.

Emerald Bond

More Greetings, Guests and Gifts

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They turned away and Tommy snaked his arm around Barbara's waist. He bent down to her ear.

"You've talked about me?" he whispered flirtatiously. "Years ago?"

Already turning towards the next guests, Barbara slightly blushed. "I'll tell you later since when I've had a serious crush on you." she muttered. "Hi Winnie!"

Winston and Nichelle already stood there waiting.

Inaudible for others Tommy quickly added a lascivious "I'm intrigued." into his wife's ear before he grinned at his best Constable and his girlfriend. "Hello you two."

"Hi again." Winston said. He had changed into evening attire after the beer reception and fortunately they had made pictures with him in uniform earlier. Their colleague held a small box wrapped in fancy paper. "Umm... We have something for you. But it's just a small thing. Go on, open it."

Barbara unwrapped the gift unceremoniously and shoved the paper into Tommy's arms to have a look inside the box. Winston was grinning very cheekily when she recognised it was two mugs and gaped.

"Winston, you're mean!" Barbara laughed nonetheless. Once she had told him about the mugs she had given to Tommy and Helen. Much to her relief, the embarrassment about it was gone long time ago so she was able to laugh about it nowadays.

"Look closer."

Printed on the mugs were crowns, and underneath, in twirly writing, were the texts "His Lordship" and "Her Ladyship" which made her grin even more. "Oh, thank you, Winnie."

"We should use them at work." Tommy suggested almost with a chuckle.

"Nkata's so classy, isn't he?" Stuart said approaching them.

His wife Andrea rolled her eyes. "Unlike you, of course." she said and turned towards Barbara and Tommy. "Just to make that clear - I've solely donated something. This gift is exclusively from Stu."

He had not really wrapped it. It was in a small box looking suspiciously like an evidence box. It even was labelled like one, with a fake case number and everything, except that it was with the newly-wed's names and today's date.

"Oh, good grief." Tommy said. "Do I really want to look inside?"

It actually was worth a look but they better kept the gift in the box. In what turned out to be a real evidence box there was a real evidence bag. Through its plastic you could see a pair of old-style handcuffs.

"Lafferty! Oh, I knew you would-"

"Have a closer look, Sir."

On the metal the bridal couple's names were engraved. Two smaller evidence bags were tacked to the large bag. One contained a key with a blue and the other a key with a red heart. It may have been a bit kinky but it was cute nonetheless.

And the intense look Tommy gave Barbara made her blush deeply in an instant.

"See? I told you it would work." Lafferty ushered Andrea inside before she could say anything else.

"Umm... Letty?" Barbara called almost panicky for her gift carer to put away the evidence box. "Hide that somewhere please." she whispered.

Of course Letty was curious. Before she put the box somewhere in the rear of the gift table behind a row of bottles, she peeked inside and when she saw what Barbara would like to be stored hidden, her roaring laughter even could be heard in the garden. It made Barbara groan and Tommy grin even wider than before.

On their way inside, the pathologist and his wife were followed by Cedric Dorincourt.

"No wonder he's near Lafferty." Tommy commented it. "They have the same quirky sense of humour. Do they sit together?"

"Well, you've placed him there."

"Forgive me." Tommy laughed and then there were the next people wanting to shake their hands.

Uncle Ronald, the widower of Barbara's god-mother Hermione, was introduced to him. When he was out of earshot after his congratulations Tommy whispered "Really? Like in Harry Potter?"

"Exactly. Don't ever say that aloud." Barbara snickered. "It's pure coincidence. Oh, hello Isobel!"

This was one name she had kept in mind from earlier events where Dorothy's best and oldest friend had been too. Isobel gave them a cute fly for fly fishing, displayed in an acrylic glass cube. The fly actually was a tiny couple in an embrace, surrounded by a fluffy heart of feathers. She had made it on her own.

"Isobel is an avid fly fisher." Tommy explained.

"There's nothing bad with a nice day at the creek, eh?" a male voice was heard from behind them.

"Albert, nice to see you."

Albert still was sober, Tommy recognised, and he was drinking orange juice. Or at least it looked like that. Uncle Herman was with him and obviously tried to make sure Albert would behave as long as possible.

Barbara also was introduced to what she later only called his cricket team. It was a group of four men Tommy had played in a team with in his youth days, plus their partners. Barbara could only keep the name of the shortest of them in mind. His name was Terence.

When the cricket team went inside, the Oxford rowing team, just two of them and their partners to be precise, followed. They guessed correctly that they were seated together. The bridal couple already had received their best wishes earlier, straight after greeting three good friends from Barbara's gym with two partners.

She talked a bit longer with Jackson McDermott and his wife. Jackson was a friend from the West Acton Community Centre, Barbara explained to her husband, and he was responsible for the kid's corner, where Barbara had been involved with the development a few years ago. On that occasion she also had learned about the educational charity which was on the bridal couple's list for donations.

They also welcomed two of Tommy's friends from Eton, three men from his Shakespeare Social Club and one friend he knew from his gym, all plus their partners. And there were more people Barbara had not known before, for example his godparents and of course several Cornish cousins, uncles and aunts. Barbara already had forgotten most of their names when she had been introduced to the next person.

It definitely was easier for Tommy to keep the names of two of Barbara's cousins with their wives, and he would probably not forget Dillon and Meghan, two extraordinarily bored teenagers and children of Barbara's cousin from London who had come here with her quiet husband.

Around them, waiters carried tables onto the lawn, so it really was time to go inside. Most of the guests already had left the garden by now and those who had not been given a few words would receive their welcome greeting when the bridal couple was on their way to their own seats at the huge table at the head of the hall.

In the moment when the couple went through one of the open doors Tommy saw Denton standing at a table and filling someone else's glass with water. After a stern look from the host of the party the butler raised his hands in surrender and grinned before he sat down on his chair. He was a guest today, and that did not include serving others. He saw himself to be on call anyway. You will never know when an experienced hand was needed.

Charlie Denton was table neighbour to Nicky who also was here as a single person. Also seated at their table were Pan-Yong and Ramon.

"Charlie, you're our guest today." Tommy muttered, patting his hands on his butler's shoulders.

"Of course, Sir." Denton chuckled.

"Enjoy the evening."

"And you too!" Pan-Yong laughed. "And my apologies, but you'll only receive our gift when you come home to your house."

"Don't keep us in suspense, Pan-Yong!" Barbara bowed down to him. "What is it?"

"Naaa... you'll see it later."

"You're evil."

When the bridal couple had moved on and could not hear them any more, Denton leant over. "What is it?"

"A new, personalised doormat." Pan-Yong was grinning broadly.

The butler raised his eyebrows. "Do I have to be concerned?"

"Not really. It's harmless. It's saying Mr & Mrs Lynley, est. 2010."

That was harmless indeed. Denton nodded appreciatively.

Greeting a few guests, they had not welcomed personally yet, Tommy and Barbara meandered through the grand hall with the dining tables. A row of tables stood in a gentle bow at the head of the room, where the bridal couple and their closest family was seated. A line of flowers in the style of Barbara's bridal bouquet decorated its front. All the other round tables in the room were equally covered with white table cloth, and flowers were placed in the centres. Place cards had shown everyone where to sit down.

On their way to their own place of honour at the head of the room Tommy and Barbara also came past the table with Frederick and George, and of course Aunt Augusta who naturally could not have been seated anywhere else.

"I've given my little something to Judith, darling." Augusta said squeezing Tommy's hand. "I think she's put it on the gift table in the lobby already. So you won't have to carry it around."

"So it's not a little something, I suppose?" Tommy chuckled.

"First and foremost it's useful. If I understand aright you have a king-size duvet?"

The question confused Tommy. "Umm, yes...?"

"Good, good." Aunt Augusta smiled. "Then it will fit. I've just had a lot of time."

A distinct harrumph from Yazza who already had sat down interrupted their conversation and reminded them of the schedule so Tommy and Barbara excused themselves before they knew more about Augusta's gift. Judith enlightened them a few moments later.

"She's embroidered your initials into linen bedsheets. Two pillows and a king-size duvet cover. And she's also embroidered a set for a baby bed when she had learned from mother that you're expecting. It's just a heart though, and she's said she'd finish it when the baby is born and named. And she's told me at the Saxon to tell you that she won't stitch Bumpy into it."

Barbara snorted a laugh before she sat down on the chair Tommy had put in place for her.

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