Page 157 of The Sun Sister

‘Bye, Bill.’

As Cecily walked back to the house, she decided she was liking Bill more and more. Even if he was uncomfortably honest, his complete lack of pretension was endearing. Upstairs, she undressed, musing that she only had three weeks left before she would be sharing a bed with her new husband...or at least, she presumed that would be what he wanted. To her surprise, the thought excited her rather than horrified her.

Stop it, Cecily, she berated herself firmly as she slipped into bed.You have to keep remembering this is a marriage of convenience, and love isn’t involved.

Even so, she went to sleep feeling calmer and happier than she had for many, many weeks.

Cecily was to become Mrs William Forsythe on April 17that midday. As promised, Kiki had arranged for the pastor from the church in Nairobi to officiate. In fact, her godmother had truly outdone herself with all the wedding preparations: chairs covered in white silk had been placed on the lawn and a canopy adorned with white roses had been erected at the edge of the lake, under which Cecily and Bill would stand to take their vows.

She stood at the window of her room, looking down at the lawn where Kiki was greeting the arriving guests – a lot of whom Cecily had never met. She spied Bill sitting on what she now thought of as ‘her’ bench at the water’s edge, with Joss Erroll, who was acting as his best man.

‘Are you feeling nervous?’ asked Katherine as she pinned Cecily’s veil into place and then handed her the bridal bouquet of blush-pink roses. ‘It’s perfectly natural. I could barely eat the week before I married Bobby.’

‘I guess I am,’ Cecily gulped. ‘It’s all happened so quickly.’

‘When it’s meant to be, time doesn’t matter,’ Katherine said kindly. ‘You look a picture! Come and see.’ She guided Cecily to the full-length mirror.

A dressmaker had been called in to make her a pretty gown in an empire-line style, so the folds of creamy satin fell from beneath her breasts and hid any sign of a bump. The sun had lightened her hair to a soft blonde and Katherine had fixed roses to one side, just above her ear. She’d applied a little make-up, but even without it, Cecily thought that her skin had never looked better. It glowed and her eyes sparkled.

‘Now, let’s get you married,’ said Katherine.

Throughout her life, Cecily had entertained many fantasies of what her wedding day would be like. Never did she imagine that it would be without her family in the humid heat of Kenya, in the company of a pod of hippos.

Bobby was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. In place of her father, Bobby had agreed to give her away.

‘You look beautiful,’ he said as he offered the crook of his arm. Cecily tucked her own into his, then heard the band start up the wedding march.

‘Ready?’

‘Ready,’ she smiled. With a deep breath in, she and Bobby stepped out onto the terrace and made their way onto the lawn and through the congregation.

Bill stood under the canopy; his only objection to the proceedings was that he hadn’t wanted to wear morning dress, but had settled on black tie for himself and the guests. Cecily thought he looked very handsome indeed; his normally unruly sandy hair had been combed down, he was clean-shaven and his blue eyes reflected the sky against his deeply tanned skin. Despite the more dashing Joss standing beside him, she found she could not take her eyes from her husband-to-be.

Bobby passed her hand to Bill, who towered above her, and as the pastor began to speak, all Cecily could focus on was Bill’s eyes. She heard the sounds of the birds calling to each other across the lake as if they too were celebrating with her.

‘I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride,’ the pastor announced, to a resounding whoop from Alice, sitting in the front row beside Kiki – who’d obviously been at the champagne before the ceremony – and a round of applause from the rest of the guests.

Bill did so.

‘Hello, Mrs Forsythe,’ he whispered in her ear.

‘Hello,’ she said shyly as she looked up at him, and they walked through the guests standing either side of them.

Even though Cecily had been dreading the wedding breakfast, she was relieved at the fact that her morning sickness seemed to have eased and she could at least enjoy the wonderful spread that Kiki had provided. Katherine, who, as maid of honour, was sitting next to her at one of the circular tables laid out on the terrace, gave her a hug.

‘I’m so happy for you, Cecily. You look utterly radiant and so does your husband,’ she whispered, indicating Bill sitting on the other side of her.

And Cecily realised that shedidfeel radiant; despite the subterfuge on which the marriage was originally based, she was enjoying the day. A few minutes later, Joss stood up and made a humorous best man’s speech, referencing the way in which Cecily had appeared from nowhere and stolen the heart of ‘Happy Valley’s eternal bachelor’.

‘Really, Cecily my dear,’ Joss drawled, ‘you have me to thank for your wedded bliss – since it was I who originally convinced Bill to come to Kenya. So I do hope you’ll be showing your gratitude to me in years to come.’ He winked at her, and she heard Idina giggle at his joke.

His tone then became more heartfelt as he read out telegrams from her family in New York. Cecily found her eyes full of tears, but knew that at least she had done the right thing today and saved them from further shame.

She had no time to feel homesick, though, because the band struck up playing ‘Begin the Beguine’ and Bill swept her onto the wooden dance floor set up on the lawns down by the lake. She was surprised at how skilfully he led her, and as dusk approached, she did indeed feel as though she’d won the hand of a very eligible bachelor.

It was midnight when Katherine arrived by her side as she was dancing with Lord John Carberry, another handsome man around the same age as Bill, whose wandering hands she was struggling to keep under control.

‘Time to change and set off for the Norfolk Hotel, my dear,’ Katherine said, almost wrenching her out of the man’s arms. Upstairs, Katherine helped her out of her wedding gown and into her going away suit, fashioned out of pistachio-coloured silk, and with a matching pillbox hat.