by Nick Hornby
“Chris wants to give Grace away,” said Joseph. “And he’s standing out here waiting for her.”
“Oh,” said Lucy.
Grace had asked Joseph to give her away, on the grounds that she disliked her father intensely.
“I’ve said we can both do it,” said Chris. “But he won’t even go for that.”
“The point is that she doesn’t want you anywhere near her,” said Joseph. “She had to be persuaded to let you come at all.”
“They’re ashamed of me,” said Chris to Lucy.
Lucy made a sympathetic face.
“Don’t look at him like that,” said Joseph.
“Why don’t you come inside and sit with us?” said Lucy.
“That’s a good idea,” said Joseph.
“No, thanks,” said Chris. “I’ll be sitting with family.”
“She is family.”
Lucy appreciated the sentiment, but she still wished Joseph hadn’t said it.
“She isn’t what I’d call family.”
He didn’t elaborate.
“Maybe you should go in,” said Joseph to Lucy.
She didn’t like leaving him, but they were the last ones outside, and she didn’t want to draw attention to herself and the boys by arriving late. They found a half-empty pew at the back and sat down, and after a minute or two Chris joined them, after looking for a space somewhere, anywhere else.
“He threatened me,” he said to Lucy, at a volume that he knew would cause people to look round. “My own son,” he said, when he was satisfied that he had a big enough audience.
“He’s quite strong,” said Al. “He could beat both of us up at once.”
“Yeah,” said Dylan. “I wouldn’t get into it with him.”
“He goes to the gym,” said Al. “He works there, so he goes most days.”
“It shouldn’t come to that,” said Chris. “It should never come to that.”
“What about Hitler?” said Dylan, who was now at secondary school.
“Oh, we had to stop him,” said Chris. “But he started it.”
“Joseph was going to start it too,” Al pointed out.
“You’re right, son,” said Chris. “I should have stood my ground. Like we did in 1940.”
“He’d have beaten you up, though,” said Dylan. “He’s quite strong.”
The circularity of it reminded Lucy of most conversations she had listened to in the last couple of years. Luckily the pianist started playing the “Wedding March,” and Joseph and Grace walked into the church. Lucy watched, listened, and thought. She thought about her own wedding, and her marriage, which had made her happy and then very unhappy, and it suddenly seemed absurd to her that she had spent so many years with someone who had brought her so low, all because of the vows that she had made at a different time, to a different person. And for some reason that took her on to Chris, and Joseph’s mother, and then Chris’s peculiar obsession with Brexit, and then on to her unhappy country. Everything seemed to be about marriages and divorces until Scott’s sister started to sing the Ed Sheeran song, when she was overcome by embarrassment and a little bit of rage, and all thinking stopped.
* * *
—
Afterward, Lucy and the boys watched the various permutations of photos: the bride, the bride and groom, the groom, the bride’s friends, the groom’s friends.
The photographer shouted for the bride’s family. Nobody stopped Chris from joining the other three.
Joseph turned to her and the boys.
“He wants partners.”
Lucy froze.
“It’s all right,” he said.
“Come on, Mum,” said Al.
“Are you sure?” said Lucy. “What if we . . .”
Joseph stepped away from the others.
“Oh, what if what if,” he scoffed.
“I don’t want everyone to think, one day in the future, oh, that was weird, letting her in there.”
“You’re my life, now,” said Joseph. “That’s enough.”
So Lucy stood on the steps with Joseph, and his mother, and Chris, and the boys, and Grace and tried to live in the moment, with these people, in this place. Joseph was right. There were no more hurdles. Now all they had to do was walk, and see how far they could get.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Mary Mount, Georgia Garrett, Amanda Posey, Lowell Hornby, Venetia Butterfield, Joanna Prior, Mary Chamberlain, Farhana Bhula, Sandra Verbickiene, Zion Roache, Barney Sergeant, Sarah McGrath, Geoff Kloske, and Francesa Segal.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick Hornby is the author of seven other bestselling novels, including High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down, as well as several works of nonfiction. Many of his books have been turned into successful films and TV series. He has been Oscar-nominated twice, for his screenplays of An Education and Brooklyn. His ten-part, short-form TV series, State of the Union, directed by Stephen Frears, has recently been broadcast by the Sundance Channel and the BBC, and has won three Emmys. He lives in London.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.
