Millie couldn’t believe that less than half an hour after her marriage she was having a disagreement with her husband. He’d taken offence at the fact that she wasn’t going to use his name without knowing why she’d decided to do this.
‘Ted, this isn’t how I expected us to start our marriage. I’m shocked that you’ve taken exception to my decision without thinking to ask why.’
‘A married woman takes her husband’s name – it didn’t occur to me that you’d do anything else. If you don’t want to use my name, we might as well have had an affair and not bothered with this wedding business.’
She blinked away unwanted tears. What had possessed her to marry someone she really didn’t know? She spoke without thinking, her disappointment making her say things she didn’t mean.
‘It’s not too late to cancel this. Remember, it’s not really a legitimate marriage as we don’t have our parents’ written permission. All one of us has to do is put in an anonymous complaint and it will be set aside.’
If she’d slapped him hard across the cheek, he couldn’t have looked more shocked. The colour drained from his face, leaving him looking like he had when she’d first seen him after his horrific accident.
‘If you really loved me, you wouldn’t even consider such an option.’ He slumped back against the seat and closed his eyes.
This wasn’t the place to have such a distressing conversation. She turned on the engine, engaged the gear and released the handbrake. Of course she didn’t want to cancel the wedding, but there was obviously something seriously wrong between them and that needed to be sorted out before they made things more complicated.
She drove like a lunatic to Ramsgate and for the entire journey he remained silent, his face turned away from her, his hands clenched in his lap. The car lurched to a screeching halt outside the hotel. The uniformed doorman almost fell off the steps at her appalling driving.
‘Pull yourself together, Ted, we’re going inside and we can talk when we get to our room.’ She reached into the back and snatched up her small bag, opened her door and jumped out, slamming it behind her. He had two choices – he could remain where he was and attract unwanted attention or follow her in.
She didn’t wait to see which he chose but smiled brightly at the flunky. ‘My husband isn’t feeling very well but he’ll be in in a minute. We’ve just got married and are spending our honeymoon here.’
As she reached the front door, the sound of the car starting stopped her. She spun and watched in horror as Ted drove away. There’d been a third option that she’d not considered. By the time she gathered her wits, it was too late to run after him as the car had vanished around the corner onto the promenade.
What should she do? The doorman made things easy for her. ‘Somebody will escort you to your suite. No doubt your husband will be along very shortly.’
Her face was fixed in a rigid smile, she couldn’t speak because of the constriction in her throat. Instead, she nodded and walked in as if there was nothing wrong at all and that her life hadn’t just fallen apart.
Nobody asked her to sign the register – no doubt they thought that Ted would do it when he came in – instead she followed an elderly gentleman in black up the wide carpeted staircase, and along the passageway to be ushered into a palatial sitting room.
‘Do you require any assistance to unpack, madam?’
She shook her head, still unable to speak in case she broke down completely. She waved him away and didn’t even tip him for his trouble.
‘Your luncheon will be brought up as soon as your husband is here.’
She hadn’t known that Ted had arranged for them to eat upstairs. The sitting room faced the sea and had two large windows through which a guest could view what used to be a delightful promenade. Now it was barbed wire and concrete with gun emplacements.
In front of one of the windows, a table had been laid ready for them – heavy silver cutlery and crystal glasses put out on a pristine damask tablecloth. This was too much for her. She gulped, rushed into the bedroom and threw herself face down on the immaculate satin bedspread and couldn’t keep back the tears.
Then Ted was there. He picked her up and carried her to the nearest chair, cradling her in his arms as she cried. ‘Don’t cry, you’re breaking my heart, darling. Did you think I’d left you? I was parking the car, you goose, I forgot to tell you they’ve got a car park at the side that can only be accessed from the promenade.’
It took her a few more moments to calm down. Eventually, her sobs turned to snuffles and he handed her his large white handkerchief. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose but was still unable to speak coherently.
‘I don’t care what you call yourself, I was stupid to react the way I did – I know you didn’t mean it about cancelling the wedding. Can you forgive me for being such an idiot?’
Slowly she raised her head. ‘Can you forgive me? I should have told you my reasons and not said such a dreadful thing.’
By the time she’d finished explaining, they were both laughing, albeit a little shakily. ‘I need to wash my face – I must look absolutely horrible. I think I heard somebody knocking on the sitting room door so it must be our food arriving. I don’t think I’m in any state to eat at the moment.’
‘I’m hungry enough to eat for both of us. You look beautiful, as always, as far as I’m concerned.’ His eyes darkened and he kissed her. When he raised his head a blissful few minutes later, he looked different, more confident, older somehow. ‘It’s not just food I need, darling, and I hope you feel the same way.’
‘What about our lunch? It will be ruined if we don’t go through.’
‘Bugger the lunch, darling, this is our honeymoon and I want to make the most of what little time we’ve got.’
‘I thought you didn’t know anything about bedroom matters?’ She was hot all over at the thought of what was coming next.
‘I don’t, but I intend to learn and will be an expert by tomorrow.’
Whatever she’d been going to say was forgotten as he strode towards the bed and dropped her back in the centre of the counterpane. She was rather enjoying this new, more forceful version of her beloved Ted.
Every inch of her was glowing with anticipation and she wanted to join in this risqué conversation. ‘I was under the impression, husband, that lovemaking didn’t require clothes to be worn. Did I get this wrong?’
His answer was more a growl than recognisable words and minutes later they were both naked. Why either of them had worried about being inexperienced she’d no idea, as everything fitted together perfectly.
Some hours later, she woke, their limbs still entwined. ‘Ted, darling, I need the loo.’
He opened his eyes slowly and his smile made her heart race – again. Then his stomach rumbled loudly and they laughed. ‘We need to eat, sweetheart, I’ll ring down for some sandwiches or something.’
‘Just a minute, maybe they left the lunch. I don’t mind if it’s cold, do you?’
‘Put some clothes on, darling, or we’ll never get to the sitting room.’
She snatched up his shirt, which hung down just below her bottom, leaving him to pull on his underpants.
‘Congealed lamb chops have never tasted so good,’ he said, as he munched happily though a third one.
‘Everything tasted spiffing. I’m full and am going to have a bath. I’m all hot and sticky.’ Just saying this made her tingle.
‘I’ll join you when I’ve finished. Pity to waste this as it cost a fortune and we mustn’t waste good food.’
‘That’s not very romantic, my love, aren’t I worth every penny?’ She pouted and posed in the doorway.
What happened next was inevitable and the bath wasn’t run, nor the apple crumble eaten. However, dinner was sublime and when they tumbled back into bed that night, Millie knew she’d made the right decision and her marriage was going to be wonderful.
She fell asleep in Ted’s arms, knowing they might not have long together, but whatever happened in the future, she’d always have the memory of these two precious days. As they’d run out of prophylactics some time ago, it was quite possible she’d have more than memories to keep her company.