Chapter 7: Are You Dancing?

“Sally,” I asked tactlessly, “Are you sure you’re not carrying twins?” which was repaid with a withering glare in my direction. I continued with a grin, “But you do look good enough to eat on it.” That brought back one of her famous brilliant smiles and she held out her arms for a welcome cuddle, so I guessed I hadn’t upset her too much.

Her tiny frame was actually looking enormous for six months’ gone, although it wasn’t helped by her wearing an old smock to the Wedding Rehearsal that was maybe a fortnight too tight for her. Clearly she wanted to keep her actual wedding gown from being seen by the groom, as well as any other frocks she intended to take on their honeymoon in London for the week following the nuptials. When you marry just before Christmas, money is tight and one of the partners is heavily pregnant, your holiday options were limited somewhat.

“Jimmy, thank you so much for coming, babes,” she said in my ear as I tried to get as close to her as her bump would allow, “The girls are gonna be the best bridesmaids a girl ever had.”

“Well, you deserve the best, Sal, I hope this dry frosty weather continues for another day so the sun shines on your big day.”

“Thanks, baby,” she smiled like Madonna, looking up at me intently, “So, Mandy coming up in the morning or later tonight?”

“Morning I think, I haven’t spoken to her. She has a performance on at the school today and I expect she wants to spend the night with her boyfriend while the house is empty, before coming up in the morning.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Some guy called John, don’t know much about him, I’m afraid.”

“I didn’t think ... unless she’s trying to make you jealous, of course.”

“What would be the point of that?” I said.

“You are such a dope, Jimmy,” she chided, “That’s why I love you so much. That’s why Mandy loves you so much, too.”

“I guess you always feel something deep down for your first love,” I said, “I guess that’s only natural, but calling that love is a bit strong, especially when she cannot bear to be in the same room as me.”

“Well Madge tells me different.”

“Madge is living in a dream world, Mandy and I are done and dusted and last time we spoke she even went out of her way to bring up the ‘D’ word, so hopefully this nightmare will be over soon.”

“Mandy brought up the subject of divorce and you were happy with it?”

“It was a slam-dunk on her part, I didn’t see it coming, but she’s had a couple of boyfriends lately, she is still young and actually quite OK looking, plus the house is virtually all hers-”

“You’ve given her the house?”

“I needed cash up front to buy my place at an auction, so Mandy completely maxed out her credit and took out a second mortgage to buy out three-quarters of my share, which means I have to chip in with a payment to her each month equal to one-eighth of the repayments.”

“So you don’t have a mortgage on your new place?”

“Nope, own the place outright. Bought it for a song too. It’s not much to be honest and it is in a rough neighbourhood, but it’s now pretty secure and I’ve got room to have the kids stay with me.”

“That is nice,” she said, “So, when we come down to Southsea Fair next year, you’ll put up Geoff, me and the Baby? Huh?”

“Sure, Sal,” I laughed, “Anytime, just warn Geoff to sleep with one eye open!”

“Oh! Your bum!” she screamed, “Come on, I wanna see my husband’s handiwork, show us!”

“No!” I protested, “Not here in front of everybody, besides he’s not your husband yet.”

“Spoilsport, you’re no fun anymore!”

“I think I’ve provided more than enough fun for your hubby and his mates at my expense. I was really annoyed at Geoff.”

“You shouldn’t’ve had so much to drink, then, you’ve only got yourself to blame!”

“Well, half the bloody shots I drank were intended for your intended, I was protecting him like you asked, ‘don’t let him drink too much’ you said and then he was left sober enough to do this to me. I didn’t think he had his tools on him up in Hull.”

“He didn’t,” Sally giggled, “He got his mate Mikey to open up his shop, even then Geoff was too drunk and Mikey did the tattoo with Geoff telling him what to put.”

“Bastards!” I exclaimed, “And I quite liked that Mikey. I’ll get them both one of these days.”

“Well, not today or tomorrow, after that it’s open season, OK? Anyway, it didn’t do you any lasting harm.”

“No, but I couldn’t donate blood this month, that’s the first time in four and a half years that I had to decline, not even sure when they will allow me to donate again.”

“Poor lamb,” she clucked, “You’ll get over it.”

“Like I get over everything else.”

“Oh, baby, I’ve got regrets too, I still love you loads, so does Mandy, I think even Madge has got her eye on you herself if you don’t get snapped up soon.”

“Madge has certainly been strange lately, she’s been really nice to me for a couple of days, now. Not sure what her game is. It’s unsettling, I like to know where I stand.”

Mandy did turn up that night. I saw her bleary-eyed, hair all over the place, at breakfast, having driven up sometime during the night. She joined us in the breakfast dining room just as we were finishing ours. We barely exchanged a greeting before I departed with Josh. I had managed to get Josh up early with the promise of something more interesting than just being involved in the wedding all day. The girls were excited about the whole day, though, and were high as kites. I left Madge in charge, she was taking them all off to the hairdressers, apparently one of Sally’s friends ran a local salon and had closed up for the day and all the female guests were booked in to have their hair, nails and make-up done.

Josh and I were off to the local fire station for him to have a guided tour round while I chatted to the station officer about whether he could get together enough volunteers to go round schools and giving youngsters fire fighting training in the area. I had a laptop running a presentation programme to show the big wigs.

While all the girls were busy preparing from early in the morning, all the lads involved were probably sleeping late and meeting up at noon for a light lunch before getting changed to be at the church by two in the afternoon. It was fun, it gave a good chance for Josh and me to do more bonding without always being surrounded by females. I was surprised how enthusiastic and knowledgeable he was, talking to the guys about fire fighting. I had visions of seeing him join one of my future Watches and finding myself completely happy with that.