Footsteps came from behind the bar and Amelie swung round with the whisky bottle. “You’re all allowed one tiny top up and then that’s it until after the ceremony.”
“Who’s said that?” Finn narrowed his eyes.
“Me. The landlady. Friend of your wives.” Her eyes glistened dangerously. “And you all had your pass for Gully’s stag do.”
I groaned at the memory. I’d needed two days to recover from that. In fact, I’d been in a worse state than Iris after twelve hours of labour.
“You’ve known us far longer than the girls - ” Finn was trying, bless him.
“I have. I think I actually wiped your arses when you were still in nappies and I have some amazing photos of when you were toddlers and running round Grant and Marie’s Oxford house with no clothes on. I’m more than happy to share them on the noticeboard if you piss me off.” She smiled sweetly at us. “And you have twenty minutes before the pub opens and then another thirty before you start the walk up to the church.”
We were walking from the Puffin Inn to the church in much the same way we had the day of Ivy’s funeral, only this time, I’d be holding Ivy’s niece rather than carrying a coffin. Finn had found it a little morbid at first, but he’d gotten it after a couple of days of avoiding me.
The whole town would be there, as well as the majority of our Callaghan and Green cousins, which had meant everywhere was booked up room wise, including most of Roman’s hotel. We weren’t having anything too formal though. The ceremony would be standard, a few extra songs that Iris didn’t know about, but would hopefully thank me for later, and then back to the pub for food and drinks, with it carrying on for as long as people wanted. There wasn’t a band or DJ, but there would be singing and I’d already seen my guitar somewhere behind the bar.
“Ready for it?” Roe grinned at me.
I nodded. “Very.”
“Let’s hope she doesn’t get cold feet.”
She didn’t. She was late though, but only by five minutes. The path to the church was lined with Puffin Bay residents and some of the Callaghan and Green cousins, especially the ones with children too young to sit through a service. I heard some of the male Welsh voice choir start up singing, their voices carrying into the church, then the same song was picked up inside as Iris walked in.
Her dress was simple and white, and she’d chosen a veil, although it wasn’t over her face. She carried calla lilies and red roses, daffodils threaded between them, the stems wrapped in strings of ivy. The church had been decorated in the same flowers, greens and whites and yellows and reds.
“Don’t think of crying.” Roe elbowed me, passing me a tissue.
I shook my head, wondering if anyone would notice me murdering him later, but then I was too distracted by Iris and her smile that was for only me.
Our daughter gave a gurgle that made everyone laugh, her Uncle Finn amusing her to stop her from wanting mummy right now.
I didn’t notice the bridesmaids until I saw the photos, Ruby, Freya and Elsie, all dressed in emerald green, because there was one person I could see.
The service wasn’t long. We said our vows without playing around with them, and there were songs that Iris wasn’t expecting, particularly the one that had her name as the title that I’d always been able to sing. Iris hadn’t know that the nights when I’d ‘nipped to the Puffin Inn for a pint’ had actually been to rehearse the song, giving it a Welsh twist.
It was met with a mixture of laughter and tears, which I was going to take as a good sign. We walked back down the aisle, Rory in my arms trying to pull at her mother’s veil, and then totally getting in the way of a kiss in the archway.
We managed it anyway.
We managed to stay awake through the rest of the day, even though Finn and Roe both snuck away for power naps, and we managed to laugh through the speeches, Iris giving her own, which included a toast to her sister for the legacy she’d passed on.
Which left us with a wedding night and a five-month-old baby, which didn’t seem like two things which would gel okay, so for the first time since she was born, Rory wasn’t staying with us. Instead she was at Ruby and Finn’s in the same room as my mam, who’d volunteered it as our wedding gift – or one of them. We’d had a few practices at our wedding night, making sure that everything worked (it did) and that we could be quiet enough to not wake up Rory (we could), although there was no way we could do it in our bedroom while Rory was in there, so we’d been using the spare room next door, taking the baby monitor with us, or the shower.
“It’s really strange walking in here without Rory.” Iris stopped in the hallway, taking off her shoes. “It feels too quiet.”
I nodded, agreeing completely. “We can go back and get her if you want.”
She paused, thinking about it. “No. There’s got to be a first night without her and this should be it. This night should be for us.”
I smiled, knowing that my grin was hiding a lot underneath.
“You want to go and get her, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Kind of. I mean, she’s fine and safe at Finn’s with my mam, and Finn’s place is really familiar to her.”
Iris put her arms around my neck, pulling her body closer to mine. “Let’s make a call on it in another hour or so.”
“Agreed.” I kissed her, which I’d been doing all day, but not for this long or this deep.
