Two heartwarming short stories

Siobhan sat in the shadows at the back of the church. The January sun streamed through the stained-glass windows and, at the end of each pew, the hellebores tied with white ribbon looked ethereal. The sweet scent of flowers filled the air. From here she could just see the back of Matt’s dark head as he waited at the altar with his brother.

She had loved him so much, but now she was to watch him marry another woman.

“Molly’s Blooms!” Siobhan answered the phone with a cheery smile.

This November was damp and miserable. She was still suffering from the cold that had laid her low for a few days.

“It’s Mrs Cartwright here,” a woman’s voice said.“i came in last week to place an order for flowers for my daughter’s wedding.

“It’s under Cartwright and Shaw, and the wedding is to be at St John’s on the sixteenth of January.”

“One moment, Mrs Cartwright. I’ve been away, so you’ll have seen my assistant, Beth, but it will be in the book.” Siobhan flicked through the order book. “Ah, here we are. You’ve ordered white anemones and gypsophila for the bride’s bouquet and hellebores and silver foliage posies, plus five rose sprays for the buttonholes. Also, an altar display and hellebores at the pew ends in the church.”

“That’s right. I’d like to add another buttonhole to the order, please.”

“Absolutely, Mrs Cartwright, that’s six in total,” Siobhan said, writing it in the book. “Will there be anything else?”

“No, that’s all I think, Molly. I’m sure the church will look beautiful.” Siobhan smiled and put down the phone. She was used to being mistaken for the “Molly” of Molly’s Blooms, which was actually a nod to her love of James Joyce novels. A slight frown creased her brow as she thought back over the conversation. Cartwright and Shaw?

She sat down quickly as her legs turned to jelly. Could it really be them?

Her Matt, who had left her two weeks before their wedding, and the woman he had left her for? Could fate be so cruel?

“You took Mrs Cartwright’s order last week, didn’t you, Beth?” Siobhan asked her assistant.

Beth paused in making up a bouquet. “Oh, yes, I remember. She came in while you were off sick. There’s nothing wrong, is there?”

Siobhan raised a hand.

“Relax, there’s nothing wrong. She phoned to add an extra buttonhole to it.”

She wound and rewound a ribbon round her finger.“i just wondered if she’d talked about the wedding, that’s all.” “Well, I know it’s going to be a posh do.” Beth’s clever fingers straightened and arranged the flowers. She paused.

“In fact, you might know the groom. Mrs Cartwright said he comes from where you used to live.”

Later, on an early tea break, Siobhan confessed to Beth that Matt was an old flame, but she didn’t go into details.

“Well, I know what I’d do,” Beth said, her lips pursed.“i’d make sure I looked like a million dollars, I’d find somebody tall, dark and handsome, and I’d go to the church.”

She took a sip of tea.“you know, let him see that I’d moved on.”

Siobhan smiled.“i don’t think so, Beth. I don’t know anybody tall, dark and handsome.”

“Yes, you do. What about Mr Leighton, the dentist? He’s definitely tall, dark and handsome and he’s always asking you out.”

“He’s asked me out twice, and I’ve turned him down.”

“I don’t know why, he’s gorgeous,” Beth said.

Because I don’t trust men any more, Siobhan thought. It was easier to remain free of relationships than risk being hurt.

She wasn’t going to follow Beth’s suggestion, but if she could see Matt marry, would she finally be able to close the door into a past that still seemed to overshadow her life?

She would never forget the evening

Matt had told her the wedding was off. They had been together for two years, living in a flat above a

grocer’s. Her parents were giving them the deposit to buy their first home.

The wedding was planned for the week before Christmas. The dress was hanging in the wardrobe at her parents’ house and the reception was booked.

As an apprentice florist, she would be doing the flowers herself.

“I can’t marry you,” Matt had said, his eyes pools of misery.

“This is a joke,” she’d said desperately. “You don’t mean it, Matt.”

“I’m so sorry, so very sorry, but I’m in love with someone else.”

The rest was a blur. She remembered shouting, tears and a door slamming. Then she was alone in the flat. During the following months Siobhan carried the faint hope he would come back to her. She was lonely, too, as all their friends had been Matt’s friends.

It was only by chance one of those friends came into the shop and, in passing, had mentioned Samantha Cartwright.

Siobhan had thrown herself into study and work, gaining her qualifications, then using the deposit from her parents to buy the florist’s in the next town. But now Matt had entered her life once more.

In Molly’s Blooms they were soon working flat-out in the run-up to Christmas. Wreaths and poinsettia plants were the order of the day. As for Matt’s wedding, she and Beth would arrange the flowers, but then, perhaps, she would sit somewhere near the back of the church.

She tried to put it all out of her mind, but every so often something would remind her and her heart would beat uncomfortably. The week before Christmas, Siobhan packed her car with flowers and a gift and set off into the Peak District to visit her aunt Kitty.

Kitty lived alone in a pretty stone cottage among the Derbyshire hills.

As the car climbed higher, the scenery changed from suburbia to frost-covered fields. The car eventually bounced down a rutted lane and she was there.

“You look tired, Siobhan.”

They were sitting in front of the log fire in the cottage while rain whispered against the window. Kitty’s Labrador, Rosie, snored on the hearth rug.

“We’ve been very busy. It’s that time of year.” Siobhan smiled wearily.

“I’ve seen you busy before and you didn’t look so worn down, darling. Is there something wrong?”

Siobhan realised she was crying. Big fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

Aunt Kitty let her sob, then handed her a tissue.“now tell me.”

“It’s Matt,” Siobhan said.“we’re supplying the flowers for his wedding.

“The thought of seeing him married is…” She broke off, unable to finish.

“So why go to the ceremony? Are you hoping Matt will see you and realise he made a mistake?”

“Goodness, no. But I thought if I saw him get married I could put everything behind me.”

“Uh-huh.” Kitty got up and poked the fire.

She sat down again and picked up her crochet.

“It’s been nearly two years since you and Matt broke up, Siobhan,” she said,“and he hurt you very much, I know. Have you forgiven him?”

Siobhan thought hard. “Truthfully? No, I can’t say that I have.”

Kitty paused at the end of a row and turned the blanket round.“when I was a wee girl, two sisters lived in our village in Donegal. Mary and Imelda.their father was the doctor and they lived at the big house.

“The elder, Mary, became engaged to a young lawyer who worked in Letterkenny and they began to plan their wedding.

“A week before, the young man and Imelda ran away together.

“He had been calling at the house a lot, you see, had come to know Imelda and they had fallen in love.

“It broke Mary’s heart. She never married and, even after her father’s death, continued to live in the old house, alone.

“Over the years she got many letters from Imelda asking for forgiveness. She never replied. Then, one day, she got a letter, from a niece she didn’t know she had, to say her father had died and her mother, Imelda, was desperately ill and was asking to see her sister.

“Oh, that was hard for Mary. She tussled with it for days, but she travelled to Donegal town and went to her sister.

“Imelda asked to be forgiven before she died and Mary took her hand and forgave her.”

I can’t marry you. I’m so sorry, so very, very sorry, but I’m in love with someone else

Siobhan wiped her eyes.“so they made their peace before Imelda died.”

Kitty stopped crocheting in the middle of a row.“no, no, Imelda didn’t die.

“It took her a while to recover from her illness. But when she did, she came back to the village and the two of them lived in the big house together.

“They’re still there, as far as I know.” Kitty began to gather up the crocheted blanket.“i always think if we forgive someone, we do it for ourselves, not for the person who’s hurt us.

“Forgiveness is a balm for the soul, Siobhan. Look at Mary. She lived all those years with that hurt and bitterness eating away at her, when she could have had the love of a sister and a niece all along.”

The rain had turned to a light snow which drifted slowly down in the gloom. Kitty stood up.

“Time we had dinner. What do you think, Rosie?”

The dog lumbered to her feet, stretched languidly, then led the way to the kitchen. Siobhan remained sitting, staring into the fire.

Siobhan stood as Wagner’s Bridal Chorus filled the church with music and Samantha began her walk down the aisle.

Matt turned to watch his bride and the look of love and joy on his face took Siobhan’s breath away.

Matt was no longer “her” Matt. He was beginning a new life, and so must she. She wished him well.

Maybe that was the beginning of a forgiveness that would help her heal.

Quietly, she slipped from the pew, and outside the church, she inhaled the frosty air and turned her face towards the sun.