Sunday 12 September 2021

Uncanny Love Tales – (044) The Girl in the White Silk Dress (Part 1)

 

When Steve Berry proposed to Holly on Easter Sunday in front of a packed pub it set off an unstoppable chain of events which consumed not just Steve and Holly but everyone around them.

Rather unconventionally, instead of picking a date, or a number of dates, and then checking if the church was free, Holly went to see the Reverend Marshall to see what dates he had available.

She was fully expecting St Mary’s to be fully booked right through the summer and she was correct, but as luck would have it there had been a cancellation only that afternoon and September 23rd was free, it was cutting it a bit fine but she thought it was doable so even without checking with Steve she booked it there and then.

 

Steve ever the bean counter was supervising the installation of solar panels on the rear aspect roof which would make a significant reduction to their electricity bill.

Although in truth supervising was actually just him sitting on the patio looking up at them working while he drank a pint.

The Pig and Whistle was a big pub and as he sat looking up to the roof it was patently obvious that it had once been a hotel.

When he and Holly finally got around to fully exploring the accommodation, they were amazed at how many rooms there were.

There were some rooms upstairs that were used as little more than storage space.

In fact, there were sufficient rooms for Holly and Steve to have a self-contained apartment and still make four decent size bed sitters.

“They could be a useful additional source of income” Steve suggested

“Not if we offered them to the staff at a reduced rate” Holly suggested

“Hmmm” Steve responded

“Hospitality is not the best paid job in the world” Holly continued “And they’re paying ridiculous rents for a room half the size”

“Agreed then” he said, so that was settled, they would offer them to the senior staff.

Petra and Ausra jumped at the chance as they were living in a very dodgy street with some very unsavoury neighbours, Stephanos was less keen until he realised it was twice the size for half the rent.

Debbie declined as she was already well fixed up living with her parents rent free and you couldn’t get cheaper than that.

“Save it for when we get a cook” Steph suggested, at that time he and Steve did the food between them

“What do you mean?” Holly said

 “I’m a good pub grub man” Steph said “but I’m not a chef”

“What do you think Steve?” Holly asked

“Well we can both cook ok, but our repertoire is limited, what we do, we do well” he replied

“What we need is a “chef” who can take us to the next level and broaden our horizons”

“Well I’ll put that on the list then” Holly said and grinned

 

Steve was taking a short break before the lunchtime rush while Holly was upstairs trying on her wedding dress.

The date was set for September 23rd at St Mary’s church which was just down the road, followed by the reception at the Pig and Whistle which would keep the cost down.

He was thinking about the guest list, it wasn’t substantial, as there weren’t many family guests on Holly’s side, her parents, if they could be found, and two cousins, and none at all on Steve’s side.

The only relative he had was his father and apart from the fact he didn’t know if he was still alive, he didn’t want him there anyway.

One person who would definitely not be there was Uncle Phil who had passed away two months before the wedding.

 

Up in Holly and Steve’s bedroom she was opening a large flat cardboard box the kind where the lid fitted over the base like a very large jigsaw puzzle box.

She was accompanied by her bridesmaids, Petra and Ausra, who were cousins, had come to Britain from Lithuania, they were the same age as Holly and they had known each other for almost ten years, and the three of them were the best of friends.

When Holly had the lid off the box, she cast it aside and unfolded the tissue paper covering the contents, then she slipped her hands inside and removed the beautiful white silk wedding dress trimmed with Belgian lace.

“Wow that’s beautiful” Petra said “was it your mamas?

“No” Holly replied and laughed “my parents got married in a registry office and the bride wore denim”

“It’s lovely” Ausra added

“It was my grandmothers” Holly said proudly and when she tried it on, Holly looked stunning.

 

Steve’s thoughts turned to his best man, six months earlier he wouldn’t have hesitated for a second, his best friend Graham Chatfield would have been the obvious choice for best man.

But they had fallen out, as it was Graham who had been the most vociferous about him burning his bridges and ruining his life over some “silly tart”.

At the point Graham referred to Holly as a “silly tart” Steve hit him, and they hadn’t spoken since.

Which meant the obvious candidate was now Stephanos who he hadn’t got around to asking yet, so he went back into the kitchen

“Steph!” he called “I need a best man”

“Of course, you do” he replied

“And you’re it” Steve said

“Cool” Steph responded, so that was settled.

 

Having returned the wedding dress to its box and safely hidden it from Steve’s prying eyes her thought returned to the day itself.

The wedding breakfast was problematic as the cooks were also the Groom and Best Man and the waitresses were the bridesmaids.

Of course, it was easy enough to get outside caterers for the day, Holly had enough contacts in the business to get someone that would do a good job and at a reasonable price.

It wasn’t in their budget, but it looked like they didn’t really have a choice.

The other thing they couldn’t really afford to take was a honeymoon, in terms of time away from the pub and financially.

But their staff ganged up on them and insisted they go, if only for a day or two.

They could quite easily manage while they were away, so they agreed on a short break in the New Forest, a B&B would keep it affordable.

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