CHAPTER 1
That sky was so blue it hurt, but I was distracted from it by Mam’s faffing. No problem packing, none at the airport, but she was all fingers, thumbs and rambling conversation, and as those fingers held a needle I was hoping she could find her attention span extending enough to avoid me bleeding into the white of my dress.

It had popped a seam when we had hauled it out of the garment bag, god knows why, but she was on it. The trouble was that IT was on ME. I bit my tongue, which wanted to tell her all about how another piece of her sewing had fallen apart, but that would have been cruel. This was no day for cruelty. I tried to bring up my old mantra, but it kept coming out as ‘Police, marital’, which didn’t work quite as well.

“Mam, how much longer?”

“Few seconds, love…. There. Just got to trim the end, isn’t it? Let’s have a look…”

She stepped back, and with a mutter of “There’s beautiful” I realised she was about to burst into tears. Shit.

“Mam!”

She jerked, attention caught. Good.

“Bridget did something special last night, something really good”

Mam smiled. “She was always good for you, girl, especially while we were away. What was it?”

“Handed me some stones, pebbles, and each one got a name, and then we threw them as far as we could into the sea, and each one we told to fu--- to go away and never come back”

She stepped forward, close enough to take my hands but far enough away to leave my dress unmarked, uncreased.

“I know what you two really said, love. And did; your knickers were full of sand, so…”

She dropped my hands as hers rose to cover her blush, before she spoke in a very quiet voice.

“I was just thinking, you know, swimming at night, getting sand in your knickers and… And hoping you’d got rid of all that sand before, well, tonight…”

I knew exactly what her thought had been, of course, and we were still laughing when Dad came for me, looking wonderful in a lightweight morning suit. There was a horse-drawn covered carriage thing waiting outside our hotel and as we climbed in, just the three of us, Bridget, Tammy and Candice settled into another, waiting just behind ours. The hooves clopped, the suspension squeaked, and the breeze of our motion cleared away any clouds of doubt I might have had, if I had also managed the trick of being both blind and stupid.

I had no doubts at all, and what little remnants had tried to shake me the night before had been banished by Bridget and her clever gambit. Go to it, DC Owens.

No church for us, no procession through a graveyard as an organ pumped out the traditional tunes. We had a platform laid on the beach, shaded by an awning, and a local priest was ready for us. Mam descended first, and made her way to the front of the ranks of chairs, where my man awaited me, Alun by his side as a surprise best man.

So many of the nick had made it out for the wedding, including Dai Gould, as well as Chris, Omar and Scott, the Mohammeds, Bryn, Barry; my past life in its entirety, it seemed. No organ, but a little band of local musicians. As they started to play, and my maids waited ready beside our carriage, Dad dropped the veil over my face and murmured “How beautiful you are, my darling”

He handed me down, I took his arm, and walked with him to my future life. There is no need for details, but I will always remember that shush-shush of the sea taking on a new significance, one a world away from a dark Ogmore car park.

We said words, and meant them. We gave the rings that confirmed the words, and his eyes and smile on my own said more than the words or the jewellery ever could. We made our promises, and they were real and heartfelt, but it was his presence that told me this was no dream, no false dawn.

There were clichés, of course. We had to have our photos taken in a hundred different poses, including several shin-deep in water as I had a slight panic about my dress getting ruined, and everybody wanted a kiss, including all the lesbians, but I stressed “No tongues!” each time, until I found myself crying along with Mam and Siân.

I looked at her, and simply burst out laughing.

“What are we bloody like, woman? And with no handbag for tissues!”

While we did the beach thing, the resort staff efficiently moved all the seats around and added tables, setting out our wedding meal, eaten under those blue skies to that shush-shush and bird cries.

“Ladies and gentlemen and ladies!”

Alun was standing at the front, Dad beside him.

“Well, it is time for another traditional bit! I should start by saying that as we are a fully diverse and utterly inclusive team, I shall be applying equal opportunity rules to both DC Sutton and, well, DC Sutton! Transcripts will be available from my wife Lynne, over there in the rose-pink, if anyone needs blackmail ammunition.

“I first met Diane when she came to our little office for some lessons on proper coppering, and she really needed some of the rough edges knocked off. The trouble is, she was better at the job than all the rest of us, so we had to find a way of getting her back out of CID before she made us all look like incompetent, lazy, useless---what’s that, Lynne? I AM an incompetent, lazy, useless….? Love you too!

“Now, as I said, we had to find a way of getting her out of the office, which is where that woman sat next to the redhead fell for our subtly-crafted plotting. Yes, Elaine Powell: you thought you were just there to deal with some nasty assault cases. Little did you suspect. Well, anyway, as Lynne says, I am clearly incompetent, because I ended up caught in the slipstream and dragged along with her. Honestly, I could spit! Fortunately, we managed to find someone to distract her, and he is the big man sitting with her now”

He paused, to shuffle his notes it appeared, and then put them away.

“Nope, not going to do that bit. Traditionally, I get to take the mickey out of the groom, and while I could, I simply don’t feel like it. I don’t think it would be appropriate in any way, to be honest. So here is my take on him.

“That woman next to the redhead shook us up, made us look again not just at what we did as coppers but at WHY we did it. She brought together a team of people who were capable of understanding all that, and she and Di led by example. I, personally, found a new focus, a new reason for coming to work beyond mortgage payments, and working beside people like Blake, Di, Candice over there, Rhys and Rob by her, Ellen there… I could go on, but there are too many, and not all of their cheques have cleared in time.

“Good people, all. Some of them are good coppers, some do other jobs, but they, we, are all united in admiration of Diane and Blake Sutton, and now overwhelmed to see them together and glowing with happiness. So, without wasting any more of your time, please raise your glasses. The bride and groom: Diane and Blake Sutton!”

Soppy man.

Once our wedding meal was eaten, the staff moved the chairs again, and there was now a dance floor available, so of course we did the aimless shuffle obligatory for newly-weds who can’t dance, before a normal car took me and the maids back to the resort proper so that we could get changed ready for the party, which was a delight, and, and, and.

There was only one slight hiccup, and that was the early departure of Alun and his wife, and I noticed her leaning on him before opening her rather large handbag to produce a folding walking stick, which she clearly needed.

Later, DC Owens. Sutton. I prodded my husband.

“What do you want, Mrs Sutton?”

“That’s it, really. Got what I want. But we need to think about names at work, yeah? Bit confusing for the punters. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I might need to hang onto Owens for work”

“Why wait? Run it past Sammy or Lainey”

I giggled, as I wasn’t fully sober for some reason.

“Don’t think either of them are really with us anymore, love! Speaking of which…”

We would have missed breakfast the next morning, but the eminently sensible hotel staff had a tray ready for us. We finally left our room at about one in the afternoon. I could get used to married life if it were all going to be like the first day.

It couldn’t be, of course, and our combined wedding and honeymoon finally came to an end in a flurry of last-minute packing interspersed with farewells to those flying other routes back to their homes or simply needing to get back to work. Bridget and Tammy were the first to go, and once more I felt that wrench. So much of my recovery was tied up in her, so much of the life I had. It seemed so unfair that I couldn’t have her on call, just a few doors away. She was insistent, though.

“Write, you two. Skype. Whatever”

Blake hugged her and Tammy in turn.

“Best leave it at electronic stuff for now, you two. We are looking for somewhere decent to live, and if it goes smoothly we could be gone from the old place in a hurry. We’ll have to save, as well. I always wanted to see Australia”

Bridget was fine with him, but neither of us could hold back our tears when we hugged. She crushed the breath out of me, whispering into my ear.

“A life well-lived, girl!”

They were gone, leaving a huge hole in my life, but so much love still there. I settled down to finish our packing, making sure I had one final souvenir, a pebble from the beach, which I wrapped in some socks for the flight back.

Just like the other pebbles, I gave this one a name.

Charlie Cooper.