Her Guardians Lost(69)

I fell silent again, staring out of the window as I felt Simeon gently grip my hand. I was more than willing to take his support.

Once at the pub, most of us sat down for a drink. Callum and Paul had to go to work, and Simon had to visit his mother in the hospital. It was just me, Simeon, Billy, Chris, Lisa-Marie, and Catherine. It was hard being there. I even ordered a glass of wine instead of my normal brandy and coke because, for some reason, it felt as though I was tainting his memory by drinking that in here.

“I hear you’re getting married in a few weeks.” Lisa-Marie smiled at Billy and Chris.

“Yes…only three weeks, four days, and twenty hours to go.” Billy held up his glass and took a drink.

“You’re not counting at all, are you, Uncle Billy?” I chuckled.

Seeing Chris roll his eyes, I nudged him. “I was thinking about your wedding the other day. I thought how cool it would be if you got married inside that phone box. You know, the one where it all started?”

Laughing, I took a swig of my wine, realising they weren’t laughing with me. Putting my drink down, I studied their faces. They both looked at each other, then at me, then back at each other, a smile on their faces.

“That’s a brilliant idea,” Chris said.

“What? I was only joking. You can’t get married in a phone box.”

“Why not? I heard a couple got married on a roller coaster once. Why not a phone box? We can still have the blessing in the church, but the wedding can be in the phone box.”

Billy looked like he’d just won the lottery. “It’s a brilliant idea.”

I sat there with my mouth open. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

Catherine seemed to jump up and down with excitement. “I think it’s a fabulous idea.”

“You have to come, sweetie,” Billy said.

“Oh, can we? We’d love to.”

“Yes. I’ll give Cassie an invite and she can give it to the two of you. The more the merrier.”

I was wondering if I had suddenly entered the Twilight Zone. “But you can’t arrange for the minister to come to a phone box to marry you, can you?”

Waving his hand in the air, Chris said, “My brother can marry us.”

“What?”

“He’s been ordained. He wanted to perform it anyway. What do you say, Billy? Shall we get hitched in a phone box and have my brother perform the ceremony?”

Billy threw his hands in the air, laughing. “Oh, hell. Why not?”

Shaking my head, I decided that whatever makes them happy, makes me happy. Raising my glass, my lips curved into a smile. “To the phone box!” I shouted.

“To the phone box!” everyone else chimed in.

“And to Lisa Bellmont, God rest her soul.”

Everyone looked at Simeon, who had reminded us of why we were there. I didn’t think we meant to do it on purpose. We just seemed to get carried away with wedding talk. We were supposed to be saying farewell to a little girl who was ripped from this life way too early.

“To Lisa Bellmont,” I said, a hint of sadness in my voice. It wasn’t easy having to say goodbye to someone so young, but I knew she was being taken care of now.

“So,” Simeon began. “A phone box, eh? That brings on a whole new meaning of ‘giving someone a ring’.” He curved his lips into the cheekiest smile, setting everyone to giggling.

Billy’s eyes widened even further. “How ironic is that? It’s almost fate. The only problem I have is I can’t be the one to take any photographs.”

“I’m sure we can find you someone, Billy. You must know a lot of other photographers in your line of work.”

“I’ve actually found one already. His name is Alexander—second best to me, of course.”

Everyone laughed, but I sat there, rooted to my seat. All the colour had drained from my face as the name was whispered in my ear. Alexander.

“Cassie, are you okay?”

Blinking rapidly, I looked up to see everybody looking at me, worried. “What?”

Leaning over, Billy touched my face. “Are you all right? You look pale. It’s almost as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“You can’t see ghosts, can you?” A little crease in Catherine’s face could be seen as she waited for my answer.

I could finally breathe again. Catherine’s question had stopped me from panicking “No,” I replied, smiling. “I can’t see ghosts.”

“I bet that would be cool, though, wouldn’t it?”

I looked at Catherine for a moment before replying. I couldn’t see how anyone would find seeing a ghost as cool. “I think it would frighten me to death, Catherine. So I think I’ll stick with what I have, thanks,” I chuckled.