Mud and Gold by Shayne Parkinson

deserve. Come on, Lizzie,
smile again! Brides are meant to look happy.’
    Edie bustled into the room, with Bill close
at her heels. ‘Frank’s arrived,’ she announced. ‘He’s sitting in
the parlour with your pa, saying hello to everyone. But his brother
hasn’t come with him.’
    ‘What? Why not?’
    ‘Frank said he’s gone away for a day or
two.’
    ‘But Ben’s meant to be best man!’ Lizzie
said. ‘I don’t need a bridesmaid, I didn’t want anyone but Amy, but
Frank needs a best man. Who’s going to do that?’
    ‘Don’t worry, Lizzie,’ Bill said, smiling.
‘I’ve told Frank I’ll help him out. He might need someone to hold
him up in case he feels faint.’
    ‘What about the ring?’ Lizzie demanded.
‘Frank might have forgotten and left it with Ben.’
    Bill patted his jacket pocket. ‘Frank’s not
that silly. I’ve got it right here.’
    ‘Bless me, I nearly forgot,’ Edie said.
‘Your husband’s here, Amy. You’d better go and see him, he’s asking
for you. I expect he misses you when you go out.’ She smiled, and
Amy wondered if her aunt had managed to forget that there had been
anything hasty or unsavoury about Amy’s marriage. She kissed Lizzie
and went outside to find Charlie.
    Even with all their borrowed chairs the
Leiths could not possibly provide seating for all the guests. Amy
found Charlie standing behind the mass of chairs that had been
appropriated by the oldest people present.
    ‘You haven’t been waiting long, have you,
Charlie?’ she asked. ‘Aunt Edie forgot to tell me you were
here.’
    ‘Long enough,’ Charlie grunted, but he did
not look any grimmer than usual.
    Amy smiled at her father when she caught his
eye. She noticed that Susannah looked somewhat embarrassed at
having been classified as needing a seat. But there were chairs
left over when all the older folk had been seated, and Susannah
recovered her composure when Marion Forster sat next to her. Jane
Neill slipped away from her sister’s side, and Amy was not
surprised to see her standing beside Harry a small distance from
the seated guests.
    People chatted among themselves until there
was a small stir and the minister came out of the house onto the
verandah, followed by Frank and Bill. Amy was sure Frank’s step
faltered when he saw the sea of faces staring at him, but Bill gave
him a nudge forward. Mothers gathered up their wandering offspring,
and everyone waited expectantly for the bride to appear.
    Lizzie took her time coming. Amy wished
Charlie had found a spot in the shade as the sun mounted and the
day grew warmer. The heat began to make her feel faint, and her
earlier nausea returned. But at last she heard murmurs of
appreciation, and Arthur emerged from the house with Lizzie on his
arm. He led her over to Frank’s side, and Amy was glad she could
see a little of Frank’s face when he turned and saw Lizzie in all
her glory. He stared open-mouthed, and gave her a look so full of
love that Amy felt tears pricking her eyes.
    Reverend Hill waited for silence, then he
began to speak.
    ‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered together
here in the sight of God…’
    Amy listened to the words, distracted from
her growing discomfort by their gravity.
    ‘… Therefore is not by any to
be enterprized, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or
wantonly, to satisfy men’s carnal lusts and appetites, like brute
beasts that have no understanding…’
    Carnal lusts and appetites. That’s what
Charlie wants me for .
    ‘It was ordained for the procreation of
children…’
    But I had my baby without being married.
I don’t want any more babies now. I only want Ann .
    ‘It was ordained as a remedy against sin,
and to avoid fornication…’
    That’s what I did. I sinned and
fornicated—I never knew what fornication meant. I was bad. That’s
why I wasn’t allowed to keep Ann. That’s why I had to make it right
by marrying Charlie . Amy’s upbringing had been too firmly
Protestant for her to have