million miles away, Mum,’ said Rob, reappearing to make his own sandwich. ‘And you’ve barely eaten a thing. Are you OK?’
Wilma looked up from her plate and pasted on her best ‘everything’s fine and dandy’ smile. ‘All good, son. How could it not be, when I’m with the people I love most in the entire world?’
CHAPTER36
‘That is outrageously large,extremely flashy and I am so thrilled for you!’
Jo waggled her left hand, the diamond ring glinting in the light. ‘If I’m completely honest, it’s a bit OTT for little old me, but I’ll get used to the weight eventually.’ She mimed dragging her left hand across the floor.
‘I need all the deets,’ said Jinnie.
Jo had responded to Jinnie’s message about Dahlia’s Christmas Day arrival with a string of emojis: exploding crackers, love hearts and babies. Closely followed by a second with a bride and groom. That had confused Jinnie at first. Did Jo mean that she and Sam needed to formalise their relationship? Seconds later, the penny dropped. Nothing like a newborn to liquidise the grey matter.
Now they sat together in the café, three days after the birth. Jo beamed with joy and cooed over Dahlia. ‘She’s a wee angel. You must be over the moon. You and Sam, I mean. As for the deets — is that really a word? — Harvey went all out at the restaurant.’
Jo pulled her chair closer and recounted their visit to The Crooked Cauldron. ‘He’d booked the tasting menu: five courses with matching wines. Each course was a triumph, although the waiter blathered on about how this grape paired with this dish, blah-de-blah. I was stuffed and sloshed by the third course.’
Jinnie giggled. ‘So how did he propose? Please don’t tell me the ring was cunningly concealed in a stuffed chicken breast! Did you bite into it and nearly lose a tooth?’
Jo snorted. ‘No, Harvey was a little more creative. We got to the last course — a divine white tiramisu laced with rum — and I needed the loo. You know I have a thing about loos? OK, not important. So I sway my way to the ladies, praying I won’t fall over en route. I get there, do my business, and go to wash my hands. And there, by the washbasin, is a jewellery box containing this beauty!’
‘That took some planning.’ On the romance scale, Jinnie didn’t think being proposed to near a toilet ranked highly, especially when the man wasn’t even there. Still, nothing would dim Jo’s light.
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ said Jo.
Jinnie searched her brain for a neutral comment. ‘That anyone could have emptied their bladder and found the ring?’
‘No, Harvey had it all worked out — the timing, the placement. The staff were in on it, of course. Other women were guided to the men’s toilets — apparently there was some grumbling about that — but it only took a couple of minutes. The loo visit and the ring-discovery, I mean.’
