‘Pff!’ I said.
Clare laughed. ‘Pff? Yes, very articulate for a wannabe lawyer.’
‘I’m not a wannabe lawyer,’ I protested. ‘I’m a wannabe don’t know what I wannabe.’ Through all the banter, I noticed that Marcie was quiet and I wondered if she was still cross with me for enthusing about the Velcro idea and the roller skating. ‘You OK, Marcie?’
She gave an unconvincing nod.
‘She’s having wedding nerves, aren’t you, love?’ asked Mum.
Marcie shrugged. ‘Not sure what I’m having. Not sure I’ll even be having a wedding. I mean, maybe we should just skip that part and do what you did, Jane, with your Michael – just live together. Maybe Sam was right – who needs a wedding in this day and age?’
I could not believe my ears! First she shatters my dreams by saying she doesn’t want a conventional wedding, and I’ve been doing my best to get over that and be easy-going. I’ve tried to compromise and go along with the plan and now she’s thinking about giving up on that too. I looked over at my sisters and wondered if I might be adopted. I watched them sitting there with their neat features to match their neat clothes. Jane and Clare like to wear navy a lot – smart suits and smart shoes to go with their smart lives. I like pink and pretty pastel colours and make-up and dressing up. Jane and Clare used to share a room when they lived here many years ago and even that was neat, painted a soft grey and loaded with books, not fun books but books about facts. I used to share a room with Marcie but as soon as Jane and Clare went, I got their old room at the back of the house and the first thing I did was paint it baby pink and put up my wedding posters. They were horrified. I used to think Marcie and I were a bit alike but the older she gets, the more like the others she becomes, so yes, adopted. Maybe. No, not maybe. I must be. Definitely. I wish someone like Nessa was my real mother, I thought. Someone with a sense of style who likes beautiful things in life and seems to get what I’m about.
‘I despair. I am going up to my room and I don’t want to talk to anyone, OK?’ I said.
Clare shrugged, Jane continued picking out her mushrooms, Marcie stared out of the window with a moody expression on her face and Mum just smiled. ‘Don’t forget to look over any homework you’ve been given for the half term,’ she said as though she hadn’t even noticed that my sisters had been picking on me.
I went up and sat on the window ledge and stared out into the dark. I don’t know where I fit in this life, I thought. On the one hand, I know exactly who I am, Chloe Bradbury. I live at 23, Midhurst Street, I know I am the youngest of four girls and I go to school. On the other hand, I have no idea who I am or what I am meant to do but it didn’t seem to matter until now. Why can’t I just be me? A schoolgirl? That’s my career for now. I spent another few minutes thinking about job options. Fashion maybe. I like clothes and design. Or maybe travel? I am good at languages. I could do tours or translating. But maybe I’d miss home. Maybe I should stay here and . . . open a shop. I have a good eye. I could make it look beautiful. I wrote down my various options, then sighed. Mum and my sisters were right – I did keep changing my mind. I needed something to cheer myself up so I got down from the ledge and went to the carrier bag in my wardrobe with all my wedding stuff in it. Looking through the glossy pages always gave me a lift but this time, as I flicked through and stared at the beautiful dresses and the wonderful locations, none of the gloss rubbed off on me. My sure-fire method to make myself feel better was failing me and I felt flat. Maybe happy wedding days happened to other people, not to me or Marcie or anyone else in the Bradbury family.
Chapter Nine
The Madness Continues
Call Nessa, said a voice in my head as I waited in our front room for Demi, Maryam and Marcie to arrive the next day. I had been reading over my horoscope and thinking about what it all meant. She said she’s here to help. Special offer, one month only. I pressed the button next to her name and she picked up immediately.
‘’Ello, darlin’.’
‘Nessa, heeeelp! I have been trying your way of doing things and it doesn’t seem to be working out and now Marcie is crosser than ever with me. What should I do?’
‘Tough it out, doll. You ’ave to give it a bit longer,’ she said. ‘I know you might be losin’ patience a bit and that would be because you ’ave Aries risin’—’
‘Aries rising? I thought I was a Libran. What do you mean, I have Aries rising?’
‘Everyone’s Sun sign changes every month accordin’ to the date that they are born so everyone born on 23rd September to 22nd October is born under the Sun sign of Libra, yeah?’
‘Yes.’
‘’Ave you never wondered why you’re not all the same then? All the Librans you know? You’ll ’ave some similar traits but you’ll all be individuals and that’s because there are other planets and factors that affect your ’oroscope and one of them is your risin’ sign.’
‘So what’s that then? Isn’t that Libra too?’
‘No. Sun signs changes every month but a risin’ sign changes every two hours, which is why different people born on the same day will be different – because although, say, they are all born on 28th September, they won’t all be born at four o’clock in the mornin’. Some will be born at six, others at eight and so on, and so they will all have different risin’ signs.’
‘Right. I remember Uri saying something like that. I’ve been reading over my chart too and trying to understand that. It’s quite complicated, isn’t it?’
‘Don’t worry, Chloe, it takes a while to sink in. Like you – you were born at six in the evenin’, the risin’ sign at that time is Aries, at eight o’clock it changes to Taurus and at ten o’clock it changes to Gemini and so on, through all the signs.’
‘And that makes everyone individual unless of course you are born at the same time, at the same hour in the same place as someone.’
‘Exactly. You’re a bright kid. Your Sun sign determines your general characteristics – how you look, how you are on a superficial level – but your risin’ sign also contributes to makin’ up your personality and you have Aries risin’, which will sometimes make you impetuous and impatient. People who have a strong Aries in their charts tend to be leaders and have lots of energy, but they do tend to rush at things.’
‘I think I understand,’ I said.
‘Just be patient, go through the list with Marcie, let all the cards be out on the table before you say what you think should or shouldn’t ’appen.’
‘OK. You’re saying that I have to slow down. I think I can do that,’ I said. ‘Already the first two options on the list didn’t turn out how I thought.’ Nessa put things so nicely that it all seemed do-able and I felt OK, unlike when my family spoke to me, when it always seemed that I was doing something wrong. ‘So will I see you today?’
‘Not me but you’ll see Uri.’
‘Great,’ I said. I liked Uri. ‘Got to go – I can see Marcie’s car pulling up.’
‘’Ave a good day then. Laters, Zodiac Girl.’
‘Laters, Nessa.’ Talking to her had made me feel a million times better and I went to open the door for Marcie feeling optimistic about trying out another option on the list.
‘What’s up with Marcie?’ whispered Demi as we squeezed into the back of her car after everyone had arrived.
I shrugged. ‘Marcie, what’s up?’
‘Nothing. I’m fine,’ she said unconvincingly.
Maryam grimaced at me and Demi and I nodded. Fine she definitely wasn’t. I decided to try and cheer her up by being mega cooperative.
‘Hey, it’s bungee jumping today, isn’t it, Marcie? Should be a laugh.’
‘Maybe,’ she replied in a gloomy tone, ‘but I might skip it. We’ll see.’
Amazing, I thought. Nessa was so right about everything. I am hardly having to object at all because Marcie seems to be talking herself out of all the options on her own without me making a scene.
‘We should at least see what’s in
volved,’ I said. It was a lesson for life, I decided – go with the flow, keep an open mind, and watch how everything changes including how people feel about things.
The Bungee Bride branch of Celestial Weddings was situated on the ground floor of a tall office block on the outskirts of Osbury.
Uri appeared from the back room when we went inside.
‘You again,’ I said with a smile.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I told you I did the wackiest weddings.’ He gave me a wink. ‘Good to see you again and glad you’re up to try another alternative. Impressive.’
‘Nuh,’ mumbled Marcie, who still didn’t look happy at all.
Uri handed us a bungee brochure that showed all the things you could throw yourself off.
‘Can you think of a better way to seal the deal,’ he continued, ‘than by jumping off the nearest bridge or high building, arms entwined with your loved one?’
I glanced up from the ‘interesting’ locations from which you could throw yourself into oblivion. ‘Duh, yeah!’ I said. ‘But I am trying to remain open-minded until we have been through the whole list.’
Demi had gone white. ‘Please, please, Marcie. Please don’t make us do this. I didn’t realize it was bungee jumping today and I want to be a mate but I hate heights. I’ll be sick.’
And get whiplash, I thought. I decided that now would be the time to share my ‘path of least resistance’ attitude to life.
‘Chill,’ I said. ‘It’ll be fun!’
‘I won’t make you do it,’ said Marcie. ‘All you and Chloe and Maryam have to do is be bridesmaids and look pretty.’
I gave Demi a smug look. I was right. It would be fine.
‘It’s Sam and I who have to make the jump,’ she added.
I wanted to ask her if she’d gone completely insane, but I was beginning to think that maybe she had. Maybe this was what love did to you. Turned you into a total nut job. I handed her the brochure.
She took it and glanced down the options. ‘OK. A challenge. We don’t have to decide anything yet, do we?’
Uri shook his head. ‘No. I’ll show you how it’s done. Now follow me, girls.’
He led us out of his office into the hall, where we took a lift up to the twentieth floor. Up top, it was cold and breezy and all of us pulled our coats tighter around us to keep out the wind. On the corner of the flat roof was a crane that went up and up into the sky. Marcie looked at it and gulped. I took her hand. She ought to be backing out about now, I thought but she took a step towards the crane.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ I said.
‘I do,’ she said in an unhappy voice. ‘Sam called last night to see how it was going. He’s so sorry he can’t be here and said I have to be his ears and eyes in this. He calls every night and loves hearing about what we’re doing. I can’t back out now.’
Uri ushered us on to a platform with low walls. Duh? Path of least resistance? This isn’t supposed to be happening, I thought. Uri closed the gate, pressed the control buttons and we were swung up and into the sky.
‘Warghhhhh!’ Marcie, Maryam, Demi and I screeched as one. We reached for each other’s hands and clung on to each other.
‘It’s perfectly safe,’ he beamed and he swung us up higher. I dared a peek. The ground below appeared further and further away. ‘Arggghhh!’
‘This is the typical height that people jump from,’ said Uri. ‘Look, Chloe, you can see for miles in every direction. Look around, breathe it in.’
I had my eyes shut tight. ‘No. No way. Marcie, this is mad. Sam should be doing this. It’s not fair that he’s not the one doing this so that he can see for himself how scary it is. I don’t care about not resisting. I hate this. It’s insane. Please. Enough. Marcie. Uri. Please let’s go back now.’
I opened my eyes to look at her pleadingly. She took a peep over the edge. ‘Er . . . yes,’ she said as she stepped back from the edge. ‘C-can we go down now, Uri?’
‘You’re the boss,’ he said. ‘It’s your wedding.’
‘No she isn’t,’ I said. ‘Sam’s the boss. It’s his wedding.’ I couldn’t help it. It was out before I could bite my tongue. I felt the platform lurch and my stomach clench with fear. I so hoped that it was safe.
Moments later, the movement stopped. ‘You can open your eyes now, girls,’ said Uri. ‘We’re back on the roof.’
We opened our eyes and I took a deep breath of relief.
‘So that gives you some idea of how it might feel. Exhilarating, huh?’ said Uri. ‘And you choose the location. We can do it from most high buildings or a bridge or a canyon, whatever you prefer.’
‘I think I’d prefer a cup of tea on level ground,’ said Marcie. Maryam, Demi and I nodded back at her.
‘There’s also our parachute dive wedding. It’s going to be very popular. Would madam like to see a video?’ Uri called after us as he opened the gate for us and we headed for the door that led to the lift. ‘Or maybe you’d like to hear about our paragliding? That’s a super option. You can do it together while your guests watch from the cliff edge. It’s beautifully symbolic – a couple stepping over the edge, going into the unknown.’ For a moment, Uri looked dreamy and I wondered if he’d ever been in love. In the meantime, Demi looked like she was going to throw up.
‘That was truly horrible,’ she groaned, ‘and we didn’t even jump. Remind me again why we’re doing this.’
‘For Sam,’ said Marcie in a clipped voice. ‘He wants the day to be fun.’
‘Fun yes, terrifying no. Isn’t the fact that you’re marrying him enough?’ I asked. ‘Won’t that make the day fun?’
Marcie shrugged. ‘It ought to, oughtn’t it? I don’t know. I want to make him happy. And marriage is a partnership. I have to give his suggestions a chance.’
‘You want to make him happy, but what about you, Marcie? I can honestly say I’ve never seen you more unhappy than this week,’ I said and Demi and Maryam nodded in agreement. I knew that I was going back on everything that Nessa had advised but she hadn’t been up there, miles above the ground.
A flash of irritation crossed Marcie’s face. ‘Well, nothing is decided,’ she said in a clipped tone, ‘and we still have a few more to try,’ but with a shaky hand, she ran a pencil through option three.
We went back to our house later that day and when Marcie had gone after a cup of tea with Mum, Demi, Maryam and I flicked through our Bridesmaids’ album in great sadness as though someone in it had died.
‘We have to face it,’ I said. ‘We have to let go of what we want. It has to be her dream wedding, not ours.’
‘Yes,’ said Demi and Maryam.
I picked up my Zodiac phone which was bleeping that I had a message. Let’s not be rigid in our thinking, from Dr Cronus, aka Saturn. I read it out to the girls.
‘Whatever,’ said Demi.
‘I guess,’ said Maryam. ‘We haven’t met Dr Cronus, have we?’
I shook my head. ‘No, and I don’t think he was at the wedding show either.’
The Zodiac phone bleeped again. This time it said, Life is determined not by what happens but how you respond to what happens, from Dr Cronus again. I read it out in my poshest voice and Demi and Maryam cracked up.
‘Well, I would have thrown up if we’d stayed up on that crane,’ said Maryam. ‘That’s how I would have responded.’
‘Me too,’ said Demi.
‘But we’re agreed,’ I said. ‘We’ll go along with the list with no objections until she decides?’
‘And then can we object?’ asked Demi.
‘Um, not sure,’ I said. ‘Her wedding, not ours.’
‘We’ll put our own desires aside for Marcie’s happiness,’ said Demi.
‘Even if it means madness,’ said Maryam.
‘I suppose,’ I said in a hushed voice. ‘That will be my motto from now on. Her wedding, not mine.’
As we sat looking through my album, I realized that I had to let go of agonizing about how it could have been if
we had done it my way. Poor Marcie. It was her wedding and I had been insensitive by not really listening to what she wanted. I know she’s trying to please Sam, I thought, and maybe that’s enough, but . . . I wonder what she really wants in her heart.
Chapter Ten
Underwater Bride
Thursday was number four on the list – the Aquarium wedding. Marcie, Maryam, Demi and I were sitting snug as bugs in the Europa cafe in Osbury, sipping mugs of hot chocolate before we went to the Aquarium. It was raining so hard outside that we could have had an underwater wedding in the street, so we weren’t in any hurry to get going.
Marcie had the brochure on the table in front of her. ‘Sam, the vicar and I swim in a giant fish tank,’ she explained. ‘You girls wear wetsuits, flippers and goggles with bits of seaweed ribbon strewn in your hair. The rest of the guests watch from outside the tank. For music, we could have the sound of whales or dolphins honking in the distance.’
‘And no doubt it would be seafood at the reception?’ Demi asked innocently.
Marcie nodded. ‘Yes. I think that’s the idea.’
‘Maybe you and Sam could jump out of the tank when it’s time for wedding cake – you know, like feeding time for the dolphins at Sea World,’ said Maryam equally innocently.
‘Ohmicod!’ said Demi. ‘At least the photos will be different. No one will have wedding pics to top us in wetsuit gear.’
I knew that they were having a laugh at Marcie’s expense and I couldn’t blame them. All her wedding guests would laugh too if she didn’t come to her senses soon. In the meantime though, I had sworn to myself that I would be supportive to the very last option on the list. ‘I’m sure Nessa could make you something gorgeous, Marcie. A dinky little swimsuit in white with some lovely freshwater pearls sewn in. It might actually look really lovely, the two of you swimming, your hair flowing out behind you.’
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