“I think you’ve all had a few already!” I shouted, as somebody handed me a glass of champagne.
“Here this is for you - you’ve got to wear this!” Elena gave me a white square box decorated with a pink ribbon.
“Oh no - I don’t have to do anything silly, do I?”
“Open it!” Amelie nudged me. The others cheered. I undid the ribbon and lifted the lid of the box. There were two things inside: a blue lace garter and a white satin Alice band with rhinestones.
“Aha! I see! OK, there you go. Ta-dada-dadada, ta-dada-dadada, ta-dada-dadada, ta-da-dadah!” Imitating the introductory music of Joe Cocker’s You Can Leave Your Hat on, I pulled the garter over my right foot and slowly up my leg until I reached my upper thigh. Then I stretched out that leg and rotated my foot, causing the others to wolf-whistle.
Next I placed the Alice band over my long curls and checked my reflection in the small mirror above the bar area of the car.
“Alright, I can agree to wear that! So what’s next?”
“It’s a surprise! You’ll see. You are at our mercy tonight!” Alexia declared mischievously.
It was not long before the limousine stopped and the driver opened the door for us to get out. We went inside Harrys New York Bar where Alexia had organised a table and cocktails. Once we had made ourselves comfortable at the table the first round of Cosmopolitans appeared. “Of course - what else would we order?” was Alexia’s self-satisfied comment.
“So, Chloé, what’s your wedding dress like?” Sabrina asked. “Is it one of those you saw with me at the shop last year?”
“Ah - no, it’s a secret!” Isabella responded in my stead. “All I can tell you is that she has several outfits!”
“Actually, Isabella, I have some accessories planned that not even you know about,” I teased her. “Now that I have something blue” - I held up the seam of my dress and pointed to the garter - “all I’m missing is something borrowed.”
“Oh, then you’ll have to give that back to me afterwards,” Alexia said. “I wore it at my wedding, so it’s old, too.”
“Excellent, agreed! Let’s all drink to something old and something new, something borrowed and something blue!”
Just as I was ready to order a second round, the pianist spoke into his microphone - “and now I would like to ask Chloé and her friends to come up here.”
“What?” I turned around in surprise while the others got up from their chairs as if on cue.
“Come on, Chloé. Don’t worry, you know this-That’s what friends are for!” Alexia appeased me.
We all huddled next to the piano when the music began. I did know this. I smiled at Alexia who started singing the first verse and then we all joined in the refrain. It sort of got a little muddled at the end but nobody seemed to care and the audience whistled and clapped when the song was over.
An attractive young man was waiting by our table when we got back, holding a red rose and looking at me. “Hello Chloé,” he greeted me, making a sad face.
“Uhm, do I know you?”
“I wanted to ask you: please don’t get married - please go out with me.” He handed me the rose with a serious air.
I laughed. “Very funny. I’m afraid it’s too late.”
“That is such a shame. Okay. Good luck then. Bye.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek, turned around and left. I looked at the others who made an effort to keep a straight face.
“Aw, that was so sweet and he was gorgeous!” Elena exclaimed.
I laughed and shook my head. I was about to sit down again, only to be interrupted by another even better looking young man who was holding a red rose.
“Oh Chloé! Please don’t get married!” He handed me the rose, grinning.
“Ah yes. OK, I’ll think about it,” I joked and stuck the rose in the small vase the waitress had brought us in the meantime. He bent towards me and kissed me on the cheek.
“That’s wonderful. I hope to see you soon. Bye!”
“Hey! Leave her alone!” A third man appeared, holding a red rose. He was gorgeous - short dark blonde hair, slightly tanned, his muscles bulging under his tight white shirt.
“Oh and who would you be now?” I asked provocatively.
“My name is Justin and you, actually, are really hot. Please don’t get married!” He handed me my third red rose and showed his white teeth in a brilliant smile.
“Hm. Now this is getting difficult,” I replied with a smirk, “but I will stay firm.”
“Can we at least have a drink together? Maybe I can still persuade you.” He lowered his voice, trying to sound seductive.
“No, thank you - girls’ night only!”
“Shame. Good luck, gorgeous.” He kissed me goodbye.
As he left, I sighed and turned to the others. “So? Whose idea was this?”
Alexia giggled. “My sister’s - she knows these guys and organised for them to turn up here and beg you not to get married.”
“How original! I must say the last one was just my type and would’ve been at least good for a flirt.”
“We admire your restraint, Chloé!” Amelie cried.
“Quite! I would have already gone for the first one!” Patricia commented.
“Hm, I thought the second one was really yummy!” Sabrina added.
“Huh! Now all of you! Really, I’m shocked! You’re all married!”
“We can still window shop,” Isabella grinned. “Are you sure you don’t want a last shopping trip before you get married?” She winked at me.
“No, thank you. That is absolutely out of the question!” I declared indignantly. “I may have been a bit wild in the past” - this caused roaring laughter - “but I am a faithful fiancée and will be a faithful wife!” I held out my right hand with the Cartier ring, as if to emphasise my words.
“We’ll drink to that!” Alexia held up her glass. “Here’s to Chloé - the faithful wife!”
The others followed suit and we clinked our glasses together. “To Chloé, the faithful wife!”
* * *
Two weeks later, I woke up in the morning and was disoriented. Sunlight was seeping through plush curtains. I listened. It was quiet. Where was I? The room looked unfamiliar. Then it dawned on me. I was in the hotel, on my own. This was my wedding day! I jumped up and opened the curtains, taking in the stunning view of the park below my window and the skyline in the distance. I walked to the bathroom, passing the wardrobe where my dresses were hanging. I stroked each of them carefully - the Giambattista Valli, the Alexander McQueen, the black Chloé party dress. Then I bent down and looked at the shoes that I had displayed underneath the dresses - dove grey Lanvin satin pumps with sparkling heels for the morning, silver Jimmy Choo sandals for the evening. Now I only had to make myself look worthy of these beautiful clothes. I showered and washed my hair, leaving it to air dry. I called room service and asked for coffee and some croissants in case I was able to eat something. Then I called Jacob at home.
“Hello?”
“Darling, it’s me. How are you? How are the girls and Antonio?”
“All is well. Jana is helping them to get dressed.”
“Oh, good, and you?”
“I’m a bit tense, to be honest.”
“That’s normal, isn’t it? I’m nervous - and excited! The lady doing my hair and make-up will be here soon.”
“I’m sure you will look beautiful. I’ll pick you up from the room five minutes before the ceremony, so just before eleven.”
“Fine. See you later! I love you!”
“I love you too.” He hung up.
I smiled to myself. He did sound tense. I hoped the girls would feel at ease. Their dresses were lovely - two-tone sleeveless linen dresses with bows in the back, which I had ordered online at Bonpoint, a li
ght rose and grey for Noëlle and a baby blue and grey for Marie. Antonio was to wear a navy suit, a blue shirt and a navy striped tie. I had also helped Jacob to choose his navy tailored suit and Hermès tie.
An hour later there was a knock on the door. The stylist had just left, having helped me to close the numerous hooks of the internal bodice of the Valli dress, so I thought she had forgotten something. When I opened the door, Alexia, Elena and Isabella stood outside.
“SURPRISE!”
“Fantastic!” I laughed. “Come in! Actually this is perfect timing - I’m getting quite jittery!”
“Darling, you look gorgeous!” Elena exclaimed.
“Where are the glasses? We brought some champagne!” Alexia held up a bottle of Moët et Chandon.
“Ooh, great idea! There, by the mini bar.”
“I love the fascinator with the feathers - so flamboyant,” Isabella commented on my headdress. “Oh and I adore the shoes - let me look at that heel. So those are your secret accessories!”
Alexia handed out the filled glasses when we discerned another knock on the door.
“I’ll go,” she announced, walked towards the door and opened it just wide enough to see who was outside.
“Hi Alexia. Is Chloé there?” I heard Jacob’s voice. I rushed to the door but hid behind it.
“Jacob! What are you doing here? You are not supposed to see me yet!”
“Sweetheart, I just came to say the ceremony will start about twenty minutes late. A lot of guests aren’t here yet because, apparently, there is some traffic jam on the motorway.”
“What? But - what about the registrar? Is she here?” I started to feel panic rising.
“Yes, she is and she is happy to wait for a while.”
“I don’t want to miss our appointment! Are you sure she will wait?”
“Yes, calm down - drink something. I’ll pick you up in about half an hour.”
After Alexia had closed the door, I took a big gulp from my glass. “I don’t like this. I need everything to go according to plan! If we are late for the ceremony, we will be late for the reception and lunch and - oh it’s a mess!” I declared desperately.
“Sabrina just texted me.” Alexia looked up from her new Iphone. “She says the room is filling and everybody is very relaxed. So sit down and have another drink.”
She poured me another glass and it helped. I slowly started to relax and was even able to giggle at Elena’s comical rendition of That’s What Friends Are For. When there was another knock on the door, it seemed to be just five minutes since the first interruption. Now, however, I was in the best of moods and opened the door to Jacob with a brilliant smile.
“Oh my,” he smiled back. “You look amazing and hot. If your friends weren’t here and people weren’t waiting downstairs-” He left the sentence unfinished and offered me his arm. “Shall we go?”
“Yes!” I glanced back to Alexia, Elena and Isabella.
“We’d better go ahead quickly,” Alexia said and the three of them walked towards the lift. I turned to Jacob. He looked very handsome in his suit. I gently ran my fingertips over his cheek, touched the knot of his tie and placed my hand on his heart.
“OK. Let’s go.” I took his arm as we slowly walked down two flights of the wide staircase. Neither of us spoke.
As we approached the ceremony room, we could discern people murmuring loudly inside. My heart started to beat faster. I squeezed Jacob’s arm. On entering the room, I spotted Marie and Noëlle sitting with Martha and Józef and next to Antonio all in the front row. Alexia and Isabella were standing next to the registrar, by the large desk in front of the windows, facing the room. Suddenly everybody started clapping and cheering and I realised that was meant for us. Jacob and I laughed and waved as we walked to the front. I stopped to kiss my daughters and Antonio, then turned to greet the registrar.
“Ms. Krakowski, Mr. Wronski! Good morning. I hope the delay has not inconvenienced you. During this adjournment I have prepared all papers and checked the passports of your witnesses - Mrs. Moyer and Mrs. Baker on your side, Ms. Krakowski, and your brother Lucas on your side, Mr. Wronski. I understand you also wish your children to sign the register, in a symbolic gesture, so I have explained to them when and where they may do that. So we are all ready to go. The question therefore is: are you ready to get married?”
Jacob and I looked at each other.
“Are you ready, my love?” he asked me gently.
I nodded. Yes, I was.
15. Lady Macbeth
A lawyer is not profitable, according to the firm’s calculations and budget, if he does not achieve at least his targeted billable hours. If lawyers aren’t profitable then they are effectively worthless. “We are not a charity,” Lars had once said to me when he was managing partner at Solomons. Of course, law firms are profit-oriented, just like any other business, but everything is relative. The continuously increasing performance criteria of billable hours, hourly rates and invoice collections appear to become less and less achievable.
* * *
On our post-honeymoon, with the children, on the French Atlantic coast, neither Jacob nor I were thinking about billable hours or other work matters. We were coming to terms with the requirements that our newly defined relationship was imposing upon us. From being lovers with independent lives we had turned into a married couple. To me that meant I had him to protect me and my girls, while I made us our home, looked after our children and did my part to contribute financially. So when we arrived at our rented summerhouse near Lacanau, the first thing I did whilst everyone else jumped into the pool was to unpack, put sheets on all the beds, get towels for everyone, go food shopping and stock up the kitchen.
“Come on, wifey,” Jacob shouted from outside, “come swimming!”
I poured two glasses of the red wine that I had just acquired at the local wine shop and took them outside to the terrace. Jacob and Antonio were swimming lengths while Noëlle and Marie were looking at something in the lavender bed, that framed the pool terrace on the south side.
“The water is too cold for me,” I replied. “I got you some wine, though.” I held up the wine glasses.
“Moja dobra żona! You’re such a good little wife!” Jacob crawled to the stairs, climbed out of the pool and took the glass from me. “Cheers, darling!” He downed the glass in one and planted a kiss on my lips. “Mwa!”
“Careful!” I laughed. “You’re getting me all wet!” I looked down at my sundress, which was showing a big water stain. “I better get this off.” I went through the French doors into our bedroom. He followed me, a towel wrapped around his hips.
“Oh, darling! Have you followed me to be naughty?” I turned to hug him and started kissing his neck. “I mean, the children are outside but perhaps we can go to the bathroom - after all, this is our honeymoon.”
He took me by the shoulders and slightly pushed me away. “Uh, no. I just wanted to get a polo shirt, and I’m tired.”
“Oh.” I let go of him. “Here, in the closet.”
He opened the doors of the cupboard. “What the - ? Chloé, how much stuff did you bring? We’re only here for two weeks. I mean, there are at least six pairs of shoes and four handbags.” He turned around, shaking his head in disapproval.
“Darling, we are on our honeymoon! I want to look pretty for you.”
“You look pretty enough without all this stuff. My mother never travelled with more than a couple of things.” He took out a polo shirt and banged the doors shut. “I’m going to lie down on the sofa,” he announced. “Please tell the children to be quiet and wake me up at seven, OK? I’ll then get the barbecue going. Did you get any charcoal?”
“Oh damn. No, I forgot. I’ll go back to the shops.”
“You forgot? But you spent like two hundred Euros - what on earth did you buy?”
“All sorts of things. The wine I got wasn’t cheap. Don’t worry, I paid with my money.”
“What do you mean? This is now our money. Seriously, darling. You still have so much to learn.” He planted another kiss on my forehead, took the wine glass out of my hand and emptied it in one go. “You won’t be needing that when you go shopping.” He grinned and gave me a light slap on my bottom. “Off you go then.”
When I got back from the shops Jacob was curled up on the sofa, sound asleep. I went outside to place the bag with the charcoal next to the barbecue. The three children were at the table by the pool playing what looked like Monopoly.
“Are you OK, kids?” I asked them.
“Yeah, sure,” Antonio answered without looking up, apparently contemplating his next move.
“Shh, not so loud. Your Dad told us to be quiet,” Noëlle reminded him.
He dismissed her with a short laugh. “He won’t hear anything anyway. He’s had lots of wine.”
“Mummy, can we have some sweets?” Marie asked.
“It’s a bit late, darling,” I replied. “But I could bring you a bowl of grapes for you all to share.”
“Yeah, thank you Mummy!” Marie replied and Noëlle nodded. Antonio shrugged and counted the steps of the little racing car he had chosen as his game piece.
I went back inside. As I passed the sofa, I noticed the empty wine bottle and nearly empty glass on the coffee table. I decided to pick it up slowly so as not to disturb Jacob. As I did so, he suddenly woke up with a jolt.
“Antonio! I told you not to wake me up!” He started ranting. The he noticed me. “Oh. It’s you. Man! The kids have been so loud! I haven’t been able to sleep properly!” He ran his fingers through his tousled hair.
“They are outside, playing quietly. Did you finish the bottle by yourself?”
“Hm. I must have.” He let out a short growl. “I guess I might as well get up.” He started lifting himself up from the sofa but fell back again, knocking over the wine glass in the process. The glass fell on the terracotta tiles and shattered into pieces, its contents being sprayed onto the side of the sofa.
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