Chapter Three

Everyone was busy buying Christmas presents and writing and delivering cards to each other. The village shop and post office was busy from opening to closing time. The church was at its busiest. The pub had decorated the trees outside with coloured lights, and lights hung on the lamp posts in the village high street. All the houses seemed to have a Christmas tree in the window for all to see.

Chris and Tracy’s wedding day was getting nearer. All of the villagers had been invited to it. Tracy had asked Georgia-Mae to be her bridesmaid and her sister Jill to be her matron of honour. Her brother-in-law Tony would give her away as her parents now lived in America and would not be able to come to the wedding, but Tracy had wanted it to be held in the village she had come to love, and with the people who had welcomed her to the village as one of them.

Chris had secretly asked Tracy’s parents if he and his bride could spend Christmas and New Year with them for their honeymoon. He had already found someone that he went to vet’s school with to look after the animals at the surgery while they were away.

Chris’s family all lived in Birmingham. It wasn’t too far away, so they would be able to come to the wedding and reception. He had asked his young friend Billy to be his best man.

The reception was to be held in the pub. Jill and Tony would be decorating the inside of the pub, and Enid and Mary Allen were going to prepare all the food for the reception helped by Wendy and Helen.

Tracy had asked Wendy to help make the wedding cake. She had the idea for Wendy to do the fruit cake for the bottom layer, Mrs Evans to do her sponge for the middle layer and Enid to make her prizewinning coffee-and-walnut cake for the top layer. Wendy would put it all together and ice and decorate it.

Helen had been into the town to get bride and groom figures for the top of the cake. Everyone said that the figures looked like Chris and Tracy.

Helen and Wendy were going to do the flowers in the pub and the church, the bride’s bouquet and the bridesmaids’ posies, and all the guests had agreed to wear a flower in their buttonholes. Tracy had chosen cream-coloured roses and lots of lilac and purple flowers to match the lilac bridesmaids’ dresses.

Chris, Billy and Tony were all going to wear dark-coloured suits and cream shirts, each of them with a lilac tie.

Chris had wanted something different at the reception besides the usual food, drink, music and dancing. He had seen the advert for Mr Marvellous the magician and his assistant Carol and, as he had always loved magic tricks since he was a little boy, he had told Tracy about his dream. Tracy had secretly asked Tony to book the magician act as a surprise for Chris.

Tracy thought it would be a nice get-together and something different to bring all the village together as a start to Christmas.

The day of the wedding was lovely and sunny, but frosty and cold. Everyone knew what job they had to do. Enid and Mary cooked and prepared the food; then they put it out on the pub tables, which were covered with tablecloths. Wendy proudly carried the cake and placed it on the top table, where Chris and Tracy would be sitting.

She said, “Well, what do you think of it?”

All the helpers looked at it in awe.

“It’s beautiful,” replied Jill. “Tracy and Chris will love it.”

Wendy had covered the three cakes with soft white icing. On the bottom layer (the rich fruit cake) she had iced lilac flowers to match the flowers that everyone was either wearing or carrying. On the middle layer (which was the Victoria sponge) she had iced gold and silver horseshoes. And the top layer (the coffee-and-walnut cake) had been iced white too, but had a very special coffee-flavoured rabbit made of icing on it; it looked just like Eric and Brandy. Everyone smiled when Wendy pointed out the little iced rabbit.

“He’s so cute. You are clever,” said Helen.

Everyone went off to get changed into their wedding outfits. The village car park was getting full.

Mr Evans had painted an old carriage that had been in his barn for a long time, and Mrs Evans had decorated it with lilac flowers and ribbons. Charlie the shire horse would proudly pull it into the village, to the church, carrying Tracy and her bridesmaids from the surgery. Chris had stayed at the Evanses’ farm overnight. Mr Evans drove him into the village and Mrs Evans drove the carriage.

By 2.30 p.m. the village church began to fill up with the guests. Most of them were the villagers and members of Chris’s family, who had come from Birmingham with his mother and father. Mr Evans parked the truck and he and Chris got out.

“Good luck, my boy. You’re marrying a lovely girl,” he said.

“Thanks,” said Chris.

People were shown to their seats in the church. Chris stood at the front of the church with Billy to wait for Tracy to arrive.

The music in the church began to play as Tracy walked down the aisle with Tony holding her arm to give her away. Jill and Georgia-Mae followed behind.

The three little rabbits and Tiddles the cat sat by the side of the vicar, Derek North, happy they had been included in the wedding. The church looked and smelt lovely with all the flowers in it.

When Tracy reached Chris he whispered, “You look beautiful, just like an angel.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “I’ve never seen you dressed up before - how handsome you look.”

Derek North, the vicar, married them and then they all crossed the green to the reception at the pub.

Enid, Mary, Helen and Wendy had done themselves proud: all the food looked wonderful, but all everyone was talking about was the wedding cake. Chris and Tracy laughed to see the little brown iced rabbit on the top layer of the cake.