Toni’s Blog

“Wendy, wake up, love.”  Mum’s voice brought me out of a deep sleep.  “Your breakfast’s nearly ready.”

I opened my eyes and looked straight over to the window and breathed a sigh of relief.  The sun was shining, and it was going to be a beautiful day.  Or was it?  There was a huge cloud hovering over me but it had nothing to do with the weather.

“Are you still worried about Mrs. Simpson?” Mum asked, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

“I just can’t help it,” I said with a sigh.  Then I glanced over to the cot where my baby daughter should have been asleep.

“She’s throwing her porridge around the kitchen at the moment,” Mum said with a smile.  “Bless her little heart.  In a way I wish she could join in the excitement of today with you, but she is a bit young to know what’s going on.  At least she’ll have a Daddy of her own now.”

Mum patted my hand and I smiled in response.

“You do think I’m doing the right thing, don’t you, Mum?” I asked suddenly.

“I most certainly do,” she assured me firmly.  “Gavin is a wonderful person, just right for you both.”

As Mum got up I sipped the tea she’d brought me.  Yes, Gavin was perfect for me, I thought, a wonderful person and from today, a wonderful husband and father.

Over the past few months since we’d become officially engaged I’d often wished that Gavin had been Sara’s real father.  But Terry had been tragically killed just a few weeks before our wedding.  It had been over a month later I finally had to accept the fact I was pregnant.  Gavin had been one of Terry's closest friends, and in the months that followed he’d become mine, too.  I’m not sure when we fell in love. Maybe it was right at the beginning when he’d comforted me at the funeral; or maybe it was he night Sara was born and he’d had to rush me to hospital because Mum and Dad were out.

Mum and Dad had been a tower of strength to me through those waiting months.  When I’d told them about the baby they’d rallied round and stood by me without a thought that their first grandchild wouldn’t have a father.  As Dad had said, they were happy to be grandparents, and since Sara had wormed her way into their affections they’d proved it time and again.

Now, today, Gavin and I were to be married.  Everything should have been so good, and nearly everything was.  The only blot on our otherwise happy horizon was Gavin’s mother.

She’d been against our marriage right from the start, and whenever Gavin and I had tried to talk to her about it she was cold and almost rude to me.

I’ll never forget one night in particular.  Gavin had already told her our plans, and we wanted to ask who of Gavin’s relatives we should invite.  But as soon as we mentioned the wedding she made it quite plain she wanted nothing to do with it.

“Oh, Mum, why don’t you want to talk about the wedding?”  Gavin had asked her miserably.  “Can’t you see that Wendy and I love each other and we want to have a happy life.”

“Ha!  You don’t know the meaning of the word love,” Mrs. Simpson had retorted.  “And I won’t talk about the wedding because I don’t want to even acknowledge it’s going to happen.”

With that she’d stormed out into the kitchen.  Gavin came over to me and put her arm around me.  I felt terrible.

“Don’t worry, love,” he’d said.  “I’ll talk to her.  She’ll come round, you wait and see.”

I’ve never been one for eavesdropping, but that evening I did.  When Gavin followed his mother into the kitchen I sneaked up behind the door and listened.

“Gavin, I think you’re making a big mistake,” his mother started the moment the door was shut.  “Marrying that girl, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.  All she wants if a father for her illegitimate baby!”

“Mum, I love Wendy, and I love little Sara, too,” Gavin said earnestly.  “Terry was a good friend of mine, and I’ve always thought a lot of Wendy.  In fact only a few days before he was killed I was telling him how lucky he was to have a girl like that.”

“Nothing but a cheap little...”

“That’s enough, Mum,” Gavin interrupted angrily.  “Wendy is a thoughtful, kind, loving person.  If you’d take the trouble to get to know her properly you’d see that for yourself!”

continue