Claire married Simon on 9 September 2010.
She organised the wedding herself. This did not mean she rejected help. It meant help was accepted after being assigned a purpose, a deadline and the correct person to report back to.
My job was to check that Mum had transport, keep a copy of the timetable and make sure Alan did not leave his speech in the car.
Alan said he could remember the speech.
Claire and I looked at him.
He put it in his inside pocket.
The ceremony and reception were held in the same place. Claire had chosen this because it reduced travel and the number of things that could go wrong between one part of the day and the next.
She was twenty-four. Simon was steady and less likely to fill a pause than most of us. He had learnt that Claire’s question ‘Have you done it?’ was rarely an invitation to discuss when it might be done.
Michael arrived early and was immediately given three jobs. Alan wore the tie Claire had selected. I wore shoes I had practised walking in at home.
Mum sat near the front. Dad had been dead for two and a half years. Peter took her to her seat.
Claire looked composed until just before the ceremony. Then she asked whether I had the timetable.
‘I have it.’
‘I don’t need it.’
‘I know.’
She nodded and went back to checking the order of the ceremony.
The ceremony itself was brief. Claire and Simon spoke clearly. Alan did not cough at the wrong moment. Nobody’s telephone rang.
At the reception, Alan gave his speech from the sheet in his pocket. He kept it short and said Claire had always known what she wanted, including at the age of four when she had rejected three birthday cakes because none matched the one she had described.
Claire said this was an exaggeration.
It was two cakes.
I spoke to relatives, checked that Mum had eaten and answered questions about when Michael might marry. Michael answered those questions by moving to another table.
Later, Claire took off her shoes and continued the evening without them. Simon carried them when they left.
Alan and I returned to Emsworth after midnight. We put the cards and the remaining cake in the kitchen because Claire had asked us to keep them safe.
Alan took the speech from his pocket and put it with the cards, ready to give back to Claire. We left the cake in the kitchen and went to bed.