‘Love comforteth like sunshine after rain’
(Venus and Adonis)
On the third day of September Kelsey was behind the camera lens again.
‘By virtue of the authority vested in me, I take great pleasure in pronouncing you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.’
Gianfranco smiled his broad, gappy grin as he bent his head to kiss Norma. His lavender-grey jacket strained across his biceps, his neck muscles bulging against the white shirt collar. Norma, in a deep purple skirt suit and tall red stilettos, let him dip her backwards as they kissed like movie stars to the delight and applause of their friends. Her severe red bob was tucked back behind her ear and secured with a cluster of tiny lilac roses and slim pheasant feathers, echoing the small posy she held in her, now bejewelled, ring hand. Kelsey had never seen them so happy.
As the wedding party made their way out of the registry office, Kelsey led the way, shuffling carefully in reverse with her dad’s camera held to her eye, the scent of freesias and clouds of pastel confetti blowing in the breeze, her camera clicking with each backward step.
‘Easy now,’ Jonathan murmured in a low voice, his hands cradling Kelsey’s hips. He nuzzled his face into her hair as he helped guide her backwards, keeping her from stepping into the long flower beds that lined the path.
‘How do the paparazzi manage this? And their subjects are usually trying to run away from them.’ Kelsey laughed as she bumped clumsily into Jonathan’s long legs. She turned to face him, tall and elegant in his dark suit.
The newlyweds were now on the registry office steps surrounded by friends and family taking their own snaps of the happy couple.
‘I think that’s my duties as official wedding photographer discharged, don’t you?’
Now she could focus on Jonathan again. Holding each other tightly with the dopey smiles of the newly in love, Kelsey saw the flicker of passion light Jonathan’s eyes and a sudden serious look of intent. They gazed at one another frozen and breathless for a second, before he kissed her hard and long, unseen by the cheering crowd facing the wedding party.
‘I will never stop wanting you,’ breathed Jonathan in his deep drawl, his eyes closed, still slowly brushing his lips over Kelsey’s.
‘I hope not,’ she sighed.
‘I didn’t even know you could get purple Rolls Royces,’ exclaimed Kelsey in surprise. Norma and Gianfranco were saying their last farewells to the wedding guests outside the Osprey Hotel, making their way through the crowd one by one. Norma was weeping and talking at one hundred miles an hour to each person in turn. Myrtle and Valeria were by Kelsey’s side.
‘Don’t forget this,’ said Jonathan, handing Kelsey the silver horseshoe ornament suspended on delicate lilac ribbons.
Myrtle leaned in and whispered in her ear. ‘So, no Will then, hon? Is it true? I heard he’d set off for America this morning? An audition somewhere? Was it Iowa?’
‘No,’ Valeria butted in. ‘It was Oklahoma, wasn’t it? I heard he left with an actress from one of the visiting companies.’
Kelsey gaped at Valeria. ‘You’re kidding?’ She looked up at Jonathan, anxious to see his reaction.
‘Well, the Oklahoma Players do need a new male lead. I’ve told them I’m leaving after Love’s Labour’s Lost in the spring. I’m going to try out for some British companies, see if I can get some work that lets me stay here.’
‘What? And you’re telling me this now?’ Kelsey gasped, her eyes filling with happy tears.
‘I only told the director late last night. You were sleeping, and then the wedding kinda took over this morning. You’ve got to hand it to the guy, your buddy Will is a fast worker.’ He laughed, before adding, with a quizzical expression, ‘Peony did send me a message about some guy she met the day after the gala. He’s already declared his undying love for her, apparently. I haven’t heard from her since, which is probably a good sign.’
Despite knowing the role he had played in keeping her apart from Jonathan this summer, Kelsey tried to think generous thoughts of Will. He was finally getting the break he had worked so hard for. She looked hopeful for a moment. ‘You know, maybe he really does like her. He did say she was hot, come to think of it. He can’t only be interested in the acting job, right?’
Jonathan placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his side with a wry smile, his eyebrows raised. ‘Who knows?’ he said.
‘Shouldn’t you warn her?’
‘Hmm, I think we’ve learned to butt out of each other’s love lives from now on. And you saw how she can take care of herself when she needs to.’
‘Maybe just have a quick brotherly word?’
‘All right, I’ll see her in a day or two for the Hamlet rehearsals, I’ll talk to her then.’
‘OK, but be gentle, Peony’s had a hard time this summer.’
They exchanged a slow kiss before Norma and Gianfranco finally got round to saying goodbye to them.
‘Well, dearie, we’re off!’ Norma extended her arms to Kelsey for a tight embrace.
Knocked off balance by Norma’s whirlwind energy, she steadied herself before speaking. ‘Congratulations, both of you. Have a lovely honeymoon. Have a lovely life! And thank you, Norma, for everything.’ Her eyes flooded again as she handed the horseshoe over.
‘Now, no crying, my dear. This is the happiest day of my life, and yours too, I think.’ She held her purple gloved hand out to Kelsey. In her palm was a key. ‘I’m not the only one getting a good luck charm today.’
Kelsey took the key in one slow, deliberate action, curling it up tightly in her palm as Norma leaned in, whispering as best she could when it didn’t come naturally. ‘It’s yours now. You can let yourself in. The alarm code is the year Shakespeare was born.’
Within minutes, the bride and groom were being driven away by their smart chauffer, heading for the airport and a new life in Italy. Norma waved a hankie out the open window before turning away and falling into Gianfranco’s arms in the back seat.
‘Yorick?’ said Valeria decisively with a hand clap.
‘You wanna go, Kelsey?’ asked Jonathan. ‘It would be nice to drink some champagne. My flight’s not until five a.m., I can take my hangover with me.’
‘You go ahead,’ she ushered in a calm voice. ‘I just want to check something out, OK?’
‘OK, I’ll see you there.’ Jonathan wrapped his arms around her and kissed her tenderly. ‘I’ll be waiting.’
Kelsey nodded and watched as he crossed the street, running to catch up with Lukas, Valeria, and Myrtle.
Walking slowly to the end of the street, Kelsey turned left and crossed the road at the busy little roundabout by the bank and the fancy shopping arcade. Turning her back on the River Avon, her pace quickened as she approached the street where Shakespeare once lived and there on the corner stood the tall building which had, until a few days ago, housed the Norma Arden Historic Tours Agency. There was a ‘LET’ sign in a second-floor window. Her window. Looking down at her fist she unfurled her fingers. The key glinted in the September light.
‘Fifteen sixty-four,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘The year Shakespeare was born.’
Climbing the steps, she looked at the door buzzers to her left. Norma had removed the little card with her own name on it and replaced it with a new one, written in neat purple biro:
Kelsey Anderson. Photographer.
Breathing deeply, she turned the key in the lock, pushed the door open, and punched the number into the alarm system. For a second she stood still, trying to take it all in.
It would be a long autumn ahead, full of change and learning new skills and waiting for Jonathan to come back to her, but she was ready, and for now she was contented, standing sure and steady on her own two feet at the threshold of her new life.