The hours passed slowly until I was marched towards Southease Church. Jeremiah haltingly led Beth who was prattling merrily all the way; together they had the same turn of speed.
The priest was dressed in black and the pews were filled with a motley band of smugglers who were all there under order from Tilly to see the fun.
My groom was at the altar waiting and joking with his friend who held the ring. There was a ring, a solid gold ring apparently torn from the finger of a dying woman – a wrecker’s prize. I had learned so much about this family when I was supposedly asleep. I would discard it as soon as I could.
Jeremiah and I stood waiting for the church to quiet. He walked slowly and I was partly holding him up instead of the other way round. We arrived at the altar and the priest began.
He knew his service and intoned the phrases that are so familiar. My heart grew colder with each word but suddenly, when we got to the bit where he asked if anyone knew of a reason not to marry the couple before him there was a great shout from the rear of the church. I turned, stunned, as I saw Wilf, alone and unarmed in the centre of the aisle. Not a soul moved. It was as if we were all stupefied. He shouted again:
‘Stop! This marriage is unlawful for she is married already.’ My mouth dropped open in shock even as I saw Beth tottering toward Wilf. There was uproar and I took the opportunity to run as best as I was able towards him scooping Beth up as I went. ‘Don’t listen!’ It was Tilly standing on a pew. ‘It’s a trick, she b’aint married at all!’ I looked back and saw her raise a pistol.
I wasn’t going to stop – I kept running. A shot was fired and I still kept going. He grabbed us and together we flew out of the door as the gang realised we were escaping and fell over themselves trying to get out of the narrow pews to get to us. Wilf slammed the great oak door and twisted the handle putting a crook of metal into the ring. We turned sharp into the yew bush that was alongside the church and then he helped me climb into an open table top tomb. He dragged me down to the floor with Beth under us. The top was lowered onto us and it was only then I realised that people had come to rescue us. The slab was wedged open with a flint through which we could see what was happening outside. Later I was to realise that this very tomb was one of the hidey-holes that the gang used to stash their loot.
‘Quiet,’ he whispered urgently in my ear. I put my hand over Beth’s mouth. ‘The soldiers are waiting, the place is surrounded. We just need to lie low until they are rounded up.’
The oak door was sprung open as the combined might of so many ruthless men forced the hinges off the wood. They burst out, all reaching for what few weapons they had. Most had left their knives, cutlasses and guns behind at the house and with their horses for who needed weapons in a church at a wedding? It was a fatal error and cost many of the smugglers their lives. They were cut down in a hail of weaponry wielded by vengeful soldiers who had been made fools of too many times in the past. We were safe: clearly Wilf had indicated where we would hide and no one came near us.
It was all over in a matter of minutes. Jeremiah was shot in the back and died instantly. Sam was cut down by a sword wielded by a giant of a soldier who swung the blade round his head before bringing it down on Sam’s. I covered Beth’s eyes. I didn’t see the taking of Tilly but she was taken and forced into a cart with her wrists tied to the side rail.
Of all the men in the church, probably nearing one hundred, thirty were killed, and forty five wounded, the remainder escaped, melting into the background. When we clambered out of our hiding place we were rushed by Farmer Elwood, Billy-alone and Dr Grieve; my friends who had once again come to my rescue. I collapsed to the ground weeping tears of fear, pain, joy, I don’t know what.