Chapter 12

I was wrong about Grayson's company. It went down in four months. Nicola wouldn't allow any contact, so I had no way of knowing if he'd salvaged anything. She was adamant that it was now up to them to contact us. It was her family so it was up to her what we did regarding them.

In any case, there was a mountain of things to do. We had booked the wedding for the third Saturday in September. The local parish Church of St Bartholomew followed by a catered all day party in our house and in a big marquee in the garden. The resident band from the club would play. There was a lot of coming and going: my mother and Lorraine took over all the preparations with Nicola. There was intense preoccupation with what females know are essential – dresses, caterers, cakes, the works.

We sent out the invitations. The replies came in by email, by letter, by phone, even by text! Each day Nicola would examine the post. I knew what she was looking for: we had sent an invitation to her parents. They did not reply.

She was sad at that, and though her uncles and aunts and cousins were delighted for her and said they would come. We booked an entire medium sized hotel to house the relatives and friends. The lack of a response from the Graysons did cast a shadow when at last the day arrived. Nicola always thought her parents would relent once they knew the wedding was inevitable. The evening before the wedding, she was sad, but she shook herself, according to Lorraine (in accordance with tradition and superstition I was not at home that night), and after that brief moment of mourning was her happy self, though there was still a shadow. I too was disappointed: I wanted her day to be perfect.

So it was her uncle Jack who walked her down the aisle. I had arrived with Patrick, my best man, and our ushers in good time. I kept looking round, hoping to see the Graysons arriving, hoping for Nicola's sake, but when my bride arrived with Lorraine and Nicola's two cousins as bridesmaids, the opportunity for her parents arrival had gone.

Nicola was an apparition in ivory. That shiny hair, those blue eyes. A strapless dress, close fitting from bodice to hips and then flaring to the ankles. No veil, but a tiara. Beautiful.

The organ began to play and she came down the aisle on the arm of her Uncle Jack. We made our vows, we gave each other rings, we signed the register, were prayed for and were blessed. Then we began our triumphant procession out of the church. Seas of smiling faces, happy for us. It was when we were nearly at the west door that we stopped dead, as one.

There in the last row of pews were standing Nicola's parents. Mrs Grayson was crying, tears running down her face. Mr Grayson was holding back the tears and smiling as best he could.

Nicola burst into tears, and left me standing. She ran to them and threw herself into her mother's arms and there they stayed for what seemed an hour. Then she hugged her father for just as long. I stood there, forgotten, but glad to be so.

Nicola suddenly realised where she was, and with whom she should be. By that time I had closed the gap, and shook Grayson's hand.

"I'm so glad you could come," I said, with as much sincerity as I could muster. "It means the world to Nicola."

He mumbled something I did not catch.

"Join us for the photographs," I said, "and come to the reception. Did you drive here?"

"We came by train," he said. "We can't stop, we're only here for the day."

"I'll see to it you get a lift," I said. "We really must go now!"

We all laughed. I became aware that the whole church was gazing at the diversion. Only the organist seemed oblivious to the hiatus, and played on and on.

Nicola took my arm again and we finished our recessional. Nicola's mother smiled at me rather hesitantly, but my smile was wide for her and genuine. They had made Nicola's day, and much could be forgiven for that.

There were photographs and in the process, introductions between my parents and Nicola's, though it seemed Mrs Grayson and my mother knew each other quite well, which puzzled me.

When the cars arrived, I decided on the spur of the moment to flout convention. Nicola and I walked to the car, she threw her bouquet high in the air over her shoulder in the approved manner; I did not see where it landed. I helped her into the car, then took Mrs Grayson by the arm (I still didn't know her given name, nor that of her husband) and pulled her to the car.

"You and Mr Grayson are riding with us," I said decisively, and gestured for Nicola's father to ride in the front seat, while Nicola's mother sat between Nicola and myself; yes, between us!

They made the appropriate protests, but I was not listening and we took off at speed. I was told to call her father Tony, and her mother Marie. I told them to call me Kevin. We laughed. Nicola's face was a picture of blissful happiness as she gazed with admiration at my action – at least I believe it was admiration from what she told me later. I thought it was more like lust, but then I would think that wouldn't I?

Taking them in the wedding car was not altogether an altruistic act. I wanted to savour their faces when we arrived at our house. A little touch of revenge! It was not a long journey and we soon arrived at the open gates to the lengthy drive.

"Is this the hotel where you're having the reception?" asked Mother-in-Law as the house came into view.

"Mother," said Nicola, with some relish. "This is our house!"

"But?" and her mother was silenced, her mouth open. I relished the moment, oh, yes!

"When you did your research on me, Tony," I said to Nick's father, "You should have delved further. I was never a clerk; I was a trader. I made a good deal of money in a few years, and was able to retire. I now make money trading on the markets, and run an investment consultancy from home."

"I wish I'd taken your advice," Tony said. "I lost nearly everything when the firm went belly up."

"We can talk about that later on," I said. "For now, just enjoy the day, and I insist you stay the night."

Everyone knows what happens at wedding receptions. Food, speeches, some with somewhat questionable jokes, toasts, dancing, more food, more dancing, the bride and groom leave to go on their honeymoon.

There were two differences. The first was that we were not going on honeymoon; we would take a holiday later. The second was Tony Grayson's speech as father of the bride. He had asked to speak and Nicola was delighted. It was a short speech. Patrick announced him as the father of the bride.

"This will not be a typical 'father of the bride' speech. For one thing it will short." [applause and laughter]

He grinned.

"I know I'm supposed to talk about Nicola and Kevin, but all of you know them both and have been part of their history.

"Instead there are important things to say. This is my heartfelt and public apology to Kevin and also to Nicola. I remember a while ago Kevin and Nicola invited us to the wedding and we were most ungracious. She then told us we could be part of her life again if we came and grovelled an apology to Kevin. That is what I am doing now.

"Many of you will know that we disowned Nicola when she got engaged to Kevin. Very stupid of us.

"We really were insufferable snobs. Kevin lived in the 'wrong' part of town. I was misinformed that he was a lowly clerk in a bank, had been fired and was now unemployed. Now I know different.

"The point of this is that if we had known his true status we would have accepted him joyfully, that's how snobbish we were. It was always all about money. If there is a saving grace for us in all this, it is that we came to the wedding still not knowing he owned this house and was really such a successful man.

"I have to thank Kevin's mother, Brigid, in all this. She came to see Marie, my wife. True to her son, she never gave the game away about his financial success, but she gave Marie a good talking to and made us see that creating divisions in families only leads to bitterness and unhappiness. To what end? Suffering. She is such a wise woman.

"So I now apologise sincerely to Kevin and Nicola, and assure them that Marie and I have learned a painful lesson. We wish them every good fortune in their life and are glad we are now part of it."

He sat down.

There was a stunned silence. Then Nicola jumped up and hugged her father, then her mother. I also hugged the pair of them and kissed Marie. Then as if the assembled throng woke up there was loud applause and cheering. The meal and subsequent party took off. Marie was still trying to come to terms with her daughter's and son-in-law's lifestyle.

The party went on into the early hours, and a few of the guests found odd places to sleep in the house. We made sure Tony and Marie got one of the en suite bedrooms, and my parents one of the others. The rest of the revellers were taxied back to the hotel.

At last we were alone in our room. We were both exhausted and just shed our clothes, fell into bed and each other's arms, and were asleep. Next morning we were up early to look after our guests, and serve a cooked breakfast.

Later that morning, Tony and I worked on his meagre resources and we managed to salvage something from the wreckage. I discovered he had sizeable savings in deposit accounts, and made him the offer that he allow me to invest some of it. He almost fell over himself to trust me with the money, and when I told him I would put the same amount to it and try to grow it faster than his deposit accounts, he was overcome and Marie was in tears, wondering where we got our reserves of forgiveness from! They had learned a hard lesson.