by Lisa Hill
‘Yes, but not how you would think, dear,’ Pamela said, sounding sympathetic.
‘Shouldn’t you be at the wedding?’ Louise frowned, her mind spinning at a hundred-miles-per-hour that the goats cheese, on the tartlet canapés, would turn to crumbs if they were left in the warmer too long.
‘There’s no time for this!’ Tom said, impatiently. ‘The construction work’s about to start down at the development.’
‘What?’ Johnnie roared.
‘Hardwickes’ banging on about a technicality over which day is the thirtieth day of the appeal.’
‘Well,’ Johnnie scoffed, ‘midnight on Monday, of course.’
Pamela shook her head. ‘Edward has always been a snake in the grass; we should have seen this coming. He thinks…’
‘Pardon me for interrupting—’ Tom’s voice sounded strained ‘—but could we carry this conversation on down at the development, whilst forming a human barricade to the field?’
‘Oh, yes, Tom, sorry, of course,’ Pamela said, apologetically. ‘Come along Johnnie, let’s get going.’
‘Okay,’ Johnnie said, following Tom and Pamela as they hurriedly made it across the makeshift kitchen in the marquee towards the opening at the other end.
‘You’re not leaving me, are you?’ Louise called out in disbelief.
Johnnie turned to look at her, his expression solemn. As if this was his calling and she must accept it. ‘We can’t just stand by and do nothing, Lou.’
‘But we’ve got one hundred and fifty guests to feed!’ she screeched.
‘Louise, my dear,’ Pamela said, stopping and turning. ‘I’ve given up watching my eldest son get married for this, it’s gravely important we stop those diggers!’
‘Important to who?’ Louise shouted, but Pamela wasn’t listening as she followed Tom out of the tent.
Johnnie shrugged. ‘Sorry, Lou, this is our livelihood.’
‘No, Johnnie,’ she shouted, not caring who heard her, ‘this—’ she waved her hands around the kitchen, ‘—this is our livelihood and you’re abandoning it over your principles and utter, hellbent obsession with stopping that development!’
Johnnie merely shrugged. ‘Sorry, Lou.’ He pulled a face and disappeared, the material of the marquee flapping in the wind behind him as he left.
‘Oooooh!’ Louise screeched, picking up the nearest fish slice and slamming it hard on the metal kitchen worksurface.
That was it. She was finally calling time on her marriage.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Duncan continued to give the glasses one final polish in the marquee as he listened calmly to the drama playing out in the kitchen. He’d held back the past few weeks. He could see she was caught up in some inner turmoil between doing the right thing and what she really wanted. Was it him she wanted? Or just not to be with Johnnie? He finished polishing the champagne flute he was holding as the arguing reached a crescendo, placing it down as Louise screeched and metal clashed upon metal, as some inanimate object hit hard against the temporary kitchen table.
He looked up to see Megan and Cerys, hovering with their cartons of juice over the glasses, exchanging nervous glances.
‘I’ll go,’ he said, placing his tea towel on the table.
‘Thanks,’ said Megan, looking relieved.
Unsurprisingly, Louise was leant against the stainless steel, kitchen surface, arms wrapped around herself, sobbing. He didn’t stop to think. Instinctively, he charged over and enveloped her in his arms, cradling her to his chest, stroking her head and making soothing sounds. Her body trembled like a captured bird as she sobbed into his shoulder.
Eventually the sobbing subsided. ‘This is starting to become a bit of a habit,’ she said, breaking away from him.
His body ached as she pulled away, so strong was his desire for their embrace to carry on a few moments longer.
‘Aye, but I couldn’t have left you to be upset on your own now, could I?’
‘No,’ Louise said, wiping leaking tears away from her face with the back of her hand.
‘You don’t have to put up with this, you know,’ he said, softly.
She nodded, and her blonde ringlets bounced up and down. ‘I know.’ She pursed her lips together, almost hesitating over what to say next. ‘I’ve just had a lot to figure out.’
He nodded. ‘There’s a lot to consider.’ He felt they were talking but not talking. Like neither of them wanted to confront the elephant in the room. He felt he needed to be guided by her; he didn’t want her blaming him in the future, if she left Johnnie because of him.
‘Yes.’ She looked up at him and locked his gaze. ‘But I’ve made up my mind, this is the final straw. If he can walk out on me, on a job, when I need his physical support, let alone emotional, then there’s no future for us. I’m not being treated like a doormat anymore.’
Good for you! he wanted to cry. Instead he just nodded, holding her gaze. ‘Where will you go?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know yet. Oh!’ She let out a little sob. ‘It’s all so scary,’ she whispered. She blinked back tears and cleared her throat. ‘But I’ve got to do it now. He’s left me with all those guests to feed to go and chain himself to a field gate!’ She laughed, hysterically and put her hand to her mouth. ‘It’s insane, isn’t it?’
Duncan smiled and tried to keep a look of pity from his eyes. This poor girl. If she were his, he’d worship her, not abandon her for his own pursuits. He so wanted to say move in with me! You can run your cake business from the pub. But he knew to do so might be to lose her forever. He was in love with Louise, he was sure, and because he was, he needed to give her time and space. Respect her need to end her marriage with Johnnie and then move on. They’d be doomed if they did it any other way. Even if his heart and the feeling in his trousers wanted things otherwise.
He took a deep breath. ‘He’s a passionate man, your husband,’ Duncan said, gently, knowing he sounded like he was defending Johnnie.
‘Pah!’ Louise shouted. ‘But not about me; his wife!’
Duncan nodded gently, considering if he said what he wanted to say next.
Sod it.
‘No, but I am.’
Silence filled the room. Louise’s eyes frantically searched Duncan’s for answers. She frowned.
‘Passionate about what?’ she asked, eventually.
‘You,’ he said, leaning in and kissing her before she could protest otherwise. Her mouth didn’t resist. If anything, her lips were full of more desire than his, if that was even possible. Their tongues interlocked, and he didn’t want it to end.
Eventually, they came up for air. He felt that emptiness again as she pulled away. ‘You can’t imagine how long I’ve wanted to do that for.’ He grinned.
She grinned inanely back. ‘Me too,’ she said, tears escaping from her eyes again.
‘But we won’t be kissing again—’ he watched the smile fall from her face ‘—not for a while anyway. I’m just going to sit back and wait. You know how I feel now, that’s not going to change. You just get yourself sorted first; you’ve got your girls to think about too.’
Louise’s face crumpled, and she began to cry again.
‘Hey,’ he said, taking her in his arms once more. ‘Sssh, it’s going to be okay.’
‘I know,’ she sobbed, into his chest. ‘It’s just, you’re being nice to me and I’m not used to a man being like that towards me.’
He squeezed her tight. ‘I know and one day, I’ll be nice to you twenty-four hours a day. We’ve just got to get over the next little hurdle.’
She broke away and looked up at him. ‘I know, I need to leave Johnnie for me, not for you.’
‘Aye, I was thinking more of all those guests spilling up the garden path.’ He winked.
Louise turned in his arms to see the wedding party begin filtering through the kissing gate from the church. ‘Oh, cripes!’ Louise said. ‘What am I going to do?’
Duncan planted a kiss on her head and broke away from
their embrace. ‘Don’t panic, I’ll step in and help serve. I’m not going anywhere.’
***
Jack had escorted Audrey to the marquee and shared a glass of champagne with her, Jean and Mike but now, impatience was taking over.
Audrey set her fluted glass down on their table and looked up at Jack from where she was sitting. ‘Go on, Jack, I’ll cover for you.’ She winked.
Jack nodded and cast his eye around the room to see where Lottie was. She was talking animatedly to Rebecca’s parents.
He rubbed his hand across his chin. ‘I’m not sure; she’ll have my guts for garters.’
‘Well, if you don’t go, I’ll go for you; Pam needs some sense banging into her head and I’d love to wipe that smug grin off Edward’s face,’ Jean said, before taking a swig of her champagne.
Mike and Audrey chuckled.
He desperately wanted to go, if anything to retrieve Pamela from taking leave of her senses and back to where she should be; supporting her son on his wedding day and not making the Hardwickes appear like the Ewings, in Dallas, to Rebecca’s family.
Although Jack could have sworn Edward was JR Ewing reincarnated sometimes.
‘Jack, go. The sooner you bring her back, the sooner we begin looking like a normal family,’ Audrey said, reading his mind.
Mike almost spat his wine out. ‘There’s nothing normal about your family.’
‘Well, it takes one to know one,’ Audrey quipped back at him. ‘Now, make yourself useful and get me some more champagne,’ she said, raising her glass to him.
Jack nodded and quietly slipped away, snaking his way through the decorated dining tables and through the nearest exit. Striding across the grass he noticed the clouds on the horizon were bubbling up, huge puffed-up white clouds with a dark grey centre. It looked like the long summer spell was about to break along with his temper. He wasn’t angry with Pam, he conceded, as he navigated his way around the side of the Old Rectory, crunching on the gravel down the long driveway and out onto Vicarage Lane, it was definitely Edward he was cross with. Lottie was right; why did he have to be so conniving? Why had he decided to return and announce his cancer – which he’d no doubt had for several months – the moment he caught a whiff of Pam wanting a divorce? Moving back in with her was just an opportunity to piss all over his territory. Moving your construction team in to start digging out foundations on the day of your son’s wedding showed total disregard for your family, which swiftly brought Jack to the conclusion he had suspected all along; Edward was lying about his cancer. He must be, the man had no morals.
Before he knew it, he was charging up the alleyway in Rosefields which led onto the field. It wasn’t difficult to find Pamela; she was sitting in the cab of a huge yellow JCB, yelling out of the window, with Tom chained to the bucket of a bulldozer and Johnnie sitting in the bucket of a loader. Edward was standing in a huddle with his team of men, all wearing hardhats.
Jack took long strides, conscious of how idiotic he looked in his Sunday best, trying to avoid clumps of sheep’s poop as he went.
‘Jack!’ Pamela said, sounding astonished.
‘What on earth do you think you’re doing? You’ve missed the service; you need to come back now for the wedding breakfast and do some mingling.’
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ she said, sitting down in the leather chair of the digger cab. Her fuchsia shift dress puffed up around her thighs like an angry robin’s breast.
Jack rolled his eyes. ‘What must Rebecca’s parents be thinking?’
Pamela pointed her face upwards, defiantly. ‘I don’t care, Jack! All I care is what you think, and what I’m trying to prove is how much I love you. If that means imprisoning myself in a digger cab on my son’s wedding day to stop this development going ahead, then so be it!’
Jack smiled, before chuckling, before bending double with laughter.
‘It’s not that funny, Jack,’ Tom called.
‘Oh, but it is!’ Jack said, between bouts of laughter. ‘You can’t see how silly you all look. Where’s the press to take a photo when you want them?’
Tom grinned. ‘Good idea,’ he said, retrieving his phone from his suit pocket, ‘I’ll make some calls.’
‘Oh Tom, do! I want the whole world to see me proving my point!’ Pamela shouted.
Jack stopped laughing. The eyes of the world had been on Lottie last year, thanks to Tom’s celebrity status, he didn’t want the same fate befalling Pam.
‘Okay Pam, you’ve made your point. Come down and let’s talk.’
‘No!’ she shook her head vehemently and her fascinator wobbled on top of her ash bob. ‘Not until you say you love me, and you want us to get married!’
Chapter Sixty-Four
It was funny, everything was going far from smoothly and yet Rebecca felt serenely calm, as she sat holding James’ hand at the top table, lovingly looking down at her wedding ring, intertwined with her antique engagement ring. Her make-up had gone perfectly, she was totally in love with the dress she had chosen – a simple ivory, silk dress, with a deep ‘V’ both front and back and tiny embroidered jewels on the straps. It fitted her snugly all over her body and flowed out deeply at the bottom of her hip, with a flattering train up the back. It was just how she had always imagined her wedding dress would be; perfect.
Which was more than could be said for the rest of the day.
She watched Louise hurrying Megan, Cerys and Duncan to bring out two plates of food each, so every table was served their meal at the same time. Everything was running like clockwork, but she could see how stressed Louise looked.
‘Penny for them?’ James whispered into her ear.
Rebecca shook her head. ‘Just happy.’ She smiled at him.
‘Well, I’ll tell you what I’m thinking,’ he whispered into ear. ‘I’m thinking I can’t wait to undo every tiny button on the back of that dress and slip you out of it, then—’
‘James! Ssssh!’ she hissed. ‘My father’s sitting next to me.’
‘I don’t care.’ He grinned, his eyes dancing with desire.
‘Aren’t you worried about the absence of your parents?’ She bit her tongue for asking. He didn’t seem bothered by it, so why draw attention to it?
‘My parents are a law unto themselves, both of them.’ There was a generous helping of resentment in James’ voice. ‘Drew’s here, and Lottie’s like a sister to me; I don’t need Dad interfering and if Mum’s protesting finally brings Jack to his senses and they get back together, then it’ll be worth it.’
The only saving grace of Edward’s actions, by moving the diggers in, had been his absence from the wedding.
‘But, it’s your wedding day.’
‘Our wedding day.’ James squeezed her hand again. ‘And if Mum finally stops moping about and moaning on about how much she misses Jack all the time, then even better.’
They both laughed. Rebecca watched Louise rush back to the kitchen again. Having served up the last of the main courses, no doubt she was hurrying to make a start on plating up the desserts.
‘I’m just going to pop and check on Louise,’ she said, standing up.
James firmly held her hand. ‘This is our day, Becca. We’ve paid them to cater this wedding.’
Rebecca rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not about to roll up my sleeves and start plating up. I just need to check she’s okay, that’s all.’
James gazed at her. His eyes pleaded for her to stay but she looked at him meaningfully, silently telling him it was important she should go to Louise.
‘Okay, I don’t want our first married domestic to be at the top table.’
Rebecca smiled. ‘We’re never going to argue, I forbid it,’ she said, planting a kiss on his forehead.
She hooked her train up under her arm and made her way around the rear of the top table towards the kitchen entrance, keen not to catch anyone’s gaze and get caught up in congratulatory chit-chat. Louise was barking out orders to her girls when Rebecca arrived in the kitch
en, looking frazzled and stressed, but surprisingly with a welcoming smile on her face.
She wiped her hands on her apron. ‘Give me two seconds, girls,’ she said, retreating towards Rebecca.
‘Something’s put a smile on your face,’ Rebecca said, quietly. ‘Or should I say, someone?’
‘Well, Johnnie made me shout first,’ Louise said, wiping her brow with the back of her hand.
‘I came to check if you were okay.’
Louise nodded. ‘Upset, angry, confused, stressed—’ she paused and laughed. ‘When we catered the Thorpe wedding, we employed more catering staff.’
‘Sorry,’ Rebecca interjected, aware that although their budget wasn’t small, it wasn’t on the scale of the Thorpe’s wedding.
Louise shook her head. ‘Oh, no! Don’t be sorry,’ she said, taking Rebecca’s hands. ‘It would help if our Maître D’ hadn’t gone off on a Swampy-style protest.’
‘You’ll find him squatting up a tree.’
‘Tied to a digger more like. When I get my hands on him, I’ll… grrr!’
Rebecca pulled a face, trying to get Louise to empathise with Johnnie. ‘I guess it’s important to him.’
‘Pah! I’m sorry but that’s it, this time. He’s hurt me more than ever before. Fancy walking out on something as important as this, to stop a few diggers. They’re hardly going to chuck a load of newbuilds up in a day, are they?’
Rebecca shook her head. ‘I suppose not. This hasn’t got anything to do with…’ she trailed off and raised her eyebrows.
‘No.’ Louise shook her head firmly. ‘This is one-hundred-percent on Johnnie’s shoulders this time. He’s shown total disregard to me and our daughters by abandoning us to cater this wedding on our own. And if he can abandon me, then I can abandon him. As soon as I’ve served up dessert, I’m off to tell him.’ The colour drained from her flushed face a little. ‘I’m just so scared of not knowing where I’m going to go.’
‘Can’t you throw him out?’
‘Ha! He’s married to that business more than to me. No, I’ll have to find somewhere.’