The Vicar looked ill. He looked more like a man facing the guillotine than one who was performing the rites of matrimony. His heart hurt as he faced the couple. She looked as beautiful as ever, and he wondered how he would keep up with serving the parish and listen to her sweet singing voice in the choir.
He would have preferred to avoid being here, he could have asked for a replacement with a preposterous excuse – in fact, it wouldn’t have been an excuse that he had the runs – yet his sense of preservation deserted him.
His lips were dry, his stomach churned and his voice croaked and squeaked at the same time as he asked the question “If anyone has a reason for these two not to wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
The air in the chapel shrunk in silence. No one expected an answer to a question that was simply a formality and all the heads swung in the direction of the back pew from where a voice had said an emphatic yes.
The old groundskeeper stood. Nodding to the Vicar, he said in his booming and gentle voice ”my boy, don’t you think you’ve got something to say to the congregation?”
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
P.S...I leave it to you to find a fitting end to this story. What do you think transpired?
a cooking pot and twisted tales 
Oh oh oh I’m left hanging here. Do write the next chapter for me!
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🙂 Thank you Ruth. I am glad you like it enough to want to read a follow up
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Oh dear! That’s a gripping start. Let’s see –
There was an audible gasp from the people gathered to celebrate with the happy couple. Just who did this impudent old man think he was! The arrogance of the man. What gave him the right to be here at all? After all, he was just the gardener.
The vicar, swaying to stay upright, cleared his throat. “You’re right, Dad. I do have something to say. In all good conscience I cannot marry this couple. You see, I am in love with the bride. I’m sorry.”
With that, he turned and walked into the vestry.
“Please John, don’t …… ” the distraught bride called, attempting to follow him. Clutching the folds of her wedding dress in her hands, she tripped and hit her head on the altar rail.
It was a tragic accident, everyone agreed. The bride had broken her neck. Death was instant.
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Lady, you can spin a good tale. Have you seen Meritings comments? An interesting twist, I must say.
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So do you 🙂 No, will have to go and have a look.
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An unexpected and unfortunate finale, which somehow evoked a laugh-out-loud response from me.
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Awesome 🙂
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He,he..He’s in a fix.
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How cruel to kill off the bride! I think the vicar had been caught, in a very embarrassing moment, bent over a gravestone. His partner – the groom!
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Now, this is getting interesting!
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And here I was thinking he was having a fling with the bride !
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Lol… How awkward and sad, was the vicar in love with the bride?
Well, I imagine the congregation would have given a loud collective gasp. I also imagine that the bride had no idea that the vicar was secretly in love with her.
Or perhaps she was also secretly in love with the vicar but didn’t know how to reveal her feelings.
She would have been delighted to discover this after the groundskeeper’s subtle exposé.
Vicar and Bride then locked eyes and he would have read her feelings in her happy smile. He’d then take her hand and they’d run down the aisle and out of the door to happily ever after land. 😀
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Ha,ha. You my girl are a good romance writer. That’s a possibility. and of course the groom threw a punch at the Vicar, the brides mother fainted and the mother-in-law shrieked endlessly, the whole congregation got excited…
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XD
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I hope this gives the Vicar a chance to confess his love. 💖 If he was a priest, a very different ending ?
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If he’s a priest, then the story will be entirely something different.
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Uh oh…someone’s got some explaining to do!!
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They’ve been up to some hanky-panky 😉
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Sure sounds like it…the Vicar is sweating bullets lol
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He,he,he…Yes he is
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wow, what a story and what a powerful ending! My imagination is churning with possibilities. 🙂
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The vicar knows the bride from a clandestine visit to a brothel in a nearby town where she has been employed.
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Hmm. This is absolutely scintillating. I like it 😉
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Exciting and interesting piece of fiction. I think the Vicar loves the bride and they had something going on, her husband to be didn’t know about. Either it was emotional but nothing ever came of it or it crossed a line for a Vicar and the bride to be, and she was full out cheating on her husband to be. To make it really scandalous, the bride to be is pregnant and she felt she had to get married because the Vicar was afraid what the congregation would say, if they knew he got a girl pregnant that he wasn’t married to.
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What a twist! Well I think the vicar curled up and sank to the ground in guilt and embarrassment, whilst the congregation broke out into excitement at the unexpected turn of events, whilst jealous singletons inwardly rejoiced at the spoiling of what up to that point had been a fairy-tale ceremony.
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You just painted a wonderful comedic picture and I can see it in my eyes 🙂
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