‘Oh, you look just lovely,’ she said to Bobby, and rather surprised her by kissing her on both cheeks. ‘Now, the chaplain will tell you where you all ought to stand. I’ll go prod the groom in this direction. He was rather sullen this morning at not having heard from you, although he’ll be smiling soon enough, of course.’
She bustled off, leaving the chaplain to take charge.
‘Who is the maid of honour?’ he asked.
‘Oh! I hadn’t thought.’ Bobby looked from Lilian to Topsy. ‘May I have two? I don’t want to choose.’
‘Neither of us are maids any more, Bob,’ Lilian said with a laugh. ‘All we have here are a superfluity of matrons.’
‘Well, it isn’t a requirement,’ the chaplain said, smiling. ‘Perhaps if you all take a seat, and the bride and her father may stand. We’re making up the rules as we go today, it seems. That does seem to be par for the course when it comes to wartime weddings.’
‘All right, girls, prepare to do your job,’ Mary said to the children. ‘When Reg and Uncle Charlie come down the aisle, you must follow and throw your petals. Elegantly, mind, not like you’re bowling a cricket match.’
The girls didn’t need telling twice, and skipped to the door that connected the house with the orangery to wait for the oblivious groom.
Charlie’s voice was audible outside now.
‘Honestly, Reggie, I appreciate you visiting but I’d like to be left alone now,’ he was saying. ‘I’m exhausted.’
‘You’re not exhausted, you’re sulking, you mardy little bugger,’ they heard Reg say. ‘You heard what the doctor said. You need exercise for that leg or it’ll seize up. Believe me, this is summat I do know about.’
‘You’ve been walking me around on it for an hour. Never mind seizing up, it’ll drop off if you make me go much further.’
‘Aye, all right, I suppose you’ve done enough. We’ll go to the end of this glass bit down here, then I’ll leave you alone.’
‘Can we not go back now?’
‘A bit more won’t kill you. Stop bloody complaining.’
Topsy gripped Bobby’s arm. ‘This is it,’ she whispered. ‘All the happiness in the world, Birdy.’
She gave her friend’s arm a squeeze and sat down. A moment later, the doors opened and Charlie came in, limping on his stick with Reg behind.
‘Well, here he is,’ Reg said. ‘And a devil of a time I had getting him here as well, the lazy little—’ He caught sight of the chaplain. ‘Ahem. Excuse me, Father.’
Charlie was blinking at the scene in front of him. ‘What’s going on?’
Bobby felt suddenly shy. She could feel herself blushing.
‘Um,’ she said. ‘Hello.’
‘Oh! We don’t have music,’ Topsy said. ‘All right, come along, everyone.’
She started humming the wedding march. The others joined in, which Jess and Florrie took as the cue to start tossing petals about with gay abandon. Charlie started to laugh, although he still looked dazed.
‘Come on then,’ Reg said, half escorting and half poking him down the aisle. ‘That lass there isn’t getting any younger. Lord knows we’ve all waited long enough for this.’
It was a strange little wedding scene: the groom being escorted down the aisle of a hospital chapel by his brother while the guests hummed the wedding march; the bride waiting for him in a pantomime dress and a garland of hedgerow flowers. And yet it felt right.
‘Bobby.’ Charlie took her hand when he reached her, then glanced at her father in his best suit, and at the chaplain. ‘What is it?’
‘Haven’t you guessed? It’s our wedding day, daft lad.’
‘You did all this?’
She stood on tiptoes to kiss him. She didn’t know if that was proper etiquette for a wedding – probably they were supposed to wait until after they were married. But it felt like the natural thing to do, so she did it.
‘I want to marry you, Charlie,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t need any time to think about it. I always knew. Will you?’
