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Saturday

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Before he had started to share his life with Barbara he seldom would have done it, not even when Denton was on holidays, but nowadays Tommy did not mind to come down to the kitchen in his sleep wear. Of course he usually put on a dressing gown or a bathrobe and some slippers. When they would not have to go to work, Barbara on the other hand always was only in her pyjamas for breakfast. Well, and maybe thick woollen socks that existed just for the purpose of running around in the house.

Tommy chuckled and decided to have a very casual Saturday. The fridge was still full of food and there was no need to leave the house for anything. Over the preparations of breakfast, something he had always relinquished to Denton before Barbara had stepped into his life, he whistled a little melody and looked forward to a lazy day with a lot of love and just one serious task to be done.

The task of finding a proper venue for their wedding would be difficult enough.

When he turned to put the fried bacon on the plates he startled. He suddenly had found himself being observed by the woman who had been running around in his head all morning. She stood in the doorframe in her pyjamas, with her arms folded in front of her chest. Absentmindedly, she fiddled about with the small emerald dangling in her décolleté.

"Good morning, my love. How long have you been standing there?" Tommy asked smiling.

"Not for long." Barbara pushed herself off the doorframe and unfolded her arms. On thick woollen socks she shuffled towards him. She ignored that he still was holding a pan and a spatula, looped her arms around his neck and pulled his face down to hers to share a deep kiss with him. "Good morning." she breathed onto his lips afterwards.

"Mmmh! Pregnancy randiness?" Tommy chuckled between a few more kisses and encircled her waist with one arm. He let his hips roll against hers. "Or just another check on my... mmh..."

"No, just the usual overwhelming love for you." she answered after another kiss. But Barbara was quite hungry so she squirmed herself out of his one-armed embrace and picked up the spatula that had not hit the table where Tommy had it thrown to. Pushing the kitchen tool back into his hands she asked for coffee.

"I've made tea." he almost apologised.

Full of annoyance, Barbara groaned and helped herself before she sat down on the kitchen bench, tucked up her legs and sipped on the surrogate beverage.

Tommy cocked his head. "Are you already in the mood for food?"

"I'm quite hungry." She made a pouting face. "But I'm still waiting to feel a bit better..."

"Oh, my poor one..."


She felt better after drinking her tea with a lot of sugar, so she was able to eat something soon. When they had finished breakfast they dressed and then went into their study. A long day of browsing the internet and checking suitable venues laid ahead of them.

After they had looked on several pages with endless pictures of wedding arrangements, mostly in white and pastel shades, but still were none the wiser if those were licenced wedding venues, Barbara checked on the government page again.

"I thought as much. Here... a list." She clicked on the download button and waited. And waited a bit longer.

"Must be a huge data sheet." Tommy said. "Come, let's check the other search- ah, there it is."

"Yes. And in alphabetical order. I like that. Umm... Barking and Dagenham..." she read. "Barnet... Barnsley... Bath... Damn! That's the entire Kingdom! Scroll down to London, Thomas. I don't want to marry in... Sheffield, or where that is."

Tommy laughed. "Okay. Oh, look, the outer skirts of the capital are separately listed. Goodness gracious, there are thousands of venues. I think it's better to go on looking on web pages and then check if they're mentioned here. Go to goggles and try wedding venue."

"Thomas, this is horrible!" Instead of looking for wedding venue, Barbara got up, took her second mug of tea and the black folder and sat down on the sofa. "I'm going to browse the guest lists one more time."

"Mhm. Just don't remove all of my guests please." Tommy told her smiling, without looking up from the monitor.

"Don't tempt me." she muttered.


For a while they were busy with their own tasks.

"I think I've found something nice." Tommy said after a while but he got no reaction from Barbara. She had dozed off and sat there, her head on the backrest, the list in her hand lying to her left, her right hand lying on her belly. The sight made him smile. "Barbara?" he quietly addressed her.

"Hmmm?" came the hummed reply. She did not open her eyes at first, or moved, but then jerked and looked at him in alarm. "Yes? What?"

He laughed. "You've dozed off, sweetie. I said, I think I've found something."

"Oh, good. Book it."

"That's not the way we do this." he winked. "Come over here and have a look for yourself."

She did not find it very appealing. "Ouch." was her first comment. "No. Too... huge, kitschy, posh..."

They spent the entire morning and half of the afternoon to find a few venues that he liked, that she approved of and which were on the list of licenced wedding venues. They had sandwiches for a quick late lunch before Tommy called the first one.

"Hm." He frowned, looking at the receiver of his landline phone after the call. "They've almost laughed their head off, when I've said it should be in three months."

Barbara groaned. "Crap! Next one?"

Tommy nodded. But it was the same. And the same with the others. Every venue they had chosen was not available in such a short time.

"Just pick the last one from this official list." Barbara groaned and did not care what it was.

"Umm... Here, the second last one." he suggested. "It's just around the corner from the Met. One Horse Guards-"

"No!" she rejected it with shock.

"Alright. I was just joking." Tommy laughed and cocked his head. He gave her a sympathetic smile. "Do we need a break?"

"Very much so." she nodded and went outside immediately. She was close to tears.

"Barbara, we'll find something nice and special." Tommy called after her. "Probably just not today."

Nonetheless he checked the Royal Horse Guards Hotel web page. Just to be sure. He did not call them of course. It probably would not pass muster with Barbara.

It definitely was too posh...


Eventually Tommy had enough, stopped his internet research and went to look for Barbara. He found her sitting in the sun on the veranda. She had an open book in her lap and stared into the bushes.

"Hello, my love. How are you?" he greeted her gently and placed a kiss on top of her head.

"Apart from my aching back and the dragging pain in my breast? Miserable." she answered with a lopsided smile. "Annoyed. Bothered. Panicked. Take your pick."

"Barbara, I've told you we'll find something. And even if we won't..." He made an inviting gesture towards the garden. "We still can have a party here. We'll just- oh, what the heck?!" His mobile phone rang. "Ah, it's Simon..."

"Give him my regards and tell him of our wedding plans." Barbara muttered and stretched her back. "But don't tell him everything."

"Hello Simon!" Tommy said into his phone. "How are you?... Oh, good to hear... Yes, thank you... Indeed there are. Very good ones in fact..."

She did not listen to his side of the conversation although she had to laugh, when Tommy, talking to Simon and descending the stone stairs to the lawn, suddenly jumped down the last three steps while he told his best friend that they were going to marry.


Simon was delighted to hear about the great news from Tommy. He also was the first one who was divulged the secret of Barbara's pregnancy. He promised not to tell anybody, except for Deborah of course. In the context that Tommy and Barbara wanted to marry almost as soon as possible, Simon already had suspected something and when Tommy confirmed Barbara's pregnancy, he also heard about the endless search for a suitable venue and the disappointing answers from the few Tommy had called until now.

"Why don't you ask my friend Rory?" Simon suggested. "He owns a nice hotel in Notting Hill and I've recently heard him complain that several big events were cancelled this year. Fortunately his house is in great demand so he should have no problems to rent out his large room otherwise. But he may still have some dates for you. And it's lovely. Really. Entirely lovely. Maybe even a bit quirky. There's still enough of hippie blood running through his body. I'm quite sure that Barbara will love it."

Simon laughed and the following descriptions he gave let hope rise in Tommy. Yes, Barbara surely would approve of it.

Tommy got the name and a few more descriptions and promised to check on it today. They talked another bit about this and that and other news before they said goodbye.


During the call Tommy had walked around on his lawn and now returned to the house to find that Barbara had fallen asleep in the sun, snuggled into an old blanket with the Royal Air Force insignia. Her book has fallen to the ground. Tommy smiled and picked it up to place it on the table.

He did not wake her though. He just went inside and to his study where he checked on the premises without her. The hotel Simon had mentioned was a cute and slightly quirky hotel in an old white building, with a cosy restaurant, a great large hall in an attached building in the back and a huge garden behind it. It looked so inviting that Tommy decided to call them immediately.

Much to his surprise, they really had one single date left.

"Is it possible to reserve it?" Tommy asked. "I'd like to ask the bride first, but we'll call you back immediately. ...Yes, nice. Tomorrow is perfect, thank you."

Just in the moment when he had ended the call Barbara came back inside.

"Did you just make a phone call with another venue?" she asked, still a bit sleepy.

"Yes. With The Oxford Blues."

"Oh, the Horse Guards again?" Barbara frowned. "Mmmh, can I have a cup of coffee now? I'd kill for one."

"Yes, of course. Bring one for me too please." He gave her a cheeky grin. "And then I have to show you something wonderful. And no, it's not the Horse Guards Hotel!"


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