Read Online The Youngest Bridesmaid by Sara Seale - Free Book Online Page B

recalcitrant tradespeople, minor disasters to life and limb, and the ever-present necessity for standing on one ’ s own feet because there was never anyone around to make things easy. When the little nurse looked in, accompanied by others to whom she had imparted the news, she was beginning to wonder if, indeed, she had been living in a state of trauma and quite soon she would waken to the dull but familiar life she had always known.
    “ Mrs. Merrick? ” the first nurse said. “ Your husband is just coming. We do think it ’ s a shame that your honeymoon should be spoilt like this, but he ’ s all right. You were going to your island, weren ’ t you? ”
    This time, Lou at least had the wit not to answer that she didn ’ t know, and on the face of it, it would seem sensible that Piers had abandoned his plans for a continental honeymoon.
    “ Yes, ” she said, trying to smile, “ we were going to the island. ”
    “ It ’ s ever so exciting, ” one of the nurses giggled. “ Switching brides and all, I mean—it ’ ll be on the telly at nine o ’ clock—did you know? ”
    “ No, I didn ’ t, ” said Lou, who had been unaware of the television unit outside the church, and jumped more than the nurses when a biting voice observed from the doorway:
    “ What are you doing here? Kindly return to your duties at once, and report to me in the morning. ”
    “ Yes, Sister, ” they replied with one accord, and disappeared, leaving Lou with a middle - aged woman who, despite her starch and air of authority, suddenly twinkled at Lou.
    “ One can ’ t blame them being curious, Mrs. Merrick, ” she said. “ You and your husband have certainly made the headlines today. ”
    “ Have we? ” asked Lou vaguely, and the other woman gave her a quick, clinical glance.
    “ Well, of course, you must know that, ” s h e said. “ I think, in all the attention your husband has commanded, we ’ ve forgotten you might be suffering from shock. How do you feel, my dear? ”
    “ Quite all right, thank you. I only want to—want to— ”
    “ Want to what? ”
    “ Just know where I shall end the day. ”
    Sister ’ s eyes rested with sympathetic but false understanding on the bride ’ s pale, childish face. What bad luck, she thought, to be stranded in a town like Lexiter for that all-important start to a marriage, when with a bridegroom like Piers Merrick, the honeymoon would have been planned with the maximum degree of luxury.
    “ Well, I ’ m afraid our best hotel is all that can be offered in the circumstances, ” she said, “ but the Queen ’ s is comfortable and too expensive for local pockets, so you should be all right. ”
    “ It doesn ’ t really matter any more, does it?! ’ said Lou in a thin little thread of a voice, and Sister was relieved to see the girl ’ s husband, preceded by the doctor, entering the room.
    “ Doctor— ” she whispered quickly, “ I think Mrs. Merrick should have attention, and perhaps a sedative. She seems— ”
    But Lou rose rather stiffly to her feet and held out her hands to Piers.
    “ They say you ’ re all right. Are you, Piers? The garage ha s overhauled the car and they say it ’ s fit to drive. Are we going on? ”
    He made a quick step towards her, taking her outstretched hands in his, and the two people watching received each in their different ways an uneasy feeling that all was not right, but that at the same time there was something rather touching in the way the weary-looking man had taken the hands of his young and unresponsive bride. Sister thought, with impatience, that the girl hadn ’ t the experience to deal with a situation which needed tact and understanding, the young doctor, with more perception, saw that the bride seemed in a state of suspension, and resolved to find out from the nurses what stories the avid press were putting about.
    “ You ’ re sure you feel all right, Mrs. Merrick? ” he said. “ You wouldn ’ t care to have the rule