He looks slightly dubious but then concedes gracefully. “I’ve done all that I possibly could.”
Peggy shakes her head. “He wasn’t Dennis Nilsen, Amos.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the registrar says loudly. “If you’d like to make your way into the room, we have a wedding to perform.”
There’s a lot of laughter and chatter as everyone moves into the room she’s indicating.
Asa comes over with Billy clinging to his hand. “You ready?” he asks nervously.
I smile at him and straighten his tie. I look at his hair and contemplate tidying that but decide to forget it. It’ll be a messy mane again in seconds.
“I am absolutely ready,” I say, beaming at him. I look down at Billy. “You going in with Daddy and Uncle Dean or walking down the aisle with me?”
“With you, if that’s okay,” he says earnestly. “Grandma and Peggy gave me a big box of petals, so I’ve got to throw them at you.”
“Not so much at him and not so much throw,” Asa begins .
I shake my head firmly. “Bill can do what he wants with them. It’s his day too, and it’s fine with me.”
“Everything’s fine with you,” Asa says affectionately. “You’re the most chilled person I’ve ever met.” He kisses me warmly, and grabbing a thankfully fully dressed Dean by the elbow, he tugs him into the room followed by Ivo with his camera clicking.
“Daddy seems a bit worried,” Billy says, and I crouch to face him.
“He just wants everything to go right, Bill,” I say softly. “It means a lot to him.”
“It will be brilliant,” he says staunchly. “We’re all together, aren’t we?”
“Oh Bill,” I say with a lump in my throat. “We should listen to you more.”
“You really should.” He nods firmly. “Especially about what time I have to go to bed.”
My dad wheels up neatly with my mum at his side. “You two ready?” he asks.
“We are,” I say, coming to stand next to him.
“Okay, love,” my dad says. “Let’s have them.”
I watch open-mouthed as my mum crosses over to the window and comes back with a pair of crutches.
“Oh, Pa,” I say. “Are you sure?”
“I am not wheeling my only child down the aisle. I am going to walk you down that bloody aisle.”
“Language,” my mum says serenely, and we both hover as he grasps my arms and propels himself up. She holds up the crutches, and he pops them under his arms. We wait a second until he’s got his balance and then we step back gingerly.
“I’m fine,” he says. “I’ve been practising for ages.”
“I would have been fine with the wheelchair,” I say softly.
“Well, don’t worry. You’ll see it soon enough.” He grins at me. “Your mum’s taking it to the end of the aisle where it will be ready for me.” He looks down at Billy, who is staring at him transfixed. “You okay, Billy?”
He nods furiously. “You’re so tall, Grandpa. You look like a pirate.”
“Maybe I am,” he says mysteriously. He grins at me. “You ready? I’m not sure standing around too long like this is going to have a positive outcome.”
I laugh and tuck my hand in his pocket. “Come along then, Peg Leg Pete, Scourge of the Western Seas.”
“Oh,” Billy breathes. “Is that your pirate name? That’s epic.”
“Right, Bill, have you got your petals?” I ask. He nods, standing to attention. “Then, off you go. Chuck away. But go slowly so Grandpa can keep up.”
He darts to the doorway, and we move slowly behind him. “You’re good with him,” my dad says softly.
“I love him,” I say. “It’s easy.”
We make our way into the room, and I look up to see Asa waiting for me. He looks tall and handsome in his suit but also so familiar and dear to me that I have to swallow tears in my throat. The lemon-coloured room is full of light from the tall windows and heavy with the scent of the enormous flower displays that I’m quite sure Asa ordered. If acting fails, he could certainly go into wedding planning.
“You nervous?” my dad asks.
I shake my head. “Nope. Not even a tiniest bit. Asa’s waiting for me.”
And so we make our slow, halting way down the small aisle as Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” plays. Billy chucks his petals about with such abandon that he hasn’t got any left after a few minutes, but he moves slowly, his eyes always flitting to my dad and me to make sure that we’re keeping up. I