Aunty Amelia's

[Little_Susie]

Part 14
As the wedding got closer I invited Mark, a close friend and asked him to be my best man.  We had grown up together in Norwich and I had kept in contact with him. He was surprised but obviously pleased to be asked and he arrived two days before the wedding as did the two friends of Tabitha’s who were to be her bridesmaids. We all met at Amelia’s and Tabitha brought in teas and coffees for us all. I could see he was eyeing up Tabitha as she was having the same effect on him as she did me when I first saw her.
“Stop drooling Mark” I said smiling “anyway you don’t stand a chance.”
“Look you stick to your fiancé and I’ll work my charms on the maid. She won’t be able to resist me.” He wasn’t really boasting as unlike me he did seem to be able to attract whichever girls he wanted. I decide to tease him further.
“Would you like me to introduce you to her?”
“Yeah, great.” I then asked Tabitha to come over.
“Tabitha I would like to introduce Mark to you, he’s going to be my best man. Mark this is Tabitha MY fiancée” I said putting my arm round her waist. I had to laugh at the look on his face. “I’m sorry Mark but you were so sure of yourself I couldn’t resist it.”
“Well I must admit you have great taste, I am just amazed that someone who seemed almost scared of girls is getting married before me.” As per usual Mark soon hit it off with the bridesmaids.

The wedding went ahead fine. When Tabitha entered the church I was blown away by the beautiful sight. The fantastic gown seemed to highlight her beauty and I found it hard not to grab her immediately as she reached me. We had had a number of meetings with the minister and the service was simple but intimate and we had plenty of photographs to remember the day by.

At the small reception we started opening the presents and started with a large envelope, in it were two passports, flight tickets and hotel reservations for an all paid fortnight in the Bahamas, our wedding present from Aunty Amelia. In all the time since we got engaged Tabitha and I had decided we would need to save up to be able to afford a honeymoon and here it was all paid for. We both thanked her profusely and it seemed that she and mum had colluded to get our passports done.
 Mum gave Tabitha a locket which I knew had been mum’s grandmothers and passed down the family. I was shocked as I knew how much it meant to her. Tabitha was in tears when I explained it. I was almost as bad when I opened my present to find my father’s wrist watch well chronometer. I didn’t realise mum had kept it but she said that she felt dad would have wanted me to have it.

The honeymoon was fantastic with plenty to do and see when we got tired of laying on the beach and it was sad when we had to return not that we weren’t thankful for the opportunity afforded to us by Amelia’s generosity.

Epilogue
There was a wing of the of aunty’s house that had been shut up for a number of years, When we got back from our honeymoon she had not only opened it up but had it professionally cleaned and redecorated for us. Whilst it was connected to the house we could shut it off when we wanted some privacy or just wanted to be on our own. Tabitha continued to help look after the house with my occasional help. Out of the blue I was contacted by the auction company that sold aunty’s books. It seemed that there was possibly a market for the software I created for aunty and they would like to see it. I had tweaked it over the last couple of years to make it slicker and more secure to stop data theft. The company paid me handsomely for a copy and within a year it was being professionally produced and marketed and bringing a regular income. Despite lucrative offers I retained the patent which turned out to be a sound decision as the company grew.

Over the next six years we had two girls making mum a grandma twice over and aunty a Great Aunt. They both loved having the girls around and it was a great place for them to grow up. Of course they were both dressed as princesses although Tabitha and I had to step in occasionally to stop them being spoilt rotten but they would rarely go without something they really wanted. So now we have four little girl birthday parties a year and mum has her own nannies uniform.
 
So there you have it, what started off with a project led to a wonderful and happy life.

The End


Thanks to those who bothered to comment on the story, I hope you liked it. So few comments but over 5000 hits - well don't comment - just donate!

Thanks again, Little Susie.