Lizzie Marshall's Wedding (29 page)

‘We never married because I thought I was still married to Lily and although I know you can eventually divorce someone even if you can’t trace them, I didn’t want to because ... I thought it might affect my claim on you. Silly, but there it is; and Gilly never complains. She’s taken my surname and she knows I love her so that’s good enough although when our ...’ he stopped and looked Becky directly in the eye. ‘We have three children, Gilly and I. Two boys and one girl. Your half brothers and sister.’

Becky couldn’t believe her ears. Not only had she got a dad again; she’d also got brothers and a sister.

‘Brothers and a sister! I ... I have brothers and a sister! How old are they? What are their names? Do ... do they know about me?’ She fired questions like a repeater rifle.

‘Yes Rebel, they know about you and they know I’ve come to see you. They’ve been helping me search for you for years.’ He pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed her the photograph inside.

She saw a picture of a very pretty woman in her late forties and two boys and a girl all smiling happily with their arms around each other.

‘That’s Gilly,’ he pointed out ‘and that’s Bethany, she’s twelve; that’s Robert, the eldest, he’s twenty and that’s Paul, he’s sixteen. They’re great kids – and they’re really looking forward to meeting you one day. Gilly too. You’ll like her. Some women would have told me to stop looking for you; would have said “enough is enough”. Not Gilly. She knew how important you are to me and she never once said I should be content with the family I’ve got. I don’t think I realised, until this day, sitting here with you, just how special that makes her.’

Becky saw his eyes fill with love and squeezed his hand. She studied the photograph. Gilly had a friendly, homely look about her but Becky was more interested, at the moment, in her brothers and sister. They looked so much like her father it was uncanny – and, just a little like her too. They all had the same curly brown hair and brown eyes. Becky had always thought she got those from her mother; she too had brown hair and brown eyes but Becky now remembered, her mum’s hair wasn’t naturally curly.

Peter handed her a letter, also from the envelope. It was a letter from her brothers and sister. It read:

“Hi sis! We’re so pleased we’ve finally found you and we hope this letter reaches you soon. We’re not sure what we’re supposed to say to a sister who doesn’t even know of our existence so we’ll just say “Hi and welcome to the family”. We hope it won’t be long before we can say that in person, face to face and we can’t wait to hear all about your life in Blighty and for us to tell you all about ours. Dad said we may be able to speak to you on the phone once he’s told you we’re here so we’ll save everything ‘till then. If you want to though, you can look us up on Facebook – although on second thoughts, maybe not; you’ll then see we’re all a bit crazy and might decide you don’t want to meet us after all! Only joking (we hope). Details below. Well, we’ll sign off for now. Speak soon. All our love, Beth, Rob and Paul. xxxxxxx P.S. Our mum says “Hi” and she’s looking forward to meeting you too. Xxxxx”

Becky was laughing and crying at the same time. It was such a friendly letter; a letter that said nothing really and yet so much. She instantly knew she’d like them and she couldn’t wait to talk to them. She also knew that Gilly would make her feel welcome.

‘They sound really wonderful dad. Can we call them?’

He beamed with love and pride. ‘I think we’d better wait awhile love, they’re about nine hours ahead so they’ll all be in bed right now. We can call them late this evening when they’ll just be getting up, if that’s okay with you.’

Becky nodded enthusiastically and studied the photograph again picking out little things like Bethany’s freckles and the way Robert’s smile curved crookedly, just like their father’s. ‘You have a really lovely family dad,’ she said ‘and, I know it’s none of my business but, you do realise don’t you, that you’re completely free to marry Gilly now – if you want to.’

His eyes shot to hers in a look of total surprise then a huge smile spread across his face. ‘Blimey love, you’re right! I hadn’t thought of that. I should have done it years ago to be honest. And the timing couldn’t be better. We just found out that we’re having another child.’

‘Dad! That’s wonderful news!’

‘Yep! It’s a bit of a surprise to be honest love but we’re thrilled. We haven’t told the kids yet; we wanted to wait until I got back. We thought that, if things didn’t go well here and you didn’t want to see me, it would soften the blow for them when we told them that they might not have you but they were going to have a new baby brother or sister.’

‘God I’m starving,’ Max said returning with Lily and Magic and lifting Lily down, ‘I feel as if I’ve been walking for days without food.’

Lily ran to her grandfather and pulled him to his feet dragging him off to feed the ducks.

‘You’ll never guess what Max,’ Becky said.

He fell onto the blanket beside her, gave her a quick kiss on the lips then collapsed on his back with his head in her lap. ‘I’m too tired to guess sweetheart, your daughter’s a slave-driver,’ he joked, ‘but by the look on your face I’m assuming you’ve had more good news. Tell me.’

‘Dad’s just told me I’ve got two brothers and a sister and I’m about to have another one.’

He suddenly wasn’t so tired after all.

Far too soon for either of them, it was time for Peter to return home. He and Becky had grown close in just a few short days and it was a difficult parting for them both.

‘It’s a long journey, especially for someone Lily’s age,’ he said, ‘but we’d be happy for you to come and stay whenever you want to.’

‘Lily will be starting school in September,’ Becky said, ‘but I’m so eager to meet everyone. We must make it soon.’

‘There’s always Christmas,’ Max suggested ‘or Easter. Your new baby is due around then so Becky and Lily would be able to see the baby too.’

‘That’s a brilliant idea Max!’ Becky said, ‘although Easter does seem so far away as it’s only August now.’

‘When you’ve waited twenty-seven years to see someone, a few months is a drop in the ocean love,’ Peter said, ‘it’ll be here in no time.’

Max held Becky tightly in his arms as she watched her father walk through the departures gate.

‘He’s not leaving,’ Max said, ‘he’s simply popping home for a while.’

She waved her father a last goodbye then turned to face Max. ‘When did you get so smart?’ she said smiling at him.

‘I’m a demigod; I was born smart. Although, I have to confess, even I didn’t foresee the arrival of one father and several siblings.’

‘Isn’t life amazing? Seven months ago the only family I had was Lily. Now I’ve also got you and Margaret, a father and a step mother, three siblings and another on the way. I can’t believe it.’

Max held her away from him and looked deep into her eyes. ‘Did you just say mum and I are your family?’

She hadn’t realised she had; the words had just come naturally. She nodded. ‘Well, you are ... sort of ... to me.’

‘That’s one of the nicest things you’ve ever said.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Life was good in Beckleston.

Becky hadn’t realised how much fun having a family again could be. She spoke with her dad and her brothers and sister every day and she soon felt as if she had been a part of the family for her entire life, which as far as they were concerned, she had.

Susie and Ben were clearly in love and Jess and Phil seemed to be following close behind.

Beckleston Hall was looking even better than it had when Becky grew up there and preparations were almost complete for Margaret Bedford’s first real event – Lizzie and Jack’s wedding.

Even the weather seemed to get on board the Beckleston ship of happiness. For three days there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky and the forecast for the weekend was equally good.

But ships on maiden voyages need to watch for icebergs, and an iceberg was heading towards Beckleston Hall – in the human form of Kim Briarstone.

Lizzie, Jane and Iain, Iain’s son Fraser and his girlfriend, Annie arrived at Gatwick on Friday morning and Max went to collect them whilst Becky did a final run through of her list for the big day.

Susie had the dresses for Lizzie and Jane, waiting at the Hall so they could have a final fitting and she could do any last minute alterations.

The rosebud head band and bouquet would be delivered by Stephanie on Saturday afternoon together with the buttonholes; the flowers for the pergola would arrive that morning, to be twined around the frame and the poles lining the aisle.

The bar for the terrace was set up and the chairs were stacked just inside the French windows so that they could be carried out by the staff in the afternoon.

Margaret and Victoria with Connie Jessop’s assistance were preparing dinner for Friday evening and the catering company had the celebratory dinner for Saturday and the wedding brunch for Sunday firmly under control.

Jack, Phil, Ross and Lizzie’s parents were arriving early Friday evening. Lizzie’s grandparents and Gerald weren’t arriving until Saturday morning. Everyone else would be arriving on Saturday afternoon.

The villagers had been invited to watch the firework display on Saturday evening but the house and the lawns were being “roped off” so that no one would intrude on the wedding party itself. Margaret had asked Becky to arrange for everyone to be served with a glass of champagne or soft drink for the children so that they could all feel they were at least involved in some small way, by toasting the bride and groom’s good health.

Everything was in place and even Becky thought that nothing could possibly go wrong by the time Max came to collect her for dinner on Friday night.

‘Wow! You look incredible,’ he said when she opened the door. ‘We could call and say we’ll be a little late.’

She smiled and kissed him then grabbed his hand and pulled him out towards the car. ‘We could but we won’t, although I am happy to come home early.’

‘That sounds good to me.’

‘I’ve got things to check for tomorrow,’ she grinned.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box from Tiffany. ‘I bought you this.’

For just one second, her heart skipped a beat and she stopped in her tracks but she soon realised it wasn’t the right shaped box. She hoped he hadn’t seen the look of disappointment she was sure had flashed across her face. She opened it and found a gold locket. Small, delicate and very beautiful. Opening the locket she saw on one side a picture of her and her father that Max had taken on the day of their picnic. On the other was a picture of her and Lily and Max.

‘Oh Max it’s beautiful! Thank you so much. Will you put it on me please?’

He put it around her neck and fastened the clasp, kissing her neck then her shoulders and trailing a finger down her back.

‘Stop it,’ she said then turned and gave him a quick kiss. ‘I’ll thank you properly later.’

‘I thought you had things to check,’ he said in a mocking tone and his smile was wicked and tempting.

Jack was banished to The Beckleston Inn after dinner because it was unlucky for the bride and groom to see one another on their wedding day and the men joined him there for breakfast, including Max, once he’d dropped Becky at the Hall. He was given strict instructions to keep Jack away until half an hour before it was time for the ceremony to start.

Becky and Lily were staying the night at the Hall and she’d taken their clothes to change into for the wedding; for now, she just wore jeans and a T-shirt.

She double checked her list as the flowers for the pergola arrived and the chairs were set out either side of the aisle – which would be strewn with white rose petals just before the bride’s arrival.

Margaret and Victoria kept Lily amused so that Becky could deal with any last minute details – not that there seemed to be many. 

The catering staff set up in the kitchen and the rest of the staff were hanging ribbons and flowers, setting the tables, polishing the glasses and generally trotting hither and thither carrying out their appointed duties.

The hours marched on, to the melodies played by the rehearsing string quartet as the sun rose higher peeking over a solitary candyfloss cloud to spread its golden rays like a giant stage light, over the scene being played out in Beckleston Hall and its grounds.

Everyone stopped for a light lunch at two in the afternoon and Max popped back to the house at three, to see if there was anything Becky needed.

‘Other than a kiss, no,’ she said smiling triumphantly, ‘we’re actually ready ahead of schedule.’

Max obliged by kissing her deeply and then he held her in his arms without speaking for several minutes.

She raised her eyes to his and saw that he was clearly lost in thought. She couldn’t help wondering if his mind had wandered back to his own wedding day and in spite of everything, she felt a tiny twinge of jealously.

‘You’re miles away,’ she said, ‘what are you thinking about?’

Her words seemed to startle him. ‘Sorry sweetheart. I was just thinking what a wonderful day this is going to be. You’ve made the place look really beautiful. Lizzie must be thrilled. I hope she’s told you how sensational, talented and gorgeous you are.’

‘Not in those words but she is very pleased. Jess is doing her hair and make-up after her pedicure and manicure so I’ve left them to it for now. Her dress is stunning Max; Jack will realise he’s a very lucky man when he sees how beautiful she is.’

He held her slightly away from him. ‘Jack knows he’s a very lucky man Fifi and he already thinks she’s beautiful.’ He looked deep into her eyes. ‘You could be soaking wet, covered in mud and have bits of old newspaper in your hair and you’d still be the most beautiful woman on the planet in my eyes.’ And he kissed her in a way that proved she was.

He was referring to the time he’d saturated her, all those months ago, she realised and her heart soared. Even then, when she’d looked her worst, Max Bedford had thought she was beautiful. Could her life get any better than this?