by Katie Fforde
‘You didn’t get that out of a Christmas cracker!’ said Seamus.
‘I certainly didn’t,’ agreed Lucien, looking, Philly thought, terribly pleased with himself.
‘Come and give your grandfather a hug,’ said Seamus and, after she had done this, Philly took a good look at him.
‘Now I look at you properly, you’re looking very grand, Grand,’ said Philly. ‘You’ve got a new suit. I swear you haven’t bought one of those since I’ve been alive.’
‘Well,’ said Seamus, slightly awkwardly. ‘Your mother’s been on to me to buy one for years. She’ll be thrilled when she sees it.’
‘So, will you wear it at Christmas?’ Philly was surprised. They only really saw her parents at Christmas these days and, traditionally, her grandfather always wore the sweater that someone had given him.
‘No. She’ll see it when she gets here in an hour.’
Philly felt faint with shock. ‘What do you mean? She’s coming to the party?’
Seamus nodded. ‘They all are. Your parents and the boys. Now isn’t that handy? You can tell them you’re engaged.’
‘But why are they coming? It can’t be anything to do with me, we’ve only just got engaged.’
‘Anthea invited them and they said yes.’
‘But why? She doesn’t even know them.’ Philly had had a couple of shocks in the past half-hour; she could do without this one. The thought of having to deal with her family, whom she found quite hard work, at the same time as she wanted to help Lucien in the kitchen with the food, was horrific. Then she realised. ‘Oh God. They’ve come to have a look at Lucien, haven’t they?’
Seamus shrugged. ‘Maybe. It’s fair enough, after all. You are engaged.’
‘Not until twenty minutes ago!’
‘You have been walking out, or dating, or whatever the current expression is, for some time though.’
Philly sighed. ‘I suppose so. We were planning to visit them in Ireland – when we’re not so busy.’
Seamus looked wise. ‘That will be the reason they accepted Anthea’s invitation. They knew you’d never find time to go and see them at home.’
‘Come on, Philly,’ said Lucien bracingly. ‘It is a bit of a surprise but the timing’s perfect.’
Her grandfather smiled gratefully. ‘I would have told you before but you’ve only just got back and I didn’t want you to be worrying about it.’
Another worry came into Philly’s head she couldn’t ask her grandfather about. She wanted to know if her mother would be able to tell that she and Lucien had been having sex – a lot. Then she remembered Lorna’s reaction to her. She blushed at the thought of her mother coming to the conclusion she was sure Lorna had arrived at. Still, there was nothing she could do about it now. And at least she and Lucien were engaged.
‘C’mon now, Philly,’ said her grandfather. ‘With a ring like that, at least you won’t have your mother asking Lucien if he’s serious about you.’
‘I knew it was an investment,’ said Lucien, who’d gone to check something in the oven.
‘To be sure,’ said Seamus. ‘He’s a grand young man, your family will see that.’
Later, when Philly had been sent into the garden to see if there was any rosemary, she reflected that like almost everyone she’d thought about the man she might fall in love with on and off since she was a teenager, what getting married would be like, how she’d cope, all the normal stuff. But what she’d never imagined was how ecstatically happy it would make her, how proud she would be of him, and how certain and confident she would be that he was the one.
Her mother might comment on her youth, but as her mother had been a child bride too, she could hardly complain if her daughter followed suit. But she was fairly sure, because her mother had always insisted it was the case, that Marion had walked down the aisle a virgin.
She caught up with Seamus a little later. ‘I wonder what I should wear for the party?’ she said to him as he retied his tie in the hall mirror.
‘Something pretty. A dress. Something to honour the beautiful garden,’ he said.
Philly was slightly surprised that her grandfather had such a definite opinion. It had been a more or less rhetorical question, and she hadn’t expected him to actually give an answer. ‘I’ll find something,’ she said. ‘At least we’ve a lovely day for it.’
‘We have been blessed,’ said her grandfather, oddly serious.
After Philly had been home to change she went back to the garden and spotted Lorna straight away. She was standing on a stepladder, tying in a rose. She was wearing a flame-coloured dress and her dark red hair was pinned back with one of the roses she was tying. Jack was holding the ladder. Seeing him look up at her, Philly recognised that he felt about Lorna as she felt about Lucien. Though to be fair, Lucien looked at her like that too. She couldn’t help smiling.
She was so glad. Anthea had told her about getting Jack to repair the statues secretly and how she hoped Lorna would, in Anthea’s words, ‘Stop being so silly about him.’ Now it seemed to Philly that Lorna was being silly about Jack, but in a way that Anthea would very much approve of.
‘Hi,’ she called up to Lorna. ‘You look lovely. You both do.’ Jack did look quite lovely, Philly thought, in his linen suit, crumpled in the right way.
‘So do you,’ said Lorna, having come back down the ladder. ‘We don’t often see you in a dress.’
Philly looked down at the rather faded flowery dress she’d found in the back of her wardrobe, bought for some occasion years ago. Its much-washed appearance did give it a faded, vintage look, she realised, appropriate for a period garden. ‘I know. I quite like this one. Grand was insistent I dressed up. I think it’s because my parents and both brothers are coming – oh and Lorna, we’re engaged! Me and Lucien!’
‘Wow!’ said Lorna. She gave Philly a massive hug. ‘I’m so thrilled.’
‘Lucien is a very lucky man,’ said Jack.
Philly rolled her eyes. ‘What? With my family coming to inspect him?’
Lorna laughed. ‘Yes! And is that a ring I see?’
Philly held it out to be admired.
‘That is a very serious piece of jewellery,’ said Jack.
‘It’s gorgeous,’ said Lorna. ‘I’m impressed.’
‘So they don’t know you’re engaged?’ said Jack.
‘We hardly know ourselves!’ said Philly, giving a little skip.
Lorna looked at Jack. ‘We need to tell Leo,’ she said to him.
‘Tell him what?’ asked Philly although she thought she knew.
‘That we’re together,’ said Lorna firmly. ‘He might find it a bit of a shock, his mother having a boyfriend.’
Jack frowned slightly. ‘I think he’s with Kirstie, checking that all the gazebos and things are up. I might go and have a word, get him on my side.’
‘Good idea,’ said Lorna.
While Lorna was watching Jack walk away, rather longingly, Philly thought, Philly allowed herself to think about her own mother having a boyfriend, if her father were no longer alive, and the thought was fairly gulp-making. Except her mother was nowhere near as glamorous as Lorna. ‘Haven’t you been out with anyone since you had Leo?’
‘Not while he’s been around and not many people. I’m very fussy.’ She laughed. ‘I’ve had to go for a younger model.’
Her use of the word reminded Philly. ‘So are you OK about it now? Him having a picture of you naked?’
‘I am now,’ said Lorna. ‘Now I know that the real, grown-up me isn’t a horrible disappointment.’
Philly laughed. ‘Of course it isn’t!’ But she did understand Lorna’s anxieties. Then she remembered her own.
‘So, are you worried about your family meeting Lucien?’
She nodded. ‘A bit. He’s so different from anyone they’ve ever met. He’s posh, he’s a chef, he never keeps still.’
‘But he’s a lovely boy – they’ll see that straight away. If they look like not taking to him, I’
ll give him a reference. Anyway, you won his parents round. You were just as exotic to them.’
‘I had to half kill myself to do it though.’
‘And they saw what a good woman you are.’
Philly laughed. ‘Anyway, I’d better go and see how Lucien’s getting on and warn him to keep the van revved up ready in case we have to make a quick getaway.’
‘A horse would be more romantic,’ said Lorna.
Philly shook her head. ‘I’d fall off. It would end in disaster.’
‘This looks and smells sensational,’ said Philly, back in the kitchen, having made a quick survey of the finished dishes that were now laid out waiting to be put in the gazebo. ‘Is Anthea pleased?’
‘Anthea is very pleased,’ said the woman in question, who had appeared. ‘But not as pleased as I am about you young things getting engaged. You’re going to make a wonderful couple, a real team.’
Lucien, who was looking, in Philly’s opinion, incredibly sexy in his chef’s whites, nodded in agreement. ‘I never thought I’d find a woman I wanted to be with for the rest of my life,’ he said. ‘I never thought I’d find one who matched me. But Philly does.’
Philly coughed away the tears that had suddenly gathered.
‘You’re very lucky,’ said Anthea. ‘Not only is she a hard worker, she is extremely pretty. And I like that dress. It’s very suitable.’
She turned her attention to Lucien. ‘You, dear boy, will have to get changed, devastating as you may look in those clothes.’
‘But I’m staff,’ he objected. ‘I’m catering.’
‘When it’s done, you’re a guest,’ said Anthea firmly. ‘I insist upon it.’
When Anthea insisted, others complied. Lucien sighed. ‘OK, but not until I’m happy. What’s happening with the puddings? I haven’t done any.’
‘All organised,’ said Anthea. ‘Kirstie has produced the usual Eton mess, strawberries and cream, chocolate roulade, and I’m making trifle.’
‘Surely not,’ said Philly. ‘You’re the birthday girl – you should be getting ready.’
‘It’s the work of moments, darling. I don’t use jelly.’
She pulled a very dirty apron down from behind the door and put it on.
‘If you don’t mind my saying,’ said Lucien, ‘have you got a cleaner apron? That one is fairly disgusting.’
Philly realised she’d never have had the nerve to say anything like that to Anthea. Was it the confidence of his class that made him able to do it? Or his interest in kitchen hygiene?
Anthea looked down. ‘Oh, I suppose it is a bit grubby. And of course I’ve got dozens more. It’s just a matter of finding them.’ She opened a drawer with difficulty and produced an apron.
‘I must get on with my flatbreads,’ said Lucien.
‘What do you want me to do?’ asked Philly.
‘If you could clean down—’ he said.
Philly helped herself to an apron from the drawer as Anthea, pouring sherry on to trifle sponges, shook her head. ‘We cleared up in my day.’
Annoyingly for Philly, she couldn’t help in the kitchen and keep an eye out for the family. She was sprinkling flaked almonds over Anthea’s trifles when her mother came and found her.
‘Darling!’ said her mother. ‘How are you?’ She crushed Philly to her as if they hadn’t seen each other for years. ‘And what’s all this your grandfather told me about you being engaged? To a boy I’ve never even met?’
Philly’s heart sank a little. She’d heard her mother’s anger although she’d tried to disguise it. ‘Come and meet him.’
Lucien was there before Philly could even call his name. ‘Mrs Doyle. I’m Lucien. How do you do? I am so glad to meet you at last. Philly and I were coming over to visit you very soon.’
Philly observed her mother take a mental step back. She’d been fired up with indignation at her daughter getting engaged to someone she hadn’t pre-approved but now he was before her, handsome, cultured and incredibly confident, she couldn’t keep it up.
Mrs Doyle took the offered hand and studied its owner briefly. ‘Very nice to meet you, Lucien, if a little late in the day. Did you have to get engaged so quickly, Philly? Could you not have waited until your family had had time to meet your young man?’
‘I’m afraid we couldn’t wait,’ said Lucien.
‘And what do your parents think about it?’ said Mrs Doyle, still fairly steely.
‘They don’t know yet,’ said Lucien with a very endearing smile. ‘And my parents – well – they’re quite old-fashioned, but I think they’ll be delighted.’
‘I think you’ll find that we’re quite old-fashioned too,’ said Mrs Doyle. ‘And in my day it was usual for families to know each other a little before the young people got engaged.’
‘Mum! That’s because we come from a very small place. Most of my friends got together with boys they were at school with. Of course you knew the families.’ Philly wondered if she’d feel quite so frustrated with her mother if they weren’t in Anthea’s kitchen, making food for a party. ‘Will you look at the ring he’s bought me?’
‘Oh my God!’ said Mrs Doyle before she could stop herself. ‘It’s like something Elizabeth Taylor would wear.’
‘Who’s she?’ said Philly and Lucien together.
Just then, Seamus came in. ‘I’m just looking for a beer for my son,’ he explained. ‘Oh, and you will have an opportunity to meet Lucien’s family. They’ll be here later.’
‘What?’ said Philly and Lucien in unison. ‘And why?’ added Philly.
‘It’s a party,’ said Seamus. ‘Sure, why wouldn’t Anthea invite them?’
There seemed no answer to that. ‘I’d better go and get tidy,’ said Philly, to get herself out of the kitchen. ‘I need my party shoes.’
‘And you had too, Lucien,’ said Seamus. ‘The party is due to start in an hour. Though the rate my grandsons are hitting the champagne, it’s started already.’
By leaving Anthea’s house via the back door and a hole in the hedge, they managed to get into Lucien’s van without being caught by any of their relations – or indeed anyone. Pulling away in the van like fugitives made Philly giggle and she was still laughing when they reached home.
‘I really want to see your parents meet mine,’ she said as they raced up the stairs, ‘but I kind of don’t want to be there when it happens.’
‘I know. But they’re really just the same as each other. Concerned for us, and thinking we’re too young to make such an important decision,’ said Lucien. ‘Although my parents do know what a wonderful woman you are and if they hadn’t worked it out for themselves, Geraint would have pointed it out again.’
‘And mine will love you when they stop being terrified,’ said Philly, not quite as convinced. ‘But they might think you’re style over substance, until they realise what a hard worker you are.’
‘It’ll be fine,’ said Lucien. ‘Should I wear a suit?’
Philly loved the idea of Lucien in a suit. ‘Have you got one with you?’
‘Dad brought one over when we had dinner with them, remember?’
Philly frowned. ‘But you didn’t wear it?’
‘No. I was rebelling at the time. I’m happy to wear a suit for Anthea, though. And to honour you, beautiful girl.’
A little while later, Lucien, smart in his suit, and Philly, her old dress enhanced by flowers in her hair and her fabulous engagement ring on her finger, appeared in the garden. Lucien was desperate to go to the kitchen but Philly clung on to him. ‘Kirstie’s got all sorts of people in to do the serving. We must do the parent-meeting thing. Before the bulk of the guests come. Or it’ll be hanging over me.’
‘You’re not worried about seeing my parents, are you? They love you.’
‘They might have changed their minds. At least you’ve met my mother already. She’s the tough one. Come and meet Da.’ She took his hand and led him.
‘Da!’ She gave him a long hug. ‘This is Lucien.’<
br />
Philly’s father wasn’t one given to hugging members of the same sex, but he offered his hand in a friendly way. ‘Lucien. How are you? I gather you’ve taken on my daughter?’
‘And she’s taken me on, I’m glad to say,’ said Lucien.
‘And these are my brothers,’ said Philly, seeing them through Lucien’s eyes as tall, bulky men in shiny suits.
But he didn’t seem to see them like that. ‘Hi, guys. What do I have to do to show you I’m worthy of your sister? I’m not much in the fighting line but my bread rolls are outstanding!’
After a second, Liam, the eldest, laughed and clapped Lucien on the shoulder. ‘You’re as mad as she is. You’ll get along fine.’
Philly was just celebrating that having gone well when they spotted Lucien’s parents approaching. Briefly she considered rushing to the loo to escape but realised both sets of parents would be convinced she was pregnant. No, she would have to go through with the introductions.
‘Um – Mr and Mrs—’ she began.
‘Mum and Dad,’ said Lucien, earning her undying love only he had it already. ‘Meet Philly’s parents and brothers.’ He performed the introductions as if he’d been doing it all his life. Philly realised he probably had. ‘We’re so thrilled you could all come,’ he finished.
‘Yes,’ Philly managed, smiling and blushing.
‘You must call me Camilla. And this is Jasper,’ said Lucien’s mother to Philly’s. ‘And I have to tell you we adore Philly.’
‘They’re very young—’ began Marion.
‘I know,’ agreed Camilla, ‘but very committed. Philly was absolutely marvellous helping out with Lucien’s bakery.’
Marion frowned. ‘A bakery? But Philly’s never cooked in her life!’
‘You should try her sourdough onion rolls,’ said Lucien with a wink. ‘Now, let me organise drinks for everyone.’
28
Lorna was in the little glade behind the grotto, decorating Jack’s statues with garlands. It was partly for fun, and partly so she wouldn’t have to help Anthea with the meet-and-greet of the people who would shortly be arriving. Mostly though, it was a tribute to Jack.