‘So happy,’ he said, blowing his nose, ‘such a happy day. A good start to a marriage when it is filled with laughter.’
‘And I’m sure your wedding day was filled with laughter too, Dawn,’ Anna said.
‘No, actually. The cake was late arriving and it was lopsided. It nearly fell off the table when we went to cut it. And my mother had hurt her back lifting some flowers, and she was in such pain she could hardly move.’
Craig chuckled. ‘That’s what she claimed. She was just trying to make the day all about her, if you ask me. And then there was that row about paying the caterers, and your uncle Ken had a stand-up row in the car park with Jeff. I thought they were going to come to blows.’
‘Uncle Ken had sneaked in a bottle of vodka and he spiked the fruit punch, so no wonder. It was a lovely day though,’ she said through stiff lips.
‘Oh yes, absolutely,’ Craig said, back-pedalling furiously. He looked at his empty wine glass in astonishment as though he had no idea why it was empty. ‘Well, that won’t do. Come on, Dawnie, I need a refill.’
‘When don’t you,’ she muttered, going back to her seat.
With all the talk of wedding celebrations I thought back once more to my own. There hadn’t been any of that sort of joyfulness; it had been a sedate occasion when most of my preferences had been ignored.
I’d wanted Harriet and Anna as bridesmaids, but that was vetoed by Fred’s mother who had insisted his twin nieces Amy and Laura should be asked instead. And that meant I also ended up with their ghastly younger brother Mark as a pageboy otherwise he would apparently have been upset to be left out. Mark’s contribution to the event mainly consisted of whining through the ceremony that he was hungry and then picking his nose in all the official photographs.
Fred’s mother had practically trampled my parents on her way into the reception, and his father had given a speech about himself and how clever he was. We had organised a sedate disco afterwards, when Fred’s mother had complained of a migraine and gone home early. So no, it hadn’t been an event filled with spontaneous joy.
* * *
We had a pleasant evening after that with yet more delicious food, and a lot of laughter. And I thought again how different this was from my usual life, where I got up early and went to bed early too. When some days I hardly saw or spoke to anyone except shop assistants or the occasional phone call to friends.
Just as the meal was ending and people were talking about going off to bed, or perhaps the bar for a nightcap, I laughed so much at one of Marjorie’s stories that one of my spaghetti straps on my new dress broke. To my utter horror the fabric started falling down my body and I had to grab at it before I exposed my boobs to a surprised audience.
‘Good heavens,’ Evelyn said, ‘steady on there, you’ll send Don into a catatonic state.’
She kindly grabbed a napkin and held it up to shield me while I clutched at my wrap to cover up. And suddenly I started laughing again until the tears came to my eyes and my stomach ached. Well, I had thought I wanted more experiences and excitement in my life, but possibly this was a step too far.
Then I made a dash to my cabin, briefly seeing Craig’s eyes popping while behind him Dawn had an expression of shock and outrage as I passed her. She reacted by putting one hand over Craig’s eyes. I couldn’t help it; I was giggling all the way at the ridiculous situation in which I found myself, and then I realised that I wasn’t nearly as shocked as I once might have been.
* * *
That evening the air was warm and still, and instead of just going to bed I changed into my swimming costume. I would go into the pool on the top deck. Perhaps people would look at me but I didn’t much care. The sky was dark, the town softly illuminated with glowing lights. All the noise and excitement of the wedding procession had died down. Perhaps all those young people were having a party somewhere, laughing and dancing the Kolo in a circle around the newly married couple.
I took off my new turquoise caftan with the tassels and lowered myself into the water, enjoying the coolness after the heat of the day.
In the distance I could see fireworks bursting into the dark sky. Perhaps this was for the same wedding celebration. How lovely.
Further along the deck people were sitting with drinks. Some were leaning over the balustrade to see the lights from the fishing boats and little cruisers coming into harbour.
‘Is it nice in there?’ someone said, and I looked up to see Don grinning down at me.
I hoped he hadn’t seen my earlier flashing attempts.
I sank lower into the water. ‘Lovely.’
‘I might come and join you later—’ he said.
Please don’t, I thought.
‘—but we are playing bridge first. We’re looking for another couple who are keen to learn.’
‘Hope it goes well,’ I said cheerfully. ‘Better than last time.’
‘Yes,’ he said, rather sourly, ‘so do I.’
Realising I probably knew of their crushing defeat at the hands of Evelyn and Jack, he drifted off to badger an inoffensive couple who had been sitting enjoying their coffee at the other end of the deck.
