Free Blood Brothers by Josephine Cox

dripping with meat juices; boiled potatoes dressed with butter and herbs; fresh green peas, carrots and light, fluffy cauliflower. The baby Yorkshire puddings were all soft and melting on the inside, while the outsides were brown and crispy.
    A few minutes later everyone was round the table. Joe was about to start, when his mother caught his attention. ‘Not yet, son,’ she chided. ‘Have you forgotten your manners?’
    Joe was shocked. ‘I forgot!’ He apologised with a sheepish grin. ‘Looks like I’ve been away too long, eh?’
    Frank leapt at the opportunity to make a sly comment, ‘Shame on you, Joe.’ He gave him a knowing glance. ‘What kind of company have you been keeping? Don’t they say grace where you’ve been!’
    Joe might have made some discreet retaliation, but unwittingly his father did it for him. ‘Enough of that, Frank.’ He gave his eldest son a stern look. ‘I seem to recall a few weeks back, someone else forgot to wait for grace, didn’t you, Frank?’
    Reassuring Joe with an easy smile he admitted, ‘It’s not every family in the land gives thanks for what they’ve got, and that’s all right; but we’re farming stock, and throughout the generations it is something we care to do.’
    He then checked to make sure everyone was ready, before folding his hands on the table.
    It took only a moment for Tom to offer gratitude on all their behalfs. ‘We thank thee Lord for this plentiful food and the roof over our heads, and for bringing Joe home to us. Amen.’
    Afterwards, when they were all tucking in, Nancy asked Alice, ‘So, what else did your father have to say, Alice luv?’
    ‘Just that I was to stay here tonight if that was all right with you, and go home tomorrow. I’m to look in my wardrobe at the things Mother bought. You recall I told you, she went out to buy my shoes and veil? Oh and I’m to look at page fourteen of the leaflet on the table, because she hopes I like the bouquet she’s chosen.’
    ‘What!’ Tom was astounded. ‘I always thought it was the bride ’s prerogative to choose her bouquet?’ He stuffed a potato in his mouth and began chewing.
    Nancy brought him up sharply. ‘Tom!’
    ‘What?’
    ‘It’s none of your business who chooses the bouquet, or anything else.’
    ‘I never said it was.’
    ‘Besides, how do you know it wasn’t Alice ’s idea for her mother to choose her bouquet?’
    ‘It was not my idea,’ Alice offered, ‘but mother said if she was paying out a fortune on my wedding, she had every right to do some of the choosing.’ She gave a sad little smile. ‘To be honest though, I don’t think that’s why. I think it’s because she never had a white wedding of her own.’
    ‘Why was that?’ Frank was learning more about his future wife and family, with every passing day.
    Alice explained, ‘She told me that she and Father decided not to spend money on fripperies, and that it would be far better to invest the money in their first restaurant.’
    ‘I think they did right,’ Frank declared. ‘After all, look how they’ve used that money. Three restaurants up to now, and all because they started that first one with money that could have been wasted on paying for a big, fancy wedding.’
    While Alice pondered sadly on his remarks, Nancy said she would have much preferred a white wedding, ‘…with all the trimmings, like me and Tom had.’ She was quick to assure them, ‘It was nothing posh mind, but I had the loveliest dress and we paid for the choir to sing in church. We hired the village hall for the best party ever, with a pianist and a flautist and we danced all night long.’
    Sighing wistfully, she reminded Tom, ‘It was the best day ever, wasn’t it, Tom?’
    Tom readily agreed, but added, ‘To my mind, Alice’s parents did right. They made a first-class business decision. That’s why they now own three of the best eating places in the area.
    ‘My own story is not so straightforward. Y’see, my fatheronce