Not a Wedding Day.

The sound of noise from downstairs made you and Lorna sit up in the old bed and peer at the door as if it would provide answers to the questions rushing round your and Lorna’s heads and Lorna pulled the sheet up to cover her nakedness her eyes widening in apprehension her heart beating fast and you leaning over her as if to protect her from whoever may open the door and enter in but the sound seemed distant as if someone was prowling about in the downstairs rooms and doing so quite noisily with little regard for others in the house who maybe sleeping or resting after the previous day’s wedding practice at the church with the vicar and your brother and parents and Lorna’s parents and others who were to be there on the wedding day when it arrived but your parents had gone out with your brother and Lorna’s parents had returned home for a few days to prepare matters from their end so who was downstairs making the noise unsettled you both as you both thought you had the house to yourselves and could be alone together in the bed without fear of discovery or anyone accidentally entering the room while you and Lorna made love or lay in each others arms gazing at the ceiling and talking of the days ahead and what to do and where to go if you went as you had thought and yet not decided and the thought that Lorna was to marry your brother Arnold and you were to be one of the bridesmaids made the need of a plan all the more urgent as the days got nearer to doomsday as Lorna called her wedding day and as you both turned and gazed at each other the sound downstairs seemed to go from room to room as if someone was searching for something or maybe said Lorna it was burglars come to ransack the house and will find us here and murder us in the bed and people will find us here dead and bloodied and naked but you smiled and got up from the bed and went to the door and opened it a little and listened attentively to the sounds below with nothing but a dressing gown about you with Lorna making whispering words behind you from the bed kneeling at the end with her hands wrapped around herself and her eyes wide and staring at your back and the way the dressing gown held you and fell just below your thigh and then as you left the room closing the door behind you Lorna retreated back to bed and hid beneath the covers listening to your footsteps on the stairs as you descended to the bottom and peered around cautiously following where the sound was coming from Amt Stark came from the kitchen with duster and broom and a cigarette hanging from her lower lip like an appendage and when she saw you she stood upright her words seeping from the side of her mouth with a mixture of apologises and explanations and you saying you hadn’t realized she was coming to clean and tidy up that day as your parents hadn’t said but maybe they had and you had forgotten and she was to carryon as she was told and you went back upstairs and into your room and snuggling up to Lorna whispered to her who you had seen and trying hard not to snigger as Lorna held you close and poured out her fears and anxieties about whether Amy would find you both and what would happen if she did and you placed your finger on her lips for silence and kissed her cheek and chin and pulled the sheets over your heads to keep the sun from peeping in.1