“Does it hurt?”
“Yes and no. It’s a weird feeling. I can’t explain it.”
I sit and watch Cal as the tattoo artist works on the tattoo Cal had mentioned to me months ago. He had asked around for the best place and this guy had been recommended, but he had a waitlist as long as your arm.
When Cal contacted him and explained what he wanted, the guy had told him it would take several hours, but he could do it in one sitting. Cal had agreed, booked, and paid a deposit to secure it.
Due to the length of time it was going to take to complete the design Cal wanted, January was the earliest the guy could fit him in. So here we are, almost twelve months after Cal suggested it, getting his tattoo.
I’ll admit, when I walked into the studio, I was pleasantly surprised. The place wasn’t what I expected. Call it a cliché but I thought we’d be walking into a dirty, dark place where everyone would look as rough as houses. Instead a light, bright space with every wall decorated with tattoo designs to suit everyone’s taste, greeted us.
There were four rooms near the back, one for each tattoo artist, which were just as bright and airy as the main space. We had been greeted by a young girl, with full sleeves on both arms and an intricate rose design going around her neck and vanishing behind her top and down between her breasts. I’ll admit, I hadn’t been a fan of tattoos, but hers looked beautiful.
We were three hours in and Cal had just made the decision to keep the design black and white rather than add any colour. The artist, who himself was covered in many striking and detailed images of his own design, had said keeping it black and white would be more effective when it was completed, and I had to admit, I was excited to see the finished product.
I know we’ve at least two hours left here, so I take my phone out my pocket and open up a new game that everyone’s talking about. I downloaded Candy Crush on the way here so haven’t tried it yet, but apparently, it’s very addictive.
Before I know it, Cal is standing and receiving instructions from the artist on how to care for his new tattoo while it’s healing. I glance at the clock and see that I’ve been playing the game for almost two hours. I’m on level thirty-six and it feels like only ten minutes since I loaded up the game and started playing.
After paying and collecting the cream to care for his tattoo, we are outside and walking to the car. Cal’s arm and shoulder are covered in what looks like cling film, obscuring the design from my eyes, but I can see the redness on Cal’s skin. I wince as I imagine how it must feel and decide that I’m a massive coward as I would never, knowingly, let someone that close to me with a needle gun.
Never going to happen.
“It wasn’t that bad, Cris,” Cal says, as if reading my mind. “It stung more than it hurt, kind of like when you have a blood test.”
“Yeah, I don’t like having a blood test either, so that doesn’t really make me want to run in there and get one for myself.”
“I wouldn’t want you to get one anyway,” Cal says before looking at me. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s your body and all, so if you want to get one, it’s your decision, but I love your body the way it is.”
“Thanks, I think. You’ve nothing to worry about though. I didn’t see anything in there that would make me want to go back.”
Cal laughs as he takes my hand and leads me over to the car, stopping when his phone starts ringing. He tosses me the car keys, and I unlock the car and climb inside. Cal follows as he takes his phone from his pocket, and I see his brow furrow before he answers.
Caleb
Why would they be calling me? God, I hope nothing is wrong.
“Hello.”
“Mr Roberts? This is Cheryl from Nunsmere Hall. Are you free to talk at the moment?”
“Yes, Cheryl, how can I help you?” I see Cris looking at me with an odd expression on her face. She’s just as curious about the call as I am.
“I have some news for you, Mr Roberts, that I hope you and your fiancée will like. We’ve recently undergone quite an extensive refurbishment, and as a result, we now have the space to accommodate an evening reception for you and Miss Walker. Would that be something you’d be interested in?”
I listen as Cheryl gives me a bit more information and find myself wanting to scream a massive ‘yes’ down the phone. I know Crissie will feel the same way, but when Cheryl explains the pricing structure, the colour almost drains from my face.
“That sounds great, Cheryl. Could I ask that you email over all the information, please. I’ll discuss it with Crissie and let you know in a couple of days?”
“I’ll get that arranged for you, Mr Roberts. I feel I should mention, though, we can only hold the space for you for a few days. We’ve already had several enquiries since we updated the information on our website, and at least one of them has been for your date.”
“Okay, thank you, Cheryl. We’ll get back you to as soon as we can.” I hang up the phone and turn to Crissie, who’s still watching me.
“What was that about?”
“The wedding. We may have a venue for our reception.”
Her face lights up at my words as I take the keys from her and start the engine, filling her in on the conversation I just had with Cheryl as we drive home.
Crissie
See! This is why I never went into finance. I hate figures and budgets. Especially when it’s my own money, or lack of as the case may be.
Ever since Cal told me about the call from Nunsmere Hall, I’ve be trying to figure out if it’s financially viable for us to have our wedding reception there. We’ve struggled to find anywhere suitable that fits our budget and requirements, and Nunsmere would be perfect. Keeping everything under the same roof, so to speak, would be the perfect solution, if only it wasn’t so damned expensive.
We’ve already factored the actual wedding and wedding breakfast into our budget, so know we can do it, but having the reception there, with the number of people we want to invite, will stretch our budget to the max, and may mean we have to take out a small loan to cover the cost.
I’ve always had an idea in my head about what my perfect wedding would be, but one thing I always wanted to do was pay for it myself. The last thing I want to do is for us to go into debt to afford it.
After going through the figures, I can only come up with two ways for us to have our wedding at the same place; either we cut the number of guests coming to the reception by half, or we push back the wedding by at least twelve months to give us enough time to get the money together so we can have everyone there. Neither option is appealing, but if I had to choose, I know which one I would go for.
“It’s up to you, Cris. I’ll marry you wherever, whenever, and in front of whomever you want. As long as you’re there, everything else is just window dressing.”
I smile at his sweet words, and I know he’s being sincere. He’d marry me on the street with our neighbours watching from their windows if it was all we could afford. Thankfully, we don’t have to go down that route, but I’m still unsure which option is the best for us.
Do I want a wedding next year where half of the people I love can’t attend or do I want a wedding where everyone can attend, but not until two years time?
I chew on my bottom lip as I look at the figures in front of me. There really is no way we can do next year and have everyone there without going into debt to get it, and to me, that just isn’t an option.
“Cal, call them up. Ask if they can give us the same weekend in 2014. If they can, we’ll take the whole package.”
“You sure?”
“Yes,” I say quickly, before I change my mind.
Cal grabs his phone from the coffee table and redials the number Cheryl called on earlier. I can hear the phone ringing, before it stops and a voice answers.
“Hi, Cheryl, it’s Caleb Roberts. We spoke earlier today about the possibility of holding our wedding reception at your venue. I’ve discussed everything with my fiancée and we were wondering whether y
ou could offer us the same weekend, but in 2014 instead? Sure, no problem.”
I hear music coming from Cal’s phone, so I’m guessing she’s put him on hold while she checks the date is available. It stops after a few seconds and the voice comes back. The huge smile and thumbs up that Caleb gives me tells me she’s come back with good news.
“That’s great, Cheryl. Yes, the whole package. Are you able to transfer over what we’ve paid so far to the new date? That’s brilliant. Thanks for your help, Cheryl. I’ll await your email.” Cal hangs up and turns to me. “It’s all done.”
I stand up from my seat at the dining table to jump into Cal’s arms, planting a firm kiss on his lips. “I love you, Caleb Roberts.”
And I proceed to show him exactly how much I love him.
Chapter 30
Crissie
Present Day
The venue was so beautiful.
We went to see it two weeks later and Cheryl was more than happy to show us around where the ceremony, wedding breakfast and evening reception would be held. What we hadn’t realised at the time was that, included in the package, was a two-night stay in the honeymoon suite, which we were thrilled about.
They were willing to accommodate any colour scheme we preferred and would dress the tables and chairs accordingly. They could also block out a number of rooms at a preferential rate for any of our friends and family who wanted to stay over. All in all, despite me initially second guessing myself, we were very happy with our decision to push back the wedding, if it meant our day would be as we imagined.
On a completely different note, Cal’s tattoo healed really well, and when I finally got to see it, I cried. He had originally told me it was going to be a tribal design weaving across his shoulder and down his arm, but what he’d actually had done was an angel, with Aria’s name woven into the design. It was beautiful in its simplicity, and I loved it, and loved him more than I ever felt possible.
The next few weeks and months that passed by were uneventful, until the time came for me to hunt for my wedding dress. I’d looked at dozens of magazines and websites to try and find my perfect dress, but none of them called to me.
I’d always been told that when you find the dress, you just know, kind of like when you find the man you’re meant to be with, but it was proving more difficult than I ever imagined it would do.
Chapter 31
Crissie
22 June 2013.
Today should have been mine and Cal’s wedding day. Well, it would have been had we not chosen to put it back twelve months. So, instead of marrying the man of my dreams, I’m out with my bridal party hunting for the perfect wedding dress.
I’d made an appointment at a bridal boutique in Chester over two weeks ago, and now I was here, bright and early, with Pippa, who was my maid of honour, Lizzie, my mum and Cal’s mum. We had four hours to try and find my perfect dress. The consultant, Wendy, had explained that brides rarely find their dress on the first visit and that it usually took two or three before the right dress was found.
That scared me. Just looking at the rails and rails of dresses scares me. God, I am really getting married. Even though Cal and I have been engaged for some time—hell, we even have everything booked—it’s only now sinking in that I am actually going to be wearing the big white dress and pledging to spend the rest of my life with him.
As if Wendy can sense how I feel, she puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder and smiles.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll take this at your pace. Do you have an idea of what you’re looking for?” When I shoot her a blank expression, she just smiles. “That’s not a problem. I’ll go and pick out a few different styles I think will suit your figure and we’ll go from there. You’re a size ten, I’m guessing?”
I nod and smile at her as she walks towards one of the rails. Wendy pulls out three dresses and hands them to one of her assistants before moving to another rail and pulling out two more. All I can see is a mass of white and ivory material as the assistant takes them over to the large changing area and hangs each one up.
“Do you want one of your party to come in and help you, sweetie, or are you okay with me? Some of these dresses you need to be laced into, so someone needs to help.”
Laced into? The expression on my face must show my fear as the consultant laughs and takes my hand. “Come on, honey, we’ll start with a zip and work our way up to the laces.”
All I can do is nod and follow her towards the changing area, leaving my family sitting in their chairs, sipping their complimentary glass of champagne as they wait for me to, hopefully, find the wedding dress of my dreams.
Three hours in and still no dress. I’ve tried on ten so far, I think, and whilst they’ve all been beautiful, and had my mum in tears more than once, none of them have felt right.
Even though I’ve not found the right dress yet, at least I know what I’m looking for now. I don’t want a big merengue style dress. I don’t want something that’s covered in sparkles and sequins. What I want is something simple and classy; something that shows off just enough skin to be deemed sexy, but not so much that it looks trashy.
I’ve explained all of this to Wendy, and she beamed at me, saying she had the perfect dress. Her smile is infectious, and I found myself smiling with her as she hurried out to find the so-called perfect dress.
Now, I’m standing here in my undies, wrapped in a bathrobe while I wait for her to come back in. I find myself thinking about Cal and everything we’ve been through over the last seven years. Jesus, we’ve actually been together seven years.
I think back to the day he asked me out. Never in a million years did I think we’d last this long. I couldn’t have possibly imagined that I’d be shopping for my wedding dress and preparing to marry him in twelve months’ time. It’s been a long road and we’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, but I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else but him.
Cal is my rock. He’s the one I go to when things get rough, the one I count on to get me through the tough times. I know he will support me in anything I choose to do with my life, and I love him more than anything for it. I can only hope he feels the same way about me.
I’m about to grab my phone from my bag to text him when the consultant comes back in with a huge smile on her face.
“I’ve been doing this for over twenty-five years, honey, and let me just say, I think this is your dress.” She hangs the dress up and stands back next to me as we both look at it. “It’s simple yet elegant. It has clean lines and the only bit of detailing is on the back and down the train. You’re going to look beautiful, Crissie. Now, let’s get you out of that robe and into this dress. I can’t wait for your family to see you.”
Fifteen minutes later, I’m in the dress, looking at my reflection, in floods of tears. Oh, they’re happy tears. Wendy was right. The dress is perfect.
How such a simple dress can look so right is beyond me. The entire dress is ivory silk-satin, with a wide band of lace cinching in my waist. The front has a deep V-neck that’s sexy but doesn’t flash too much cleavage. The back mirrors the front and is fastened by a row of pearl buttons. The dress has a two-foot train that fans out behind me when I walk.
It’s the dress.
“You ready to go out and show everyone?” Wendy asks as she fixes my train, so it falls correctly when I walk out.
I manage to stem the tears and nod, unable to speak because of the lump in my throat. I take a few deep breaths before Wendy opens the door to the main area and I’m greeted with gasps as my family see me for the first time. This time, it’s not just my mum who cries.
Wendy’s assistant is busy handing out tissues as I turn to give everyone a full 360 of the dress, before I stop and look at myself in the mirror.
“You look beautiful, Crissie. I can’t believe my baby girl is actually getting married.”
I hear my mum’s tearful words, but I don’t respond. I can’t. If I do, my voice is going to come out all garbled with
the tears I’m trying so hard to suppress.
"That's the one, Cris," I hear Pippa say from behind me. "That's the dress."
Smiling, I turn to her and nod. I've been doing a lot of that since we walked into the boutique, first out of shock, then fear, and now happiness. My friend is right; everyone is right. Taking a deep breath, I force the words out, grateful my voice sounds relatively normal. "This is the dress."
Four hours after leaving the bridal boutique, I'm walking in my front door. Everyone was in agreement that I found my wedding dress today. The fit was perfect, and Wendy had said that, barring me losing or gaining weight before the ceremony, no alterations would need to be made.
My mum and Elaine headed home after we left the boutique, but Pippa, Lizzie and I had gone to lunch and discussed their dresses for the wedding. Luckily for me, both girls were happy with my idea of a floor-length, Grecian style dress with one shoulder and embellishments around the waistline. The colour I'd chosen—a light ice blue—also went down well.
I hadn't expected them to agree so readily, which made my life a whole lot easier, so we had agreed a time to meet up in a couple of weeks to start the hunt for their dresses, not to mention accessories for all three of us.
I've decided against having a veil, that much I know for certain. I have plenty of time to decide how I want to do my hair and make-up, which Pippa has already agreed to do for me. Things are starting to come together, and I hope Cal and the men in the wedding party have had just as much luck as I have today.
While I went looking for my dress, Cal, my dad, his dad, his best friend and also his best man, Gary, had gone hunting for their suits. We'd agreed on a standard three-piece suit, agreeing that a full morning suit wasn't for us. The rest, I was leaving up to Cal. I knew I could trust him to pick something that would look good on all the men.
Takes You Page 14