Gracie

She looked down at the ring and studied it for a moment. It was a classic engagement ring, pretty and dainty with a small diamond mounted high on the shoulders, which were diamond chips set in gold.

‘And I love you,’ he said, as a round of applause broke out around them. ‘Let’s tie the knot as quick as we can, I don’t want us to be having to wait a second longer than we have to. I want us to be married; I want us to be together forever.’

As Sean stood up, she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.

‘I’m so happy, thanks for asking me, especially tonight. We can start the New Year as a proper engaged couple,’ Gracie said emotionally; she blinked hard as the tears prickled at the back of her eyes.

The band started playing again but the pace of the music had slowed right down, and the atmosphere in the ballroom changed from celebratory to romantic as the Last Waltz was played. Sean took Gracie’s hand and pulled her towards the dancefloor. ‘Come on, we have to dance to this tune and remember it forever. It will be our song, we can play it at our wedding and on our anniversaries …’

The sprung dancefloor moved as a swarm of couples took to the floor for the last dance in the glittering ballroom that was filled to capacity with couples of all ages dressed in their finery for the occasion.

As the lights dimmed and the music of Glenn Miller echoed around the walls Gracie smiled and followed her new fiancé onto the floor. She’d often fantasised about being married and having a home and family of her own. It was what she wanted most, and in one instant it had all become a reality; Gracie McCabe was going to be married. She was to marry Sean Donnelly, the hotel chef she had known and worked with for so long.

She hadn’t initially been that attracted to him, even though she liked him as a friend and occasionally went out with him, but he’d been persistent over the years and slowly but surely he’d grown on her. Gradually, she had become comfortable with him. It had only been in the previous few months that Sean had become more intense and Gracie had started to take him seriously. She could imagine him as a good husband and father, providing well for his family, and that was what she wanted, all she had ever wanted.

Everything that had gone before was suddenly irrelevant. The past that could easily have destroyed her had in fact made her stronger and she was ready to move forward in her life with Sean Donnelly.

Sean had to be at work early the next day, so as soon as the music stopped and the lights went up in the ballroom again they grabbed their coats from the cloakroom and ran out ahead of most of the partygoers. They turned onto the seafront and headed to Thorpe Bay, quickly walking arm-in-arm along to the hotel where Gracie lived and worked. The seafront was quiet and dark bar the moonlight and even though they couldn’t really see it, there was the sound of the high tide lapping up against the tide-line. They talked as they walked and kissed on the doorstep but then Sean turned round and walked back the way they’d just come. He returned to the Palace Hotel at the top of the hill, opposite Southend Pier, where he worked as a chef and also lived-in.

Gracie stood at the gate of the Thamesview Hotel and waved until Sean was out of sight before walking round to the back and quietly letting herself in. Taking the stairs two at a time, she raced up the three flights to the self-contained flat at the top which she shared with her friend Ruby Blakeley, who also owned the hotel. But instead of creeping quietly into her own room as she would usually have done, she flung Ruby’s bedroom door wide open and switched the light on.

‘Ruby, Ruby, wake up and look at this. Look, look, look! Sean proposed to me tonight, properly proposed. Look at my engagement ring, Ruby. I’m going to be married at bloody long last! I’m not going to stay sitting on that sodding shelf forever …’

Bewildered for a moment, Ruby Blakeley opened her eyes and looked at the alarm clock, before blinking hard and trying to focus on her friend.

‘Oh that’s lovely, Gracie, I’m pleased for you …’ she groaned, her voice thick with sleep.

‘Pleased for me? Come on Ruby Rubes, you can come up with something better than that! I’m getting married, I’m going to be Mrs Donnelly …’ Gracie sat on the edge of the bed and bounced up and down like a child on Christmas day.

‘I will, I promise, but do you mind if I run round the room with you in the morning? I’ve got to be up and working downstairs in a couple of hours and it’s just me, myself and I because you have the morning off, and there are guests who want breakfast really early.’

‘Oh sod the guests! Just take one little peek at the ring and then I’ll leave you alone, I promise.’ She shook Ruby’s shoulder and laughed.

Bleary-eyed, Ruby peered at the hand in front of her face. ‘That’s very pretty and well chosen, lovely …’

She smiled again at her friend and blew a kiss before tugging the eiderdown right up over her head.

‘Okay, I’ll leave you to your beauty sleep, you miserable cow, but in the morning we’ll dance round the room and celebrate – whether you like it or not!’ Gracie laughed as she switched the light off again and skipped out of the room.

Still smiling, she went through into the living room, kicked her high heels off and curled up on the sofa. She stared down at the small but perfect twinkling diamond ring on her finger and sighed. Gracie had often imagined the moment she would be proposed to, but she hadn’t expected that Sean Donnelly, the young man she’d known for so long, would go down on one knee in the middle of the ballroom at midnight on New Year’s Eve. She had thought they were just out together to celebrate the New Year.

She thought about that moment again, the special moment when she had realised that Sean was asking her to be his wife and smiled to herself. The proposal had certainly been romantic and he had timed it to perfection. How could she possibly not want to marry a man like that? Gracie reached a hand out, pulled a cushion over from the chair opposite, put it under her head and started mentally planning her new life. By the time she dozed off she had already chosen her wedding dress, picked a honeymoon destination, fantasised about her first proper home and named her first baby, boy or girl. Her life was finally going in the direction she had always wanted it to and she was more than content with it. She was content with the thought of being married to Sean Donnelly and happy at the thought of having his children. He had said he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and that was all she had ever wanted from a man.

Several hours later she awoke to find Ruby standing at the end of the sofa, holding a tray that was formally laid out for morning tea with a lace tray cloth, the best china and a selection of fancy biscuits.

‘Just look at you,’ Ruby laughed, ‘sleeping on the sofa, with your new dress screwed up like a dishrag. Good job Aunt Leonora can’t see you looking like that; she’d have a pink fit.’

She put the tray down on the table in front of the sofa and sat down alongside her friend. ‘And this, Miss McCabe, is to celebrate your engagement in the way of Leonora Blakeley; it’s in her honour. This morning we’re going to be ladylike and take formal morning tea.’

Gracie looked at the tray and laughed. ‘Oh that is so nice of you! Leonora would be so proud of you. I think she might even have overlooked my dishrag dress because she’d be so pleased I’m going to be respectable at last; mind you, she mightn’t have been impressed with lipstick on the cushions. Sorry, Rubes! I was just so excited I couldn’t sleep properly. I kept dozing off then waking up and wondering if I’d dreamt it.’

‘You are overexcited! Why don’t you go to bed now?’ Ruby smiled. ‘It’s only nine o’clock; I’ve just come up for a quick break to see how you are, and to look at your ring in daylight. There’s not so much to do now with only two guests left. The others have checked out, Henry’s just driven them to the station.’

‘I feel guilty leaving you down there on your own …’

‘Well don’t, it was your morning off anyway. I can manage perfectly well for today. I’ve got Henry to help, bless his little cotton socks. He may be getting on a bit but he mucks in. But now, the ring, please!’

‘Okay, here it is …’ Gracie held her hand up and waved it around. ‘Isn’t it lovely? And it fits perfectly.’

‘It is lovely, Gracie, it must have taken him ages to save up for it. Did you know he was planning the grand proposal?’

‘God no, it was such a shock! I mean I knew he liked going out with me but a marriage proposal and a ring? I’m still stunned, especially as he must have been planning it to have the ring ready.’

Ruby looked at Gracie thoughtfully as she chose her words. ‘I don’t want to be like Aunt Leonora, really I don’t, but are you sure this is what you really want, to spend the rest of your life with Sean Donnelly? I know you like him – but marriage? That’s forever, missy.’

‘Oh look, I know now that Prince Charming isn’t going to appear on the doorstep and carry me off to his castle; there just isn’t one of them out there for me. Sean loves me, he’s good to me. I know you think he’s a bit boring but he’s no wide boy either, is he?’ Gracie shrugged her shoulders and smiled. ‘We both know he’s not exactly the life and soul of the party and he’s definitely no screen idol but he works hard and he’ll look after me, I’m sure.’

‘Are you sure you’re not getting carried away on the proposal? Is he the right one?’ Ruby asked with an edge to her tone. ‘The right one you’ve been dreaming about?’

‘Well, he’s the nearest to the right one that I’m going to get!’ Gracie laughed. ‘Anyway, I like him a lot – and look where that stupid hearts and flowers fantasy got me last time. Look where it got me and you … I know you’ve sort of worked your life out and you and Johnnie are going to be together forever. You’ve got your right one, but me?’ Gracie shook her head. ‘No, Sean is my chance. I’m nearly twenty-eight and I don’t want to end up like Leonora, forever looking out to sea and wishing for something that just ain’t ever going to happen. Life isn’t like it is in the cinema, is it?’

Gracie smiled to take the edge off her words; she understood exactly what Ruby was trying to say. Over the years she’d known and been going out with Sean, Gracie had always joked that she was waiting for the right one to come along and whisk her off on a white charger. It had become a standing joke when they watched the people walking along the promenade.

‘Is he the right one?’ Ruby would ask. ‘Nope, not the right one …’ Gracie would smile. ‘But I’ll know him when I see him!’

Ruby reached out and touched her hand. ‘I’m sorry – you’re old enough to know what you’re doing. So if you’re sure then we have to arrange an engagement party … and then the wedding! Oh, this is going to be such fun! What sort of wedding do you want?’

‘Can’t afford an engagement party and a small and cheap wedding with none of my bleedin’ family there to wreck it would be just about right for me!’ Gracie said, only half-joking.

‘You can have the wedding reception here. And an engagement party as well. If you want to, that is, and if Sean wants to, of course,’ Ruby said warmly.

‘Oh, a wedding reception at Thamesview would be fantastic, Rubes. I’d love to have it here, my favourite place in the world!’

The two young women blinked back tears as they hugged each other tight, aware that a big change was ahead for both of them.

Ruby stood up. ‘Right, tea break over … Back to work I go; any plans for later?’

‘Sean’s coming round after his shift finishes at tea time, if that’s okay with you. We’ve got a lot to talk about. I only need an hour or so while he’s here.’

‘Of course it’s okay; this is your home as much as mine, silly. I’ll stay out of the way and give you some time together. Oh, and I hereby give you the whole day off in honour of your new status of engaged woman. Can’t have you slaving over a hot desk this afternoon, can we?’

As Ruby turned to leave the room Gracie called her back. ‘Rubes? I nearly forgot, will you be my number one bridesmaid?’

‘Cheeky moo, I thought you’d never ask!’

‘You fibber, you knew I’d ask you! I wouldn’t want anyone else. Apart from Maggie, of course. I have to have Maggie.’

‘She’ll love that.’