December
Thanks to Chloe
the Wedding plans had gone as smoothly as silk and Charlie and Toddy had had an
easy ride and had every confidence that everything was in hand until the Monday
before the Wedding when during breakfast Charlie suddenly went rigid and the
colour drained from his face.
“Charlie!!!”
She exclaimed “What’s wrong? Are you ill?”
“Rings! we
haven’t got rings!” he replied
“Oh no, what
are we going to do?” she asked
“Firstly, we’re
not going to panic” he said having composed himself
“Then we’ll get
dressed and go and see a friend”
“What friend?”
she asked
“Ashleigh Oakes”
he replied
“Don’t do that
to me again, I thought you were having a heart attack” she said as they got in
the car.
“Sorry” he
responded and left the Village and as they drove to Mornington-By-Mere he
explained that Ashleigh Oakes
was a jeweler who ran his own business on Mornington Field.
“And will he be
able to do it?” she asked
“If he can’t it
won’t be for the want of trying” Charlie replied
They drove on
to Mornington Field and pulled up outside “Bejewels” and then went to the door
and rang the buzzer and waited for the electronic lock to click and then pulled
on the door and went inside.
Ashleigh was
expecting them because Charlie had phoned ahead to say he was coming.
Charlie and
Ashleigh energetically shook hands
“That is
wonderful news, congratulations to you both” he said and then kissed Toddy on
both cheeks
“So that’s why
we need the rings” Charlie said
“Well, you’ve
come to the right place” Ashleigh said, “What sort of design do you want?”
“I’ll know it
if I see it” Toddy said, and Ash gave her a catalogue containing his basic
designs
“So, when is
the big day?” he asked
“Saturday”
Charlie replied
“You’re getting
married this coming Saturday?” he asked in amazement
“Is that going
to be a problem?” she asked
“Well, it depends
on what you want” he replied
“Oh, my
goodness!” she exclaimed “That’s it, that’s the one”
It was a plain
gold band with two intertwined ribbons of white gold
“What do you
think Charlie?” she asked
“Perfect” he
replied
“Oh, those I
can do for you no problem” Ashleigh said, “Any engraving?”
“Yes, “Charlie +
Toddy”, but the “and” needs to be in the form of a crucifix, and then Saturdays
date” Toddy said decisively
“What the lady
said” Charlie concurred
“Ok let’s just
size your fingers” Ashleigh said
The journey
back to the Village was much more relaxed than the outbound one and when they
were on the Expressway Toddy said
“Can we go to
Threadgold’s on the way home?”
“Absolutely,
are you after anything in particular?” he asked
“No, I just
want to browse” she said noncommittedly
They drove down
the Expressway and turned off when they reached the outskirts of Pipershaven
and drove for three miles until they reached Threadgold’s Garden Centre, which
had been in existence in some form or other for over 100 years and was still
family run.
It was a huge
store which sold an extensive array of Home and Garden products with a similar
square meterage outside of plants, compost, stone slabs etc.
However, being
Christmas there were huge displays of decorations, wrapping paper and trees.
As they were
going to be on their honeymoon until January, they had already decided not to
put up decorations at Beechwood, but even so they spent more than an hour going
up and down the aisles and had a trolley full of Christmas paraphernalia, and a
sprinkling of items for the garden which they wheeled to the check out.
After Charlie had
paid, they loaded their purchases into the car, Charlie took the scenic route
home via The Pheasant in Quarry Hill where they had lunch, and as they sat in
the pub and ate scampi and chips Charlie said.
“I’ve just had
a thought”
“Oh yes”
“After Saturday
the garden is going to be yours and mine, so I won’t have to pay you to work in
it” he said and chuckled
“You haven’t
paid me since September” she retorted with a giggle
“But I’ll make
you pay in other ways”
For the
majority of the week, they did mundane things about the house, and when Charlie
did some work on the computer relating to his philanthropic work, Toddy
pottered in the greenhouse.
On Friday they
drove over to Mornington to pick up the rings from Ashleigh and they were not disappointed
in them.
Then they took
him to lunch as a thank you for dropping everything to get them finished before
the big day.
So, they drove
the short distance to Shallowfield and had lunch at the Shallowfield Lodge
Hotel overlooking Teardrop Lake.
The rest of the
day they just wanted to be alone, the Best Man Paul Day had phoned earlier that
morning to ask is they wanted to do dinner that night, but they said they
couldn’t because they had already made plans.
It wasn’t a
complete lie as their plans involved them being alone for the evening.
As he walked
her to the vicarage that night she said
“I would much
rather spend the night with you”
“I know” he
said “But the groom mustn’t see the bride before the wedding, its bad luck”
“That’s just a
superstition though isn’t it” she pointed out
“After tomorrow
we will never have to spend the night apart again” he said and kissed her
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