Liverpool

Apologies for this taking so long, who knew life could get in the way like this. Thank you to Melissa for all her help with this series and for her friendship. I'm so glad that so many people have enjoyed my first full story that I've actually finished.

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Northwest News

Mr. Dereck Swan is pleased to announce

the wedding of his daughter, Megan Rebecca Swan

to Clive Patrick Anders, on Saturday,

the 25th of July 2009 at 10 a.m.

I had spent the weeks leading up to this date in a whirlwind of organisation. Sir had sorted out the venue, and the honeymoon, so all I had to do was the dresses for Suzi and me, the flowers, the food, and the placement of who was sitting next to whom at the reception. It seemed like so much to do (especially the placement, as I still wasn't sure who from Sir's family would be there until two weeks beforehand). It was actually Ross who helped me out the most. In one of our weekly sessions, he saw how stressed I was, so he sat down and helped me to organise a list of what needed to get done and by when, and then got Suzi to help me with doing it all.

We started with the dresses. I knew I didn't want a huge fluffy meringue thing, and with my belly starting to bulge slightly now, anything tight fitting was a no-no. In the end, we enlisted Mia's help. It turned out she really was good at making her own clothes, so we went back into town, and went round all the cloth shops looking at patterns and materials with her.

I idly was flipping through a pattern book, looking at prom dresses, when I found it. It had a high, heart-shaped neckline with shoestring straps, and a high waist that would skim over my bump. The hem fell just below my knees at the front before sweeping down to end mid-calf at the back. It fastened with a row of tiny buttons all the way down to the hem. There was a coat with it, long sleeved; it came up under my chin and was held together by more tiny buttons that stopped at my bust and left the rest open. The coat was longer than the dress, and in the picture gave a wonderful double-layered effect.

Having chosen the pattern, we began hunting round the shop for material. This was easier now we knew what we were looking for, and after a while of umming and ahhing over colours, we settled on cream silk with a very light coffee coloured lace. We chose buttons the same colour as the lace so they'd stand out from the dress and give a little detail. Mia came back to the house with us, and started measuring me up.

Sir was at home when we got there -- it was Saturday afternoon -- but I think the sound of three giggling girls, all talking about wedding dresses, was too much for Him, so He took Magpie out for a long walk until we were finished. It took Mia two weeks of cutting and sewing and fittings before the work was finished, but by the end of that time, Mia had created the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen. We'd bought enough lace to cover my hair too, fixed in place by a crown of flowers.

For Suzi we had to find an outfit that fell somewhere in between bridesmaid and mother of the bride. I couldn't see Suzi in a suit, and anyway the celebration was supposed to be fairly informal. Sir was wearing a cream suit with an open necked shirt, the same as Ross, His best man. Suzi took herself off, hunting round the vintage shops in the area, and came back with a white swing dress she dyed the same coffee colour as the lace on my dress.

The flowers were fairly easy to sort out. I took a sample of my material into the florists, and one afternoon later I had a simple arrangement of tulips and hellebores, with common daisies and buttercups for my hair. The food was easy too; the manor house where we were having the reception had done this many times before, so all we had to do was pick the items we wanted, and they did the rest. Suzi and I had gone over there a couple of weeks before, and tried out all the yummy things on offer. As it hopefully was going to be hot on our wedding day, we selected cold poached trout salad with individual strawberry meringues for dessert -- another thing ticked off my list.

It seemed to take forever to know who planned to attend our celebration, especially from Sir's family. Until Eric, Sir's big brother, spoke to His mum and dad, they wouldn't agree to come. All of our friends had told us they were coming, and I knew Dad would be there to give me away. Ross suggested I ask Mother, and then at least it would be on her if she didn't come. I wasn't brave enough to call her, so I wrote her a letter, explaining I was getting married and asking her if she'd like to attend the wedding. When I didn't hear anything back from her I just assumed that she couldn't be bothered to show up.

Then three days before the wedding, Mother suddenly appeared at the house. I was outside, trying to weed the garden and explaining to Magpie that it wasn't helpful of her to pull up the flowers, when Mother drove up, screeching her car to a halt, throwing up dust from the driveway.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Mother demanded, as she approached me across the lawn. As per usual, she was impeccably dressed, throwing my ragged gardening clothes into sharp contrast with her groomed perfection.

"Hello, Mother," I replied. "I'm weeding the garden at the minute."

"I'm not talking about you grubbing around in the dirt, stupid girl," Mother carried on, "I'm talking about this letter you sent me."

"Oh, I'm getting married," I said.

"Yes, I gathered as much," Mother responded. "I'm curious as to why."

"Because we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together?" I asked hopefully. I was still on my knees in front of her. To be honest, the thought of just standing up, and talking to Mother like an equal never occurred to me. The last time I'd done that, Mother had slapped me. I didn't want to have a smacked up face for my wedding photos.

"Don't be an idiot, girl," Mother carried on, "You hardly know the man. I suppose he's gotten you pregnant or something like that."

"Actually, yes," came Sir's voice from across the lawn. "I have gotten her pregnant. Do you have problem with that?"

I'd been so focused on Mother I hadn't noticed Sir sneaking up on us. Mother obviously hadn't heard Him either, coz she jumped. She recovered quickly though, and turned round to blast Him with one of her withering stares that would have had me running for cover. Sir just stood there, staring down at her, and I suddenly realised how little she really was. My whole life I'd thought of her as this towering presence, looming over me. Seeing her with Sir showed me that, in reality, Mother wasn't that much bigger than me. Suddenly, all my fears about her simply vanished. I didn't have to feel small and scared and worthless all the time. Sir had picked me out of the thousands of girls and women in the country, and now He was marrying me. I was carrying Sir's child and He was going to keep us both safe forever.

Mother turned back to me when she saw she couldn't intimidate Sir, but I left her standing alone, walked over and stood next to Sir.

"Mother, I asked if you wanted to come to our wedding. I didn't ask for you to come down here, and have a go at me for having a life. I'm going to tell you exactly what I told Dad; you are welcome to come inside, but if you do you have to abide by Sir's rules, and that includes being polite to everyone in the house."

"You ungrateful little brat," Mother began, "After everything I've done for you over the years . . . "

"I've seen what you've done 'for' Megan over the years, Mrs. Swan," Sir interjected, "And I have to say I don't like it one little bit. I'm not going to tell you what I think of you in front of Megan -- after all, you did give birth to her -- but trust me when I say, if I ever see you again, you will regret it. Goodbye."

Sir put His arm round me, and pulled me into the house, calling for Magpie to follow us in. I glanced back over my shoulder, and saw Mother's shoulders sag. It reminded me of how she'd looked the night I'd agreed to move back in with her. I felt so sorry for her that she couldn't put aside her hatred of how I'd been conceived to love me just a little bit. I watched as she got back in her car, and drove off. I never did see her again.

Dad told me when she died, nine years later, and I fought long and hard with myself about going to her funeral, only to give in and go. At the end of the day, she was my mother. Even though her friends all snubbed me, I walked out of the church with my head held high. I had offered Mother the chance to make her peace, and it was she who'd pushed it away. I hoped that she would find comfort in her heaven at long last.

The day after Mother showed up, Suzi, Mia and all the girls, and I went to a spa at a country house near Cheshire. They'd all chipped in, and we spent the day being pampered from head to toe, wrapped up in huge fluffy dressing gowns, having our nails done and drinking champagne or having mud smoothed over every part of our bodies. It was pure decadence.

It also was then that the nerves started to kick in. After tomorrow, I would be Mrs. Anders, Mrs. Megan Anders -- no longer frightened little Meggie Swan. I'd have to be grown up and mature now I was going to be a Mrs. and that was scary in itself. I mentioned my anxieties to Suzi.

"It's quite simple," Suzie replied, "Do you love Him?"

"Yes, oh yes," I sighed.

She shook her head at me, and replied, "Do you need to be quite so nauseatingly happy about it? Look, you love Sir, He loves you. This is not rocket science, sweetie. Did you ever do 'Romeo and Juliet' at school?'

"Yes. If their parents had left them to it, the whole thing would have fizzled out in 6 months tops," I responded.

"Not quite the interpretation I was taught, but good point," Suzi chuckled. "No, Romeo says, 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.' That's all that's changing here, your name. You are still going to be exactly the same person as you were before. Slightly dippy, like me, and totally loveable. So will you please stop stressing? It's bad for the little one."

"OK, I take your point," I said, smiling.

Mia looked over at me and smiled, "It's the same for everyone. We all get nervous before a big day. Remember what you were like before the party?"

"Yeah -- that was worse. At least I don't have to be naked in front of everyone again," I said with a chuckle.

"See, there are some things scarier than a wedding," Suzi responded.

'True. OK, I promise; no more stressing – nice, calm, chilled out Megan from now on," I promised.

"Good girl," Suzi said.

I did try to relax, yet the time dragged on and on. When I dread something, time seems to fly by, and the feared event seems to arrive in a heartbeat. But when I have to wait for something I long for, it seems every day becomes as long as a week! Finally though, the eve of the wedding arrived. Sir decamped to Ross's while Suzi moved in with me -- not so much to help me get ready as to make sure I didn't sneak over to see Sir. The last time Sir and I had tried to spend a night apart, I'd ended up in hospital and none of us wanted that to happen again.

My leg had healed fine; I wasn't even left with a limp and my face was looking perfect too. I didn't quite believe it when Suzi said I was glowing until I sat down in front of the mirror and really looked at myself. She was right, I looked disgustingly healthy. I was radiant and happy. For what was probably only the second or third time in my life, I thought I actually looked good -- pretty even. I giggled and said it was amazing what love could do for you. Suzi said it was hormones. It was said with a smile though.

The night before the wedding, we had an early supper and curled up to watch telly. Suzi had brought over a couple of chick-flick DVD's – "Clueless" and "10 Things I Hate About You" – and we had vegged out in front of then in our jammies with big mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows gently oozing sugar as they melted. I was settling down to sleep with Magpie on the bed for once to keep me company when my phone started buzzing.

"Hello?" I'd never learnt to see who it was before I picked it up.

"Hello, my little pet," Sir responded. "I was just calling to make sure you were tucked up in bed."

"I am, Sir," I said with a smile. "How did you know I was missing you?"

"Have you forgotten my psychic abilities?" Sir asked. "Just think, this time tomorrow we'll be snuggled up on our own little island, listening to the sound of waves washing over the beach."

"I'd rather be listening to the sound of your heartbeat," I said.

"Oh now, pretty pet, you're not sulking coz I'm not there are you?" Sir replied. "It's bad luck to see the groom the night before."

"No, it's not," I truculently responded, "That's only tradition."

"Hush now, and go to sleep," Sir said. "The sooner you go to sleep, the quicker tomorrow comes."

"That's what Dad used to say on Christmas Eve," I said with a smile.

"It's true isn't it?" Sir responded.

"Yeah, I guess so," I grudgingly agreed.

"OK, then," Sir concluded, "I will see you tomorrow at ten o' clock sharp -- do you hear me? None of this making me wait thing."

"I'll be there at ten to, Sir," I said. "You try and stop me."

"I wouldn't dream of it, pet," Sir replied. "Good night, little one. I love you."

"I love you too, Sir," I said, "Good night."

Sir hung up the phone, and I wiggled trying to get comfortable. It felt very strange to sleep alone; the bed suddenly felt bigger. I tossed and turned for ages. I was about to give up when I heard the door open, and Suzi came in and sat down on the bed.

"What's the matter, sweetie," Suzi asked, "I could hear you from my room."

"I can't sleep," I responded.

"Nervous?" Suzi asked.

"Nope," I said, "The bed's too big."

"Oh, that's easy to fix," Suzi replied, "Budge up a bit." And Suzi clambered in beside me, and kissed me on the top of my head.

"Night, night, sweetie," Suzi said with a smile.

"Good night, Suzi," I said, "Thank you."

"My pleasure, hon," Suzi responded.

I fell asleep really quickly then. It was like I had gotten so used to sharing the bed with Sir, I'd forgotten how to sleep alone. Magpie couldn't have cared less about being relegated back to her own bed; she knew she wasn't allowed to sleep with me anyway.

I had strange dreams that night, dreams of Sir taking me away in a hot air balloon and me looking down at the world passing us by while we were safely tucked away from it all in our own little sanctuary. I didn't need a shrink to tell me what that meant, and I was actually a little sad when the alarm went off at six. I didn't want to lose the feelings of safety I had when I was dreaming, and I hated mornings anyway. I was nearly always grumpy first thing; Sir said I was cute when I grumbled and if I got too bad, He would simply slap my arse and fuck it out of me.

Suzi dragged me out of bed and chucked me in the shower while she put the kettle on for breakfast. How she could be that cheerful at this time of day was beyond me. Thankfully, I didn't have much in the way of morning sickness, and what I did have was soon banished by the huge cups of tea I found myself craving at the minute. I was down in the kitchen on my second mug when the flowers arrived, and I put them in the sink to keep fresh while Suzi was in the shower.

After her shower was complete, Suzi sat me down in front of the mirror to take care of my hair and makeup. Once again, I felt the butterflies in my tummy beginning to take flight. I felt so jittery I couldn't sit still; my toes were curling and I kept wiggling my hips trying to get comfortable. We'd tried a few hair styles out on me a few days ago, and we'd found that no matter how much spray or gel we put on it, my rebellious mop would still try and spring back into its normal wild curls, so we gave up on anything smooth or sleek, and settled with it curling, though we did put a little definition in it here and there. Once my make-up was done, I put my dress on, with a little help from Suzi on the buttons, and I went downstairs to wait for her to get dressed.

It was hard to sit there and wait. I wanted to be out the door, and driving to the church. Sir had told me He had one last surprise lined up for me and I had no idea what it could be. At half past nine, Suzi came down and helped me put my flower crown in place on top of the little square of lace that covered my hair, and we were ready to go. As we stepped outside, the most gorgeous car pulled up, and the grey liveried chauffeur got out and held open the back door for me. It was long and sweeping and just utterly yummy. I have no idea what make or model car it was, but it was lush. I felt like a proper lady as it rumbled quietly along the back roads to the manor house and pulled up outside the little chapel.

While I felt like that I was ok, it was when I realised this was for real and not make believe, that I started to panic. Dad was standing there waiting for me, and he had to help me out the car coz I was shaking so much. Suzi came round and handed me my flowers before falling into step behind me. The chapel doors were standing wide open to let the breeze in, and I could hear all the guests chattering away until the first chords of Mendelssohn's music to "A Midsummer Nights Dream" came floating out.

I was finding it hard to walk, I was trembling so hard. But then I saw Sir, standing at the altar waiting for me, and I was fine. Everything just stopped, and I was calm and peaceful, and ready to be with Him. I looked Sir straight in the eye, and glided down the aisle towards Him, coming to a halt beside Him. I couldn't take my eyes off Sir, not even to look at the minister or at Suzi when she took my flowers.

The ceremony passed in a bit of a blur; we'd kept the traditional vows, and I loved telling Sir I would love, honour and obey Him for the rest of our lives together. When we were finally told we were man and wife, I thought I would cry. Feeling Sir's lips on mine, all those hot sweet kisses that He covered my mouth with made my knees go weak with lust, and I had to throw my arms round His neck to steady myself. I was giggling as He tucked my hand into the crook of His elbow and led me outside in to the bright sunshine where all our friends were waiting for us.

Sir's mother came over to me, and offered her congratulations; she was an austere woman, tall and dignified like her son, but unlike my mother, she had a warm smile on her face when she talked to me about Sir. I got the feeling she approved of me rather more than His first wife, though from the glances at my belly she knew we'd done more than hold hands before the wedding night.

We lined up and had the photographs taken. Looking back at them now, I can't believe how young I looked; almost like a child dressing up, standing beside my tall and handsome husband and smiling at the proprietorial pleasure on Sir's face.

The reception was held in the smaller of the two dining halls, and Suzi and I had put disposable cameras on each of the ten round tables for people to take their own pictures with. All the doors around the hall were opened up, and the smell of new cut hay came wafting in from the surrounding fields to mingle with the perfumes of our guests, and the aroma of the food being set in front of them. Sir and I sat at a long table at the top of the hall between Ross and Suzi. I still couldn't believe I was married! I was a wife, but I knew the idea was going to take some getting used to. It wasn't that it was a scary thought, as much as that it such a huge concept it was going to take me a while to fit it all into my head.

Once the food was cleared away, and we'd cut the wedding cake to the accompaniment of the snapping cameras, Ross stood up to give his speech.