The whole village had turned out to see them, to help celebrate the first Wynsdown wedding since the end of the war. The church, brilliant with dahlias and chrysanthemums, was full of excited, happy people. The autumn sun shone through the stained glass, casting patterns on the flagged floor, and there was an excited buzz of conversation in the congregation.
Billy stood nervously beside his best man, Malcolm, waiting for Charlotte to arrive. Behind him sat his parents and Jane. His mother beamed at everyone from under the brim of her new straw hat, his father, crammed rather uncomfortably into a suit, ran his finger round the collar of his new shirt and wished he didn’t have to wear a tie, but both were proud as Punch of their tall, handsome son, standing, waiting for his bride.
There was a stir at the back of the church as Naomi Federman came in, walking down the aisle to take her place in the front pew. Everyone wanted to see Charlotte’s foster mother, come all the way from Suffolk. As mother of the bride, she had been at Blackdown House, helping Charlotte into her wedding dress, the wedding dress Miss Edie had made so lovingly over twenty-five years earlier.
When she’d come down to Wynsdown on her return from Switzerland, Charlotte had unpacked it from the trunk and tried it on, and with a few alterations it fitted her perfectly.
‘Do you think she’d mind me wearing it?’ she’d asked Avril anxiously. ‘Miss Edie?’
‘No,’ Avril assured her with a smile. ‘I think she’d be delighted.’
‘You are lucky,’ Clare said enviously as she helped Naomi to arrange the veil over her dark hair. ‘No one has proper wedding dresses these days.’
‘You look beautiful, Lisa,’ Naomi said, tears in her eyes. ‘We’re all so proud of you. Your parents and Miss Edie would be, too. Your Billy’s a lucky man.’
Charlotte walked into the church on the arm of her foster father, Uncle Dan. As she paused at the door to greet the vicar, Clare straightened the skirt of her dress and, taking Nicky’s hand stood him in front of Charlotte.
‘Remember,’ she whispered, ‘just walk in front of Charlotte... Lisa, I mean... till she gets to the steps and then go and sit with your mum.’
Nicky nodded seriously, conscious of his special part in Lisa’s wedding. He was a page and that made him special. He’d even had new shoes for the occasion. He looked down at them, brown shining sandals on his feet, and beamed with delight.
The organ began to play and Billy turned to see his Charlotte walking slowly down the aisle on her uncle Dan’s arm, coming to be married, to him. Tears of joy filled his eyes and as Charlotte reached him and threw back her veil, he saw his own joy reflected in her face. Charlotte handed her bouquet to Clare, then turning back to Billy, she took his outstretched hand and they both stepped forward, ready to begin their life together.
~
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