by Kitty Wilson
She chuckled to herself; her naughtiness did amuse her. And now she was on their doorstep ready and willing to make all their wedding dreams come true.
‘Oh hello, how lovely to see you, shall I come in?’ Marion greeted her hostess as Rosy came to the door and gave the headteacher a quick double air kiss before heading into the living room, a great big granite fireplace a nod to its Cornish history and two richly coloured but old sofas, both riddled with dog hair.
Ah, and there was the culprit. Matt and Rosy didn’t have children yet so Marion bent down to make a fuss of their dog. It really could do with a good brushing. She beamed her friendliest hello at Matt, who smiled at her and put the garden supplement he was reading down.
‘Who’s a good boy, hey, good boy.’ She ruffled the dog on the top of its little head and then beamed again at Matt as Rosy gestured with her arm to the opposite sofa. The dog just stared at her, unresponsive to the fuss she was making, is tail remaining perfectly static, its lip curling up a little at the corner. Perhaps it had been dropped on its head as a pup?
‘So, Rosy, Matt, thank you so much for agreeing to see me.’ Marion bestowed her most ingratiating smile as Rosy cut her a wedge of cake from the tin on the table. Cake? One hardly kept svelte with cake but she took the plate with just the right amount of jollity.
Matt quirked an eyebrow. ‘From what Rosy said you didn’t— ow!’ Rosy dug her elbow into her fiancé and gave Marion a please-carry-on nod. She was a sensible girl.
‘I’ve been putting a lot of thought into many things, life in general and just between us friends’ – she grinned inclusively – ‘I have decided the time may have come to change direction. All the boys are settled and in full-time school and as dedicated as I am to Penmenna School’ – Rosy nodded in acknowledgement; there was no one in the surrounding community that didn’t doubt Marion’s commitment – ‘the time has come for me to spread my wings.’ Marion took a deep breath; did she want to admit the change in her marital situation just yet? She hadn’t told the boys so should she now tell Rosy and Matt?
She decided against it. She didn’t want to secure this job because they pitied her and whilst she chose to see herself leaving Richard because of his philandering as a strong move, a symbol of her unwillingness to put up with being messed around, she knew that society in general – no matter how much it had moved on – still seemed to see the wronged woman as an object of pity. Decision made to keep private things private for now, she ploughed on. ‘So I have decided to start my own business and it occurred to me that the timing couldn’t be better for either you or me.’
She looked across at Matt and Rosy, who were sitting opposite her and who both had smiles plastered on their faces but didn’t look as enthused as she had expected. Did they not understand the opportunity she was offering them?
‘That sounds like a fabulous idea, Marion, I’m very excited for you. But I am, um…’ The headmistress swapped what could only be described as an anxious look with her partner, and Marion used the opportunity to slip a small piece of the cake onto the floor.
Scramble moved closer.
‘…am unsure how we can help?’ Rosy continued.
‘Oh, dear, I don’t want your help, oh no. On the contrary, I am here to help you!’ They weren’t looking convinced. ‘Let me explain how. I have many skills as you know, but I excel at organizing events, making sure everything runs smoothly and pulling things together, preventing problems before they occur and adding finishing touches that make an average event extraordinary.’
‘You do, that’s undeniable. The Valentine’s party you threw at Chase’s house was outstanding. Do you remember, Matt?’
‘I didn’t really look at the décor that night but I do remember people talking about it for a long time afterwards. And I can’t fault you in helping with the Save-our-School campaign; you were a… um… a force, that’s for sure,’ Matt added, swapping another look with his partner. More cake down.
‘Thank you, Matt, and this is how I can help you. You and Rosy both lead very busy professional lives, but with love in the air and a wedding coming up I expect you are worrying about how you will manage to fit everything in.’
‘I’m not really that w—’ Matt yelped again; Rosy was most uncoordinated with her elbows.
‘Sorry, Marion, please do continue.’
‘As I was saying you must be worried about the huge responsibility for someone with your public profile, but if I stepped in as your events manager and, in this instance, wedding planner then all of that organizing would be off your hands. Ta da!’ She imitated someone with a magic wand before continuing, ‘All the bothersome details, dealing with the invitations, accommodation for the guests, seating arrangements, tricky relatives…’ At this Matt’s ears pricked up.
‘Just a minute, Marion, are you saying if we have any guests that could be a little… um… demanding that you will take them in hand? Deal with all of their nonsense?’ Matt leant forward. A sleight of hand and the last of the cake was on the floor.
Scramble came up and sat right next to her.
‘Oh yes absolutely, all part of the service. Look, see how quickly your dog has warmed to me.’ Taking in Hand was one of Marion’s top five skills. ‘I’m very skilled with people and dogs, particularly the difficult ones. But all the enjoyable bits, the bits you want to do then obviously you get to do those, you know, choosing the dress, picking the cake, the colour scheme and then I do absolutely everything else. You, Rosy, could drift through summer term without a single worry about your upcoming nuptials and you, Matt, could concentrate on the next series of Green-fingered and Gorgeous rather than having to worry about groomsmen suits, buttonholes or seating plans. Both of you enjoying the summer and knowing that the most important event of your lives was in the most capable hands.’
She paused for breath. Matt was sitting up straighter and looking at her with a very definite gleam in his eye. ‘Now as you know I am well versed in making things look high-end; my eye for quality is unmatchable, I’m sure you’ll agree. So, I can envision the perfect wedding for someone of your social standing, Matt, with your profile and your sister’s. We can make it glitzy and glamourous, the wedding of the year and all completely stress-free and with zero inp— effort from you. I will find you the most perfect location, easily able to cater to all your showbiz friends.’
‘I think we were rather hoping for a small intimate affair, Marion. We were going to have it in the village church. We’ve already spoken to Dan and Alice has offered to help…’ It was Rosy’s turn to lean forward to catch Marion’s attention.
‘Pshaw… Alice, what does she know? I mean, lovely girl, far more spirit than I ever realized but do you really think she has the skill set for this sort of event? Hmmm?’ Marion paused to let that sink in. ‘If you insist in having it in the church, um, let me think… romantic, country-living, traditional plus it’s got the capacity for about two hundred guests I should imagine, we could easily fit in a string quartet if we tucked them at the back, yes, yes, we can make that work.’ She pasted a grin on, but really. Alice as an advisor? That freezing cold smelly old church? Dear me, oh no, this would not do at all. This was to be her debut, her moment. Her own wedding had been a very small affair, bare and in no way the lavish extravaganza she had always pictured symbolizing the change from her old life to her new one.
‘I’m not sure we’ll have two hundred guests,’ Rosy said.
‘I’m fairly sure we don’t want a string quartet,’ Matt added.
‘Oh, you are sweet.’ She sighed and clasped her hands together, deliberately designed to conjure up images of weddings and marital bliss that would put Disney to shame. ‘Of course you will. Everyone will want to come. And Matt, you may not think you want one but that’s what I’m here for, to show you all the possibilities and then get them in place with zero stress to yourselves. It’s going to be fabulous.’ She just needed to get them to agree for now; the finer details could be sorted out later.
‘Marion, this is all very kind of you and there is nothing Matt and I would rather do than support you in your new endeavour, however…’ Rosy interrupted her fiancé and her facial expression was not filling Marion with hope.
‘I’m sure I could get you stuffed swans, Matt. Nothing is too much trouble.’ How on earth was she supposed to do that? She was bound to be a crack shot but even she wasn’t prepared to take on the Queen!
‘I don’t know, Rosy,’ Matt moved a gentle hand to his fiancée’s leg. ‘I think this could work; I think this could be a very good idea indeed. Marion, no to the swans but as to the rest of it let us have some time to think it over and we’ll get back to you in the next couple of days. How does that sound?’
That sounded like it was in the bag. Marion grinned and patted her knees with joy; she knew he had always had a soft spot for her. You could see who had the brains in this relationship.
Chapter Nine
With Rosy and Matt’s wedding practically secured and lunch scheduled with Angelina for Thursday, Marion’s nascent business was looking better and better and she couldn’t resist feeling very pleased with herself. However, she still needed more clients. Nothing was secure yet so she wrote up a list of all potentials. Maybe she could check out Penmenna Hall, where Matt’s TV programme was filmed, and see if they had anything planned that she could turn her hand to.
There was no harm in harnessing local events alongside the celebrity ones she was hoping to bag. They’d be writing features about her in the Sunday supplements before the year was out. Marion Marksharp, the events people’s events person. She could see the strapline now, and the photoshoot. She quite liked working so far; she should have started this years ago.
Whilst she didn’t really want to be dwelling on the matrimonial heartbreak that had led her to this point, she couldn’t help but think that weddings seemed like a very good starting place. And with the romance that had been blossoming in Penmenna over the last couple of years, why should she stop at Matt and Rosy? Perhaps she could give some other couples a nudge, play Cupid alongside wedding planner.
And with Cornwall still being terribly chi-chi, she had the most perfect backdrop. If she could get Alex and Sylvie married, and maybe Pippa and Kam then that would be a strong start. Perhaps push Alice and Dan down the aisle; after all, he was a vicar – he shouldn’t really be living in sin. Alice was staying at The Vicarage most nights and Marion doubted it was for further bible study. Ooh, at this rate she would have a drop-dead stunning portfolio of different types of weddings before the year was out. If she could just get Rosy and Matt to ditch their stupid idea of a small wedding then she could set them up at Penmenna Hall and throw a full-on country house, local gentry type of affair. She rubbed her hands in glee at the thought of all the media attention that one wedding alone would garner.
However, with the school disco this week, she needed to get into school and make sure everything was running to plan. Her ladies were well trained now, with Jenny having worked alongside her for the last five years; she felt they could organize the events seamlessly without her monitoring every last minute, although Marion did like popping in to keep them on their toes. A couple of times she had actually made them screech when she came in through the door or crept up behind them. She knew it shouldn’t be so much fun, but it really was.
However, when her new venture really took off, and she had no doubt that it would, she may have to relinquish her PTA crown and trust the running of Penmenna School events to someone else. And unfortunately, despite having been her deputy for so long, she was not convinced that Jenny was queen bee material. An excellent worker bee but she just didn’t have the verve, the spark that leadership required. No, Marion would need someone with bite and she was going to have to consider her replacement very carefully.
She pulled into the school car park and got out of the car when she spied another parent parked up, albeit sitting in the passenger seat and playing on their phone. Really.
She marched up and tapped on the window.
‘Parents are not allowed in the staff car park; it’s always been made quite clear. These spaces are needed by those with urgent business at the school or the staff. Please remove your car at once or I shall call the clampers.’
‘But I—’
‘No, no buts, a successful world is not built on buts, it’s built on yes ma’ams – skedaddle, go on.’
Honestly some people. She marched into school to check in on how her ladies were doing and passed Alice, who was guiding one of the children and a parent into the car park. The child did look a little peaky; a greenish tinge accompanied a sick bag and worried-looking father. Alice… aha! She did need to speak to her about her new plans, but no, she’d let her get on for now. She had other people on the list to tackle first; it made no sense to go out of order.
She wandered into the corridor where the store cupboard was located, tucked at the back of the school where the PTA kept all the decorations, trestle tables and so forth. The Valentine’s disco was one of the easier of the year’s festivities, beaten only into second place by the harvest festival. There wasn’t much that needed to be done: the decorations from last year were perfectly okay to be reused; they had been made out of fabric rather than paper and she had sent them home last week with Sarah to be washed and ironed, the jelly sweets needed to be bagged up, and Serena was overseeing her idea for Cupid’s cupcake delivery.
‘Jenny!’ She didn’t have anything to say particularly, but the woman jumped on the spot and dropped the red table decorations she was holding. Marion smirked.
‘You need a bell.’ Serena, the other woman standing with her deputy, turned and grinned.
Serena and Marion had not got off to a good start, with the two women going head to head over how the PTA was run and by whom when the younger woman joined as a new parent in the school. Marion had only won that battle because Serena was the woman behind the poison pen letters that had told her, truthfully as it was now proven, that Richard was having an affair. Serena’s realization of how appalling her actions had been, albeit at the behest of that Claudia cow, and the knowledge that Marion had no qualms about trumpeting that far and wide had meant the woman agreed, reluctantly, to toe the line and accept Marion as the queen.
The meekness hadn’t lasted long but Marion was developing a sneaking fondness for the woman that was peeking out; her determination reminded her very much of herself.
‘We’ve everything under control here, Marion. We’ve bagged up the sweets into bags of ten, no more than one per child, and the tablecloths and floral decorations are ready to lay out in Kam’s classroom. Jenny has all the decorations ready to hang as soon as Sylvie has finished in the hall.’
‘Sylvie’s in the hall?’ Quick as a whippet, Marion spun on the spot and headed to the hall. Ah, she spied Sylvie teaching PE with Class Three in the hall. She had been number one on her list to see today.
‘Hello, Sylvie darling.’ She marched towards her and the whole of the class stopped to watch her. She knew she was a primary role model for the children in this school; they often stopped what they were doing when she came into a classroom.
‘Hello, Marion. Carry on everyone, please.’ Sylvie shot a smile across at her but kept her eyes on her class.
‘Sylvie, I’m so very pleased to see you – I have some news that could very well make your life a lot easier.’
‘Ah… okay, the thing is, Marion, I am teaching now.’
‘Music and movement, is it? Very well – you, Harry, you’re a good boy, aren’t you, dear? How’s that lovely father of yours, hmm?’ It occurred to Marion that she was single now; all those delicious men she had admired from afar were now free game. That was a silver lining she hadn’t considered before. It was a shame that Sylvie had captured Alex; after Matt he was by far the most sought
-after man in the village. But such was life, and at least now they were an item she could use that to her advantage, which was exactly why she was standing here right now.
She felt herself gulp. Neither Alex nor Matt were a patch on Richard. The endearing little quirks of the man she had married filled her mind and she wanted nothing more than what she’d thought she had with him. She wasn’t going to capitulate to her emotions now; she was doing brilliantly. She was not going to burst into tears in front of these children.
‘Don’t look so scared, boy. Here, you come to the front and be Simon says – you know, Simon says wave one arm and rub your tummy, that sort of thing. Excellent. Off you go.’ She called one of the pupils to the front, her voice giving no hint of the turmoil coursing around inside her. And by using such a brisk tone she managed to pull herself together, focus in on what she needed to achieve in this moment.
‘Marion, can this not wait?’
‘Oh dear, no I don’t think so. You see, I’m getting terribly busy already and I’d hate for you to miss out.’
Sylvie took a deep breath before asking, her eyes almost closed as she swung her head around, ‘And what are you worried I’d miss out on, Marion?’
Marion moved her to the corner of the hall. Harry was doing a great job – only two children had fallen over so far. ‘I’ve started up an events management company and we’re getting booked up terribly quickly and I would hate for you not to be able to take advantage of me for your big day.’
‘My big day?’ Sylvie looked quizzical.
‘Yes, dear, you’ve been dating for a while now, I’m sure wedding bells aren’t too far off in the future, you know, you and Alex wanting to set the date.’