By Susan O’Neill
The wedding guests were stunned to say the least. The music stopped abruptly, and people weren’t sure whether to finish their canapes and vo-au-vents or offer some sort of condolences, but to whom?
Mrs Fairfax the registrar supposed the cake wouldn’t now be cut which was such a loss as it looked delicious but at least she had been paid.
Bridegroom Leonard, had to be helped to a chair. He had come over faint. Uncle Harry on seeing this said, “No backbone that boy. He should have gone after Lockinvar and challenged him. Mind you with Leonard’s allergies and phobias I’m not surprised Leonard did nothing. This is the boy who is afraid of guinea pigs.”
Ellen’s grandmother Mrs Loveday thought the music had stopped because the speeches were about to start and had fortified herself with a double gin and tonic. It did occur to her that the mood in the room had changed but perhaps she had had “one of her turns”.
Ellen’s parents Penelope and Winston were beyond mortified. Oh the embarrassment of it all and the money wasted. Although they had never been enamoured with Leonard, the family did have money and as for Lochinvar, well someone who declined Penelope’s Coronation Chicken was never going to make it into the family.
Winston said if he had been a younger man he would have tackled Lochinvar. “Mmmh, thought Penelope, I would liked to have seen that. This is the man who left me to deal with the builders who refused to finish the gazebo.”
Leonard’s parents, Bruce and Marjorie felt they should go to their son, but quite honestly, Marjorie just wanted to sit down as her shoes were killing her and her skirt seemed to have become incredibly tight. Maybe she should have bought a size 16.
Bruce felt he should go and speak to Winston, man to man, but what would he say. Maybe Ellen would come to her senses and return but then she had always been stubborn. She and Lochinvar had obviously been in love once. He recognised that first love was a very strong emotion. He still thought of Felicity who worked in the butcher’s shop where his mother used to send him to buy sausages. Where was Felicity now he wondered. His wife brought him back to reality with a poke in the ribs and a request to do something.
Cousin Sharon thought the whole thing was so romantic with Lochinvar carrying Ellen off like that. She would have given anything for a knight to come to her rescue even if he did have a reputation as a bit of a lad.
In the hills above Netherby Gate, Lochinvar and Ellen sat on a grassy knoll smoking a joint and smiling at each other. Lockinvar had made plans for them to join a travelling circus and they couldn’t wait to start their life together.
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