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.
