White Tulips & Wedding Cake

by Jonathan Solomon

  “I’ll be back,” said Jonquil and went back to open the front door.

  It was Anthony and Heath. They wore casual clothes but held suit-bags including their wedding attire.

  “You look lovely, Mum,” said Heath, and kissed her.

  “Thanks, Heath. Hello Anthony,” said Jonquil. “I have cleared Heath’s old bedroom, so you can use the room to get ready. The bathroom next door is also useable.”

  “Thanks, Mum,” said Heath, as he and Anthony made their way upstairs to get ready.

  Jonquil returned to the kitchen.

  “That was Anthony and Heath. They’ve gone upstairs to get ready,” informed Jonquil as she retrieved her mug of coffee. “Did you get much sleep? I can’t say I slept well.”

  “I slept soundly. I use the most amazing pills,” said Camille. “I’m not taking this wedding too seriously. I know people say the wedding day is the best day of their life. But that’s such a silly thing to say. Their best day is probably yet to come.”

  “I agree with you, Camille. But I keep thinking to myself will my son’s marriage last the distance? Many of my straight friends are divorced. And you know what, Heath asked me advice for a long-lasting marriage,” said Jonquil.

  “And you gave the correct answer that it’s wine? Wine is definitely needed to keep any trace of romance alive,” said Camille.

  “Of course I didn’t say that. I don’t want to scare Heath away from commitment,” said Jonquil.

  “Darn it, I should have spoken to Heath. He would have broken off the engagement many months ago,” said Camille. “So what was your advice?”

  “I said to Heath to be on his best behaviour at all times and to never fight over money,” said Jonquil. “Oh and I said if he ever got angry, to remember that by hanging onto that anger he is effectively poisoning himself.”

  “I like my answer better,” said Camille. “Oh wait, I have an even better answer. To keep it in their pants!”

  Camille laughed as she slapped her thigh, while Jonquil smiled on in amusement. Jonquil cleared her throat.

  “Why didn’t you remarry, if you don’t mind me asking,” asked Jonquil.

  “I think one marriage is enough. And I’m busy. What with managing my tennis centre and my social life, I wouldn’t have the time to be a wife,” said Camille. “As I’m quite wealthy, I worry that a man will only get to know me in order to take half of everything. What about you?”

  “That’s a cynical view,” said Jonquil. “Well, I’ve met some lovely men since my husband passed away, but I don’t think I want to be remarried. I’m so used to doing my own thing and having my own space. I also have a very rewarding vocation in education. That’s where my passion lies. Ensuring children get the best start as possible in life. Life is tough.”

  The doorbell rang. Camille finished her coffee and joined Jonquil to answer the door.

  “Hi Jonquil! Hi Camille!” said the grooms-maids, who all had glamorously styled and flower-infused hair-dos. They were all very energetic except for Rosie who stood at the back of the group.

  “Come on in,” said Jonquil as she let the group in. “I’ll take you upstairs to the two guest rooms, each with their own bathrooms. All your dresses are ready upstairs.”

  “You have such a beautiful home, Jonquil,” complimented Yasmin.

  “I didn’t realise Heath grew up in this house,” said Gardenia.

  “Oh the dresses look gorgeous,” said Blossom as the women arrived upstairs and saw the rack of shimmering dresses.

  “Please all know that I’ve got Hollywood tape if anyone needs support,” said Violet.

  “I also have eyeshadow for each of the six colours,” said Orchid. “We’ll all look on trend.”

  “So, if you could all be ready by 10:00 am downstairs that would be appreciated,” said Jonquil. All the women collected their dresses except for Rosie who stared at the red dress and took the dress off the rack with a big sigh. Camille gave Rosie a comforting pat on the back.

  Jonquil pointed out the guest rooms to the grooms-maids and headed back down the stairs with Camille.

  “They all sound like they’re having a great time upstairs,” said Jonquil as she heard the grooms and grooms-maids talking and laughing.

  “A bit too much fun, if you ask me,” said Camille.

  “Camille, did you want to go out for a walk,” asked Jonquil. “I feel that sitting around won’t do my nerves any good.”

  “Sure. There are some amazing historical buildings around here. Jonquil, I’m in the mood for exploring,” said Camille.

  They gathered their handbags and left the house with Jonquil locking the door.

  Camille and Jonquil went for a walk at a leisurely pace, stopping to observe old churches and even larger houses. By the time they returned to Jonquil’s home, they saw the two limousines waiting outside. Each limousine had rainbow ribbons extending out from the front grille of each limousine and to either sides of the vehicle.

  The front door opened before Jonquil and Camille and they saw Heath and Anthony in their tuxedos, looking exceedingly handsome. The women looked like fierce Greek goddesses.

  “So are we all ready?” asked Jonquil.

  Chapter 38

  Saturday, 15 September – 11.09 am

  Iris then stopped reminiscing and sat up straighter in her driver’s seat as she was now driving into Bowral. Iris input the required address into the GPS. After ten minutes of following instructions, Iris and Ollie arrived at their destination.

  “Here we are,” said Iris as she drove to a stop at Orange Blossoms Vineyard. It had been a two-hour drive, and they had listened quietly to the CDs. Iris and Ollie both stepped out of the van.

  A toothy and energetic blonde woman with dimples waved and walked towards Iris and Ollie.

  “Hello! You must be Iris. I’m Daisy the venue manager for Orange Blossoms Vineyard,” said a smartly dressed young woman with a blonde ponytail. She wore a black satin waistcoat over a crisp white shirt and black trousers. She looked the consummate professional.

  “Yes, that’s me,” Iris said as she shook hands with Daisy. “And this is Ollie, my assistant.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ollie,” said Daisy, shaking his hand. “Well, are you happy for me to give you a tour of the venue now?”

  “Sure, why not?” said Iris.

  “Great. So we are standing on the driveway to the venue, and as you can see, there is a car park area towards your right. Further down from the car park is the gazebo in the vineyard where the wedding ceremony will take place. I’ll take you there shortly.”

  Daisy walked up the driveway towards a building.

  “We are now approaching the visitors’ entrance, which opens out into a bar area and lounge. Guests can wait here and have a drink, before entering the hall. We turn to the left of the bar and we are now walking around into the hall,” said Daisy.

  Daisy, Iris and Ollie now walked from the bar into a huge vintage and wooden hall.

  “As you can see it is quite a big hall. The ceiling is quite high with the wooden beams exposed. On the other side is a large roller door, which is currently open. The industrial kitchen right at the back of the hall is where the caterers will work. We have set up the tables in two long rows and a table in front for the wedding party. The wine barrel at the front here is for the cake to be positioned on,” continued Daisy.

  “Ollie, we’ll need to move the cake over here first,” said Iris. Ollie nodded.

  “After the wedding ceremony at the gazebo takes place, which is scheduled to start in less than three hours, the wedding party will be taken around to be photographed over that side of the vineyard,” said Daisy as she pointed out through the large roller door.

  “Then the wedding party will come in and then settle in for the reception,” Daisy advised. “The guests will be asked to mingle in the bar area I showed you earlier before we open up the hall for the wedding reception. All righty then, let me take you to the gazebo.”

 
; Daisy took Iris and Ollie on a ten-minute walk amongst rows of vines until they came across the gazebo. The seats were already set up.

  “And this is the gazebo,” said Daisy as she pointed out a beautiful ornate sandstone structure with marble stairs leading up to the raised platform.

  “We’ll move the cake into position now and then we will decorate the gazebo as required. After that we’ll work on the banquet tables,” said Iris.

  “Sounds like a plan,” said Daisy, and the trio walked back into the hall.

  “Let’s make this wedding a huge success,” said Daisy, with a smile. “I’ll leave you to do your magic. There’s one of the grooms.”

  A lean man in his late-40s walked into the hall and was walking towards Daisy. He was wearing a black wedding tuxedo. He had gelled-back brown hair, and his beard was well-groomed. Daisy, Iris and Ollie looked at the approaching man with interest. Ollie turned his attention to the wine barrel.

  Then he turned his head back slowly towards the approaching man. Ollie’s eyes widened in horror. A feeling of familiarity, disbelief and shock overwhelmed his system.

  It was Silver Fox. He had grown a beard now and must have dyed his greying hair the colour of his original hair colour, a dark brown.

  “Hi Daisy. Heath and I were just wondering if the bouquets for the grooms-maids have arrived,” said Anthony before stopping once he saw Ollie. A fleeting look of surprise passed through Anthony’s face before settling into a pursed-lips look.

  “Anthony, this is Iris and her assistant, Ollie, who are looking after the flowers for your wedding.

  “Congratulations Anthony on your wedding today. I heard about the wedding proposal. So romantic,” said Iris.

  “Yes, it was very romantic,” said Anthony.

  Ollie felt his heart hurt even more.

  “We’ll be bringing the bouquets and flowers for the gazebo shortly,” Iris said to Anthony.

  “I’ll let the grooms-maids know. Thank you for the update,” said Anthony before he and Daisy walked to the bar area. Iris smiled and looked at her son who seemed to be looking faint.

  “Ollie, you’ve gone really pale,” said Iris.

  “I know him,” whispered Ollie.

  “The groom?” asked Iris confused.

  “That’s Anthony. He was my ex-boyfriend,” said Ollie.

  “Really? Oh Ollie, are you okay?” said Iris out of concern. “What a coincidence!”

  “This job is important to you, Mum,“ said Ollie as he took a deep breath. “I can be professional about this. Let’s install the cake.”

  “Okay, Ollie. Just let me know if you need a break,” said Iris.

  Iris and Ollie made their way to the van and placed the cake carefully on the trolley. They transported the cake to the hall and both lifted the cake box onto the wine barrel.

  “We’ll leave it in the box and Daisy can take the box down later,” said Iris.

  Iris and Ollie then returned to the van. Iris lifted a large plastic bag that contained the bouquets and handed these to Ollie while Iris moved two big boxes, onto the trolley, which included the flowers for the gazebo.

  They walked through the carpark and saw straight ahead where the gazebo was located in the distance. The grooms, two older women in tuxedos and six women wearing dresses in various colours were sitting on the white seats placed in front of the gazebo, having conversations amongst themselves. They must have just arrived, thought Iris.

  The two older women in tuxedos waved at Iris. They had remembered her from the flower booking.

  “Hello,” Jonquil said as she came up to Iris. “I’ve forgotten your name.”

  “Iris,” said Iris.

  “That’s right,” Jonquil said. “How are you?”

  “I’m good thank-you. Ollie has the bouquets for the grooms-maids and the lapel roses for the grooms,” said Iris.

  “I’ll distribute the bouquets and the lapel roses,” said Camille as she collected the bag from Ollie. She started walking towards the grooms-maids who stood up in excitement, except for Rosie who was sitting deeply in thought.

  Ollie and Iris started arranging the flowers around the hand railings of the gazebo and across both sides of the steps.

  Iris stood back to appraise her work. She walked over and checked with Jonquil and Camille if the presentation was to their liking. Jonquil confirmed by hugging Iris. Camille nodded her head.

  Ollie had a look around to see if the other groom was there and his heart sank even further when he saw a very muscular fit man in his early 40s, and very handsome. That could have been me, thought Ollie. Anthony moved on so easily.

  “Ollie, let’s go back to the van to start preparing the hall,” said Iris as she began to walk. They could see through the carpark that the guests were now starting to arrive. Women were wearing elegant little black dresses with impossibly high heels. The men looked smart wearing very sharp suits. Iris could see that Daisy was directing the visitors to the gazebo from the entrance of the vineyard building.

  Iris was feeling a little overwhelmed by the wedding preparations. She thought about her own wedding to Roddy in Sydney. Iris glanced down at the wedding ring she still wore to this day. Had she let her husband down by looking for potential relationships with other men, such as Ron, the handyman, and perhaps even Malik?

  Iris distracted herself as she opened the backdoor to the van to collect the remaining flowers for the reception hall.

  Chapter 39

  Saturday, 15 September – 2:15 pm

  “Looks like all the guests are here, and we don’t want the celebrant to be waiting for too much longer,” said Camille as she scanned the seated guests and saw the celebrant shifting from one high-heeled foot to the other.

  “Are we all ready?” Jonquil asked around the group. Anthony, Heath, Camille, Orchid, Yasmin, Gardenia, Blossom and Violet nodded their heads. Rosie had a glazed look on her face and had not been paying attention.

  “I’ve never felt more ready in my life,” said Heath.

  “Oh Heath, you’re too good for me,” replied Anthony.

  “I’ll let the DJ know to start playing the entrance music,” Jonquil said as she walked towards the DJ’s booth installed behind the seats. The DJ lifted his headphones off and listened to Jonquil before nodding and began to change the music. An electronic-fused classical track started playing.

  “Ladies,” Camille said. “The grooms-maids will be walking in order of the rainbow flag. So Rosie, you’re first.”

  Rosie stood about nervously and walked to the front of the grassy aisle leading up to the gazebo. Orchid stood behind Rosie, with Yasmin, Gardenia, Blossom and Violet following suit.

  “You can start walking now, Rosie. Remember, one step, feet together, one step, feet together,” said Jonquil.

  Rosie tentatively stepped her way through the seated guests and stood on the steps on the left side of the gazebo where she was joined by Orchid and Yasmin. Gardenia, Blossom and Violet stood at the right side of the steps.

  “Here’s the walk of shame,” Camille quipped to Anthony. “Just joking, Anthony. I know you’ve been through a difficult couple of years. Deep down I know I want you to be happy. As a parent I should be supportive of any decisions you make, no matter how sensible or silly they are.”

  Camille smiled at Anthony and put her elbow out for him to link his arm through. The music changed to an upbeat house vocal track. Camille walked Anthony down the aisle and they walked up the steps of the gazebo. Anthony moved to stand in front of the celebrant. Camille stood a foot away, assuming the Best Mum position. The music track changed again. This time to a slow and heart-wrenching love ballad. Jonquil was now walking Heath down the aisle. Jonquil and Heath walked up the steps where he was to walk to the front of the celebrant. Jonquil assumed the Best Mum position for Heath.

  “Family and friends, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a very special occasion. My name is Acacia Lynn, and I am duly authorised by law to solemnise marriages according to law. Anth
ony and Heath, before you are joined in marriage in my presence and in the presence of these witnesses. I am to remind you of the obligatory and earnest nature of this relationship into which you are now about to enter. Marriage is the union between two adults to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life,” said the celebrant.

  “I call upon the guests here present to witness that I, Heath Ginger, take you, Anthony Beer, to be my lawful wedded husband,” said Heath. Heath turned to Jonquil for the wedding ring. Jonquil smiled as Heath took the ring. Heath faced Anthony again and took his hand.

  “I give you this ring as a sign of my undying love and our shared dream to grow old together. I promise to love you, care for you and support you.” Heath put the ring over Anthony’s wedding finger.

  Anthony smiled at Heath and then turned to Camille for the ring, which she gave to him in a rarely seen smile.

  “I call upon the guests here present to witness that I, Anthony Beer, take you, Heath Ginger, to be my lawful wedded husband,” said Anthony. “I give you this ring as a sign of my eternal love and our dreams to have the most amazing future. I promise to cherish you, look out for you and be a shoulder to lean on. ” Anthony manoeuvred the ring over Heath’s wedding finger. “Until you lose your good looks. Just kidding!”

  Heath swatted at Anthony.

  Acacia Lynn beamed at both Heath and Anthony.

  “I now pronounce you husband and husband,” said Acacia. “You may now kiss.”

  Anthony and Heath gave a brief kiss and hugged each other. The guests cheered and clapped.

  “To conclude this ceremony, on this beautiful day, may we wish Mr and Mr Ginger-Beer a successful and nourishing marriage. Please join me in giving this lovely couple another round of applause as they enter this new chapter of their lives,” said Acacia.

  There was an enthusiastic round of applause and cheering.

  “Now let’s get the paperwork signed,” said Acacia.

  Heath walked over to one side of the gazebo stairs.

  “Rosie and Orchid, are you able to sign as witnesses?” asked Heath.