I was now beginning to panic as with only three weeks to go I still had no dress, which meant no accessories. Edward said he would help and picked out some dresses that I thought were gross to be honest, but all the ones I had liked previously had looked shit, so what was the worst that could happen. Plus, these were way cheaper as they were not wedding dresses, they were just white dresses. Surprisingly I actually quite liked both of them when they arrived, but there was something about one of them. It was Bardot style with a skater skirt which was knee length on front and longer in the back. I had no make-up on when I tried it and I actually felt prettier. This was the one. It was ivory.
Now I had my dress—it wasn’t how I imagined it at all, but it suited me and wasn’t too much for Vegas, it was just right—now next stop was shoes and a bag. I had decided when we were getting married in this country to not wear a veil. Instead I wanted to wear a beautiful silver jewelled tikka hair chain. I didn’t know if I still wanted to wear this in Vegas, but I already had it so I thought that I would take it with me, so I had options, I would order a veil too, so on the day I could see what I would prefer. This was the only problem with going away on your own: no one to tell you how you looked. I did say to my mum that I would Facetime her or video options, so she could tell me, so I could get her opinion, so thought I would just take everything.
Jewellery was the other thing, I don’t really wear any other than my engagement ring, but would I need to wear anything on the day? Again, I would just have to take it just in case.
April
Malcolm picked up an old local paper and sat there staring at the announcements page.
‘India Halberd and Edward James of Ipswich, Suffolk announce their engagement’
There was a picture of his daughter, who he hadn’t seen since she was a teenager. She looked happy in the photo. He picked up a beer can and cracked it open. It was eleven a.m.
Later that day he called Marie in a state and needed to speak to her urgently. He still lived in the same house, but she was alarmed as she approached at how dilapidated it looked. She looked down the road and pictured India riding her bike and with her friends, happier times. The blossom trees that lined the road had gone and instead it was dark and dirty looking, not like when she had lived there.
As he opened the door she gasped as she was surprised at how much he had aged. He had thick lines running through his forehead and had barely any hair. She probably wouldn’t have recognised him if he had walked past her in the street as he had lost so much weight. She hugged him, as he looked like he needed it, and as she walked into the front room the state of it shocked her. Empty beer cans and takeaway boxes covered the coffee table and the smell of smoke lingered in the air. She opened a window.
‘When was the last time you got some fresh air? I must say you look awful.’
Malcolm half smiled but seemed in pain as he groaned at the same time. ‘Nice to see you too, Mar’
He always used to call her that even though she hated it, but it still made her smile; she saw the glimmer in his eye that once was.
Not wanting to sit on the sofa she perched on the radiator.
‘I want to see India,’ he said
They had made an agreement after she realised Malcolm was India’s father that they would never tell their daughter the truth. She didn’t want her to know that she was the result of a drunken fumble in the back of a van. She already had a dad. She did have a dad, not biological, but she had the perfect little family, but when India was nine months old she realised that Ken may not be her father. She thought once she told Malcolm that India was his that he would step up, but he didn’t want anything to do with her at first. It wasn’t until she was seven Malcolm would drive down to the seaside to see her and they agreed that they would never tell her. Ken only found out when he confronted her about having an affair, and that’s when they divorced.
‘I don’t care. I’m dying, Marie. I want to see her before it’s too late’
Marie rolled her eyes. She had heard it all before and he was clearly pissed.
‘No, for real. I only have a few months left if I am lucky and I want to see India before
