Happy Ever After

by Kitty Wilson

  ‘Well, I wanted to give my ladies a chance to shine. Sometimes if I’m there they fade a little into the background so I thought the decent thing would be to let them take the lead. But I thought I heard Matt; I had hoped to catch you both today.’ She peeked around Rosy to give him a little wave, her face falling as she realized the laugh belonged to Kam Choudhury, the only male member of staff. Drat!

  Rosy motioned her into the office, but left the door open.

  ‘Matt’s not here, I’m afraid, but Dan is coming over tonight to discuss the wedding. I was going to ask if you’d like to join us? And yes, the dance went very smoothly.’ Rosy continued, ‘I think everyone had a wonderful time and Jenny certainly seemed very pleased with the takings at the end. And the cupcake secret delivery, what a fabulous idea, that was new and seemed to go down very well indeed.’ Rosy referenced the latest fundraising idea of sending a cupcake from a stall to your crush and having it delivered anonymously.

  ‘Fine, yes, I’d love to join you, and I think a little romance does us all good. The cupcakes were Serena’s idea to give credit where it’s due. Such a dear friend.’ Both Rosy and Kam looked at her, eyes wide. ‘And how do you think she did? And Jenny?’

  ‘Oh, um… yes… they both did well; as I said, a great success.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Marion looked pensive. ‘But which one did better?’

  ‘Oh, I didn’t realize it was a competition,’ Rosy responded.

  Honestly, some people were so naive.

  ‘When one is looking for a leader then a bit of competition is healthy, don’t you think? I’d argue it was imperative in order to find the best candidate.’

  ‘Hmm. I don’t like the thought of you gone; you say it with such finality,’ Rosy said. ‘The school won’t be the same without you.’

  She looked genuine enough, and Marion knew Rosy wasn’t the type to say things just to be polite so she relaxed her shoulders again and felt a little bit of warmth course through her body.

  ‘Ooh, I’m sure you’ll still see a lot of me. Fledgling days for the new business so I’ll be about for a little while yet. Now I do need to track down the cash box so I shall nip over to yours at seven and we’ll have a wonderful evening. I just know you’re going to love my ideas.’ That bit was a lie but maybe before the evening was over they would.

  Her ladies were having a Valentine’s Day debrief in the staffroom so that was her next stop: swizz in and check and assess for herself who was leading in the stakes to take over her role. By rights it should be Jenny but she couldn’t help the increasingly sneaking fondness she had for Serena.

  She was approaching the staffroom when she heard her name and, as was only human, paused to hear what was being said. She knew there’d be a big gap in the school when she couldn’t be there as frequently as she used to be – Rosy had just said so – and assumed they were pondering this. Carefully she crept along the wall and then leant back against it, just to the edge of the door frame so she could hear clearly.

  ‘Marion?’ she heard Jenny say.

  ‘I’m a bit worried about her; she’s more absent than usual and when she’s here she’s racing faster than a jaguar through the school and making even crazier demands than normal. She tried to force me into marriage with Alex earlier this term to suit her schedule and Alex didn’t give much detail but said her and R—’ Sylvie was speaking. Crazier demands than normal – how rude!

  ‘Marion is fine,’ Jenny snapped with a frostiness that Marion was proud of. Yes, pull the drawbridge up; don’t you dare let them whisper about me.

  ‘It was just that I wanted to ask how we could best support—’ Sylvie was cut off again, but this time by Pippa, the teaching assistant from Class One.

  ‘Richard is back, I saw him after the dance the other night, in Treporth Bay when I was with Kam.’

  ‘Oh my God, he wasn’t at Claudia’s, was he?’ Serena’s shock was clear in her voice. Marion knew why she was asking. Claudia had her second home in the same apartment block as Kam, so if Pippa had seen him, that was probably why.

  Ooh, she could feel her temper rising. If he had come back to Penmenna and then when she’d kicked him out gone and stayed with Claudia… Marion felt her blood begin to boil. If he was still treating her like a fool and in their own back yard, she was going to have something to say. She toyed with storming in and asking for a clear answer, hoping the shock of her presence would stun them into an honest response.

  ‘No, no. In fact, I’m fairly sure I saw an estate agent whacking in a post and a for sale sign up in her window; she’s not be down for ages so definitely not there. I saw him going into The Cormorants – it was quite late.’ Pippa named a hotel in the bay.

  ‘On his own?’ Jenny questioned, her earlier determination to close the conversation down clearly disappeared once there was a whiff of scandal. Marion wouldn’t be surprised if her ears had popped up and stood to attention. ‘On Valentine’s Day?’

  ‘Yup.’

  There was a brief silence as everyone digested this fact.

  Marion calmed herself down and splayed her whole body against the wall, holding the position tight as well as the breath in her body as she leant over to hear more. Her body angled like a question mark, her ear was as close to the door as she could get it. It wasn’t the easiest position to hold but she figured it was the best way to hear every last word.

  ‘Oh, that doesn’t bode well.’

  ‘Exactly, so I wanted to know how we can help. I’m fond of Marion. To be honest it took a little while, and her conviction that I was some sort of stripper didn’t help…’

  ‘Ooh, I remember that,’ Jenny answered gleefully. Dear God, that woman would sell her own babies down the river for some gossip. And how cruel of Sylvie to bring up the exotic dancer thing; everyone leapt to assumptions – it was human nature. How was Marion to know she was a prima ballerina? She hardly dressed like one and Marion had seen the way she shovelled food in – not the actions of someone classically trained.

  ‘So, you’re saying that Marion might need a little bit of nurturing – we can do that. She still drives me wild but I know you like her, Sylvie, and so does Rosy, and I don’t like to think of anyone being upset. We should get Alice involved; she’s always good at this sort of thing.’

  This sort of thing? She was hardly a this or a thing! Marion was leaning so hard now she feared she may topple over.

  ‘Mrs Marksharp! Why are you bending over like that, are you alright?’ A child’s voice came from nowhere, loud, really loud, and startling Marion so much that she almost lost her balance.

  ‘Are you in pain, Mrs Marksharp?’ came the second voice, slightly quieter, but as Marion heard a hush descend over the staffroom she knew Ellie’s voice, the first child’s – loud enough to pierce a drum – had been heard and she had just been caught eavesdropping.

  ‘No, no, dear, it was nothing. Shoo now.’ She flapped her hands at them in an attempt to drive them away as she hissed quietly but as firmly as was possible.

  ‘Oh, are you being a cat? Your uncle Tom’s cat rubs itself against the wall all the time, doesn’t it?’ Ellie pronounced loudly as she looked at her friend.

  ‘It does, to get rid of the fleas.’ Sam nodded as he offered his explanation.

  ‘I hardly have fleas!’ Marion was indignant. Why did children have so many questions? For a second, she wished the children in Penmenna School weren’t taught to be quite so confident.

  ‘Well what were you doing then?’ Ellie was inquisitive and clearly not prepared to give up. ‘My dad says lots of people are a bit odd and we have to be understanding about people being different to us. Were you just being differ—’

  Ellie’s questioning was halted as Sylvie came out of the staffroom. Sam was her son and Ellie was Alex’s so she was the obvious person to respond to their voices.

  ‘Children, what are you doing here? Oh, Marion, hello, are you alright?’ She echoed Ellie’s question as she looked at her with sympathy. As well she m
ight, clearly having just caught her in the act of listening intently to the conversation about her.

  ‘Absolutely fine, thank you, Sylvie.’ Marion was aware her tone was brisk but she was a little embarrassed. ‘I was just heading into the staffroom; I’m hoping some of my ladies are in there and preferably with the cash box from the Valentine’s dance or we’re going to have a bit of a problem.’ She barged her way past Sylvie and into where the others were all gathered, Sylvie following behind her, the two children agog at the door.

  ‘Hello, everybody, lovely to see you. I’ve come to find out about the Valentine’s dance. I assume it couldn’t have gone too wrong.’ There was a chorus of hello Marions from the PTA as Pippa raised her eyebrows and shook her head at Marion’s entrance. She’d always had a tendency for stroppiness, that one. Marion had no idea what the Class Two teacher, charming Mr Choudhury, saw in her. Maybe Ellie’s dad was right.

  However now was not the time for that. She caught sight of the cash box on the table in front of Serena.

  She beamed at the PTA members sitting around the table. ‘Thank goodness for that, I was beginning to worry. Nice to see it so full. I hear the dance went very well indeed, even without me.’ This was okay, she could do this; no one had said anything about her eavesdropping and neither did they have looks of pity on their face after hearing Richard was in a hotel. That was a bit of a relief. It was hard enough dealing with the realities of her life right now; being spoon-fed faux sympathy was not going to help her. However, if gossip was spreading maybe now was the time to halt it, get the facts out there. She took a deep breath and looked at the faces around the table. ‘I overheard a snippet of what you were saying so it seems timely to let you all know that Richard and I are now separated, we are both very happy with the decision and will continue to parent our boys amicably.’ Then she sat back, folded her arms and gave her most terrifying look to all present, just in case anyone mistakenly thought she needed to hear any more of their opinions or their commiserations. There, it was done, everyone knew now. And she hadn’t melted into a puddle on the floor.

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘Hello, hello, hello. Only me.’ Marion didn’t bother ringing the doorbell and waiting; with the amount of time she was going to spend with them over the coming months and the trust they had put in her to organize the wedding she knew they wouldn’t mind her letting herself in. ‘Coo-ee!’

  ‘Marion?’ Matt popped his head around the living room door and looked shocked as he saw Marion in his hallway. She couldn’t blame him; she was wearing a beautifully fitted tweed dress today.

  ‘Hello, darling, thought I’d let myself in, save you getting up. Are you ready?’ She brandished her tablet at him and walked into the living room. ‘I have oodles of fabulous ideas for you and Rosy to consider. I was so pleased when you agreed to have me as your wedding planner; it really will take the burden off the both of you and you know you can rely on me to deliver a top-notch event.’ She paused to grin at them, because it had said to do so in the plan she had put together in preparation for this meeting. Marion was fond of plans; they took away any anxiety about an event by having a step-by-step guide to controlling the action. Next step was to let them know that she was grateful for their custom and fully prepared to make their wedding the best day they could ever hope for.

  ‘I listened very carefully to what you said last time we met and I have thought of some ideas.’

  ‘Um… we don’t really need ideas; we know exactly what we want. We just need you to—’ Matt interrupted her.

  ‘And that makes my job so much easier, thank you for that, Matt.’ Her ears were going to fall off if she faux-grinned much harder. ‘But there may be things that haven’t even crossed your mind, that I have thought of so if you hear me out then I think you’ll find I have some very exciting news.’

  ‘Go on.’ Matt dragged the two words out, looking at her as if marauding hordes were likely to come through the door any minute at her command. He didn’t have to be so suspicious; she had his best interests at heart.

  ‘No doubt you have spoken to your sister and she has shared her fabulous news with you.’

  Matt broke into a genuine smile at this and grabbed Rosy’s hand as he grinned.

  ‘Yes, it makes me so happy. Chase is good for her and knowing that she is secure and settled is an amazing feeling.’

  ‘It must be. I understand how close the two of you are, how you brought her up after your parents died. It can’t have been easy and you have done so superbly if I may say.’

  Matt inclined his head.

  ‘He really did. And he was so young.’

  ‘Quite. Angelina told me that you had always said that you couldn’t really settle down until she had and now, ta-daa, it looks like you both are happy and ready to tie the knot this summer. So knowing how important Angelina is to you, Matt, what better idea—’

  ‘No!’ said Rosy forcefully, in a tone that Marion had never heard her use before. Then she looked as if she had thought twice and turned to Matt, scrunching her eyes up with self-sacrifice as she did so. ‘Of course, if you want to…’

  ‘If you’d let me finish.’ So rude to interrupt. ‘What better idea than to have the two of you combine forces and have a Masters wedding extraordinaire. I have a whole list of positiv—’

  ‘No!’ said Matt.

  ‘But the advantages, not to mention the emotional satisfaction—’

  ‘NO,’ Rosy and Matt said, unanimously this time. Both holding Marion’s eyes with a very firm look.

  Damn, she had known this would be difficult but thought she could convince them how perfect it would be. Perfect for them as a family and perfect for her profile as an events coordinator. Drat. She was going to have to pull out the big guns.

  Matt looked at her. ‘Rosy and I have told you we know exactly what we want. Tonight is about letting you know the full details an—’ He was interrupted by a bark from Scramble, who had been stretched out on the floor in front of the fire, with everything on display. Most distasteful.

  ‘That must be Dan.’ Rosy jumped up and headed to the door as someone knocked on it. Clearly the vicar wasn’t on good enough terms with them to just let himself in.

  ‘Dan? Oh goodie.’ Marion couldn’t help the worlds slip out of her mouth; the local vicar was an absolute dish. Too squeaky clean for her but perfect for his girlfriend Alice, and it did no harm to look. She wondered if he’d be in his dog collar – there was something extra special about forbidden fruit.

  ‘Hello, Dan, do come in and take a seat.’ She patted the space on the sofa next to herself as the vicar entered the room. ‘We’re going to have such fun. Now if we’re all settled let’s get to it and I can tell you how I see the day itself panning out.’

  ‘Hello, Marion.’ Dan smiled. Ooh, he was delicious. She breathed in, a default response to an attractive man; it made her look thinner and she’d been doing it automatically since she was fourteen. Would she have to breathe in twice as deep now she was single? She supposed that was something she could have to think about late at night when her mind was awhirl. She needed to fill it with this type of nonsense rather than flitting between wondering what she had done wrong, what she had done to alienate her husband and drive him into Claudia’s arms and what a bastard he was. It was exhausting, utterly emotionally draining and not particularly conducive to sleep.

  ‘Dan.’ Rosy touched a hand to his arm. ‘Come and sit down, and let’s slow down a bit and…’

  ‘No time to slow down, dear; if you want to get married this summer then we do need to get a wriggle on, especially if we want to make this a double Masters wedding extravaganza.’

  ‘We don’t, we made it quite clear,’ Matt said immediately.

  ‘Well, I know you said that…’ Marion tittered to mask her irritation. ‘But you didn’t really give me a chance to explain. To paint a picture of just how gorgeous it would be. Give me five minutes and I will wow you with the romance, the majesty and the glamou
r of it all.’

  ‘I think Rosy and Matt have a very clear picture of what they want, and from what I’ve heard majesty and glamour aren’t really on their wish list. Small and intimate is what they are after,’ Dan said.

  Honestly, if he wasn’t going to help!

  ‘Well, if their only advisor to date has been the village vicar, forgive me, Dan, then maybe that would explain why they are limiting themselves. Hmmm?’ She tried to put it nicely, but the trouble with the clergy was they had no vision, always harking back to the past. Last time she had checked Dan wasn’t even on Instagram.

  She couldn’t help but conclude that he didn’t understand exactly what was at stake here. Dan may be trying to look after their souls, but these two were so good he didn’t really need to worry. He could spend his time with practically anyone else and have more of an effect. She quickly flashed through her mind to see how she could suggest him leaving in a way that didn’t cause too much offence.

  She scanned the room; their faces did not look as if they understood she was really trying to be nice. Okay…

  ‘Let me try and rephrase that…’ They all raised their eyebrows; Dan quickly lowered his and nodded supportively. Truly, once the novelty of his good looks wore off, his presence was a bit of a downer. ‘Let’s look at the bigger picture here.’ She started again, throwing her whole self into her pitch. ‘Yes, your wedding day should be all about the two of you declaring your love, your commitment for the world to see, for everyone to know that from here on in the two of you cannot be torn asunder, that you are a team with an unbreakable bond that will last well past any of the nonsense that life throws at you, two souls joined for a lifetime…’ She could feel tears prickling at the corners of her eyes and she blinked rapidly; what was wrong with her?

  You couldn’t let emotion interfere with business. She’d thought she had more backbone than this.

  And now she needed to sniff. How could she sniff in the middle of such an impassioned plea? It would kill the mood completely. She inhaled deeply and blinked her eyes hard in a last-ditch attempt. Okay, now she could continue. ‘But the thing is, neither of you are spring chickens; both of you have a past.’ She felt Rosy stiffen beside her. This was not going as it was meant to – she needed to think quickly, get that happy mood back. What did these two like to do other than good? Ah, that was it – they liked to do good! ‘This wedding has the potential to generate a lot of interest and therefore a lot of money, even once all the costs and my fee are covered. With that revenue you could do so much good. Donate it to any number of charities. Think of all the unfortunate souls you could help, children, animals…’ She flicked a look at Dan, who didn’t look as supportive of this as he should. ‘Um… the deserving but destitute vicar’s fund?’ The words came tumbling over each other at speed. So much for cool, collected and professional. She’d be on her knees begging in a minute if she didn’t get a hold of herself.