The Guernsey Saga Box Set by Diana Bachmann

Author:Diana Bachmann [Bachmann, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-06-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five – Teenage Bride

Gathering up the folds of her dress, Sue stepped out of the wedding car, feeling almost faint with excitement. The months since meeting Jonathan, their ‘courtship’ as her mother insisted on calling it, and their short engagement had all flashed by too quickly to be fully assimilated. She hardly dared believe it was actually happening. Why, only six months ago she had still believed herself to be committed to David! The sudden thought made her glance anxiously at St Sampson’s Church door.

St Sampson had been Bishop of Dol in Brittany. In the sixth century AD he crossed to Guernsey, landed in the natural harbour which was to take his name, and was believed to have been the first Christian preacher in the island. The church which bore his name was built subsequently on the site of his chapel, in the eleventh century.

Ancient, lichen-covered gravestones stood to the right of the path which curved its way to where the three bridesmaids were waiting in the church doorway. They helped Sue straighten her dress, arranged the ribbon-edged veil and, led by the choir, followed the bride down the steps to the aisle to the sound of Purcell’s Trumpet Voluntary. It was a beautiful church, the long, main aisle leading under what had once been the high organ loft and choir stalls, up to a magnificent triple set of stained-glass windows. Sue’s hand gripped Greg’s arm as she glanced to left and right at the congregation, appreciating their smiles, but with a niggling fear of finding David amongst the sea of faces. That she failed to see him could have been due to the fact that the church was filled to capacity, so with a conscious effort she put him out of her mind and focused on her beloved Jonathan, who was standing a head taller than Norton, his best man, gorgeous enough to turn a girl’s knees to water. He was smiling at her, watching as she handed her bouquet to Anne Warwick, and came to stand at her side as they waited for the service to commence.

Sue could hear her heart thumping until they had passed the ‘impediment’ bit without interruption; then she relaxed.

After the signing of the register the organist gave full throttle to the fanfare opening of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March. David completely forgotten, Sue walked in stately procession, her fingers laid on the back of Jonathan’s hand, out into the midday heat.

Photographs seemed to last forever, all the usual groupings plus a succession of extras including Sue with her two grandmothers. Though Marie had shrunk even smaller with advancing years she looked very dignified in dusty pink draped with numerous ropes of pearls and a pearl-grey straw hat. Alice was in a soft blue georgette dress and jacket chosen by Sarah and Maureen. Unfortunately, at the last minute the old lady had discarded the expensive midnight blue hat her daughters-in-law had selected, replacing it with a weird concoction she had found squashed in a dress-box in the attic, looking like a large pile of pancakes and much the same colour.

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