One year later…
THE murmur of conversation and clinking of cutlery filling the Edwinburra Community Hall hushed as the sound of tinkling glass grew louder. Everyone turned to face the bridal table.
‘In a break from tradition,’ Ruby said, ‘I’ll be proposing the toast to the bride and groom.’
Jess smiled at her new husband looking sublimely sexy in his tux and then up at her new sister-in-law.
Everything about today had been perfect.
The full fairy-tale.
‘Firstly, I’d like to congratulate both Jess and Adam for completely ignoring every piece of sage advice I ever gave them about staying away from each other. Clearly, for the first time in my life, I was wrong.’
The wedding guests, who included the entire town of Edwinburra as well as a contingent of city folk, laughed, clapped and cheered.
As Ruby’s witty speech continued Jess looked around her at the tables filled with family and friends.
Her parents and grandmother beamed at her and Adam, radiating joy and love. Their adoration of Adam was gratifying and, she noted, reflected in all the faces of Edwinburra. They had embraced him and his long-term plans for a flying surgeon service like a prodigal son.
Adam’s mother, pride and happiness glowing in her face, sat beside Jess’s grandmother. The chief had had a prior engagement, some conference in the US where he was keynote speaker, and no one—not Ruby or Adam or Sylvia—cared.
In six months’ time she and Adam were embarking on a two-week holiday in Egypt and had surprised Sylvia with a ticket. Jess was determined Adam’s mother would see the Sphinx.
Jess’s gaze found Tilly and Marcus. Tilly was trying to watch Ruby with rapt attention but with Marcus attempting to distract her by nuzzling her neck it wasn’t working so well. Jess smiled as Tilly’s eyelids fluttered shut briefly.
It had been a full year for them both. The Eastern Beaches obstetric unit had celebrated its first year under Marcus’s directorship with amazing good-outcome/low-intervention figures. They’d almost finished the renovations on their cliff-front mansion and they were due to tie the knot in a few months.
Jess was looking forward to that wedding!
Opposite them sat blissfully married Ellie and James. A glowing Ellie sat with her back, snuggled against her husband. Her five-month-pregnant belly, already obvious on her diminutive frame, was on proud display. A doting James cradled it with his hand.
Truth be told, they were both glowing and Jess wondered who would win the battle of wills over how much longer Ellie worked. James had wanted her to stop the moment she’d found out she was pregnant but Ellie loved her work on the ortho ward and working with her husband too much to give it up before it was necessary.
The jury was still out but she had a feeling that James enjoyed the way Ellie distracted him from his goal as much as she did.
The reception crowd laughed and Jess was drawn back to Ruby, an adoring Cort gazing up at her. They were both tanned and gorgeous, having just come back from a holiday in the wilds of Venezuela where they’d secretly got married.
Ruby was now studying and working in mental health and Cort was still senior registrar in the emergency department at Eastern Beaches. They’d moved into his beach-side flat one suburb over from Coogee and Jess seemed to spend as much time there as she did at Hill St.
There was more laughter and Jess tuned back in to Ruby’s speech as she realised her friend and sister-in-law had turned to face her and Adam.
‘It’s been an eventful year.’ Ruby paused and slid a hand onto Cort’s shoulder. ‘A lot of us have found out that despite differences and stumbling blocks and even well-intentioned friends…’ more laughter ‘…that true love will find a way. So if I can ask the bride and groom to be upstanding, we’ll drink to that.’
Adam smiled at her, dropped a kiss on her mouth and offered her his hand. Jess took it, her heart swelling so much she felt sure it was going to punch a hole in her chest.
She rose to her feet, fussing with her skirt for a moment, still unable to believe how timeless her grandmother’s cream Chantilly lace wedding dress was and how well it had endured the march of time.
Adam took her hand and smiled down at her before raising his glass. Jess followed suit.
‘True love,’ he announced to the packed hall. Everyone repeated the toast and took a swig of their champagne.
Adam turned to his wife. His beautiful Jess, who looked like Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty rolled into one.
‘To fairy-tales,’ he murmured, touching his glass to hers.
Jess smiled back at the man she was going to love for ever. ‘To fairy-tales.’