Chapter 17: Wedding Bells

Back at the vicarage Martha was racking her brains as to how she could change Jennifer’s mind. She realised the futility of that when Jennifer came into the room and asked in all sincerity, “Martha, I know we had some lovely sessions together, and you will always be my special friend. We’re getting married on 5^th January. Will you be my bridesmaid, please? I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have.”

“What on earth do you think I am?” demanded Martha, “I will no way be a bridesmaid at this ghastly wedding. In fact I won’t even be there, and you can’t have it in my church.”

Jennifer debated with herself, and then said, “The Bishop says we can, as we both live in the parish, and he offered to officiate. He says it will be a splendid occasion to use the refurbished organ for the first time.”

“But I wanted the organ back for the Christmas services.” Suddenly Martha started to wail, but Jennifer clearly heard among the howls an order to get out of the vicarage that very moment and never come back.

Reluctantly Jennifer went up to her room and packed her few belongings. There was no sign of Martha as she left the vicarage, so she went for advice to her fiancé.

David’s first reaction was that she could move in with him, or he could put her in an hotel for the three weeks until the date they had set. Unbeknownst to Jennifer that date, 5^th January, had been chosen to be exactly thirty years to the day after his first marriage. That way, he thought, I ought at least to be able to remember my wedding anniversary.

In view of the impending visit from her parents David asked Patience to arrange a room for Jennifer at the George Hotel until the wedding, and rooms there for some of the guests including her parents for the actual wedding period.

Jennifer considered her options. “Can’t we just slip away and be married before Christmas?” she asked.

“No. The arrangements are all made. If you want to back out, to change your mind, you always have that choice up to the moment I say ‘I do’, but if not we have to stick to the plans,” he ordered wondering, Will my control over her be enough?

Collecting Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter at the station, David’s first impression was of a couple much as his own parents had been. Comfortably off, husband working and providing a home for his wife. The oddity was that he himself was actually older than his mother-in-law to be, as Jennifer had told him. In some ways that made it easier to talk to them as members of the same generation, but more difficult to keep in mind that these were his bride-to-be’s parents.

Jennifer introduced them, “My father, George Carpenter and my mother, Mildred. This is my fiancé, David Ransome.”

“I am so pleased to meet you,” David said, “I appreciate it might have been more usual to have met my bride-to-be’s parents earlier in the courtship than this, but it has all been a bit of a whirlwind romance. For this visit I have arranged for you to stay with me.”

“Is Jennifer still living at the vicarage?” asked Mildred, somewhat fearful of the answer.

“No mother, I’m staying in an hotel until the wedding,” her daughter said, “The same one you will be in for the actual wedding. You can come as early as you like and stay until we are safely married, even stay for the whole three weeks if you like. Father can take me from there to give me away.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t stay until the wedding. That’s more than three whole weeks, think of the cost.”

“That’s one of the nicest things about this marriage, I don’t have to think of the cost. And I don’t need to worry about the arrangements. Patience who used to be David’s boss’s secretary is arranging the details. She is very good at arranging things, and I think of her as a sort of borrowed granny,” said Jennifer.

If she is really just marrying me for my money, I’ll see that I get good value, David thought, in and out of bed. Once the knot is tied I can start tightening the rules and enforcing discipline. The first spanking will be so pleasant, for me at least.

When they arrived at David’s house Patience had already arrived and she and Wendy Parfitt were introduced to the Carpenters. “Mrs. Parfitt is my cleaner and has been known to cook for me on occasion, though that probably won’t be necessary once the new Mrs. Ransome is in residence.”

“Jennifer is a very good cook,” said her mother, “She was properly taught...”

“I do know all about that, and she has cooked several meals for me,” David interrupted hastily to avoid any embarrassing revelations in front of Wendy and Patience.

The two prospective in-laws put David through what he felt was a job interview. Mildred subtly assessed the furnishings on the quiet and thought they were much more to her generation’s taste than her daughter’s, Then, they would be. I suppose his first wife picked most of them.

George thought about the house and its condition. It is a substantial detached property, he thought, and seems to be in a good state of repair and upkeep. He guessed, wrongly, that the decoration had been done by a professional, but failed to understand that a man who has just lost his wife can concentrate on mundane tasks and not worry how long it takes to get such jobs near to perfection.

After they had been shown round the house and garden the details of the wedding were gone into, and David expressed a wish for all the guests to have a sit-down lunch at the Lisboa, “Our favourite restaurant,” moving people from the church by bus, as parking was difficult in town.

“How would they get back to their cars after the meal?” asked George.

“I thought a minibus shuttle service,” said David, “or maybe taxis.”

Patience asked, “Do you want to invite many guests? I only ask because we need numbers to arrange the reception and set up hotels for them.”

“About that,” George asked David, “Can we talk privately, please?”

When Jennifer and her mother had gone out of the room discussing with Patience which of their family friends should be on the guest list, and which would need hotels, George continued, “Jennifer says you are expecting to pay for the wedding and the hotels? Well we have been setting money aside for this as the bride’s parents traditionally pay for the wedding.”