Completely & Stupidly: Forever and Ever

Chapter 5. Charity

Charity's back had gone stiff again from sitting at Tracey's kitchen table, but the overall aches and pains had finally subsided. The second half of her tea had gone cold in the little pink mug that she had been drinking from and the few biscuit crumbs sat upon her lap dared to tumble down over her thighs and onto the carpet with one swift movement. The house was silent aside from the repetitive clicking of the keyboard buttons on Tracey's phone and the brief sound of her voice whenever she came across something that had caught her eye. "What about something like that?" Tracey asked, turning her phone around so that Charity could see its screen. She squinted across the table and read the short poem that Tracey had found on Google. "Oh God, no" Charity scoffed as her eyes scanned over the perfectly rhymed words about 'stilling thy beating heart'. "Besides, I want to write my own. I'm not stealing some rubbish poem that somebody else has written" Charity boasted, reminding her future sister in law for the second time in the last hour that she wanted her vows to be special and personal to her and Vanessa, she just needed someone to be there with her when she wrote them, for help and advice, and she had chosen Tracey because she knew whether her words would be too boring or too cheesy just by being able to read the look upon her face when she read them aloud. If she gushed it was too much and if her expression was deadpan then it was boring or too complicated to follow, what she really wanted was happy tears and just a hint of jealousy. "Then just speak from the heart" Tracey shrugged, locking her phone and putting it face down on the table so as not to let it distract her from reading the few words Charity had already written down on the back of an old envelope. Charity reached for the scrap of paper ready to snatch it away from her but just missed it. "No don't read that" She shouted but Tracey's eyes were already bouncing left and right as she gave the scribbled letters a once over. Charity's face began to blush and her cheeks turned a subtle shade of pink as Tracey's mouth dropped open ever so slightly. "Well you can't say that in a church" She murmured, putting the envelope back down far away from herself, with a disgusted look upon her face. Charity grabbed the paper and crumpled it up into a ball. "We're not getting married in a Church" Charity whimpered in her defence, throwing the paper across the room, missing the bin by mere centimetres and watching lazily as it landed on the carpet with the other failed and rejected attempts of romance. "Oh yeah" Tracey sighed. Back when Charity and Vanessa had only just begun planning their wedding, they had hoped to marry in the village Church. One morning they found themselves on Harriet's doorstep with a basket of biscuity goodies and a bottle of wine in the hopes that she would agree to marry them. Which she did, but when she called to okay it with the Bishop, their dreams of waltzing down the church aisle were snatched away. Apparently, he wished them well with their upcoming nuptials but had no intention of marrying them in the house of God. 'Fine' was Charity's overall reaction, and she had dragged Vanessa out of Harriet's home and across to the pub for a stiff drink to drown their sorrows. After a few days of trying hard to come across as overly friendly and head over heels in love to various Vicars and Pastors, they decided to call it quits on the Church hopping and instead managed to twist Moira's arm and paid her a generous lump sum to host the wedding up at Barton's farm. And on top of that, Harriet was free to marry them now that they were saying their vows over a hay bale instead of at an altar. Charity wasn't too impressed with their venue at first but Vanessa easily managed to win her around with nothing but a smile, literally nothing but a smile. "Earth to Charity?" Tracey called across the table, reaching out to shake the daydreaming blonde at the other end. Charity snapped out of her thoughts and jumped as her surroundings reappeared in front of her. "What?" She snapped, as she redressed her fiancé in her mind. "You need to focus if you're going to get this right, or finished by Saturday" Tracey insisted, picking up her phone and twiddling it around in her hands as she watched Charity raise up from her seat. "Oh, what's the point? I'm rubbish with words" She blurted out, shouting with her hands on her hips. "I'll never be able to sit here and write down how much she means to me, or how my heart feels like it's going to explode whenever she's around, because my mind just goes blank. Which is ridiculous because whenever I open my gob, I get verbal diarrhoea and I can't stop talking, but still everything comes out wrong or twisted and I turn into a bumbling idiot whenever her name is mentioned" she sighed and walked over to the window. As she stared out at the village, watching the wind blow gently through the trees, she calmed down slightly and her defensive anger subdued. "Maybe it's because deep down I'll never feel like I actually deserve her or that I am worthy of her love, even though she's made me a way better person than I ever thought I could be. Every single day I wake up and I just don't care what the world has in store for me, as long as I get to see her face because then I know that everything is going to be alright, because I'm brave now, and happy and it's all because of her. I can take on anything that comes my way because she continues to make me feel like I'm invincible" She paused for breath as her voice wavered, her eyes finding the pub as she thought back to a memory that had sprung to mind. "You know she thinks I'm amazing, she told me so herself, but she's the amazing one. She's the one who makes every day perfect, she's the best mum any kid could ask for, she's strong and she's funny and she's beautiful, and I thank my lucky stars every day that we got locked in that cellar together. Because look where it led us, it's taken me on a rollercoaster of a journey, where I've found out what love really feels like. And I know that I've done this whole 'I do' thing three times already but this is different, I'm actually in love. So, in love that I don't care who hears it or who knows it. I love her with all of my heart, and I promise you Trace-" She paused again, turning to face Tracey with tears in her eyes, "I will never, ever, hurt her. Getting to know Vanessa and falling in love with her these past few years have been the single greatest thing in my life. And I'm going to hang onto that so tightly, because I never want to know what a day without her is like ever again, I want it to be her and me and our beautiful kids, every day, for the rest of our lives" She cried, with a huge smile plastered across her face as she dared to imagine the future she longed for with the woman who was to be her wife in just a week's time. With the backs of her hands she wiped hot tears from her face and let out a small laugh along with a sigh of relief, as she noticed Tracey was crying happy tears too. Tracey lifted her hand and showed Charity the phone in her clutch. The screen was black but upon it was a play button for a two-minute recording. "I don't know about you, but I think there may be something on here that would sound amazing as wedding vows" Tracey suggested with a trembling lip. Charity's mouth dropped open but before she could get embarrassed by the thought of her rambling words being recorded, she snatched the phone from Tracey's hands and pressed play, finally able to put pen to paper and to see her vows take shape upon it, perfectly reflecting the love that she felt inside. Another hour had passed before Charity finished the last line of her vows, and even though Tracey had helped her get her act together to write them, she wouldn't let her hear the finished version and insisted she waited until the wedding. Tracey groaned like a disappointed child but immediately switched emotion as she felt her pent-up energy explode inside of her as Charity mentioned their hen nights. "I'm so excited" Tracey squealed and clapped and very nearly fell off her chair. "Alright calm down, anyone would think you've never been on a hen-do before" Charity scoffed. "Not a lesbian one I haven't" Tracey told, sounding as if it was meant to be obvious. Charity rolled her eyes playfully and shook her head as she too could feel a little fluttering begin in her stomach as her thoughts turned to a night of partying. "Are you sure you can't just have a joint party so I can celebrate with you too?" Tracey asked, pouting. "No, it's bad luck, plus you need to promise me you'll look after Ness, don't let her drink too much, I don't want her walking down the aisle with a hangover", "What like you, you mean?" Tracey teased. "No, I'll be fine because I'll drink like eight pints of water before I go to bed" Charity rambled, making up her reply on the spot knowing full well she won't actually do that. There was a brief silence between them until Tracey spoke again. "So, the other day you mentioned you had a surprise", "Yeah, and it's staying a surprise" Charity snapped. "Oh, come on, I won't tell V what it is", "No you flaming well won't, because I'd kill you", "Oh please tell me, pretty please?" Tracey begged, getting up close and personal in Charity's face, taking her by the shoulders and repeating the word 'please' until it lost all meaning. "Alright, but you keep that shut" Charity gave in, forcing her palm over Tracey's mouth. Tracey beamed and took a step back and gestured locking her lips with a key, then proceeded to throw the invisible key over her shoulder. "Ness told me once about a birthday party she had when she was a kid and, your dad had put together a treasure hunt for her and at the end of it she got this massive cuddly toy that she'd had her eye on for weeks that they made her think she wasn't having. So-" She explained but was cut off by Tracey's excitement, "So you've made her a treasure hunt?" She asked, beginning to cry again at the thoughtfulness of Charity's plan. "Yes" Charity huffed as she watched Tracey have a mini break down at the table. "That's so romantic," Tracey swooned. "You're so romantic. Can I marry you instead?" Tracey asked, wiping her tears with the end of her cardigan sleeve. "Taken, sorry babe" Charity held up her hands in a surrender. "So, what's the treasure then?", "Nope, that bits staying a secret," Charity insisted, shaking her head. Tracey sighed and deflated like an old balloon. "Fine, but aww I am so excited for the both of you, and I'm well jel" She giggled, elbowing Charity's shoulder. "I'm excited too, and I'm bricking it at the same time", "Don't be, it'll be great" Tracey cooed, sneakily glancing down at Charity's vows. Charity slammed her hand upon the table, hiding her handwriting beneath her palm. "Only one more week to go," Tracey chirped. Charity pursed her lips and nodded, the final countdown had well and truly started now.  By the time they had finished up and packed away everything they had been using for last minute wedding prep, the sun was close to setting and Charity remembered that it was her turn to cook, but she really couldn't be bothered to stand at the cooker for an hour smelling of chip fat. What she really wanted to do was curl up with Vanessa for a romantic night alone without screaming children and bickering teenagers around to dampen the mood. Luckily though, both Sarah and Noah had been invited to a party at a friend's house so getting rid of them would be easy, which only left her with palming off Johnny and Moses. But before she even opened her mouth to ask, Tracey had read the room, grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and rolled her eyes. "I'll take the boys off your hands" She laughed, still swooning from her bout of emotion at Charity's love for her sister. "Saturday night telly and chocolate was always the key to my heart on a Saturday night, until I turned fourteen and started drinking in fields with my mates, so I'm sure Johnny and Moses will be easy enough to entertain, for a second night in a row" Tracey hinted, but really didn't mind having her nephews to keep her company again. "Thanks, I owe you one" Charity celebrated, grabbing Tracey by the shoulders and laying a loud sloppy kiss on her cheek. "Yeah yeah, you just keep those lips to yourself tonight", "Ooh, sorry can't make any promises there" Charity teased. Tracey gagged as she pulled the front door open and escorted Charity out but scoffed as a thought came to mind. "Watch you don't put your back out again" She said coyly, and then walked on ahead, giggling to herself. Charity stopped in her tracks and then held out her hands to fake throttle Tracey behind her back, pulling a face as she did, but then rushed to catch up with her as they headed down the street towards Jacob's fold, bickering all the way up to the front door.