Rainbow Weddings

Jocelyn holds out her hand, fingers splayed, so that the sunlight
catches every facet of the diamond. The other girls are clucking around
her, making little oohs and aahs as she sparkles. They want to touch
her hand, feel the hardness of the stone against their pretty
fingernails. But Jocelyn pulls back, lifts it just out of their reach.
They must wait their turn to feel like this.
'Have you got a date yet?' ask Mandy.
'Ooh yes, can we all come?'
'Where's the honeymoon?'
Jocelyn steps back, realising she hasn't though this through. They were
bound to ask questions but she has no answers.

She conjures up the image of Bill in her head. She tries to paint him
with the traits and features that she has described to them these last
six months, but she cannot picture his face. She wishes he could be
more than dreams and vapours, as if wishing hard might make him
real.

While she thinks about the answers, their expressions are changing. The
admiration fading to the same look the jeweller had when she pulled out
her own credit card to pay for the ring. All the names of exotic places
fly away from her, and she's left gasping like a fish.

'I wish I was, I wish I was, 'in Oz' she says. They eye her
suspiciously, try to stare her out, admit the awful truth.
'Australia?' cries Mandy, and leaps to embrace her. 'I'm so happy for
you.' Then she turns the gathering, 'aren't we so happy for Joss?'
There is nodding and rumbling. Then the women drift back to their desks
and the clattering of keyboards fills the room.

'Reggie and me went to Blackpool for our honeymoon. We had to show the
landlady our marriage certificate to get a double room. Mind you, she
kept giving us funny looks. We were so young you see, and me already
showing. She always gave us cold toast,' says Margaret Jeffries during
lunch break. She sits at the head of the table, examining Jocelyn's
hand, dripping ash into a plastic coffee cup.
'I though they used to lock unmarried mothers up,' Mandy says. When
Margaret narrows her eyes, Mandy holds her palms up, 'That's just what
my mum told me.'
'She knows what you get up to on Friday nights.'
'If she knew that, she wouldn't let me out. Isn't that right
Joss?'
Jocelyn giggles, glad for the spotlight to be off her a while. Margaret
Jeffries's hands are rough. Her wedding ring has worn a green groove in
her finger. The gold has melted into the colour of an autumn leaf. Her
makeup isn't straight, makes Jocelyn want to check her own lips.
'I can't tell my mum when I go out with her. Have to tell her I'm
staying at another friends house.'
'Well, you've had your fun, girl, now you start paying.'
'I don't understand.'
'Here,' Margaret Jeffries holds the stone in front of her face. 'You
can't go gallivanting now. You've got to tone it down.

--This is work in progress. If you would like me to finish it, please
email or vote. Thank you --