My Friend/His Sister Ch. 03

"OK then ladies and gentlemen," said Mr Davis, "if we're all ready?"

I nodded and saw him press a small button and in moments I heard the long plastic keyboard I knew James carried in a long rucksack resounded high through the old oak beams with 'Here comes the bride' in all its Wagnerian glory, sounding like it was coming through 32 foot front pipes and flues, and 100 stops like the one in the Royal Albert Hall, not the 88 weighted keys of his Casio electronic keyboard through 'Windows' on his laptop and a 700 watt public address system.

I understood from Nanna some months afterwards that the usual pianist/organist had sat with James the night before and after his rendition of 'Ode to Joy' asked if she might 'have a go'. Teacher James did precisely that and she let go with Grieg's piano concerto.

Suffice it to say, but the time Mr Davis came along to check why the lights where still on at almost ten o'clock, the church pianist was playing and singing 'I vow to thee my country' and had sworn to drive to her favourite music shop in Worcester the very next Monday and buy one.

When Dad walked me down the aisle there was all of my family and friends, smiling with the occasional photo flash.

The 'does anyone know just cause' bit passed without a comment but a few smiles, I know that several of my work colleagues were watching the shortest bridesmaid and would probably have dragged her out of the small chapel by her hair had she so much as sneezed.

We said what we had to, and I slipped the ring on his finger and he slipped another on mine. We were pronounced to be husband and wife and we kissed, receiving a round of applause. We went off to sign the register with my Dad, Steve and Phil, and the three bridesmaids.

James played the most splendid version of 'the wedding march' as we walked back down the aisle.

We walked out through the porch and two steps outside and we paused for the photographer, then I took a turn to the left and with a bowed head I curtseyed to his Mum and Grandpa's last resting place;

Kev saw and gave a bow, squeezing my hand tight.

I stepped forward and kissed my bouquet, lifting out an entire section that I'd asked the florist to insert for this purpose, bending forward to lay a heart-shaped piece with two prominent roses central to the grave.

There was a bit of an audible gasp as I did it from many of Nanna's friends and neighbours who'd obviously come to see Katie's boy coming out of the church; it had been my idea and the florist had said what a wonderful one it was and even had a bit of a choke when she handed it over that morning.

She showed me how to detach it, ensuring the remaining bouquet would still look great for the photographs, then how she found out what Katie's favourite flowers had been and what had been in her bouquet almost thirty four years before. She was there wiping away tears with the rest of them that knew the significance, it was another perfect moment.

The sun obviously realised that same perfection was necessary and shone for us, for the last of the photographs and as we crossed the road a few cars stopped for us so the entire party could cross and walk to the hotel. We were welcomed in by uniformed staff with trays of drinks that we helped ourselves to.

There were more photographs of course, and as people started to settle, the first trays of delicious nibbles were circulating and were just enough to take the edge off. Nanna had nailed it, again.

At the ringing of a loud bell, we were moved through to dining room and took our places. I was amazed at how great the place looked. The colouring was perfect and I really wasn't sure that Kev and I had paid for it.

The food was amazing, so was the wine, then it was the speeches.

Dad was first of course, and it was his once and only chance at doing that and he didn't disappoint. He was sweet, funny and of course he made me cry. Then it was Kev's go, and only five people in the room knew that he'd ever had a stutter and it didn't notice.

Steve was last with his best man's speech and he did even better than Dad and Kev. He joked about how we all knew each other, school days, finally telling the lovely tale of introducing his gorgeous sister to one of his oldest friends and how while he'd known we had a lot in common, this wedding was the pinnacle and even he hadn't seen this coming.

After the meal and the speeches Kev and I had our first dance and the evening began. We all danced and I wore my dress until just after nine and with Holly and Sophie we made to head upstairs to change.

"Where's Claire?" said Holly.

We looked around and saw her sat quietly in the corner with Phil, having probably not moved since the dinner finished. We walked across to her, and she looked nervous.

"You won't hear a peep out of me I swear!" she said, almost flinching back into her seat at the three of us approaching.

"What?" I said.

"I..." she still confused.

"Claire," I said, "we're going up to get changed Hun, and I reached down gently taking her elbow with a big smile, "Come on!"

"I don't have anything to..."

"We've got it hun!" said Holly with a big genuine smile. She'd slowly warmed to her sister-in-law's half-sister.

She took the other elbow and with a 'go on then baby' from Phil, she finally did.

We all slinked across the hallway to the lifts and back to the room Holly and I shared the night before and slid out of our silks and satins, giggling as we all appeared in our underwear as Soph broke out the bottle of chilled prosecco that had been delivered.

There were four suit bags hanging up with everything necessary inside and soon we were stripping down, with Claire not looking so comfortable with the flesh appearing around her.

Within minutes we were all popping into the bathroom, for what Doctor Holly called 'wipes and swipes' and the addition of more make-up, deodorants and perfume.

We were all giggly but for Claire who stood very much to one side, nail bitingly cringy and not looking comfortable at all. I walked across and asked that she zip my dress, something that Holly or Soph could easily have done, but I made the point of getting my new half-sister-in-law to take care of.

She zipped then looked at me as if to say 'they could have got that'. I just smiled and raised my glass,

"Ready?" She'd had her make-up checked and touched up by Sophie, and was actually looking quite cute, physically at least. Mentally was quite a different story.

Holly took my arm and Soph took Claire's, the four of us heading out of the room and down the main staircase, looking good and happy, all bar the slightly nervous one at the back.

We hit the room and made a splash, getting a small round of applause from those at the entrance but despite our jolly impact Claire made straight for the table across from ours with Phil, and the similarly attractive Cousin Kerry and her Partner Sam, along with Claire's Aunt Sue and Uncle Matt with their gorgeous granddaughter Ellie on his lap.

We partied, we danced and I threw what was left of my bouquet which was caught by the tallest of the girls Cousin Kerry, who sauntered across to her partner of many years with a smiley but still quite mysterious look on her face.

My family was being a bit strange as the evening progressed, and Holly and Sophie nagged me to circulate and for our final dance, strange because it was barely ten thirty.

All became clear when the member of the hotel staff came up to tell Kev that 'the taxi has arrived' and I was up and being kissed and my jacket wrapped around my shoulder with us both being channelled through a tunnel of our guests and out to the main entrance and a large taxi, my suitcase in the boot along with Kev's.

I looked at him, and suddenly Holly was there.

"Yeah, like we'd let you get married and NOT have a honeymoon Babes," she giggled at me.

Kissed and hugged into the back of the taxi and we were away, the small rucksack with our passports and a few hundred in Euros dumped onto my lap and an hour or so later our car arrived at Cardiff airport.

Our honeymoon was amazing and we spent a week in Italy, two nights in Rome then for the last five in the Campagna, and it was a paradise. The sun shone, we ate too much, drank wisely, partied softly and made love often.

It made perfect by an email from the estate agent telling us that a soon-to-retire couple had fallen in love with our flat the week before, more so the huge Maine Coon cat that came to make friends with them when they walked in. The agent did point out that puss didn't come with the place.

Mr and Mrs Goodall flew back into Gatwick a very happy and very relaxed couple, our taxi dropped us at our flat and I was pleased to see the 'Sold' signs were already up.

We were up, showered and ate some of the emergency breakfast snacks from the cupboard before heading out.

My bike was still there and well wrapped in the tarpaulin, and Kev's Disco needed only the gentlest pressure on the accelerator for that to burst into life.

We collected Greebo from the cattery and he looked none the worse for a week without us. The cattery ladies were indeed sorry to see him go and made a great fuss, inviting him back anytime and we dropped him back to the flat and he did his usual cursory inspection before settling in his armchair for a sleep.

The next day it was laundry and preparing for work the next day and the 'Mrs Goodall' on my classroom door was heart-warming, and the piles of 'Congratulations Mr and Mrs Goodall' cards from children and their parents had me choked up again.

It was a normal week, but for the getting used to people calling me 'Mrs Goodall' rather than 'Miss Hardy', and I liked it.

We still had things to collect and pick up and leaving a day and a night's food for the cat, we headed north and slightly west to my favourite place.

We drove into the farmyard I now loved so much, conscious that there were several bags of our clothes that needed collecting, including my wedding dress that I would ensure stayed in my family for my daughters or my son's future wives.

I stood and stretched out the three and a bit hours in Kev's very comfortable car and listened to the silence around me, breathing in that fresh air I couldn't find anywhere else.

"What veggies should I get Nanna?" said a voice I recognised, then "LAURA!"

There, in scruffy jeans and T-shirt that wasn't from a famous designer, was Claire, running across the yard, arms outstretched towards me.

"Slow down Claire! This is still a farmyard honey!" shouted a voice from across the yard.

"Sorry Nanna!" Claire all but stopped her pounding feet a few feet before me and her brother, "Hey Sis!"

She stood there for a moment, struggling for something to say, then looked over her shoulder at Nanna who was walking towards us. Nanna just did a raised eyebrow grin and nodded towards me, and with no further ado Claire wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me.

A proper hug; no cheek-barely-touching, dramatic-looking m'wah's I'd known from secondary school, but a girlish giggle and a real squeeze.

"Hey Claire!" I said with a big grin and some surprise hugging her back, then behind came Nanna, a dead chicken swinging from her hand, "Hi Nanna!"

"Laura honey, you look gorgeous!" she said, her Welsh tones giving that cheery voice the perfect edge, "and where's my hooligan grandson?"

"Here Nanna!" he said, stepping from behind the car with our overnight bag.

"Come here you!" she snapped, but nicely. They hugged with that special bond that always showed between them, "and here's your sister look..."

There were a few seconds of painful silence until Claire stepped across and hugged him the same way she'd hugged me; honestly.

She had her eyes closed, squeezed tightly shut and I saw a few tears creep down her cheek. In response Kev just held her tighter.

I saw her lips move, and she mouthed the words, 'I'm so sorry Kevie', three or four times.

He hugged her tightly back, a hand to the back of her head, with mouthed speech I was later to learn was 'it's OK Clai-Claire, it's going to be OK!'

I was inches away from leaning across to Nanna and saying, 'who is this and what have you done with the real Claire Anita, when Nanna slipped an arm through mine, and with a self-satisfied 'look what I did' smile, kissed my cheek.

"Lunchtime I think!" giving that evening's dinner a satisfied swing.

Sat around Nanna's huge kitchen table, we had her thick sliced sandwiches with roast beef, with her signature horseradish sauce. It was the first 'Nanna sandwich' since before our wedding.

It was proper hearty food, and the pleasure I took from it was nothing compared to the obvious look of glee from my new half-sister in law.

After our lunch, Claire cleared the plates and loaded it all into the dishwasher, something I could remember would have had her gagging, or at least pretend-gagging, while Linda, Phil or Kev actually did it.

Nanna was stood to one side but keeping a weather-eye on how she was doing it, and I could tell kinda wanted to get in there and do it properly but... whatever had gone on here was stopping her.

Whatever it was must have kicked in, as Claire moved a couple of plates and re-set them and Nanna's face lost that concern.

Back into the larder, and the shock got worse; Claire picked up the dead chicken and started to pluck it.

Nanna stepped in,

"Kevan, show your sister how to pluck and gut and top the chicken; me and Laura have to pick out some veggies for tonight's tea."

"So come on Nanna, what magic did you pull off here?" I said, as we walked out to the long poly-tunnel.

"After you left for your flight, Phil, you father-in-law," she paused, "my son-in-law, well... he was stood there looking like I'd seen him looking so many times before, totally bloody lost and without a friend in the world," She pulled open the wooden framed door and the warm, sweet-smelling musk of the poly-tunnel enveloped us, "holding the hand of that cute, brown-eyed-girl that's in my kitchen gutting a chicken, with her big eyes looking even more lost than him."

She walked along the central aisle, stopping where the tall green shoots of the carrots and parsnips were standing tall, she pulled out four of each, and they were huge. She shook off the soil and looked at me, "so I stepped across to him, and said what I'd said before, 'let me help you with that lost child of yours. They both came here that evening, and she's been here ever since."

"What..."

"I did what I did with your husband when he was a kid, I held her. I hugged her sweetie, just that; I let her know that she was safe, and always would be.

We spent a few days walking the hills and few nights just talking. I sat in my chair and she sat in Jim's, then the next night we both sat on the sofa, and she let it aaaaaall go!" Nanna waved a hand through the air to indicate that moment.

"Oh Nanna, thank you!"

"Not all the way there yet Babes," she said, "but just you give me time."

And that was that.

We drove home the next day loaded down with another half-trunk filling food parcel with hugs and kisses all round, and a twin 'come back soon'.

Life continued; we packed up the flat and moved everything to our brand-new house, Greebo settling into his usual chair in a bigger room that happened to miles from where it had been before and with two floors for him to prowl around.

We threw a house-warming party and my lovely but slightly drunk Mum sighed, asking that me and Kev still keep coming for Wednesday night dinners.

Phil came having collected both Nanna and his daughter. I was delighted to find that Claire had lived with Nanna since our wedding, throwing herself into the farm work, loving both the small and large animal work.

Yes, the former 'Queen of Euuuuuueeewww!' feeding, cleaning up after and then preparing a whole mess of messy animals for the table.

Nanna pointed out that Claire had a real flair for the work, her caring nature evident in what she did and how she did it. So much so that the older lady chatted with the local vet that was there for an inspection of the cattle and asked about Claire coming to work there a few days a week.

It was pre-arranged of course and Claire didn't get paid for it for a while. She took to the work immediately, getting really interested in what the vet and his nurses did for a living.

Gone was the 'Smart Alec' know-it-all; she listened to what she was told then did what she was told and seemed almost surprised when people responded to her positively. The nasty, snarky bitch had been replaced by a nice girl that had realised that being nice was... well... nice.

Nanna had a directing hand in it of course, and it wasn't long before Mr Bennett the vet had suggested his new assistant now getting paid a basic salary that had taken to the work so naturally should take the diploma in veterinary nursing.

With Nanna's suggestion she asked her Dad if he could possibly lend her the money to take the course. He didn't need to; he contacted his solicitor who contacted Linda's bank and they arranged everything. Linda wanted to know all about it of course and contacted her daughter for the first time since she'd left to come to our wedding.

No, there wasn't any spare money; no, Phil's solicitor had laid it out very carefully, the money for the three-year degree course was to be paid in yearly instalments to Harper Adams University, a short drive from Nanna's place. Her halls of residence were taken care of in the same way, and she was paid a monthly allowance for her living expense, moving back to that small vet practice in Wales that had provided her initial training, gave work placements while she lived between Nanna's house and Harper Adams.

We were regular visitors to both Nanna and Claire, watching as Claire grew in confidence with her new university course and part-time job.

Her dress sense improved, and she looked great it the simplest clothes having 'filled out' according to Nanna. She had the nicest curves that looked amazing in nice clothes, and just simple cosmetics, not the Hollywood style she'd grown up with.

I can remember with greatest clarity but no surprise, the night during her first summer break she rang me in absolutely panic.

"Claire, sweetie!" I said, trying to calm her, "take a deep breath and tell me what's up!"

"A really cute boy has asked me out... on a date!" she snapped out.

"Of course he has," I said simply, "you're gorgeous; what's the problem."

"What?"

"Claire, you are beautiful and when you smile at people, they're drawn to you. It was only going to be a matter of time before someone asked you out," I paused, "Who is he and what's he like?"

"He's called Adam!" she said, the excitement beginning to leak out a little bit, "And he's Mr Bennett's new assistant."

"Is he a Vet?"

"Yeah," she said, "and he's really hot!"

"So are you, Claire!" I snapped back at her.

"But..." she burst out, "I've NEVER been on a date before Claire, EVER! Help me!"

"Yes you have!"

There was a pause,

"The old Claire had, but..." she stuttered momentarily, "but... this is the new me, the old me went on dates, but never made it to a second one! Please Laura!"

"When are you going Babes," I said.

"Friday! 1930... that's," she obviously checked something, "half seven in the evening isn't it..."

"Yes hun," I said with smirk, hiding my giggles. That made me certain that my old friend, my half-sister-in-law, needed my help and a bit sharpish. "Oooooohkay," I said sounding confident, "where are you going, has he given you a hint?"

"Dinner, then somewhere after."

"Somewhere?"

"He didn't specify," she said.

"OK," I said, "it's a Friday, so..." I thought about it, "what about that really nice stretchy skirt you have, the shiny one?"