Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection

As it happened, the snow tumbled relentlessly from the heavens for some considerable time. St Michael’s Church looked beautiful, although the path through the wych-gate and up to the big old oak door was treacherous.

Looking smart and dapper in his dark suit and tie, Danny welcomed his bride at the altar of the dear old church where they would be made man and wife. The snow continued to fall all through the service which, according to the locals who attended was, ‘Not bad, considering the circumstances, an’ wi’ the bairn bein’ there an’ all.’ And it carried on snowing all the way back to the farmhouse, where Aggie and Emily had earlier prepared a celebratory meal.

While the smell of roasting chicken filled the farmhouse and everyone enjoyed a glass of best sherry, Emily and Danny opened their wedding presents. There was a lovely timepiece from Grandad and Aggie, a pretty vase from Danny’s father, Bob, and from Cathleen an embroidered sampler with their names and the date stitched carefully in pastel colours. Aggie had found the right-sized frame in a Blackburn junk shop, and the little girl and her gran had cleaned the glass and frame with vinegar and beeswax until they both shone. She also gave them each a hug and a kiss, while she in turn received a small, silk-figured Bible from her mammy and her new daddy.

Danny gave his wife a beautiful bracelet of marcasite and sapphire, and she loved it so much she asked him to put it on her wrist there and then. Afterwards, to his delight, she kissed him, hoping with all her heart she could learn to be the wife he wanted.

Cathleen showed everyone the small Bible she had been given as bridesmaid, and Grandad told them all how proud he was of his beautiful young women. He then gave a formal little speech, in which he thanked Danny and his father for contributing to the festivities. ‘And we’re delighted to receive you into the family fold,’ he said affectionately. For a split second he thought of Michael, whose sacred duty it would have been to give away his daughter’s hand in marriage, but then he brushed the thought aside.

Everyone clapped and it was time to eat.

They sat round the table – Danny’s kind-natured father, Bob, a lean-looking man with soft eyes and a ginger moustache; then came Cathleen, pink-cheeked and over-excited, and Aggie bursting with pride.

Danny was so content he couldn’t stop smiling, his fond gaze never leaving Emily’s face and his hand constantly seeking hers under the table.

Then came Emily herself, feeling vulnerable and afraid, and not too certain what to expect from this new life she had embarked on. She tried hard to concentrate on Danny, but somehow John kept filling her mind and heart, and it was all she could do to smile at Danny with the look of a wife. But smile she did – as her mother noticed with approval.

As for Grandad, he greedily tucked into the delicious chicken, served with their own farm-grown vegetables, and loudly complained about the fact that there had been very few local people present at the ceremony.

‘You’d have thought more of ’em might ’ave turned out to see one of their own get wed,’ he said, in between scraping the last of the food off his plate and into his mouth. ‘Miserable buggers, so they are.’ He gave Aggie a knowing look. ‘O’ course, I don’t suppose yer can blame ’em,’ he remarked, sipping at his ale and getting more inebriated by the minute. He glanced at Cathleen. ‘Folks don’t forget in a hurry, do they?’

‘That’s enough, Dad!’ Aggie cast a glance at Cathleen, who thankfully was so engrossed in counting the raspberries in her pie, she appeared not to have heard. ‘Aren’t you forgetting summat?’ She drew his attention to the child. ‘I reckon you should mind your tongue, don’t you?’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, lass!’ Realising he was out of his depth, the old man leaned over and gave Cathleen’s hand a fond squeeze. ‘Yer old Grandad talks rubbish sometimes.’

When, without looking up, Cathleen replied innocently, ‘I know, Grandad, but it’s all right,’ everyone laughed and the atmosphere was good.

‘If your mammy will fetch my accordion we can have us-selves a bit o’ music,’ Grandad suggested.

Without hesitation, and thankful that Cathleen was unaware of what had been said, Emily ran upstairs and found his cherished accordion.

‘By! I’ve not played this for a while,’ the old man said, making it screech and howl before he finally got to grips with it. ‘Come on, then. If you’ve all finished feeding yer faces, let’s see youse dancing till yer drop!’

On Aggie’s insistence, Danny and Emily pushed the table back to make room while, also made merry by the plentiful ale, Danny’s father Bob clambered to his feet and began shaking about in a frighteningly weird manner. ‘My dancing’s not what it used to be,’ he apologised, and hoping they wouldn’t have to endure it for long, everyone assured him he was doing just grand and encouraged him, by clapping to the rhythm.

After a while, Aggie got up to join him; more to stop him from falling over than anything else.

It wasn’t long before the two of them had to sit down. ‘I’m bone-weary,’ Bob groaned, red in the face and fighting for breath.

Laughing, Aggie told him, ‘We’re a pair of old crocks, you an’ me.’ Moreover, her feet felt like two raw pieces of meat where he had trampled them once too often.

When a moment later Grandad slowed the music to a waltz, Danny took Emily by the hand and led her to the centre of the floor. ‘You look beautiful, Mrs Williams,’ he whispered in her ear, and not for the first time made her feel humbled.

They danced to the music and he held her tight and she smiled up at him. To the onlookers it was a lovely thing to see.

Only Aggie knew the truth of how Emily must be feeling. Yet, like Emily, she had faith that everything would turn out for the best, and she clung to that with all her might.

When Cathleen decided to join them, the bridal couple enfolded her to them and the picture was complete. ‘They look a proper family,’ Danny’s father declared. And Aggie wholeheartedly agreed.

Outside, made curious by the music, Clem Jackson peered in through the window. He saw Emily in the arms of her new man, and the child – his child – glad to be a part of that close family unit, and the more he saw, the more livid he became. ‘I paid out all me hard-earned brass to help my fool of a sister and her gang o’ hangers-on, an’ I don’t even get invited to me own niece’s wedding!’ he growled. ‘Happen it’s time I started claiming back what’s mine!’

He watched a moment longer, so eaten up with jealousy he could bear it no longer. Cursing and threatening, he strode away, viciously kicking his dog, which whined and opened its huge mouth wide. He was a man rejected. A man who, when riled, was capable of anything.

At ten-thirty, Cathleen fell asleep on the sofa. Danny carried her upstairs where Emily put the child to bed and before he followed his new wife back down, he took the moment to kiss her long and hard. ‘I love you,’ he said passionately, and when Emily went to make a reply, he put his fingers to her lips. ‘It’s all right,’ he promised. ‘You don’t have to say anything.’

He knew how she still harboured feelings for John Hanley and he had reluctantly come to accept that; though every day, he prayed it was a temporary thing.

Some time later, feeling the need to leave them alone, Aggie made her excuses. ‘I’ve to be up at first light,’ she explained. ‘There’s a whole crop of Brussels to be got ready for market.’ When both Danny and Emily offered to help, she swiftly refused. ‘You’ll do no such thing!’

‘By! I should think not.’ Grandad as usual had to have the last word. ‘It’s your wedding night and I should think you’ve got better things to do than get out of yer bed at four in the morning to pack Brussels sprouts.’ His meaningful chuckle left nothing to the imagination.

‘Hey!’ Aggie gave him one of her warning stares. ‘I reckon it’s more than time you were in bed, old fella. It’s been a long day for all of us.’

Meanwhile, blushing deep pink, Emily made her excuses to go into the kitchen, where she was filled with dread at the thought of what was to come, not least because the memory of what had happened in the barn was still vivid in her mind.

But Danny knew nothing of that, nor did she want him to. So, when he entered the kitchen to find her, she laughed the old man’s comments off as best she could. ‘Grandad has a habit of saying what’s on his mind,’ she apologised. ‘I hope he didn’t embarrass you?’

Danny took her into his arms. ‘No, but he embarrassed you, didn’t he?’

She nodded. ‘How could you tell?’

‘Because you went redder than a cockerel in full shout.’

She laughed at that. ‘You’re such a nice man, Danny. I really don’t deserve you.’

‘Oh, so I’m just “nice”, am I?’

Now, when he kissed her on the neck in that same way John used to, she pulled away. ‘I’d best make a start on these pots.’

In minutes she had the boiling water poured and the washing soda sprinkled, and her arms were up to the elbows in dirty crockery. ‘You can help if you like?’ she invited. Anything to delay the inevitable, she thought guiltily.

In the parlour, Aggie was persuading Grandad to call it a day. ‘You look all in.’

‘Aye, lass.’ He had the good sense to see it. ‘I am a bit weary.’ He pointed to where Danny’s father was fast asleep in the armchair, mouth wide open and out to the world. ‘Look at that fella there,’ he laughed. ‘Not a care in the world an’ snoring like a good ’un. Meks me feel tired just looking at him.’

He handed her the accordion. ‘Yer right. Lead on, lass. I’d best do as yer say an’ get a good night’s sleep.’ He chuckled. ‘Who knows? I might just turn out of me bed at first light, and give yer a hand with them Brussels sprouts.’

Escorting him across the room, she declined his half-hearted offer with a groan. ‘I’m best on my own, thanks all the same, Dad.’

When they were going up the stairs, he in front and she behind and helping him the best she could, Aggie chided, ‘Honestly, Dad! What were you thinking of, to embarrass the young ’uns like that?’

‘Why?’ He could act the innocent when he wanted. ‘What did I do?’

Aggie tutted. ‘Sometimes, the way you blunder in with your careless remarks, it’s like you’ve got two left feet.’

He grinned naughtily. ‘You know me, Aggie, lass. I can’t help meself, that’s the trouble.’

In the kitchen, Danny was telling Emily, ‘When we’re done here, I’d best get my father home.’