One Winter Weekend

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

A n hour later, Ben stood outside the church with the other men – including, finally, his errant brother Mark.

“Ready to do this, big brother?” he asked, a glint in his eye.

Ben, visibly nervous, nodded tentatively and wiped the sweat from his palms onto his suit pants. “I could use a drink,” he said.

James laughed. “So could I, son,” his father said, “but there’ll be plenty of time for that soon enough. Shall we head in? Paddy?” He turned to the bride’s father.

“—and I don’t care if they have to work ‘til all hours of the morning, Felicity,” Paddy spat into the phone, “I want that delivery there before their kids come down for Christmas morning.” He held up a finger to ask the others to wait a moment. “No— No— Yes. Yes. All right, just heading off for Molly’s wedding now, I’ll call again later.”

He hung up the phone to find all four of the other men with exasperated expressions. “Sorry, lads,” he apologised, “couldn’t be helped. Christmas and all.”

“Okay then,” Fabrizio said at last, “I think we are all ready then. Shall we?” He motioned towards the door, holding it open as the men went in.

Ben, Mark, and James took their places in front of the altar, while Paddy stayed back to await his daughter.

Molly surprised him by coming in behind him, unnoticed. His eyes fell to her dress first, then her face, and he found himself overcome with emotion.

“My God, Molly,” he said, “You are a vision. I—” He wiped away a tear streaming down his cheek.

She collapsed in his arms. “Oh Daddy,” she sniffed.

“I know, love,” he said, patting her back. “I love you, Mol. More than anything in this world. And all this …” he gestured to the church and the beautiful Italian surroundings “you were right, this is perfect.”

Molly wiped the tears from her eyes. “Okay,” she said, straightening her dress. “Are you ready?”

“No,” he replied honestly. “Are you?”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah,” she said, sniffling away another sob. “Yeah, I am. Let’s do this.”

“Rightio,” Paddy replied. He offered her his elbow, and, arm-in-arm, he and Molly began the procession up the aisle of Santa Maria.