‘Right.’
Tracy had obviously been discreet as expected – perhaps she’d seen the look on Jade’s face, known it wasn’t the happy event most people wanted to share.
‘What happened?’
‘It’s a long story.’
Etna looked at the stairs but there was no sign of Lois and her son. ‘We’ve got a bit of time, I’m a good listener you know. And when we hear Lois coming we’ll scarper, but until then I’m all ears.’
Jade had thought she’d finished talking about Dario but Etna was a good sounding board. She briefly told her everything that had happened with Dario, how they’d planned a future, said goodbye, and how he’d come here wanting her back. ‘He turned up here and proposed – he was offering everything I ever wanted, everything we both wanted.’
‘You don’t still feel the same way?’
Jade shook her head. ‘I did for a long time but I was holding on to a dream that never would’ve worked out in the long run. I wouldn’t fit over there; he said he’d come here, but I think that in the end, whatever it was that one of us had given up would drive a wedge between us. We’d end up resenting each other, and I think by the time we said goodbye he knew that too.’
‘You still have your memories of him to treasure. When I married, I believed you could only ever find one true love – and the wedding today is the perfect illustration of that theory. But it doesn’t always happen that way. I think if we let ourselves, we can find love again without really looking.’
Jade wondered whether Etna was referring to Kenneth or she could be talking about Linc. Either way, Jade understood where she was coming from. ‘I suspect you’re right.’ She bit the corner of her lip, thinking. ‘Can I tell you something else?’ Nobody had ventured down the stairs yet and they were all alone in the hallway.
‘Of course.’ She was like this in the tea rooms, always willing to lend an ear. She’d let you nurse a cup of tea for hours while you talked, none of this pressure to buy something else because you were taking up a table, although you inevitably did anyway.
Jade told Etna how she longed for a family of her own, how she’d got fed up with waiting for the perfect man to turn up, and how she’d found another way by having her eggs frozen. And now she was ready to use them.
‘Say something,’ Jade urged as they made their way out to the barn ahead of Lois, who was by now on her way down the stairs according to one of her grandsons who had been spying and yelled the information from the back door, sending the stragglers into the barn. ‘You think it’s a mad idea, don’t you?’
Etna stopped outside the open barn doors and kept her voice low. ‘I never had children. We tried but it didn’t happen for us. I think it’s why I always adored Linc and his brother and still like to take them under my wing whenever I can. Back in my day, if I’d been able to find another way to have a family and I really wanted one, if I’d been on my own like you are and saw the dream slipping away,’ she said, clutching Jade’s wrist and giving it a little squeeze, ‘nothing would’ve stopped me.’
Jade gave Etna a hug. ‘Now, that I can believe.’
Conspiratorially, Etna whispered, ‘A part of me secretly hopes you might hold off a while and see if someone may just be waiting in the wings.’ She winked, and with that she left Jade to find her sister while she found Joseph and Kenneth over at the far side of the barn.
The scene inside the barn was set and the low hum of chatter swelled to murmurs of admiration as the string quartet got started with Mozart’s ‘Ave Verum Corpus’and Lois came into view. She walked towards Barney, and Jade wondered whether she was the only one holding her breath. They were both so nervous but the minute they were side by side they both began to grin and looked as though they couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. It was exactly as love should be and they’d finally found their happy ending after all these years.
The vows were exchanged and without a dry eye in the house, the celebrant at last announced Barney could kiss his bride. Whoops, cheers and claps surrounded them and Jade turned to finally catch a glimpse of Linc, who must’ve come in when she was too busy to notice. He was leaning up against the side of the barn closest to the door, beyond the crowds, looking her way, gorgeous in a tux. He looked so different from the man who’d bashed about so loudly at the bakery that morning, the guy who’d teased her about carrying around an old photograph, the man who seemed to blow hot and cold when it came to her, and all she could do was stare.
Guests milled, talked amongst themselves, the bride and groom were bombarded by congratulations and the beautiful strains of the quartet continued to fill the air as Lois and Barney had their first dance as a married couple. Lois’s grandchildren set off a stream of party poppers that had them leaping about in delight, and Jade only looked away for a second before Linc was swallowed up by the crowds and she lost sight of him.
A lively band replaced the string quartet as they transitioned from wedding formalities to the main event, the Wedding Dress Ball, and the happy couple surprised everyone by dancing the twist.
‘Jade, come and talk to us,’ Lois begged as they escaped for a breather. ‘It’ll stop anyone pulling us back onto the dancefloor before we’ve had a chance to recover.’
‘You were both impressive out there,’ she said, looking at the space in the barn that had been solely for them moments ago but was now filled with everyone else wanting to enjoy the ball. ‘Look at Nola, my goodness!’ The landlady of the pub, wearing her wedding dress – an off-the-shoulder flirty calf-length satin number – was leading the way with the dancing. People were copying her moves, even the kids. ‘I was talking to Nola earlier and she said you’ve made firm plans to rehome the chickens when her daughter returns to work,’ said Jade.
Barney nodded. ‘We’re looking forward to it, aren’t we, Lois?’
Lois sipped from a glass of champagne, decidedly more relaxed now the official part was behind them. ‘I know nothing about keeping chickens but I’m sure we’ll learn fast, and they’ll have plenty of space to roam.’ The cottage and barn came with plenty of green space so she was right about that.
Nola had stumbled off the dancefloor, her energy levels clearly not what she’d hoped they might be, and caught the tail end of their conversation. ‘They’re a bugger to catch when they put their mind to it.’ She reached for a sausage roll from the platter carried by Brianna from the waffle shack. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll come over and teach you the best way to grab them, give you a few lessons.’
‘I’ve got visions of Barney and me running all over the fields,’ Lois laughed with Jade as Nola went over to find her husband.
‘It’ll keep us fit,’ Barney declared before he and Lois were accosted by Harvey to talk with another couple of guests who’d been late arrivals.
Jade was wondering where Celeste had got to when she heard a voice behind her.
‘My auntie was right, this really is the event of the year.’
She turned to smile a hello at Linc, the butterflies zipping through her insides as though they’d just been released from a net. ‘I look forward to it every summer now, it’s certainly a highlight. The ball, I mean, not the wedding,’ she stammered.
