A/N: I haven't described the outfits in this chapter considering that I already have done in previous chapters.
…
Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!
She groaned as she shuffled under the covers. She inhaled Jay's scent on the pillow as she took his aftershave last night so she could get to sleep last night if she could smell his scent that happened to linger throughout the bedroom.
Her eyes emerged open and bashed the alarm clock to stop it from bleeping. She smiled as she stretched her arm out to reach what would be Jay's side of the bed. She frowned when she realised that it hadn't been slept in. Jay wasn't there.
Abi sighed as she rolled onto her back lifting the duvet up to her chin. Her eyes wandered around the room. The light of day shined through the fibreglass window. Then, she spotted the big white bag, hanging on the wardrobe by a hook, which had her wedding dress inside. A massive smile invaded her lips, with dimples showing in her cheeks as she realised that today was her wedding day.
Abi looked at the alarm clock. It was half 8. Poppy was going to be round in half an hour along with Lola and Bernadette. Abi couldn't stop smiling as she throwed the cover off her body and swung her legs to the edge of the bed, landing her naked feet on the carpet. She glanced down at her feet and noticed the pedicure that Poppy did last week at the salon.
Cora suddenly burst through the bedroom door with a plastic tray.
"Here she is, the blushing bride," Cora grinned, placing the tray on the bed. The tray had a plate of pancakes with strawberries along with a nice hot cup of tea. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Great, surprisingly," Abi grinned as she referred to last night. Cora returned the grin.
"Now, I've brought you breakfast," Cora changed the subject. "Your dad made it so feel free to chuck it out the window if it's no good!"
Abi let out a giggle.
"Have your breakfast, get showered and be downstairs in just a casual outfit in half an hour?" Cora spoke.
Abi nodded smiling before Cora left the room and shut the door behind her. Abi smiled at the door as she heard Cora and Lauren's muffled voices. She frowned at the thought of her being the last one up. Oh well, she needed her beauty sleep as she is the bride, she thought to herself. Abi grabbed her cup of tea and walked over to the window, looking over at hers and Jay's bungalow. All of a sudden, she saw Jay walk over to the window, topless. Abi gasped and quickly spun round just as Lauren entered the bedroom.
"Nan said you were up," Lauren grinned as she walked over to Abi. "So how you feeling?"
"This wedding's cursed!"
"What? Why? Are you okay? What's happened?" Lauren frowned, really confused as to what was going on.
"I just saw Jay, its bad luck to see the person you're going to marry on the morning of the wedding!" Abi cried.
…
Jay was gazing out of the window watching the world go by. Today was September 7th 2015 and it was the morning of his wedding. He suddenly heard his stomach churn. He looked down sighing. He was waiting on Dexter as he was going to bring food over so they can have a fry up. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door which jolted Jay away from his thoughts. He walked over to the front door and opened it to reveal Dexter standing on the door step with a big carrier bag with the green Minute Mart logo printed on the front.
"Finally!" Jay exclaimed, "I'm starving!" Jay opened the door wider for Dexter to walk in. When he walked in, Jay closed the door behind him and followed him into the kitchen.
"They didn't have any tinned tomatoes," Dexter told Jay.
"It doesn't matter, we can chop a tomato up," Jay shrugged.
Dexter took a glance at Jay, "Are you gonna put a top on?"
"I've only just got out the shower," Jay hesitated.
"Next step is getting dressed," Dexter smirked.
Jay rolled his eyes and smacked Dexter on the back twice, "Get cooking the breakfast!" He commanded before going back into the bedroom.
…
Half an hour later, Abi came down the stairs, in a light pink tracksuit with 'Bride' printed in silver sequins at the back, with Lola following behind in a lilac tracksuit with 'Bridesmaid' printed in silver sequins at the back. There was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it, it could be someone that could cause you bad luck," Lauren smirked as she paced down the hallway wearing an identical tracksuit to Lola.
"It's probably Poppy, she is due now," Abi told her.
Lauren opened the door and Dot was standing on the doorstep carrying Paris and with Lexi and Oscar standing on both sides of her.
"Ohh Lauren, could you take Paris, she is so heavy that I think my arms are going to fall off." Dot exaggerated making Abi laugh and come to the door. "Here Grandma, give her here!" Abi took Paris in her arms just as Lola came to the door.
"Lexi!" Lola smiled as she lifted up her three year old daughter. "Thanks for looking after Lexi, Dot!"
"It's fine, she was good as gold like Oscar and Paris," Dot smiled as she let go of Oscar's hand allowing him to enter the house.
"Thanks for looking after the kids Grandma," Abi smiled, gratefully.
"Alright Dot!" Max walked down the hallway with a tea towel slung over his shoulder. "Cheers for looking after Oscar!" Max picked Oscar up.
"It was fine as long as you had a good time," Dot smiled.
"You want to stop for a tea or coffee?" Max offered.
"No, I have to pick up Jim from the care home and get ready for the wedding. Oh, your grandfather's so excited for the wedding Abi," Dot beamed at her step granddaughter.
"Happy Abi and Jay's wedding day!" Poppy called out merrily as she ran up the steps to number 5 with her kits in hand and a bag from the Minute Mart.
"Well I won't keep you from getting ready, see you at the wedding!"
With that, Dot turned on her heel and walked down the steps of number 5. Poppy closed the door behind her after entering the house.
"So how are you feeling today then Abi? Big day," Poppy smiled.
"She thinks the wedding's jinxed," Lauren told her.
"Lauren!" Abi hissed.
"Abi, why would you even think that?" Lola frowned.
"When she looked out the bedroom window earlier, she saw Jay through the window of the bungalow." Lauren explained.
"Oh don't be silly babe, you shouldn't believe in that sort of stuff," Lola tried to convince her best friend.
"Lola's right," Poppy agreed. "I mean I believe it that sort of stuff too but you and Jay are perfect together so nothing can possibly go wrong!"
Abi looked at Poppy and Lola and smiled timidly. She felt more confident about the wedding.
…
Jay and Dexter had finished their cooked breakfast and was now accompanied in the living room by Peter, Billy, Phil, Fatboy and Joey over a cup of coffee.
"How's Abi considering that you just left Max's?" Jay asked Joey, taking a sip of his coffee.
"She seemed relaxed," Joey nodded. "When I left, Poppy and the salon crew were in the lounge doing Abi, Lola, Lauren and Bernadette's nails!"
Jay nodded, smiling.
"Phil, don't you think we should go to the church and get it decorated and give the flowers to the venue?" Billy frowned.
"I'm waiting for a call from them," Phil frowned as he got out his mobile to find that there has been no messages or missed calls. "They should have contacted me by now!"
"They could have contacted me," Jay suggested as he walked to the other side of the living room and unhooked his phone to the charger. He shook his head, "I haven't heard anything either."
"I'll give them a ring," Phil sighed heavily before going into the hallway.
"I am gonna miss this place," Dexter spoke, his eyes wandering around the room.
"When are you leaving?" Peter asked.
"In a couple of days."
"Oh yeah, Cora's invited everyone to dinner at the Vic on Monday aint she! A family gathering to say goodbye to you and Ava before you go back to Manchester on Tuesday." Joey added.
"Of course I won't be there as I'll be in Costa Rica," Jay boasted.
"That's if Abi doesn't get cold feet," Billy teased. Jay gulped, dreading the fact of Abi bottling out of their wedding. It would break his heart.
"Jay, he was joking mate," Peter reassured before looking at Billy in a stern manner.
"Yeah, I know," Jay nodded.
"Yeah, I was joking Jay," Billy reassured his foster son.
"You can't make jokes like that about Abi, you know he loves her," Fatboy defended Jay with a smirk hidden within his lips.
"Oh shut up," Jay smirked as he nudged Fatboy.
Just at that moment, Phil re-entered the lounge, in distress.
"Phil, is everything okay?" Jay frowned, starting to panic.
"The florist broke her leg last night and is in hospital, there's no way that she'll be able to deliver the flowers. Her daughter is at her house so it's down to us to pick them up," Phil sighed.
"But she lives 45 minutes away," Jay exclaimed. "It's 10 to 10."
"The service doesn't start till half 1," Billy frowned.
"Yes but you and Phil need to get the church and help out with the venue," Jay cried. He sat in the armchair and chucked his face in the palm of his hands. "I wanted this day to be perfect for Abi, I couldn't even do that for her could I?!"
Dexter went over to Jay and sat on the arm of the chair, rubbing his back comfortingly. "Calm down, it'll be alright. I've got a way round this, calm down. It'll be fine, trust me!"
Jay looked up at Dexter. His cheeks were bright red through stress, upset and anger.
"Deep breaths. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth," Dexter advised. Dexter breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth slowly, hoping Jay would copy him. Eventually, Jay copied him and they started breathing together. The rest of the boys found it quite amusing to watch.
Dexter and Jay stopped breathing and looked towards Phil and Billy.
"Where are your suits?" Dexter questioned them.
"At home," Billy quickly answered. "I was going to go back and get changed in a couple of hours!"
"Yeah same," Phil coughed, with his hand over his mouth.
"Well, grab your suits and go up to the florist's home and collect the flowers then decorate the church and help with the venue and when you're done, you can go and change in the venue's toilets or something." Dexter told them. "Then, we'll meet you at the church for photos!"
Phil and Billy nodded as they obliged to follow the best man's orders. They said their goodbyes and left the bungalow.
…
Back in the Branning house, Abi, Lauren, Lola and Bernadette were sitting up the dining room table whilst Poppy and the salon crew did their hair. The bridesmaids' hair was nearly finished as they were having their hair up in a platted bun with a thick plat going across the bun. Whereas, Abi's hair was in the process of being curled as her hairstyle was having drop down curls. At the moment, her hair was in rollers.
Their acrylics nails were done. Well it wasn't the full nail, it was just white tips. The bridesmaids' acrylics were just manicured whereas Abi's acrylics was manicured and had a white fancy flower lining covering each nail with a small silver sequin in the middle of the flower.
"What was that guy's name, Bernadette?" Abi asked, intrigued.
"Rodger," Bernadette smiled.
"Oh," Abi frowned.
"Well, I hope you haven't invited him to the wedding," Lauren commented, looking down at her nails.
Just at that moment, there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Max offered, with his mug of coffee in hand. He walked into the hallway and opened the front door. Phil and Billy were standing on the doorstep.
"Come in," Max let Phil and Billy come in and closed the door behind them. "Everything alright?"
Abi could hear the three men talking and frowned. She could sense that something was wrong.
"Hold on a minute Poppy, I'm going to see what all the fuss is about," Abi took a sip of champagne and then stood up, placing the glass on the table.
"Leave it Abs," Lauren put her hand out in front of Abi while being seated in a chair as her hair was being finished. "Whatever it is, dad's sorting it."
"But it's not dad's wedding though is it," Abi snapped and headed into the hallway. "Erm, what's going on?"
"The florist that's supposed to be doing the flowers for the church and venue has broken her leg and can't deliver the flowers to us so we have to go up to her home and get the flowers and help set up the church and venue. The florist lives 45 minutes away," Phil explained.
Abi felt tears burning in her eyes. "I knew this wedding was jinxed from the moment I stopped looking out that window," Abi cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry?" Billy frowned.
"What's she going on about?" Phil wondered.
Max had his arm wrapped around Abi and began to speak in a hushed tone: "Abi saw Jay looking out the window of the bungalow as she looked out of her bedroom window."
"Oh," Phil and Billy frowned.
"What's going on?" Lola hurried out into the hallway followed by Poppy. She noticed Abi crying. "Abs, what's wrong?" Lola started to become worried for her best friend as she pulled her into a quick hug and pulled away. "Jay hasn't had second thoughts has he?"
Abi shook her head before Max explained what has happened. Abi rolled her eyes, "Well what are you doing here? There's no time for a flammin' mother's meeting, you have a 45 minute journey to pick up the flowers then sort out the church and venue!"
Everyone was left mortified with Abi's sudden change of voice. Phil and Billy said their goodbyes before turning on their heels and leaving the house. Abi wiped away her tears with her thumb. Poppy put a comforting arm around Abi, "Everything's being sorted, everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. Finish your bubbly while I finish your hair. Thank god I have waterproof makeup!"
…
It wasn't long before the wedding was about to commence. There was an hour to go. Jay was looking in the living room mirror sorting out his tie when Dexter walked in wearing an identical suit to Jay's. The rest of the ushers had gone home to get changed.
"What do you think?" Dexter frowned.
Jay turned around and nodded, "Not bad! What about me?"
"Abi won't be able to keep her eyes off you," Dexter mocked girls talk.
Jay chuckled, "She's always liked me in a suit! Here," Jay handed Dexter a white rose to put on the jacket when there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Dexter volunteered, walking over to the front door. He opened it to find Bert, who was in an identical suit to Jay and Dexter. He was standing next to Susannah who was wearing a dark purple sleeved knee high dress which had pinkie/purple flowers scattered on the material. She was wearing a pinkie/purple rose accessory in her straight red hair with dark purple heels on her feet.
"Oh hello," Dexter smiled. "The groom's through there!" Dexter indicated towards the living room. Bert and Susannah walked in after thanking him and saw Jay standing there.
"There he is," Bert grinned.
Jay looked up and smiled, "Alright. You want a coffee? Dexter will get you one!"
Dexter gaped at his best friend and the man that was going to marry his cousin, "Since when?"
"You're my best man. You have to make sure that everything is in check," Jay grinned, "Hurry up, we've got to be at the church in half an hour for photos!"
Dexter rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. Bert chuckled, "I'll go and help him!"
Bert followed Dexter into the kitchen, leaving Jay and Susannah alone in the living room. Jay looked down at his jacket with the white rose in between his thumb and index finger.
"Let me do that sweetheart," Susannah offered as she went over to Jay and starting fitting the white rose onto his jacket. "I never did get to put your school tie straight did I," she sighed sadly.
Jay smiled sadly, "To be honest the first day at school isn't important, not as important as your wedding day eh."
Susannah nodded, "You're right. I'm glad that you accepted me so easily and that I'm here to see you get married."
"I'm glad you're here, I'm glad that I got to meet you," Jay smiled warmly. "To be honest, it's not your fault why you weren't there throughout my childhood. Mum, Karen, whatever I'm meant to call her and Nan are to blame for that. I guess dad just went along with it."
"Your dad wanted me and him to bring you up together even though we were separated but your nan and mum wouldn't allow it. Karen is your mum. Yes, I gave birth to you but it's bringing the child up is what makes a mum."
"You deserve that title, you deserve to have the title 'Mum' cos that's what you are, you're my mum and I've grown to love you!"
Susannah chuckled, "I felt that there wasn't the need to bring any tissues today but the way you're talking I think I need to!" She sniffed as she pinned the rose onto Jay's jacket.
Jay smiled and kissed Susannah's cheek and pulled her into a hug.
"Interrupting something?"
Jay and Susannah pulled away from one another and turned to look at Bert and Dexter who were standing in the doorway with two cups of coffee in their hands.
"Here's your coffee," Dexter handed Jay a cup of coffee whilst Bert handed Susannah a cup of coffee.
"You should hear Dexter's best man speech, it's brilliant!" Bert smiled.
"Oh let's have a look," Jay said eagerly, holding his hand out to Dexter.
"Oh no, you're not hearing any of this until the wedding," Dexter teased. Jay frowned and took a sip of his coffee.
"Oh," Jay suddenly realised. "Did Phil take mine and Abi's suitcases?"
"Yes," Dexter reassured. "Stop panicking, everything's under control. Joey brought Abi's overnight bag over with the gifts from the hen do in."
A massive grin painted on Jay's lips. He scrambled through the pocket of the inside of his jacket, "Oh Dex," he pulled out a small silky white sack with 'J&A' sewed on with gold wool. He gave the sack to Dexter. Dexter frowned as he undid the sack and emptied out the contents in his hand to find two silver wedding bands. Dexter smiled to himself.
…
It was twenty minutes until the wedding was going to start. Poppy had left the Branning household with the salon crew and got ready herself for the wedding. Max was waiting downstairs in his suit along with Oscar. Lola, Lauren and Bernadette were in their bridesmaid finery with their flowers which consisted of a small bunch of white lilies in their hands. Paris and Lexi were standing in front of the bridesmaids in their pretty pink flower girl dresses with sparkly white shoes on their feet. Rainie had gone to meet Ava as she was going to go to the wedding with her considering that she would have been going on her own considering that her son is best man.
Grins appeared on their faces as they heard the bedroom door close. Feet padded across the carpet and gradually, Abi Branning came spiralling down the stairs with Cora holding up her train. Everyone admired her beauty.
The dress fitted perfectly, it showed all her curves and fell down her body beautifully. Her makeup was very precise, consisting of light pink eye shadow with a bit of blue, black liquid eyeliner, black pencil eyeliner and pink lipstick. A rosy pink shaded her cheeks. Her elegant blonde hair was in dropped down curls and a tiara and a veil that went down to her shoulders, fitted on the top of her head. A light crystal tennis necklace was wrapped round her neck with crystals dangling down with a matching bracelet without the dangling crystals and straight crystal ear rings were dangling from her ears. She was mesmerizing.
"Wow," Lauren gasped.
"Abs, you look amazing, a right stunner!" Lola smiled, looking chuffed.
"You look great Abi," Bernadette nodded and put her hand on her heart. "I can't wait until I get married. I'll be wearing a princess ball gown and be taken to church in a horse and carriage!"
Lola and Lauren rolled their eyes whereas Abi wrinkled her nose. Cora carefully budged past Abi, letting the train trail up the stairs. Abi smiled timidly as she continued to lift the dress up to her ankles, revealing her shining white pointed toe high heels, as she took baby steps down the stairs. She got to the bottom step when Lola gave her her bouquet which consisted of white and baby pink flowers with diamonds in between each flower.
"Thanks," Abi smiled shyly taking the bouquet in her hands.
"What do you think of your big sister, Oscar?" Max asked the little blonde boy beside him, who was wearing squared glasses.
"She looks pwetty," Oscar said in awe, making everyone laugh. All of a sudden, a horn beeped loudly outside.
"That'll be the cars," Cora informed as she grabbed her bag. "I'm going with Dot to the church so I'll see you there. Next time I talk to you, you'll be Mrs Brown!"
Abi responded with a nervous smile.
"Abi, are you okay?" Lola frowned.
"Yeah, just starting to get nervous," Abi stammered. "What if I trip up when I'm walking down the aisle?"
Max chuckled, "I won't let you trip up."
"I'm gonna get going," Cora kissed Abi on the cheek and looked her in the eyes. "You're going to be fine. As soon as that ring's on your finger, you'll be the happiest woman in the world!" With that, Cora grabbed Oscar's hand and led him out of the house with her as they drove away in Dot's car.
"You really do look beautiful Abi," Lauren smiled proudly as soon as Max entered the lounge and peered through the window.
"Thanks," Abi smiled, looking down. "For once in my life I feel like a princess."
"You do," Lola smiled. "In Jay's eyes you have always been his princess!"
Abi smiled at Lola.
"Although, it would be funny if Abi tripped up while walking down the aisle," Bernadette laughed to herself. The three girls glared at her. Max suddenly came back into the hallway. "The cars are waiting outside." He announced.
Abi took a deep breath, "This is it!"
Lauren picked up Paris whereas Lola picked up Lexi.
"Us bridesmaids are going to get into our car and go to the church, we'll meet you there," Lauren explained. Max nodded, "Yeah, I'll give you lot a five minute head start then me and Abi will follow in the bridal car."
…
It was five minutes before the service was about to commence. The groom and the ushers have already had their photos taken and was standing outside the church with the guests. Another wedding was taking place inside the church and it must have got delayed. Jay wasn't satisfied in the slightest.
A black Bentley with light pink ribbons round the sides suddenly pulled up outside the church. Lola, Lauren, Bernadette, Paris and Lexi emerged from the Bentley and frowned at the massive crowd.
"This is a joke," Jay sighed, placing his hand on his forehead.
"It can't get any worse. It's bad enough that Abi thinks the wedding is jinxed…" Phil began.
"What!" Dexter exclaimed.
"She is coming isn't she?!" Jay started to panic.
Phil reassured the groom by explaining to him what Max told him earlier. Jay nodded.
"What the hell's going on?" Lola shrieked as she walked over to them with Lexi in tow.
"You look great," Peter smiled. Lola smiled at Peter but turned back to Jay. "Well?!"
"There's another wedding going on," Jay explained. "Must have had a delay or something!"
"Abi's going to hit the roof!" Lola exclaimed. "If she turns up and finds you all out here…"
"Yeah, well I'm hitting the roof at the moment Lola, I want this day to be perfect for Abi y'know," Jay cut in, raising his voice.
"Too late, she's already here," Phil murmured.
Everyone looked towards the entrance of the church yard to find the white Bentley with pink ribbon around the sides pull up on the pathway.
"Jay, turn around," Dexter hissed, quickly spinning Jay around so he couldn't see Abi. Dexter looked back to find Lola gaping at him, "Yeah, don't mention it." He said sarcastically. Lola tutted and walked over to the rest of the bridesmaids. Phil sprinted over to the car as Max rolled the window down.
"Phil, what the flammin' hell's going on? You should all be in the church," Max hissed.
"Another wedding was taking place before this one and it's obviously been delayed and running over schedule so you'll need to go round the block about three times." Phil explained. Max rolled his eyes and gave the driver instructions before they drove off.
…
Ten minutes later, everyone entered the church and took their allocated seats. Jay and Dexter were walking down the aisle heading down the front towards the ushers. Oscar was also sitting at the front too considering that he was pageboy. The Vicar was walking towards Jay and Dexter.
"Jay," the Vicar smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"Nervous, excited," Jay shrugged then looked at the Vicar sternly who was known as 'Mr Bishop'. "You do realise that we should have started 15 minutes ago."
"Yes, I apologise for that," Mr Bishop gulped. "The bride had a bad dose of wedding jitters!"
"Yeah well my bride could now," Jay said under his breath.
"Again, I apologise," Mr Bishop apologised. "I'm going to look out for the bride and keep the bridesmaids company." With that, Mr Bishop exited the church.
"Is it me or did that sound wrong?" Dexter muttered as him and Jay reached their seats and laughed together.
…
Abi and Max had arrived five minutes ago and was now having a photo shoot in the church gardens and outside the church with the bridesmaids and flower girls.
"Good luck, I'll be in church," the photographer smiled as he entered the church and took a side seat. The camera man was allocated at the front of the church.
"I can't believe this is happening," Abi spoke, her nerves flooding back.
"Everything will be fine," Lola reassured. "I'll be two steps behind you."
Abi smiled and looked down at the bouquet that was in her hands.
"Here," Max said softly as he grabbed her veil and pulled it over her face.
"Jay will have to pull that off your face," Lauren grinned.
Abi gave out a stifled laugh.
"Deep breathes," Max whispered. Abi took a few deep breathes. She suddenly felt calm.
"You ready?" Max asked softly but gently. Abi nodded smiling. Max returned the smile and held his arm out to Abi. Abi gladly looped her arm through his allowing her father to squeeze her hand tightly before they walked through the entrance of the church. They hadn't reached the aisle. Abi noticed she had to turn a corner where there was this oval shaped frame made up of white lilies which she had to walk under. The train to Abi's dress was laid out flat on the floor. Behind the train was where the bridesmaids were. Lola and Lauren were at the ends holding Lexi and Paris' hands whereas Bernadette stood proudly in the middle.
The man on the organ noticed that the bride had arrived. Max gave him the thumbs up, the man on the organ gave the Vicar the thumbs up and the Vicar raised his hands so everyone stood up from their seats as the first notes of the bridal theme had begun to play. Jay and Dexter moved forward to their positions for the service.
"No backing out now my son," Dexter murmured in Jay's ear, grinning.