Page 40

BEFORE

November 1979

Sally

Elite, Wandsworth, London

Sally gazed at her reflection in the mirror as excitement and nerves bubbled in her heart. Her hair, meticulously styled into soft waves, cascaded to her shoulders. Nicola pinned a delicate white floral headpiece to her crown and stepped back to ensure it was perfectly aligned.

‘The prettiest bride I’ve ever seen,’ Nicola declared, rearranging one stray strand of hair on Sally’s shoulder.

‘Let me touch up your make-up,’ Elsie said, moving forward. She opened a large cosmetic case and pulled out powder, dabbing it onto the bridge of Sally’s nose. Then she reapplied another layer of pink lipstick. ‘Perfection.’

‘Thank you, both. I couldn’t have done this without you.’ Sally’s eyes welled with gratitude as she looked at them, dressed in pretty powder-blue dresses specially bought for this day as her bridesmaids. ‘And you both look stunning,’ she added, her voice filled with affection.

‘Between our hairdressing skills and Elsie’s make-up artistry, we can’t fail to stun everyone!’ Nicola said, giving them a little twirl. She pulled a bottle of Cava from behind the reception desk, popped its cork and filled three coupé glasses with the frothy liquid. ‘We’ve got half an hour before we need to get you changed into your wedding dress, so let’s have a little snifter here first of all.’ She passed them their drinks. ‘A toast. For Sally and Ian. A whirlwind love story.’

‘Cheers!’ they all called out as they clinked glasses.

‘Are you sure?’ Elsie asked, taking her by surprise.

Nicola made a face at Elsie, as if warning her to stay quiet, but Elsie never listened to anyone else. When she had something to say, she usually did. ‘It’s only been six months since you met Ian. It’s not too late to back out if you’re unsure. That’s all I’m saying.’

Sally felt a flush of anger at Elsie’s comment. She replied in a clipped voice, ‘Of course I’m sure. We love each other. Why should we wait to get married?’ Her best friend and the woman who had become her surrogate mother looked back at her in silence. ‘I wouldn’t have said yes when he proposed if I wasn’t one hundred per cent sure!’

‘Well, that’s okay, then,’ Elsie finally replied with a smile.

But Sally didn’t return the smile. Elsie’s question had touched a nerve.

‘Why can’t you be happy for me?’ Sally asked.

As ever the peacekeeper, Nicola said, ‘Elsie is looking out for her best friend. That’s all.’

‘Look, if you are happy, so am I!’ Elsie said, holding her hands up as if in surrender. ‘Come on, don’t be cross with me. Not today.’

Sally took a sip of her drink, her resolve firm. She was determined not to let anything dampen today’s happiness, so she let Elsie’s comment slide, no matter how much it irked her. Yes, her relationship with Ian had been a whirlwind, but she believed in their love.

When Ian had arrived at the salon the week after her mother’s cremation, Sally had felt butterflies dance in her tummy. She knew that his presence was a statement. He waited until Sally was free so that she could wash and cut his hair. Massaging shampoo into a scalp had never felt so intimate before. As she trimmed his long, dark, feathered hair, she felt his eyes watching her every move.

He was the most handsome man that Sally had ever met. His muscular frame made her feel safe and secure. When he asked her to go to the pictures with him after work, she had no choice but to say yes, because all plans of being coy flew out of the window when he touched her hand, sending shivers down her spine. Ian drove them to the Granada Theatre, at Clapham Junction, and they sat on the front row of the balcony, which had a plaque noting that the Duchess of Kent had sat there too, when it had opened. And Sally had felt like a duchess too as she sat there.

They saw The Champ , which was the new Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway movie. By the final credits, Sally was weeping and she leaned into Ian’s comforting embrace. He passed her his white handkerchief and kissed her hand gently as she dabbed her tears away.

Sally knew, with every fibre of her being, that her future was with this man.

Less than three months later they were engaged, and now, six months after their first date, they were to be married. It was a small civil ceremony, followed by a reception in a nearby hotel. Ian had insisted that he organise it all. And Sally knew that this in part was why Elsie was irked. She’d wanted to help, but Ian had refused all offers. They decided to have an intimate ceremony, with two witnesses each. Ian had persuaded her that it was best to have it this way, as it wouldn’t seem right if they had a big celebration so soon after her mother’s death. And, when he put it like that, she could understand his logic.

This meant that Sally could not invite Sister Jones and the gang from the cleaning company. She would have loved them to be there, to watch her make her vows. Ian wasn’t close to his parents or siblings, so they were not invited either. And, as Sally was an orphan with no siblings, that suited her too.

‘Hey, stop daydreaming about your man! It’s time to get you dressed,’ Nicola said, taking Sally’s now empty glass.

Sally entered the back storeroom, where her dress hung from a hanger, waiting for her. It was a vintage lace fit-and-flare long dress with striking bishop sleeves. Nicola and Elsie helped her slip the dress over her head and shoulders. Together, they buttoned up the tiny brocade buttons running down it’s back.

‘Now you’re a bride,’ Nicola said, her voice tight with emotion.

She took Sally by the hand and led her back into the salon so that she could look at herself in the mirrors.

‘I wish Mum were here to see me looking like this,’ Sally whispered when she saw herself for the first time. She’d never felt more beautiful and shivered in anticipation of Ian’s reaction.

‘She is here. Watching you from up there,’ Nicola insisted.

‘And she’s proud of you too,’ Elsie added.

Their taxi arrived, and within a ten-minute drive the three friends arrived at the registrar’s office. While it wasn’t the wedding Sally had dreamed about over the years, it still felt magical. When she followed Nicola and Elsie into the small room where Ian was waiting for her, with his two friends Declan and Bob by his side, Sally thought Ian had never looked more handsome. He wore a light brown suit, with a white shirt and a wide chocolate-brown tie. He had a white corsage pinned to the lapel of his jacket.

When she reached his side, he whispered into her ear, ‘How did I ever deserve to get such a beautiful woman?’

The ceremony only took fifteen minutes, from her entrance to their signing of the register and their long, passionate kiss, amid the cheers of their small group of friends. They walked to the hotel together, holding hands, telling each other how happy they were. As Ian led her into the small private room he’d booked for their wedding meal, Sally had never felt more content.

To her surprise, at least two dozen guests were waiting for them. A loud cheer erupted as Sally scanned the room to see who was there. She recognised about half the people there to be colleagues of Ian’s, along with their wives or girlfriends, who she had met at their summer barbecue. She scanned the tables, hoping to see Cyril and the girls, perhaps Sister Jones, also seated there. A surprise from her husband. But there was no sign of any of Sally’s friends.

Declan, Bob, Nicola, and Elsie were seated at either end of the top table, where two empty chairs awaited Ian and Sally.

‘I thought it was supposed to be the six of us,’ Elsie said when Sally sat down beside her. ‘I wasn’t even allowed to invite my Reggie.’

‘It was. I don’t understand,’ Sally replied, her stomach flipping as she tried to make sense of the situation.

Ian looked over at them, a big grin on his face. ‘I hope you’re all hungry. We’ve got a prawn cocktail to start, chicken kiev for mains, and Black Forest gateau for dessert. Nothing but the best for my bride.’ He picked up a bottle of white wine from a cooler and poured them a drink, before passing the bottle down to Elsie.

‘I didn’t know you were inviting work friends,’ Sally said.

‘The biggest day of my life – I couldn’t do it without them,’ Ian said, raising his glass to toast the tables before them.

‘Clearly, when your husband said invite no friends, he meant no friends of yours, Sally, not his,’ Elsie said loudly enough for Ian to hear.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at Elsie, and his jaw clenched. ‘I’m not sure what you’re getting at. You and Nicola are here. Sally’s two closest friends.’

‘We are. But Sally has other friends too. Cyril and the rest of the char gang,’ Elsie replied, locking eyes with Ian.

The start of a tension headache nipped Sally’s temples as her best friend and new husband stared each other down. She’d seen signs of a clash developing over the past couple of months, ever since a double date with Elsie and Reggie had fallen flat.

‘It’s not your business, but my wife and I discussed why they shouldn’t be invited.’ He chuckled as if greatly amused by Elsie. ‘I mean, Sally no longer even works with them.’

‘That doesn’t mean that they are not her friends,’ Elsie retorted, unwilling to let it go. ‘Or maybe it’s because they are not the kind of friends you want your wife to have, though. Charwomen.’

‘Oh my days, here we go,’ Nicola said, throwing her eyes upwards. She put a calming hand on Elsie’s arm. ‘Best leave it for today, love.’ Elsie continued to eyeball Ian, so Nicola whispered, ‘Look, you’re only upsetting Sally. It’s her day. Remember that.’

They all turned to look at Sally, whose face was now flushed with embarrassment. Ian clasped her hand under his. ‘The reason I’ve invited these colleagues is because when you lay down your life with people, as I have done with all of these, you form a bond.’ He glanced back in Elsie’s direction and said, ‘I’m not sure acquaintances formed while mopping a floor are in the same league.’

Sally started at her husband’s inference that her friends were not good enough for him. She’d noticed he didn’t like it when Sally mentioned her cleaning days. She was proud of how hard she’d worked, for years, until she’d got her hairdressing diploma, and would never want to hide any part of who she was.

Ian’s face softened, and he said in a gentler voice as he stroked Sally’s cheek, ‘I’m sorry if I’ve upset you. It was never my intention to do that.’

Sally looked at her friends. Nicola nodded encouragingly to her, but Elsie’s face was still clouded in anger.

‘He’s bang out of order,’ Elsie muttered.

Ian ignored Elsie and asked Sally, ‘Do you want me to ask them all to leave? I will do if that’s what you want.’

Sally felt her day unravel before she could stop it, before it was too late to pull it back together again.

‘Don’t be silly. Your friends are important to you, so they are important to me too. Of course they should stay.’

‘That’s my girl,’ Ian said, and he leaned in and kissed her, which got another rousing cheer from his friends.

Sally had spent her life dreaming of meeting a man like Ian. Someone who had made something of himself. Someone that she could make a home with. Start a family with. She’d finally done that. And she would not let a silly misunderstanding get in the way. Everything would be okay because Sally would make sure it was.