Ben and Dorcas had
been living together for just over a month and he found it difficult to
remember the time he lived alone.
It had been a bit of
whirlwind romance and in just a few short months Bens cozy little life had been
completely turned upside down.
From the moment Dorcas
breezed into his life on a bright June day when she almost sent him into the
afterlife from behind the wheel of her car.so they met in June, he proposed in
August and they officially moved in together in November, although they were
together virtually all the time from the moment of the proposal.
It was the most wonderful
thing that had ever happened to him and she changed his life in a heartbeat.
The only blot on the
landscape for them was “The Wedding” and that didn’t mean in any way shape or
form that he didn’t want to get married to her, he did, very much so, and she
felt exactly the same way, it was just the subject of “The Wedding” that was
getting them down.
It had become all
consuming, they thought they had been quite canny, leaving it in the hands of their
parents but they were driving them mad.
And the wedding had
taken on a life of its own, and it was not a life form that they recognized or
wished to embrace.
They were constantly
being pressed for a date and being told that the plans couldn’t proceed any
further without knowing the date.
They had thought that
once they got into December their focus would shift from the wedding to Christmas
but no it seemed to get worse if anything and it was only the 1st day of the
month.
They were both sitting
in the lounge at the cottage having both come off the phone with their
respective parents engulfed in gloom.
After about ten
minutes Ben had a light bulb moment and he said
“Why don’t we get
away?”
“Get away?” Dorcas
replied
“Yes, let’s get away
for a week and escape the harassment”
Get away?” Dorcas
repeated
“We’ll be back in time
for Christmas” he continued “but until then we can avoid all the talk of
wedding plans”
Dorcas just sat
looking thoughtful so he pressed on
“We’ve both got
holiday to use up and we could do some Christmas shopping while we’re away”
She said nothing for a
full minute and then suddenly she excitedly said
“Let’s go on line and
see what’s available”
He switched on the
laptop and she sat next to him as he opened the browser
“Do you want sun?” he
asked
“No I’m not fussed
about the sun” she said
“Ok, do you want
activity?”
“Nah”
“America?”
“No, to America and
nowhere that’s more than two hours flying time” she said decisively
“So Europe then” he
said
“I think so”
“So how about Natural
beauty?” he asked
“Nah”
“Well present company
accepted” Ben added and kissed her
“You’re so sweet” She
said and kissed him back
“Historic?” he asked
“Hmm” she responded
thoughtfully
“Romantic?”
“Definitely” she
replied
“City break then”
“Oh yes a city break”
she said excitedly “but it must be a city I’ve not been to before”
“How about….” he
pondered he knew she had been to the usual places, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels
etc. so he cast his net a bit further.
“Berlin” he suggested
They had decided on a
city break somewhere in Europe.
“How about….” he
pondered he knew she had been to the usual places, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels
etc. so he cast his net a bit further.
“Berlin” he suggested
“Berlin?” she repeated
“Oooh I haven’t been there”
“It has history,
romance and a Christmas market to boot” he added
“Oooh a Christmas market”
she said enthusiastically
“Ok then Berlin it is”
Ben said
“Let’s find somewhere
to stay” Dorcas added
An hour later they had
a 10 night booking at the Regent Hotel and flights booked for the following Thursday,
St Nicholas Day, the 6th December.
And a return flight on
the 16th, which would give them a full week to do all the last minute stuff and
enjoy the run in to their first Christmas together.
So on the Monday
morning they put in their holiday forms to their respective employers and the
wheels were set in motion.
They did however have
a minor panic when Dorcas couldn’t find her passport.
She thought she had it
last when she lived in Finchbottom but after an extensive search of the cottage
and her unpacked boxes proved fruitless the realization that it must be at her
parents’ house dawned on them.
The simple thing would
have been to ask her mum but that would have alerted her to their plans and
would have led to increased wedding questioning that would have to be answered
before they departed and they didn’t plan on telling anyone they were going
away until the last minute.
Dorcas had to leave it
until Wednesday afternoon, when she knew her mum would be at the Women’s Institute,
when she could sneak into the house and search unmolested.
It was cutting it very
fine as they were due to leave the next day, but all the sneaky subterfuge and
stealth paid off and she phoned him from the house to say she had it.
That evening they asked
John and Carole from next door to pop in and feed Pandora while they were away
and then they were all set.
At that stage they
were the only two, outside of work colleagues, that knew they were going away.
So they were feeling
very pleased with themselves when they reached the airport on Thursday morning
and they had shown the family a clean pair of heels.
However once they got
through passport control they phoned Helen to let her know what they were doing.
“Good for you” she
said “I wouldn’t blame you if you got married while you’re away, Have a great
time”
They flew into Tegel Airport
just after 11.00am and arrived at the Hotel Regent about an hour and a half
later and they were not disappointed by their choice, it was absolutely
beautiful and very luxurious.
They had a beautiful
room and from the main window there was a wonderful view of the imposing dome
of, what they found out later was the French Cathedral.
Ben and Dorcas were so
very pleased with their lovely room that they didn’t leave it all afternoon.
In fact they only left
it in order to go and eat and then they went back to the room and had an early
night.
On Friday the weather
was very English and it bucketed down with rain so they decided to make use of
the Hotel facilities for the day and they began their holiday proper on
Saturday morning after an early breakfast and they crammed in a lot on their
first day out and about.
They took full
advantage of the unseasonably mild weather and did the Brandenburg Gate, the
Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the Glienicke Bridge in the morning and the
Christmas Market at Charlottenburg Palace after lunch and into the evening.
When they woke up on Sunday
morning they were exhausted after packing so much into their day, so they
decided that they should perhaps have a more relaxing day beginning with
breakfast to be followed by Church.
After speaking to the
waiter the pair took his advice and got a taxi to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial
Church on the Kurfürstendamm.
And when the driver
turned onto the very broad, long boulevard full of shops, houses, hotels and
restaurants he said proudly
“This is the
Champs-Élysées of Berlin”
“Oh look” Dorcas said
excitedly as they pulled up outside the beautiful blue church “they have a
Christmas market here too”
As Ben handed the
driver his money he said
“They have Christmas
markets everywhere”
“Oh goody” she
responded and he laughed
The service was lovely
and the new part of the Church with the blue glass was spectacular with the
winter sun shining through.
Afterwards they ate
lunch of Frickadellen with fries and mayo from a “Schnellie” at the roadside.
Ben and Dorcas went to
Wannsee After lunch and walked around the lakes in the sunshine enjoying the
scenery until the evening fell and so did the temperature.
From Monday onwards
there was very little sun to speak of and it was bitterly cold but they really
didn’t mind as for the rest of the week they got to spend lots of time hugging.
But it was an action
packed few days, they shopped at Potsdamer Platz, spent hours at Museums Island,
had lunch at the rotating restaurant at the TV tower on Alexanderplatz, climbed
the victory column in the Tiergarten, visited the Berlin Zoo, went Christmas
shopping at the big department store, KaDeWe, and a attended a liberal sprinkling
of Christmas markets, in fact you name it and they did it.
It was when they were
at the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas Market that life got very interesting.
It was an incredibly
cold afternoon and they had both over indulged on Gluwein when her phone rang.
Dorcas looked at the
phone and pulled a face, it was not the first call that week to have caused
that reaction.
“My mum just doesn’t
give up” she said and rejected the call.
“I suppose that’s the
price we have to pay” Ben said “if we want to get married and have the big
wedding”
“But I don’t want to” she
retorted
“You don’t want to get
married?” he asked with alarm
“Of course I want to
marry you hon” she said reassuringly
“But I don’t want a
big wedding” Dorcas said
“I just want me and
you” and then she kissed him
“Let’s do it then” he
suggested “let’s do it today, right now”
“What about the
family?” she mused “Oooh my Mum will be so mad”
“And mine” he said
“But what are they going to do? Ground us?”
Dorcas looked
thoughtful as she drank another Gluwein
“And we can have a
blessing at St Lucy’s later for family and friends” he added
“Ok let’s do it”
Dorcas said and hugged him tightly
“Are you sure?” Ben
asked
“Well I’m sure that I
love you,” she said in reply “and I’m sure that you love me, so yes I’m sure”
Having made the
decision to usurp their parents and have a quiet wedding of their own, on their
own terms, the first thing the next morning they went to the British embassy to
get the relevant forms required to marry in Germany, which was surprisingly
easy.
After they left the
embassy they went to a variety of bureaucratic offices and queued up to sit in
front of a variety of bureaucrats until in true German style every forms had
all the relative stamps and seals.
However when they went
to the registry office they came up against a brick wall.
“You must wait for 6
weeks” the registrar said
“But we’ll be back in
England in six weeks” he retorted
“I’m sorry” he said
“but it’s the rule”
“but we’ve spent most
of the day queuing in dreary offices
getting seemingly endless forms endorsed with many and varied stamps and
seals and none of the faceless bureaucrats once mentioned a six week rule”
Dorcas stated angrily
“I really am sorry” he
repeated “but I can’t help you”
Dorcas was about to go
again but Ben intervened
“Thank you anyway” he
said and guided an unhappy Dorcas towards the door
“However” the
registrar called “I know someone who could possible help”
“Oh?” Dorcas exclaimed
“It would be
conditional” he continued
“On what” Ben asked
“On you being
Christians” he replied
Claus, the registrar,
directed them to St Georges Anglican Episcopal Church in Westend and they were
soon in a cab driving along Bismarkstrasse through Charlottenburg in the
direction of Spandau.
It was a very pretty
little church, modern looking with a high sloping tiled roof, but very pretty.
After exiting the cab
Ben and Dorcas looked at each other and both nodded their approval
simultaneously and walked up the path to the doors.
Claus, had phoned
ahead and made them an appointment with Pastor James Morgan, who turned out to
be a very jovial Welshman not at all dissimilar to the late great Harry
Seacombe.
“Welcome, welcome” he
said when they walked through the doors,
“You must be Ben and
Dorcas?”
If they were impressed
with the outside of the church then they were doubly so with the interior.
It was light and
modern but in a traditional way and was as far removed from St Lucy’s in Bushy
Down as it was possible to get.
After the
introductions were made they sat in the pews and the Pastor said
“Well I’m not sure I
can be of any more help than Claus was, it’s just a bit short notice”
Despite Pastor Morgan
informing them that he couldn’t help Ben and Dorcas went on to explain why they
had come to the decision that they had and the pressures of the big family
wedding that had built and built and finally led them to take the course of
action they were proposing.
“We haven’t made our
decision lightly”
Dorcas said
“Oh I’m not questioning
your motives” he said “but it’s just not something we do, its Thursday now and
I understand you’re going home on Sunday, it’s just such terribly short notice”
Dorcas and Ben were
both crestfallen.
“Come on both of you
let’s have a coffee” he said
They were sitting in
quietly in his office drinking a very decent coffee when he asked
“Where is home
anyway?”
“We live in Bushy
Down, it’s a small…..” I began
“Oh I know Bushy Down”
the pastor said with delight “and St Lucy’s”
“Really?” he said “I
normally have to explain where it’s near”
“I’ve been there many
times, the Reverend Oliver was my Verger for five years before she got St
Lucy’s” he said “we remained friends until the end”
“She was well loved”
He said “and very much missed”
Katie Oliver had passed
away earlier that year after a short illness.
“So sad” he said with
melancholy
“She was such a lovely
person, I was in the Village for the funeral” He paused in order to gather
himself
“Listen why don’t you
both stay and have dinner with me and my wife Clair? She’s from Finchbottom by
the way” he said his joviality fully restored
“So am I” Dorcas
chipped in
“Excellent” he said
“you’ll have lots to talk about then, let’s go and surprise her”
They had a marvelous
evening with the Morgan’s, good company, excellent food and a liberal amount of
alcohol thrown in for good measure the pair of them were fair steaming by the
time they got in the taxi to go back to the hotel.
But amidst the
friendly banter, reminiscence and over indulgence Pastor Morgan agreed to marry
them on Saturday morning.
When they woke up the
next morning cuddled up cozily together the realization of what they had done
suddenly dawned on them as they lay comfortably beneath the duvet.
“We’re really doing it
aren’t we?” Dorcas said as she hugged him
“Yes I think we are”
he replied
“Cool” she said
After a few minutes
she suddenly went rigid.
“What about
witnesses?” she said with real alarm in her voice “or a bridesmaid?”
“Well…..” Ben began
but she was already making a call and heading for the bathroom.
“Helen!” she said
After half an hour sitting
in the bathroom with the door shut talking to Helen, Dorcas emerged and was
much calmer.
“Helen was a great
help” she said “I feel much better now, but we need to go shopping”
So he took her to the
Europa Centre where he sat watching the Water Clock as he drank a pint of
Guinness outside the Irish Pub.
Ben watched the glass
bowls empty over and over again while she was buying a dress for the wedding
which he wasn’t allowed to see and then she chose a suit for him which he
wasn’t allowed an opinion on.
On Saturday morning
they were up early and got downstairs for breakfast as soon as they started serving
and all the time they were there breakfasting Dorcas kept fidgeting and looking
at her watch or fiddling with her phone and she hardly ate a thing in fact Ben
ate most of hers as well.
He assumed that it was
just pre wedding nerves so he didn’t say anything and just enjoyed the extra
helping.
They had been in the
breakfast room for about an hour and he had just poured himself another coffee
when all of a sudden Dorcas leapt up and said
“Come along, things to
do”
“What?” Ben replied “I
haven’t finished my coffee”
“No time for that” she
insisted “Let’s go”
Well, a lesser man may
have thought that if that was a sample of what was to come he might have been
making a mistake, but not him, he just attributed her demeanor and tone to the
same nerves that provided him with two breakfasts so he trotted out after the beautiful
and excitable little minx.
When he caught up with
her in the reception he was just about to make himself comfortable on a
luxurious sofa when his sister Helen and his best friend Gary came bustling
through the front doors.
Dorcas squealed and ran
to embrace Helen.
“Thank you, thank you,
thank you”
She screamed as she
kissed and hugged Ben’s sister
In the meantime he
went over to Gary and asked
“What are you doing
here? How did you….”
Then it dawned on me,
the previous day’s long conversation in the bathroom between Dorcas and Helen when
they had obviously hatched this plan.
“We couldn’t miss it
mate” Gary said accompanied by a man hug
“I even suffered the
budget air redeye just to be here”
And much to his
chagrin he would be returning that night by the same mode.
With all the squealing
and giggling from Dorcas and Helen the group had attracted the attention of
Christophe, the hotel manager, who they had come to know quite well over the
previous week.
Ben caught his eye and
he had that look on his face that all Hotel Managers wear when something has
occurred that they was not expecting.
So he spent the next
five minutes explaining the circumstances of how they came to be in his
reception and causing a commotion.
“You are getting
married today?” he asked and vigorously shook his hand and then kissed Dorcas
on both cheeks
“That is wonderful
news”
Then he repeated the
process with Helen and Gary, he couldn’t have been happier if they had been his
own kith and kin.
Ben went on to explain
that his sister and his best friend had only flown in that morning and would be
returning to England that evening.
“Ach so” he exclaimed
and raised a finger “Ein moment” and went over to the desk.
After a few moments
converse with the receptionist he returned to him brandishing a key card.
“The groom must not see
the bride before the Church, I think” he stated “So the gentlemen may use this
room as a dressing room”
“Thank you so much
Christophe” Dorcas said and kissed his cheek like he was a kindly uncle.
Gary and Ben left the
hotel at 11.30am in one of the two cabs Christophe had secured on their behalf
and made their way to St Georges Church in Westend.
When they walked in to
the Church it was as he expected, largely empty.
Pastor Morgan and his
wife Clair were standing by the altar, and there was an elderly man, who he
presumed was the organist as he was seated at the organ, other than that there
was only Gary and the groom.
Ben stopped suddenly
and said
“Rings? I haven’t got
any rings”
“Don’t panic” Gary said
“I’ve got them, Helen picked them up from your house last night”
He relaxed again and
then they continued up to the altar where James and Clair welcomed them and
then a tall gangly young man then came to join them
“Ah Sebastian” The
pastor said “come and meet the groom and best man”
Then he turned to Ben
and said accompanied by an inclination of the head
“Sebastian is going to
video the service so you have something to show your parents”
By the time the organ
started playing the bridal march a small congregation had assembled and he
recognized a handful of familiar faces among them as being from the Hotel, one
of them was the Hotel manager Christophe, even the registrar Claus was there.
But his eyes were
quickly drawn to his bride to be, Dorcas, and she looked absolutely stunning.
The ceremony itself
seemed to pass by in an instant but at the moment they said I do, they both
felt complete.
After the wedding
breakfast in the Hotel restaurant Helen and Gary had to leave for the airport
which despite the fact they would be home the next day was a tearful farewell.
The newlyweds returned
to the bar for another drink before they decided to retire and when they reached
the reception desk Christophe was there waiting for them and said
“Mr. and Mrs. Overton,
please accept with our compliments an upgrade to one of our deluxe suites for
your wedding night, I have already taken the liberty of having your personal
belongings transferred from your old room” and handed him a key card
“Oh wow” Dorcas said
and planted another kiss on the cheek of the “kindly uncle” before they went
upstairs to consummate their union in a luxury suite.
He awoke first in the
pale winter light of dawn with Dorcas cuddled into him with her head on his chest.
And when she
eventually stirred he said
“Good morning Mrs.
Overton”
“Oh I like how that
sounds” she said and kissed his chest
“It doesn’t sound as
classy as Fox-Martin” he suggested
“No” she agreed “but I
like it a lot”
“I love you Dorcas” he
said
“I love you too” she
replied and they made love in the half light.
Later they reluctantly
had to leave their luxurious suite and the comfort of their duvet and begin
their journey home as Mr. and Mrs. Overton and break the news to their
respective parents that there will be other things for them to talk about for
the foreseeable future.
It was all going to
make for a very interesting Christmas dinner at his mums but the two of them
definitely thought it was worth it though.
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