The Priestess

by Amethyst Gray

  “It’s a girl! She’s beautiful!” Said Stan.

  “I thought it would be. You were less sick than with a boy. The same as me.” Said her mother.

  Diana just wanted to sleep. She was a bloody mess. Her bottom hurt, all her muscles ached, and her back was in agony. But the baby had other ideas. She clamped on to her mother’s breast as soon as she realised what it was.

  “Garr! Ow, ow!” Diana cried.

  The midwife came over and showed Diana how to cradle the baby while breastfeeding. Stan looked on in wonder at his newest family member. Diana’s mother came over and peered closely at her granddaughter. “Oh, can I capture this moment on my phone?” she asked.

  “Yes, I’ll just cover myself up a bit, and hide her dignity too. OK, go ahead, Mummy. Is Stan in too?”

  “Oh yes, lean in Stanislav,” she said, slightly grudgingly.

  And so it was that Ruby Louise Francis Havel was born just before 1 am on 16th August weighing 7 ½ pounds.

  Diana had to get to grips with motherhood. She hadn’t realised just how messy it would be for her as well as for her daughter. She had to have several stitches, which tended to catch and burn as she tried to sleep. And just when she became comfortable, her darling daughter would demand a feed, or a change, or both. It was exhausting.

  Stan did his best. He attended to her needs during visiting hours and brought in balloons and teddies that he’d bought or that were sent by well-wishers. The cuddly mermaid sent over by Tallulah was not too well received and was at the bottom of the teddy pile.

  After another three whole days, mother and baby were deemed well enough to go home. Diana had to undergo some extra tests to ensure she was OK on top of her accident. She required some extra vitamins but was otherwise surprisingly healthy.

  Stan had hired a car and brought the vehicle carry-cot along so that he could bring his wife and daughter home in style. And by home, this would be their small rented terraced house in one of the suburbs of Bath. It was an hour and a half journey but did mean that they could all be together now that he too was working at Bath Sulis University like his wife.

  He proudly carried his daughter inside, with his wife holding his arm to steady herself after the journey—home at last.

  XXVII – Celebrations

  It was not to be an extended stay at home as the first Saturday in September was to be the wedding of Tara and Amelia.

  Friday morning, after Ruby’s first feed, the new family headed back down towards Corfe Castle from their Bath home. Being early, they were able to avoid much of the morning rush-hour as they drove down to the coast in the car Stan had again hired for the weekend. Diana initially sat in the front while Ruby was sleeping. But their respite was short-lived as the insatiable needs of their new daughter forced them to pull over in a layby so that Diana could go into the back of the car and attend to her baby. It was exhausting, and Diana was not looking or feeling her best by the time they pulled up outside Diana’s childhood home in view of the beautiful ruined Corfe Castle back in Dorset in the south-west of England.

  Enid Blyton had loved the village and the wider area a generation before Diana’s father came along as a young archaeologist and fell in love with the place. Diana and her two sisters Aphrodite and Tara had grown up here and had played in and around the slopes of the castle all of their childhood. The same place she had broken her arm in her father’s dig’s pit. Even now her parents lived here as her father had retired from active lecturing and was now resident archaeologist at the castle. His career as a maverick had never gained him the recognition that he deserved. However, he was admirably proud of his daughter Diana’s accolades at both Chenonceau in France and the site in the Bahamas. “Best he not know about the Cuban incident,” she thought to herself as she unbuckled her seatbelt and leant over to undo Ruby’s travel seat from the rear of the car. Ruby was, of course, looking downright angelic as she prepared to nap now that her mother had changed, fed, burped and comforted her all through the journey. “I love you, my sweet. But you drive me mad!” she whispered as Ruby gurgled while opening and closing her eyes.

  Grandpa Garry had put his trowel down for the day as he was already at the door with a soft rabbit toy from the nearby National Trust shop for his granddaughter. He was very proud to welcome this new addition to the family, on the eve of welcoming yet another female to the family once Amelia married Tara in the grounds of the castle.

  Diana and her family were staying at the Marden’s house next door. The Marden family had been neighbours throughout Diana’s lifetime. Their son Martin had once had a crush on Diana when they were both ten years old. They used to climb trees together in the woods at the bottom of the hill or splash in the brook. Both of them would come home bruised and covered in mud, much to their mothers’ annoyance. But the potential romance between the two had ended when Martin had tried to kiss his tomboy friend, and she had responded by punching his nose to give him a nose bleed. They had kept a wary distance after that. Thankfully their families had remained friends, and now with Martin long moved out Diana, her husband and baby daughter would be staying in his old bedroom. They carried the travel cot upstairs along with the bare minimum two huge bags of baby supplies as Grandpa watched Ruby in the Garry family’s front room. Chow-Chow, Grandma’s dog had been relegated to her kennel.

  Aphrodite had already arrived and unusually was not lamenting her latest break up to Tara and Amelia on the settee. By the time that Diana appeared, Aphrodite was modelling her purple bride’s maid dress. As Diana was otherwise occupied with Ruby, it had been decided that Aphrodite would be Maid of Honour despite Diana already being Amelia’s sister-in-law as Amelia was Stan’s sister. The hen party had been suitably raucous as a weekend for both Tara’s friends and Amelia’s friends from Czechia. It had started in a gay bar in Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria in the Spanish Canary Islands. An Irish girl had taken a liking to Aphrodite, and the pair had disappeared late into the evening leaving Tara, Amelia and the others to go on to a pole dancing club where the girls had out whistled the boys, before ending up doing Karaoke into the early hours at another bar.

  Diana had heard three different stories, having spoken to both of her sisters and heard Amelia’s account via Stan. She didn’t know what to believe or if Aphrodite was about to come out to them. All she knew was that there was a late addition to the guest list, Aphrodite’s friend Sian.

  Diana’s bridesmaid dress was hanging up behind the door to the lounge, so she took it and went to her old room to try it on. Thankfully it had been made flexible in the tummy area and a little forgiving in its shape, so she was able to put it on without a great struggle, and secure it to hide her remaining loose tummy skin and to obscure her nursing bra. It could also be partially unclipped to allow her to breastfeed Ruby if required (as seemed likely). She returned down to the others and gave them a quick twirl.

  Diana’s mother, Karen, came in and hugged her youngest daughter.

  “Glad to see you looking beautiful in that bridesmaid’s dress Diana. You’ve been through so many ups and downs this year. Welcome back home, my dear. Would you like a cuppa?”

  “I’d love an Americano,” Diana replied.

  “Not while you’re breastfeeding my granddaughter, you won’t. All caffeine’s a bad idea. How about a camomile tea?”

  “I guess you’re right. Just try and keep me awake through the service tomorrow if I get as much sleep as I’ve had the last few weeks - like a couple of hours a night. I’m wearing my full makeup tomorrow. I know I look an awful sight.”

  “You and the other girls kept me up enough when you were babies. I don’t think you look too bad considering. But I’ll get you that tea. Anybody else?” Karen ended by asking the others, but they all shook their heads. She went out to the kitchen to make it for Diana.

  Diana sat down in the remaining armchair and faced the other women. “So, what’s the timetable for tomorrow?”

  Aphrodite and Tara took turns in explaining the det
ails to Diana as she nodded or occasionally made a few comments or observations.

  Diana and Aphrodite went up to change out of their bridesmaid’s dresses. While up there their mother beckoned them over to Tara’s room, where she unzipped the wedding dress to show them. Both of the sisters gave a satisfying ‘Ooh’ as they looked at the delicate lace details on the otherwise very modern dress that Tara had chosen. Amelia hadn’t seen it and had her’s at the Marden’s house. Stan had looked at it and had indicated his approval to Diana over it a few days earlier. His best man’s suit was a dinner jacket with a colourful waistcoat and bow tie. His mother’s dress was going to be in leaf green as she wanted a contrast to the bridesmaids as she was going to walk her daughter up the aisle in the absence of her late husband, Vaclav. Her brother was not available to come to Amelia’s wedding since he had a lucrative fishing trip that weekend and was unable or unwilling to cancel it.

  By late evening, after the journey, the endless feeds of Ruby and the time with her family, Diana was ready for bed, so excused herself. She would need to be up early for the wedding preparations and makeup artist who was coming to make up the bride and her sisters first thing in the morning.

  When the 7 am alarm went off, Ruby started screaming immediately. Her mum had to get up to rush and pick her up to comfort her. Both of them were soon back in bed with Ruby sucking away at her mother’s sore nipple. “Ow, ow, careful Ruby. I’m dreading when you start to get teeth.”

  At 7:30, Diana was able to go over to her parents’ house and take Ruby with her, plus the bare essentials for the day with a baby. She brought with her the baby sling she had bought, carefully colour-matched to her purple bridesmaid’s dress.

  Amelia went to the Marden’s house where her brother Stan was getting ready in his tuxedo, and where their mother had just arrived from her hotel in nearby Swanage.

  Both the brides wanted to keep their dress secret from the other, though they had agreed on a pearl-white colour for them both, to look better in photographs. They had also borrowed items from their respective mothers plus found blue garters to wear, as was the English tradition. Amelia and her family would act as the ‘groom’s party’ since she was marrying the local girl, but Tara would retain her ‘Garry’ surname and Amelia would become Amelia Garry. It seemed fair since Diana was now Mrs Havel (Although professionally she was still Doctor Garry).

  Diana’s father Peter Garry was dressed in his best grey suit, a red jumper with a white shirt and National Trust tie. He was calmly sat in his usual chair, blissfully unaware of the wedding pandemonium unfolding around him with all the current female members of his family. Diana spotted him sitting quietly so gave him Ruby to cuddle. “This brings back memories.” He said to her as she dashed away to re-join her sisters and help zip Tara into her dress.

  “Darn thing must have shrunk!” Tara exclaimed as Aphrodite, Diana and their mother Karen all tried to force the zip at the back of the wedding dress to close.

  “Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Asked Diana.

  “No. Why?” Replied Tara.

  “Don’t then. And nip to the loo before we try again. I have some baby oil we can use on your back to help it all go in.” Diana added.

  “Jesus. OK. As long as we get the deposit back on this dress.”

  Tara disappeared for a few minutes and reappeared again for a second attempt.

  “I took my bra off. That should help. I can also lift my arms at the appropriate time.” She offered.

  Diana massaged her oldest sister’s back in baby oil, then wiped off the excess with a baby wipe and stood ready for action once more.

  “Let’s try again. Three, two, one, go!” Diana exclaimed.

  This time the zip shot up and Diana’s hand slapped the back of Tara’s head.

  “Ow. But I guess it is up at least. Can I eat my lunch? Do you think?”

  Diana, Aphrodite and their mum looked at each other without answering the question.

  Tara said “I see. Thanks.”

  At that moment Trudie the hair and make-up artist arrived, so the two bridesmaids both raced down to the door.

  The hair and makeup artist was exquisitely made up and was wearing an eccentric feather boa on her head. Aphrodite showed her up the stairs and into the main bedroom where Tara was now sat ready for the next stage of her preparation. Trudie got out her various brushes, foundation and eye shadow containers and set them down carefully on the dressing table. She then took a careful look at Tara’s recently coiffured hair, nails and face before getting out her brush and hair grips. She brushed Tara’s hair carefully to make it all immaculate, pinned it in place then set to work on her makeup. Twenty minutes later she was looking beautiful in her wedding dress.

  Aphrodite was next up. Her expensive hair cut proved easy to tweak, and her make up seemed to glide on so that ten minutes later, she also was looking resplendent in her bridesmaid’s outfit.

  Trudie took a sharp intake of breath when she looked carefully at Diana and said: “Mum next, I think.” So, she worked on Karen instead. Their mother was wearing an uncharacteristic blue dress after what happened at Diana’s wedding. Fifteen minutes later, she too was looking immaculate.

  Finally, she set to work on Diana. “New mum?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Diana replied.

  “Thought so. You probably need some extra iron tablets. But for now, we’ll put the colour back in your face with a deeper foundation, some contouring and blush.”

  Twenty minutes later, Diana was looking like her old self, beautifully presented in her purple bridesmaid’s dress.

  Karen paid Trudie, and the girl popped round to the next-door house to work her magic on Amelia and her mother.

  With an hour to go before they needed to head over to the castle grounds, the weather was looking fine for them. It was a late summer day with the first smell of Autumn in the light breeze.

  Karen’s friends were already over at the venue, with some of her husband’s colleagues just tweaking the arrangements and roping off sections of the grounds for their exclusive use during the service. The guests were being ushered into the castle grounds. By special arrangement, the castle flagpole was flying the rainbow Pride flag, and the guest tents were trimmed in English flags, Czech flags, rainbow, lesbian pink, mauve, purple and white flags plus blue white and pink transgender pride flags. It was very colourful. And so were many of the guests.

  The local vicar had long since fallen out with Tara’s family over his “Just visiting?” questions every time they went to a service a few times a year. So, he was not going to be officiating. Instead, one of Tara’s LGBTQ+ friends from a very progressive church in London was going to conduct the service. Hawk was the first gender-fluid priest to be accepted in the church and they never disappointed, today wearing a cassock, tights, Doc Marten boots, rainbow nails and matching beard with Mohican hair dyed purple. They were now testing the microphone ready for the service to start.

  At the appointed hour Stan texted Diana to tell her that his family were heading over to the venue. As it was so close, they were just able to walk, so no cars were required. Diana peered out of the window in time to see their backs and Amelia in her heels towering over her mother and Stan as they made their way up the hill and across to the castle grounds.

  Diana had just had time to change Ruby’s nappy, give her a last feed, burp her, go to the loo herself and hang the baby sling around her left side ready for their journey to the church.

  Thankfully Tara’s wedding dress train was not too long, so Aphrodite was able to carry it while Diana reacquainted herself with the low heels of the sandals she was wearing under her bridesmaid’s dress. After several months of flats and never with a baby attached, she came near to twisting her foot several times. But with Ruby with her, she was cautious not to fall over.

  As Tara’s party neared the entrance into the castle grounds, the Swanage LGBTQ+ Pride Band started playing ‘Here Comes the Bride’. Stan and his mother had already walked A
melia up to the makeshift altar of rainbow coloured Perspex up the slope towards the castle keep, and now she was standing waiting with Stan to her right. Her mother sat just behind him, along with a mixture of family and friends, sat on both sides.

  Tara’s father led his daughter up the aisle to the front, with her sisters and mother walking up behind her. The guests gasped at her beautiful pearl white dress with exquisite silk filigree flowers and lace trim. It contrasted nicely with Amelia’s similarly coloured pearl dress, but in her case, it was exquisitely embroidered with dragonflies in beige.

  As the two women stood together at the altar, the guests sat down, and so did Tara’s sisters.

  Diana managed to spot that Ruby was about to cry out and so she gave her one of her fingers to suck. The baby seemed quite happy with that and thankfully stayed quiet throughout. Stan had looked back to see his wife and daughter seat themselves at the front of the bridal party.

  Hawk began their wedding speech.

  “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God and this congregation to join in matrimony these two ladies. Can there be anything more beautiful than the union of two roses in the act of marriage? Truly not. And dare anyone to come forward and give reasons why this union cannot happen?”

  There was silence.

  “Then. Repeat after me. I, Amelia Tatiana Havel take you, Tara Fitzgerald Garry, to my lawful wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward until death do us part.”

  Amelia repeated the line, stumbling briefly over Tara’s middle name. Stan passed her the ring to place on Tara’s finger.

  “And do you, Tara Fitzgerald Garry take this woman Amelia Tatiana Havel to your lawful wedded wife?”

  Tara answered, “I do”. Stan passed Tara the ring to place on Amelia’s finger.

  “Then, by the power vested in me by the Progressive Church of Love, Equality and Respect, I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may now kiss the brides.”

  The two newlyweds kissed to the cheers of the guests while Hawk clapped them. The women and their mothers were then beckoned to go and sign the register. Hawk smiled when they all returned. The band had been playing a medley of Beatles songs concluding with ‘All You Need is Love’.