The Wedding Speech Read Online Free PDF

He stole a look to his left, to where Billy and Amelia were side by side, and pulled himself together.
    ‘See – I’m a right killjoy, me. Now you can all see why I only got my end away just last week.’
    The room hummed with relieved laughter. Chief Bridesmaid Amber was smiling at him, her red curls snaking around her shoulders.
    ‘She was right, Amelia was, as always. I did feel better eventually. And do you know what else I realised? I realised how stupid I’d been with all the jealousy and dickhead
behaviour. I thought I’d lost my best friend, but in reality, all I’d actually done was gain another one. Billy had fallen so in love with Amelia because she was the other half of him,
his soulmate, the missing part of his puzzle – whatever you want to call it. I’m so very glad that they found each other, I really mean that. I think we should all be glad.’
    Ed looked down to find that his knuckles were white. He must have clenched his fists to stop them trembling. He had a sudden picture in his mind of Billy and him, back on the day they’d
decided to run away from home and live in the woods. They’d only stayed out until the sun went down; in the end, neither of them had thought to bring any food, or money, or camping equipment
of any kind. But then, they were only ten at the time. They sat together and dangled their legs over the bank of the stream, breaking up twigs to throw into the water and chatting about football
and school and nonsense that he could only guess at now. It was such a happy and innocent and easy time. He wished more than anything that the two of them could be back on that bank now, the
sunlight dappling the water and the gentle summer breeze shifting the leaves at the tops of the trees.
    ‘Marrying Amelia is all Billy’s talked about for months. I thought brides were supposed to be full-on, but apparently blokes can care about seat covers, flower arrangements and
colour themes, too. Knowing how much the big day meant to him – to both of them – is why I’m standing up here today, doing this speech, as the Best Man. I wanted Billy and Amelia
to have everything they always dreamed of . . .’
    When Ed turned to face the room again, he was assaulted by tears. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Some Best Man he’d turned out to be. He moved from where he had been standing
and positioned himself between Amelia and Billy, allowing his fists to unclench as he addressed the guests for the final time.
    ‘I’d like you all to be upstanding now, please, for Amelia and Billy.’
    There was a chorus of shuffling feet and the sound of wood scraping floor. Ed looked down at the rows and rows of people and braved a smile. The smell from the lilies was almost overpowering
now. Reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket, Ed pulled out his silver hip flask – the one Billy had given him for his 18th birthday – and raised it above his head.
    ‘To Billy and Amelia – together forever, side by side. I love you guys.’
    It was a few seconds before Ed realised that his knees had given way. Amber rushed up to help him as he pressed his forehead against the hard, unyielding wood of Billy’s coffin. An
overwhelming horror seemed to punch him in the gut as he pictured his best friend in that box, mangled from the car wreck that had killed him and his beloved fiancée.
    Her body was here, too, in the box next to Billy’s. Gently extracting himself from Amber’s arms, Ed stood up once again and forced himself to smile at all the friends and family.
Many of them had stepped towards the front of the church and were now arranged in a fan shape around him.
    ‘A couple of days before the accident, I joked to Billy that he could still get out of the wedding if he wanted to. I said, “Mate, there’s still time, we can run away to
Thailand if you’re having doubts.” Do you know what he said? He just looked at me, shook his head so hard that those stupid big ears of his shook, and