Completely & Stupidly: Forever and Ever

Chapter 17. Charity

"I'm going to be sick" Charity blurted out as she looked out of the window to see her cars arrive, both of them parked up outside the pub with white ribbons wrapped upon the bonnets. "You're not, you're fine" Debbie told her mother, who was a barrel of nerves and had locked herself in the bathroom for the last half an hour. "Will you just, let me in, please" Debbie asked, slowly losing her patience as she wiggled the doorknob forcibly, again. Charity fell silent but quickly slid the bolt across and finally allowed her daughter in, but slammed the door shut again once she stepped inside. "Look" Charity spat, holding out her hand to show it teetering from side to side as she proved just how on edge she was feeling. "What if she doesn't come, Debs?" She asked, her eyes widening at the pure fear of Vanessa possibly changing her mind about marrying her at the last minute. "Mum, stop it" Debbie instructed sternly, pulling her in for a quick hug to take her mind off the intrusive thoughts that flew in and out of her head. "You're being silly" Debbie added, "I know, but if I could just talk to her-?" Charity began, but Debbie interrupted her. "Vanessa loves you, alright? And in about" She paused to look at her watch, "an hour from now, she's going to be walking down the aisle, ready to become your wife" she added, her words soft and gentle so not to wind her mother up any more. Charity's worry flowed from her lips in a sing-song fashion as she murmured a reply, incoherently, when a gentle knock rapped upon the door. Having darted around the pub looking for them, Noah had finally heard the voices of his Mother and sister coming from the upstairs bathroom. "There you are, the cars are here" he told them, slightly out of breath as he'd ran all the way back to the pub from Jacob's Fold, with Moses in his arms, in fear that they'd be late if they'd walked back. "Where've you been?" Debbie asked, noticing in his voice that he'd been running. With his chest rising and falling quickly, Noah panted, "Popped home for a bit" He shrugged, not wanting to willingly give up his reason for disappearing, when he was supposed to have been waiting to flag down the wedding cars with Ryan. Charity's eyes flickered at the mention of their home. "You've been home? Have you seen Ness?" She asked, her voice slipping into a slight croak. "Yeah, me and Moses went to see her. Don't worry, it's not bad luck for us to have seen her before the wedding, just you" Noah told, unaware that his mother had been panicking all morning. "What was she doing?" Charity asked, anticipation racing with her words. Noah turned his head to the side, confused. "She'd just finished getting ready and was waiting to leave when we got there" He explained, unsure why his mother was shouting. "You see?" Debbie sighed, relieved that Noah had been able to unknowingly save the day. "Is everything ok?" Noah asked as he sensed his sister's relief from behind the door. "Everything's fine. Mum's being a diva" Debbie joked as the colour finally started to return to Charity's cheeks, along with a small smile as she thought about Vanessa waiting patiently in her dress, the complete opposite of how she herself had been acting. "Can you go and tell the driver we'll be down in just a minute, please?" Debbie instructed Noah, who had run around doing as he was told all morning, and saw no stopping in the running of errands any time soon. "Okay" He sighed, and pushed off the wall, running out of the pub once again. "Here, drink this" Debbie insisted, passing Charity the warm glass of champagne that she had been holding all this time. "Oh, cheers" Charity spoke with a dry mouth, throwing back the warm bubbly and pulling a face as it tingled in the back of her throat. "Right lady, you're ready, and the rest of us are too. So, let's get a shift on and not keep Vanessa waiting. The last thing we need is her turning up before us and thinking you've bolted", "Like I'd do that to her" Charity scoffed. Debbie shook her head. "Then why do you think she'd do it to you?", "Because", "Because, what?", "Because I don't know Debs, because I'm this close to finally getting my happily ever after and I don't want anything to screw it up", "Well, if anything's going to screw today up, it's you, having a pity party in here, so suck it up, and get to that Church", "Farm" Charity corrected her, timidly, "Farm" Debbie shouted, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "Ok, ok yeah, you're right" Charity nodded, psyching herself up. "Finally," Debbie sighed, wishing she'd had another drink in hand for herself. Charity turned and took one last look at herself in the mirror that hung over the sink and then unlocked and opened the door, coming face to face with Chas, who's fist was clenched and about to knock. "Why are we all in here?" Chas asked, confused, as she popped her head around the corner to find her cousins hanging around the toilet. "Peeing" Charity blurted out. "Right" Chas smiled shyly, "Well, the cars are here" She told them, still a little confused as to why they'd taken so long to 'pee'. "Right, well, if you'll excuse me, I have a wedding to get to" Charity announced, and raced out of the room to find Noah so that he could reconfirm that Vanessa was definitely, definitely, coming. "Don't ask" Debbie murmured as she caught Chas' eye while they watched as Charity traipsed down the stairs and out of the pub.
The drivers of the hired cars had been sat upon the bench chatting as they waited for the wedding party to arrive at the vehicles. Charity's photographer, the other half of the photographer currently snapping pictures at Jacob's Fold, stood beaming with a wide toothy grin as she stood leaned over a tripod. Noah, Moses and Ryan looked up from a tablet they had been playing video games on to catch their first glimpse of their mother, who arrived in the beer garden, seemingly a different person than she had been moments ago in the bathroom. As Charity revealed herself and her dress to her sons for the first time, Noah gasped, his jaw dropping open as he furiously swallowed past a lump that formed in his throat. A slight breeze sifted between each person and caused dresses and trouser legs to dance as the wind gently blew through the village. Charity pushed a lock of hair from her face and smiled at her sons. "You look, amazing" The teenager confessed to his mother, as a sense of pride pulled at his heart strings. "Thanks, kid" Charity mouthed back. "Do I scrub up alright?" She asked, shrugging as Ryan too smiled at the sight of her. "You scrub up great" He nodded vigorously. Moses on the other hand, jumped up and down on the spot. "Another Princess" He shouted, pointing at Charity. "What?" Charity giggled, "It's what he called Vanessa just now" Noah mentioned, "and he was right, she did look like a princess, and she was so excited" He added, thinking back on how Vanessa had glowed just talking about even the smallest of things that morning. Knowing that a waterworks show was about to kick off, Chas swooped in and rubbed Charity's arm and pulled her towards the cars. "Uh-uh" She warned her, "Save that for later. Smile" Chas spoke in an uplifting whisper into Charity's ear after Debbie had told her how she had been fretting. Charity smiled nervously as she held out her hand to receive her bouquet from Sarah who ran out of the pub, looking more grown up than ever in her bridesmaid dress. "Can I get a photo of the bride, please, and then can everybody hang around for a photo of the bridesmaids, then mother and sons please?" The photographer asked, before briefly blinding everybody with her flash bulb for a few minutes, taking photos from many angles and heights. While everyone smiled and posed, across the village the faint bells of a clock chimed to signal the time, revealing that it was precisely eleven o'clock. Heart thudding, Charity turned to Debbie and Chas who assured her, once again, that everything was going to be fine and then quickly bundled her into the leading car with Noah. Charity turned to Debbie through the open window. "Thank you" She nodded to her daughter. "See you up there" Debbie whispered, then planted a kiss upon her cheek and gave her hand a quick squeeze as the driver started the engine.
All the way up to the farm Charity held on tightly to Noah, who so far had perfectly encouraged and humoured his mother, calming her down as she once again felt the unmistakable fluttering of butterflies in her stomach as they grew closer and closer to the venue. "Do you remember when you and Vanessa first got together? I thought it was a joke and that you'd be over within a week" Noah mentioned as he sensed Charity's mind drift away out of the window. Charity slowly turned to her son, "You were so mean to her" She scorned, pulling the memory from the back of her mind. "I know. She was so annoying, making me breakfast and trying to make me laugh" He joked, realising now that Vanessa had done nothing but try to be a positive influence in his life the whole time. "You thought you could take her for a mug" Charity added, laughing quietly at Noah's expense. "Well, I didn't know she was as crazy as you, until it was too late" Noah shrugged, laughing along with his Mother. As they giggled, they locked eyes once more. "I'm so glad you found each other" Noah quickly slipped into the conversation. "Me too, Ness is pretty great, isn't she?" She smiled. Noah nodded. "Come here" Charity whimpered, and hugged her son tight in a world of their own as the car slowly came to a stop. A playlist of Charity's and Vanessa's favourite songs could be heard quietly playing for the guests from across the farm as mother and son stepped out into the open. If everything had gone to plan and both brides were ready on time, it meant Vanessa would be arriving in roughly fifteen minutes, giving Charity just enough time to soak up some compliments and words of encouragement from her family. "How are you feeling?" Chas asked with a hopeful smile, "You know what? I feel great. I can't wait to get in there now" Charity admitted, nodding towards the barn. "Well, in that case, after you" Chas grinned, pointing the way up ahead. Noah cleared his throat and held out his arm for Charity to take. Linking at the elbow, he led the way, proud to be walking his mother down the aisle.
The barn had gone under a full makeover in the last couple of days, meaning Moira and a few of the others in the family had spent hours hanging up fairy lights and streams of ribbons from the thick wooden beams of the ceiling inside. Charity had half expected the guests to be perched upon bales of hay, but as she arrived at the open doors, she could see everybody inside were sat in regular wooden chairs, separated by a makeshift aisle upon which a carpet had been rolled out from one end of the barn to the other. The same aisle that in just a few moments time, Vanessa would be walking down. Just ahead of where she was standing, Harriet stood behind a podium adorned with roses and candles, as she waited for Charity to come inside. As if she'd had a sixth sense, Harriet looked up from her notes and noticed Charity calling her attention from the side door. Wanting her entrance to be as low key as possible, so as to give Vanessa the special moment she deserved, Charity, Noah, and her bridesmaids, entered from the back door and walked the few short steps into the centre of the barn, capturing everyone's attention as they appeared before them. The front row was filled with Dingle faces and erupted into a round of applause and smiles all around as Charity looked out at hers and Vanessa's family and friends who had all come to share, and celebrate, their special day with them. Charity inhaled and exhaled deeply as the noise died down before taking Harriet's microphone to greet them all. "Wow, Hi" She began, her nerves kicking up a fuss in the pit of her stomach as all eyes fell upon her. "Thank you all so much for coming, and for getting here on time. Vanessa will be here soon. I think, I hope. So, I'll keep this short, like her. I'm nervous, can you tell?" She asked, her breath catching in the back of her throat as she spoke with a nervous stammer. A few guests laughed as she momentarily lost her train of thought, staring out of the open doors waiting to see her bride's figure appear in the light. "We really appreciate you being here and I'm sure you'll hear that in more detail later on, but for now please join me in waiting for the world's most beautiful bride to walk down that aisle and do what all those who came before her couldn't do; make an honest woman out of me" Charity grinned, then nodded shyly as she handed back the microphone.
Barely any time seemed to pass by as Harriet and the guests perked up and began to turn in their seats, having heard the sound of an oncoming vehicle outside. "Oh my God" Charity muttered, catching Harriet's attention, again. "Sorry" She added as the Vicar raised an eyebrow at her choice of words. "It's time" Sarah squealed with delight as it was now obvious to everybody that Vanessa had arrived. Debbie and Moses quickly took a seat in the front row with an empty seat the other side of them where Johnny would soon sit too. While the bridesmaids excitedly stood in line behind Charity, Noah slipped his hand into his mums and gave it a squeeze. Already growing teary eyed, Charity squeezed Noah's hand back tightly, as they showed their love for one another without having to say a word. Charity's gaze fixated upon one of the roses on the podium, her heart pounding against her chest, and her back turned to the aisle, as Harriet spoke aloud. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding for the bride."