Page 50 of Christmas Spirits at Honeywell House (Ghosts of Rowan Vale #3)
AUbrEY
Since his cries of excitement roused the baby, Clara and Jack concluded they might as well give in to his pleas.
Aubrey was politely turfed off the sofa with huge apologies from Clara, and within minutes the piles of wrapped presents under the tree were being torn apart in a frenzy of excitement by the three boys, while their poor, exhausted mother breastfed the infant.
A mortified Aubrey fled to the kitchen, where Jack, oblivious to his presence, stuck bread in the toaster and filled the kettle, yawning loudly and muttering about what he wouldn’t give for a decent night’s sleep.
Once all the presents had been opened, inspected and duly admired, and everyone had eaten and drunk while needlessly apologising to him that they couldn’t offer him anything, thoughts had turned to the wedding.
Jack took Freddie to Harling Hall to join the wedding party, returning as fast as he could to change into a smart suit and help Clara with the baby while she got changed into the only dress she possessed that still fitted her and did her hair and make-up.
It was, he thought, quite ironic that, despite being the bridegroom, he was the only one who wasn’t frantically rushing around making himself presentable for the event.
Really, while Clara and Jack dressed themselves and their children, all he could do was sit in the armchair by the window, gaze out at the wintry drive, and try to still his nerves. He wasn’t even sure why he was so anxious. He was about to get everything he’d ever longed for.
Maybe, he thought, that was the problem. He was so close to having all his dreams come true that he couldn’t quite believe something wouldn’t go wrong at the last minute to prevent it from happening.
Surely he didn’t deserve all this good fortune?
To have found this wonderful living, breathing family, most of whom could see and converse with him, and seemed to find him interesting and not at all pathetic; to have a granddaughter who called him Grandpa; to live in a beautiful home at Harling Hall, with Callie and Brodie, Immi and Lawrie, and Mia.
To have a daughter who loved him.
To have a woman who adored him and was about to become his wife.
He shook his head, marvelling at the way things had turned out. Those long, lonely years he’d endured throughout his life were truly over.
He remembered the film the household had watched on Christmas Eve. It’s A Wonderful Life had made Callie cry and Agnes dab her eyes. He’d felt rather choked up with emotion himself.
‘ It’s a Wonderful Afterlife ,’ he murmured to himself and chuckled. He’d considered himself a failure, but the angel, Clarence, had said that no man is a failure who has friends, and he’d found so many now he could no longer deem himself worthless.
Joy and excitement replaced his anxieties, and he strolled happily to All Souls with his new family, Jack pushing the smart pram – which he’d hurriedly collected from the shop the Monday after Caitlyn’s birth – with some difficulty through the ever-thickening snow.
It was only when they arrived at the church, and Aubrey discovered that all the ghosts in the village seemed to have turned out, that his nerves returned.
To his astonishment, Quintus Severus was standing guard by the church door.
‘I wish you luck,’ he told Aubrey solemnly.
‘I never officially married my wife. We weren’t allowed to marry while we served, you see,’ he explained.
‘I was about to leave the army and retire to her home town. We were to marry at last. I did not get the chance. I wish you all the happiness we never had.’
Aubrey hadn’t known what to say to such a tale of woe, particularly as it was the first time he’d heard the Roman’s deep voice, so he dazedly shook the man’s hand and thanked him profusely.
Polly Herron was there, nodding and smiling at him, along with her newly rediscovered brother, Ray. Old Mr Swain greeted him warmly, apologising for the fact that Ronnie and Bill had also invited themselves.
‘Don’t you worry, though, sir,’ he’d said determinedly, ‘I’ve taken precautions and them two will behave themselves. Any trouble and they’ll be out. Why do you think I invited Quintus Severus along?’
‘We’re so happy for you,’ Brooke told Aubrey as he headed down the aisle. ‘This is enough to give us all hope.’
She gave Danny a pointed look, but he didn’t even seem to have heard her. He was sniffing into his sleeve and looked utterly miserable.
‘Is he all right?’ Aubrey asked, alarmed.
Brooke sighed. ‘Yeah. Weddings. They get to him.’
He had no time to wonder why because Peter and Isaac hurried over to him, shaking his hand and wishing him the very best.
Amelia Davies, the current vicar, was also there, with Tully, her partner.
‘Never had a wedding for ghosts before,’ she told Clara cheerfully. ‘Not that I’ll see or hear any of this, of course, but I feel I should be here for it to wish the happy couple well. No doubt Silas is furious about it, but there you go.’
Silas, on the contrary, looked quite smug. ‘She can’t stop me now, can she, Wyndham?’ he said, a wicked twinkle in his eyes. ‘She can sit there, not able to contribute in any way, while I stand in my church and perform the ceremony. See how she likes it!’
‘My dear Mr Wyndham,’ Walter Tasker said, bowing low.
‘Such an auspicious occasion. I wonder, have you any need of help with your vows? I was going to visit you last night to offer my services, but Mistress Chase advised me to stay away from Honeywell House, due to there being a new arrival. I have the perfect quote should you need it.’ He struck a pose and said in his usual dramatic tones, ‘“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments?—”’
‘Thank you, Walter,’ Aubrey said hastily. ‘I have my vows quite clear in my mind, thank you.’
‘Are you nervous, Grandpa?’ Clara whispered.
Aubrey gave her a weak smile. ‘Does it show?’
‘Just a bit. You’ve got nothing to be nervous about. It’s all going to go beautifully.’
They slipped into the front pew and waited for the arrival of the bridal party. Behind them on the second row sat Jack, nursing a sleeping Caitlyn, Declan and Ashton beside him.
Aubrey nibbled his thumbnail, his stomach feeling strangely queasy. Mia came hurrying up the aisle and he got to his feet, terrified.
‘Is something wrong?’ he asked anxiously.
Clara repeated the question to Mia who laughed.
‘Nothing’s wrong, Aubrey. I’m just bringing the music.
’ She held up the machine that had once stood on the kitchen worktop, blasting out popular tunes of the day, but which had in recent years been replaced with the pocket telephone that Mia insisted could do the job just as well.
‘The bridal party has arrived, and we need music, don’t we? ’
Agnes had hoped to have the organ played at the wedding, but Amelia had warned Callie that Mrs Timmins, who played the church organ, might not be impressed that there was to be a ghost wedding at All Souls, and suggested it might be better if they found an alternative.
After due consultation and much dithering, Agnes had finally selected the music she would like to walk up the aisle to, and Mia had duly promised that she would take care of it.
‘The bridal party has arrived? Oh, my word!’
‘It’s okay,’ Clara said kindly. ‘Don’t panic. Everything’s going to be wonderful.’
If Aubrey hadn’t known better, he’d have been sure he was sweating. He wiped his hands on his trousers just in case and straightened his cravat, which really didn’t need straightening.
Across the aisle he saw Callie and Brodie slip into the front pew. Callie smiled and nodded reassuringly at him and Brodie gave a thumbs-up even though he couldn’t be entirely certain where Aubrey was.
Then Mia pressed the button on the machine and the air was filled with the beautiful strains of ‘Canon in D’ by Johann Pachelbel.
A sense of calm flooded through Aubrey. What, after all, was there to be worried about? This was the happiest day of his afterlife.
He rose and stood before the altar, Clara at his side.
He turned, his heart lifting as he saw Florence and Imogen walking down the aisle towards him.
Immi carried a basket of rose petals, which she scattered as she walked.
Behind them came the young pageboys: Freddie, beaming and waving at his proud parents and smirking brothers, with John and Robert just behind him, looking so proud they might burst. Bless dear Agnes for allowing them to be part of this special occasion.
Behind the pageboys walked Millie, looking blissfully happy in her indecently short dress and white boots.
And then, wonder of wonders, his beloved Agnes. Oh, how beautiful she looked as she glided down the aisle beside Lawrie, her dear face alight with joy and love.
She had fretted, he knew, that she was to be married in her night attire, and had said wistfully how wonderful it would have been to marry in a proper wedding dress.
It was, alas, the one thing no one could do anything about, but he’d assured her repeatedly that she would be the most stunning woman in the church, and he hadn’t lied.
She was.
As the music faded and Agnes reached his side, they smiled at each other and, ignoring the disapproving tut from Silas, took each other’s hand.
The Reverend Alexander had done as he promised and created his own vows.
‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered in this church today to celebrate the everlasting union of this man and this woman,’ he began.
Aubrey tried to concentrate but his focus was all on Agnes, and the feel of her soft hand in his. He gently stroked her thumb with his own, giving her courage as he saw her trembling.
He realised suddenly that he was being asked to say his vows.
‘I, Aubrey Thomas Wyndham, take you, Agnes Alexandra Ashcroft, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward; on good days and bad days, free of earthly trappings and mortal concerns, I promise to love and to cherish you throughout eternity. In the House of our Father, before our friends and family, I make this vow.’
With bright eyes and a voice that was little more than a whisper, Agnes repeated her vows to him, her grip on his hand tightening as if reinforcing her every word.
‘Good, that’s that bit done then,’ Silas said. ‘Now, I believe you each have a quotation from a poem that you’d like to say to each other, which is a bit unorthodox, but given the circumstances I hardly suppose it matters. Go ahead.’
Aubrey turned back to Agnes and slowly, lovingly, recited a small part of a poem by the American poet, Elizabeth Akers Allen.
I fear not all that Time or Fate
May bring to burden heart or brow,
Strong in the love that came so late,
Our souls shall keep it always now.
Agnes closed her eyes for a moment as if dwelling on his words, then steadily, her head high, her gaze never faltering, she quoted the piece of poetry she’d chosen by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall love thee better after death.
Silas cleared his throat. ‘Well then, all very lovely, I’m sure. Now that Agnes and Aubrey have exchanged their vows, the ceremony is complete, and I declare that they are husband and wife for all eternity. Don’t just stand there, Wyndham. You know the drill!’
And to loud cheers from the congregation, Aubrey kissed his bride.