'You ought to come out,' said the woman in white satin. She had hitched her wedding dress up and was squatting, as elegantly as anyone might expect of a young woman married for all of three hours, in front of the rhododendron bush.
Marilyn stared out from under the leaves. She wasn't squatting, but instead was sat, considerably less elegantly, in her peach satin bridesmaid dress on the leaf-strewn soil beneath the bush. The 12 year-old picked at a small twig. 'I don't want to,' she replied.
'Okay,' said the new Mrs Powney. 'But it's a shame.'
'Why?' Marilyn flickered her eyes up for a second, then back to the small hole the twig was making in the ground.
'Because of all the bridesmaids you are the prettiest.'
'So?' Marilyn gave another glance, revealing this time a little puzzled look with a hint of a blush.
"So I like to see you enjoying yourself.' Katherine Powney paused and glanced across the lawn at the reception, not yet spilling out of the hotel. Her wedding reception. Enjoying yourself was something she didn't think was her lot on a day like this. It would only be a matter of time before the people packed round the bar would come out, clutching wine glasses and beer glasses. A tide of noisy, loathsome relatives and sniffy, snooty in-laws. Katherine reflected how remarkable It was she had been able to slip away herself, given how much attention had been on her for the last few hours. Grabbing a few moments of peace before she was swept away by people mouthing platitudes and whispering behind her back that it wouldn't last. I mean, my dear, not with their age difference, wouldn't you say?
Marilyn dragged the twig through the soil by her side and said nothing.
'It is a special day,' said Katherine, not giving up. 'No one should be unhappy.'
'Who said I'm unhappy?' said the girl, without looking up this time. She dug hard into the ground and the twig snapped.
'You don't seem very happy, sat under there on your own,' said the bride. She picked up a twig by the hem of her gown and offered it top the girl. 'Here, take this twig. My twig. It looks stronger than the one you were using,' she added.
The girl looked at Katherine's twig and frowned, but she didn't reach out for the offering. 'Of course it's your special day,' said Marilyn. She was blonde and cute, which even her current sour look couldn't hide.
'No, it's not my special day. It's a special day because I met you.' Katherine continued to hold her hand out with the twig, as if it was an olive branch of peace.
Marilyn was a little startled. 'Me?' The girl glanced towards what she could see of the hotel through the leaves. 'But you had three other bridesmaids. You don't know me.'
'I know a lovely looking girl when I see one,' said Katherine. 'Are you going to take this twig or do I have to come in there and dig for you.'
In spite of herself the pre-teen smiled. 'You'd do that?'
'If it makes you happy, yes.' With that, Katherine waddled further forward, dragging her skirts up higher. She pushed through the last branches of the huge bush and deposited herself on her rear next to Marilyn. 'Twig, for you,' she said. 'Special delivery. With love.'
'You're crazy,' said Marilyn, but she took the twig. She turned it over in her hand before she said: 'I don't want to break it.'
'No? Why's that?'
'Because...' Marilyn stopped herself. 'Oh, nothing.'
Katherine nodded. 'Okay. It's a present from me to you. Yours to do with as you wish.'
Marilyn stared at the woman sat next to her, plucking up courage to ask the question that probably every one else at the reception was asking in different ways. 'Why did you marry my uncle Tim?'
'He asked me.'
'But he is... He's Uncle Tim.' She said it like that explained everything. 'He's ancient.'
'Thirty five. Bit older than me, admittedly, but not exactly ancient.' Katherine wrinkled her nose as she shrugged.
'And that's why you're here, with me. Hiding from Uncle Tim and the rest of them.'
Katherine raised an eyebrow. 'You sure about that?'
Marilyn nodded slowly. 'Pretty sure. You didn't seem to smile much when they were taking all those photographs. I mean, my aunty Naomi got married last year and I was bridesmaid then, and when they took the pictures she grinned so much I thought her head would fall off.'
'But it didn't,' said Katherine, 'or I'm sure I would have read about it in the papers.'
'Yeah,' chortled Marilyn. Then she sobered up a moment later. 'You're too good for that man,' she said.
'Now that sounds like wisdom from the mouth of babes. Well, teenagers.'
'I'm not a teen. I'm twelve,' said the girl with a hint of defiance. 'Not thirteen until March.'
'Okay. I'll put your birthday on my calendar. So, why am I too good for your uncle? What makes you say that?'
'He's been married before. To that woman called June. She... she was a cow. You're nicer than her. Prettier.'
'So I'm pretty and so are you then, wow, we are two pretty people sat under the bush.' Katherine laughed. She bumped her shoulder against the girl's slender shoulder, where she was sat next to her.
'I mean it,' said Marilyn seriously. 'You could do much better than him. He does things. He's not nice.' She paused, weighing up the risk of saying too much, but said it anyway. 'He lies and cheats. Everyone says so.'
'Oh I see. It's a bit late now to tell me.'
Marilyn's pretty face creased a little. 'You don't seem upset.'
'Why should I be? Look, sweetheart, I know what he's like, and I know what he has. I know who I am, and that matters most.'
'Money,' said Marilyn with an air of finality. 'You married him 'cos he's got a big haulage business and he's rich.' A moment later the girl considered what had been said. 'What do you mean, you know who you are?' The girl's pretty eyes blinked as she said it, her curiosity piqued.
'Oh, you know.' The girl clearly didn't but Katherine didn't add to it. 'Partly because of the money, but mostly because he is away a lot and I don't have to see the man much.' Katherine gave a little wink. 'You know honey, everyone has their faults, everyone has certain qualities, everyone offers opportunities to allow you to do what you want. The trick is to know what you want and take advantage.'
After nearly a full minute of considering what Katherine had said and turning it over in her head, a slow light dawned in Marilyn's hazel eyes. 'So... You married him to do other things. And 'cos he's away a lot you can, well, do those things.'
'In a word, yes,' said Katherine. 'But you mustn't tell anyone.'
'Why?"
'Because, young lady,' Katherine put her hand on the young girl's bare arm. 'He might stop going away as much. That, I have to say, would make it hard for me to be me.'
'Oh',' said Marilyn as another thought occurred to her. 'Do you love him?'
'Of course,' said Katherine, who hadn't taken her hand off Marilyn's slender arm. 'I love he won't be at home as much as all that so he won't interfere with me and my close friends.'
Marilyn giggled. 'I like you. You're naughty.' She looked at Katherine and then at the hand on her arm. For a reason Marilyn couldn't grasp she gulped. She said, quietly: 'The things you do, the things you're gonna do... You won't be, you know...'
'Know what?'
'Seeing other men.'
'Good Lord, no!' Katherine put her head back and laughed. A gentle, warm laugh. 'That would be very silly.'
''Cos if you did Uncle Tim would come home and find you with another man and he'd be angry.'
'Not quite that. In fact, quite the opposite if you see what I mean.' Katherine had taken her hand off the girl as she spoke.
Marilyn shook her head a little, trying to work out why what would be opposite. It took her nearly another minute before she shot a look at the white-gowned woman sat next to her. 'You're not one of those are you?'
'One of those makes me sound like a strange creature.' Katherine looked as if she was enjoying this. 'Don't look so alarmed, I'm really no monster. This is a big secret, angel, but it won't be men I will be seeing while he's away, travelling Europe and probably screwing some local hooker wherever he ends up.'
Marilyn's eyes widened with full realisation of what the newly-married woman was admitting. 'You can't be gay, can you?'
'I don't see why not,' said Katherine.
Marilyn swallowed again. She didn't say anything
'Are you scared to be under a bush with a lesbian?' Asked Katherine, a smile on her lips.
'No, of course not.' Marilyn blushed a little. 'I mean, women do that... You know...'
'Make love,' said Katherine gently. 'Yes, we do. I do.'
'But... Tonight, you'll be going off on honeymoon. With him. A man,' said Marilyn. She said the last word with a note of derision, like she didn't quite approve of them.
'And I am not looking forward to that,' sighed Katherine. 'But, needs must. I have to go through that though I believe the Caribbean isn't too bad at this time of year. Look, it is part of the deal. I get married, get fucked - don't look so shocked, it is what it is - he's happy, we come home and he goes wandering off.'
'And you see women,' said Marilyn.
'If they want to see me. Attraction is a two-way street.'
'They'd want you,' said Marilyn.
'How do you know?'
'It's obvious. I bet under that wedding dress you're all--" The girl stopped herself.
'Go on.'
'No!' Marilyn blushed again. 'It's rude.'
''There is no such thing,' said Katherine. 'Under all these clothes I am naked. Just like you.'
'Don't,' the girl said, blushing.
'It's true. Take everything off and we are down to basics. The way we came into the world. No pretensions, no hiding.'
Marilyn stared at Katherine. 'I'm not hiding.'
'Yes you are.' Katherine traced her fingertip slowly along the line of the bridesmaid's arm. Lightly. 'You are hiding from what you are.'
'Which is?' Marilyn tried not to gulp, but she did.
'Which is what you are. You see, I saw you when I was saying my vows, saw the way you looked at me. Not like the other three, who are here because they wanted to be in the photos and wear a satin gown and have people say how nice they looked.' Katherine's fingernail paused in its journey. 'Just so they could say how they would want to be married one day and be the real centre of attention. How they wanted to be me and wear a white gown. Envied me for the spotlight but didn't want to be like me, the way I am.'
Marilyn seemed spellbound as she watched the fingernail begin moving again and like a tease, slowly up her arm. She shivered, but nicely. 'I might.' The girl said it barely above a whisper.
'Might want the gown, or what what you saw in me?'
'I don't know... I didn't see anything.' Marilyn's voice cracked a little. Lying always did that to her.
Katherine's stopped tracing a line for the second time. This time she tapped the girl's arm softly, four times. One tap for each word she whispered. 'I think you did.' Marilyn gulped. She wanted to laugh and cry and shout and curl up. She didn't move and stared at the fingernail, red and perfectly manicured, resting on her skin. The tiniest dimple under the weight of the finger. 'That's why you are here in the bushes,' continued Katherine. 'You are confused by all this, what's going on in you. You are like I was at your age. Not sure, but wanting to know. Wanting to be sure. Right now, it's easier to run away and hide and hope no one sees.'
'But you saw, when you were younger.'
'Yes. I saw.'
There was a silence between them. A long silence and the sound of the music and laughter drifted across the lawn from the hotel. A harsh sound, of people being brash and insensitive. Nothing gentle about them, but here in the shelter of the bush and among the leaves it all seemed so far away.
'What do I do?' Marilyn breathed the words as if speaking them loudly would break the spell.
'You wait for me to get back, and then you let me show you how.'
'How,' repeated the girl. She gulped noisily.
'Yes.' Katherine leaned in the short distance and kissed the child's lips. Gently, warmly. A tenderness that melted the last block of ice in the pre-teen. The kiss lingered, and then broke. 'You wait for me to come back, angel, and I show you how to love. But there is one more thing,' said the newly-married woman. 'You have to come out from hiding. Promise?'
Marilyn nodded. 'I promise I will come out,' she said. 'For you.'
'For us,' said Katherine, and she kissed the girl again.
ends