‘It’s weird, it just kind of flares up where I least need it, and then it calms down for a while. There is no way I would risk it on my wedding day in case I looked like a plague victim walking down the aisle!’ Penelope laughed.
‘Indeed’ George replied ‘This does not sound good’ she thought to herself.
The next morning Penelope woke up a little the worse for wear from too many mojitos the night before. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling dreading the prospect of meeting up with her mother. …
‘Penelope, darling, you look wonderful,’ Grace Chesterfield cried as Penelope approached her. ‘Have you been dieting?’ Grace beamed at her pride and joy.
‘Hi Mum, no, I’ve just been really busy in work, not much time to eat properly which is terrible really,’ Penelope began…
‘Nonsense darling, you look wonderful, keep this up and you will be breathtaking in time for the wedding.’ Grace sighed. ‘Now, down to business, here… I have the catalogues and brochures with me.’ Grace proffered the brochures with the pages open and tabbed in coordinating colours… chattering away about place-settings and matching napkins and menu options…
Penelope stared into the distance scarcely hearing a word. She smiled and nodded a lot, as she had the distinct feeling that most of the decisions had actually already been made without her.
Zara woke up next to Zack, and crept down to the kitchen to make some tea and toast for the two of them. The sun was streaming in through the window in the kitchen. Life was good and Zara knew it.
Chapter 29
T- Two Months
With two months to go the days sped by in a blur of dress fittings, menu tasting and place-setting juggling. Penelope, despite her better judgement, was happy to let her mother take the lead.
Spending more time with Richard’s friends was helping Penelope to assimilate into their group. She was relieved that she had the wedding to talk about with them, and was surprised that she did have a bit more in common with them than she first thought after all. The rash took on a life of its own flaring up when it felt like it, and disappearing without notice. No cream or stress management technique could keep it under control.
***
In Asia, the tour was in full swing and Alyx was having the time of his life. He knew that this would be consigned to rock history and he was delighted to be an integral part of it. It was a great opportunity to actually have an excuse to see Asia, to have a reason to be there, and what better reason than traveling with a world famous band on tour. Alyx was well and truly living in the moment, and he was enjoying every second of it.
The final Asian tour date arrived all too soon, and all of the girlfriends were arriving to enjoy the final gigs and kick back for a well-deserved break. As soon as they all arrived, it hit Alyx, that he was very much… alone. And his mind invariably started wandering towards London, and thoughts of her.
As the band start to head back towards Europe, Alyx started thinking about the future and what his life would be like after such a life-changing experience.
‘Nats, it’s me.’ Alyx finally had signal.
‘Alyx!! I can’t believe it’s you. How and where are you?’ Nathalie squealed.
‘I know, sorry, mobile reception is a nightmare over here, and we are not really in our hotel rooms very much, as I’m sure you can imagine!’ Alyx apologised.
‘I miss you so much! When are you coming back?’ Nathalie was dying to see him.
‘About six weeks or so, we are making our way back, slowly but surely…’ he laughed, reluctant for this experience to ever end.
‘Ok, well, let me know when you’ve booked your flights and we’ll sort out dinner. Are you going to come here first or go straight home?’
‘I’ll go straight home, you know, jetlag and all that, and then I’ll see you after a day or two.’ Alyx was referring to his apartment in Paris, where he called home for now, despite the fact that it was empty most of the time.
‘Have you met anyone nice, how are the supermodels?’ Nathalie quizzed him.
‘Hmm, they are always nice.’ He joked. ‘… .but no, I haven’t met “the one” if that’s what you mean. But I will be holding on to those supermodels’ numbers just in case. As you never know…’ He laughed.
***
Penelope paced up and down in her living room barking into her phone… ‘I’m freaking out George. There are only two weeks to go and there is so much to do!’ Penelope exclaimed.
‘Ok, ok, breathe, did you speak to Cheryl?’ George was trying to reassure her.
‘I did, George, thanks for that. She was really helpful, and she said that the nerves, the rash, and any doubts are completely normal when getting married. After all, we all only do this once in a lifetime, so it’s not like something that we experience over and over again.’ Penelope’s tone softened, reassurance enveloped her.
‘Excellent! I knew she would help, she has something like six sisters, and they are all very experienced with the wedding stress!’ George was pleased, as she couldn’t really help her herself as she wasn’t married.
‘She was looooooovely, and made me feel totally reassured. This good feeling fades the minute I see my mother George! She is stressing me out so much, I don’t know what I’m going to do!’ Penelope shrieked, the pressure mounted again.
‘Ok, ok, breathe!’ George soothed. ‘There must be a way of cocooning yourself from your mother. Does the yoga breathing help?’
‘Yes, yes, it does. You are right George. Quite right, I’ll try the yoga breathing.’ Penelope sighed.
‘Just don’t let her get to you. Decide, that she won’t stress you out. I know that’s easier said than done Pen, but give it a go.’ George was always so sensible.
‘Well I have to do something, I’ll never make it down the aisle at this rate,’ Penelope sniffed just before hanging up, and turning around to survey the myriad of packing boxes around her.
‘I can’t believe this is it. This is my old life, in boxes, soon to be new life, as someone’s wife. It sounds so weird when I say it out loud, and calling Richard my husband will take some getting used to. And having a title too, I thought my mother was going to actually explode with pride when she got her hands on that little detail.’ Penelope shuddered at the thought of how her mother had reacted to this extra juicy detail. ‘Cheryl was so helpful, she said all of the nerves were totally normal and not to let them get the better of me.’ Penelope was pensive as she continued packing her handbags.
‘I’m not sure where I’m going to put all of this stuff. It’s definitely not all going to fit in, in Richard’s place. Thank god George suggested finishing the packing after the honeymoon, that was genius. Move gradually was her sage advice. I’m very grateful for that suggestion now. A totally new life in one fell swoop is a bit overwhelming.’ Penelope caught sight of her beautiful ring and was reminded of the promise of a lifetime.
‘Hey, how’s it all going?’ Charlie hovered in the doorway.
‘Oh, Charlie, you startled me!’ Penelope jumped slightly, in the middle of all of the boxes.
‘Looks like you are making good progress.’ He arched one eyebrow. ‘Managing to fit all of the shoes in?’ He laughed, reminding her of the day that they had moved in.
‘Oh yes, yes, indeed… these boxes are simply for “confidential work papers”. Penelope adopted her most innocent “I’m not lying, but I really am” expression.
‘I see, well let me know if you need a hand with anything,’ Charlie called back as he made his way down the stairs.
‘Will do…’ and he was gone.
Chapter 30
Dawn
For the first night in weeks Penelope woke up feeling completely rested having had a lovely night’s sleep. This was surprising considering that it was the night before her wedding.
‘I feel so relaxed, I don’t think I have slept that well in years. Everything looks so beautiful. Fabulous, it looks like it’s going to be a sunny day for the wedding, I don�
��t think I could have gone through with it if it had rained. I think my rash has calmed down a bit, this is the first time in the last six months that it wasn’t the first thing that I thought about when I woke up. Now what time is it? Oh my god, it’s only 6 am, and I’m wide awake! My rash has really gone down. I actually feel back to normal again for the first time in ages. I have this feeling that everything is going to be ok. Maybe it was just pre-wedding jitters, and now that the day has finally arrived everything will go well. I may as well get up. I feel kind of sad leaving this house, even though I don’t technically live here anymore. Still, setting up a new “home” with someone is such a big change. I hope it is as nice as the life I had here as a little girl… oh my god, tears already, well I may as well get it over and done with so I don’t cry during the ceremony. I have two hours to kill before I’m supposed to be woken up, I think I’ll just read for a while.’
6.15
… 6.30
… … 7.00
Penelope struggled to concentrate, only one thing to do…
***
In the other wing of the house, some other people were stirring.
‘Bernard! Bernard! Wake up!’ Grace Chesterfield tugged at her husband’s arm until he reluctantly admitted that he was awake.
‘What time is it? Are we late?’ Bernard sighed groggily, as he sat up he was confronted with his wife looking as white as a sheet, with her hair in rollers. He thought that she looked like something from a ghost train!
‘No, no, it’s just, I had that awful dream again!’ Grace gasped.
‘What, love… about the wedding?’ Bernard’s tone was soothing, now that he realised how upset his wife was.
‘Yes, but this time, it was the priest that took a turn for the worse, he fell ill and…’ Grace began her daily rant about her nightmares about wedding disasters.
‘Now look, love, this worrying is ridiculous, you will make yourself ill, everything will go fine, we have organised every last detail, NOTHING can possibly go wrong…’ he said rather over-emphatically.
Bernard stared intently at her as he said this, and then he turned over and lay back down, head beneath the pillow this time!
‘“Nothing”… you say?’
‘Yes, “nothing”, now for heaven’s sake will you go back to sleep and get some rest?’
‘But…’
‘No buts Grace, you’ll need all of your energy for the day ahead, you are the most important person there apart from the bride…’ Bernard reminded her.
‘Yes, yes, of course you are right… if you say that nothing can go wrong then…’
‘… Nothing can go wrong…’ He repeated.
‘Yes, sorry about that darling, I just want it to be perfect…’ Grace finally calmed down.
‘We all do, believe me… we all do.’ Bernard raised his eyes to heaven beneath the pillow!
‘You go back to sleep there, I might just pop my head in and check on Penelope.’ Grace put on her dressing gown and slippers, and padded down to Penelope’s room.
‘Alright, if that’ll make you feel better.’ Bernard looked out from beneath his pillow… but she was gone…
‘Penelope Darling… are you awake yet?’ Grace peeped around the door.
‘Pen, Penny?’ Grace’s heart started racing… there was no answer.
‘It’s the big day, and I just couldn’t sleep so I thought I would see if you were up yet…’ She continued…
‘Penelope!’ She raised her voice slightly.
‘Penelope!’ Grace screeched.
‘Bernard! Bernard! Come quick, she’s gone!’ Grace raced down the hallway to her bedroom to get Bernard out of bed.
‘What on earth is the matter woman?!’ Bernard sat bolt upright in the bed knocking the pillow onto the floor as he sat up.
‘She’s gone, she is not in her bed!’ Grace was struggling for breath.
‘Of course she has not gone, she’s probably in the loo, did you check the bathroom? Bernard was trying to be practical, there was no reasoning with Grace when she was like this.
‘Yes… no sign of her.’ Grace stood in the doorway looking terrified.
‘And downstairs?’ Bernard raised one eyebrow.
‘No but I shouted so loud when I saw the empty bed, I think I woke the neighbours, so if she was downstairs I think we’d know by now.’ Grace looked startled.
‘I see, let me just get my dressing gown and I’ll help you look, have you had a look in the garden?’
‘The garden! The garden! What would she be doing in the garden!?’ Grace was getting more panicked by the second.
‘Alright, calm down, it was just a suggestion.’ Bernard shrugged his dressing gown on reluctantly.
‘Should we ring the police?’ Grace already had the phone in her hand.
‘No, we should not ring the police, you have to be missing for a certain amount of time before you can call them…’ Bernard raised his voice a bit louder than he had planned to.
‘But she could have been missing since last night and we didn’t realise until this morning,’ Grace shrieked.
The bedroom battle between reason and hysteria continued for at least another half an hour, until Penelope came back from her run…
‘What was that?!’ Grace hissed to Bernard as she heard the front door slam shut.
‘Well, it sounded like the front door.’ Bernard sighed soothingly as Grace perched at the top of the stairs peering down, just in time to see Penelope dump her sweatshirt at the end of the stairs before going into the kitchen to grab a pint of water.
‘Penelope! Is that you?’ Grace shrieked. Penelope still had her iPod on full blast so she was completely oblivious to the panic upstairs. ‘Penelope!’ Grace roared… still no answer.
‘Let me… I’ll go.’ Bernard sighed, motioning to his wife to sit back down on the bed. He made his way down to the kitchen, only to find Penelope doing a few cool-down stretches in the conservatory. He motioned to her to take her earphones out.
‘Hi Dad, what’s up?’ Penelope said, still a little breathless from her run.
‘Well, love, it would seem that your mother thought that you had, well, em… flown the coop, so to speak…’ He waited for her reaction.
‘What!? Has she gone mad? I think I’ve had just about enough of this, Dad.’ Penelope cried.
‘I know, love, but I suppose we just have to keep the peace, she only wants the best for you and she wants today to go off without a hitch,’ Bernard soothed.
‘I know, Dad, but I’m nervous enough as it is, and these kind of hysterics are making me even worse, it’s ridiculous! She is being ridiculous!’ Penelope huffed.
‘Right, here, put the kettle on, I’ll bring her up some tea.’ Bernard resigned himself to calming duties.
Penelope stomped upstairs, storming past her mother’s room, and slammed her own bedroom door and flopped on her bed. ‘I’m actually going to kill her, she is driving me mad. I don’t know how I am going to get through today, thank god George will be standing nearby, I don’t know how I would get through it without her.’ Penelope’s head was spinning. She looked over at her dress hanging on the front of her wardrobe and the rash on her chest started to flare up a little.
The rest of the early morning passed by in a haze for Penelope. Bernard kept Grace out of her hair so that no other arguments could erupt before they had to go to the church. Luckily George had suggested separate hair and makeup for her mother, so that Grace would feel as pampered as Penelope did. It was a brilliant idea, it would also give Penelope a break from her mother for an hour or two.
Richard’s brother came to collect Grace and Bernard bang on eleven o’clock and she felt like The Queen heading off to the church in a Rolls Royce.
Charlie showed up for Penelope shortly after eleven. He looked stunning in his morning suit and Penelope was quite taken aback. He had borrowed his father’s Rolls Royce for the occasion. He was practically speechless when he saw Penelope.
‘Penelope
, you look… stunning,’ he stammered.
‘Oh, thanks Charlie, you don’t look too bad yourself.’ Penelope gave him a little peck on the cheek.
He hesitated for a moment and then said. ‘Well, I suppose we had better go?’
‘Indeed.’ Penelope beamed at him.
In EC1 the scene was not quite so dramatic… yet.
‘Hi, can I speak to Penelope Chesterfield please?’ Alyx had had no luck with Penelope’s mobile, so he assumed that she had a new number, so he tried her work line.
‘I’m afraid Penelope is going to be off work for the next two weeks.’ The receptionist informed Alyx.
‘Oh, is she on holidays, well in that case…’ Alyx was about to leave a message, undeterred.
‘Well you could say that… she will be on her honeymoon…’ the receptionist stated.
‘What?! Is she getting married, when, oh my god!’ Alyx nearly dropped the phone.
‘She is getting married today actually, in St Augustine’s Church… Hello, Hello? How rude!’ The receptionist fumed into the phone, she couldn’t believe that he had hung up on her.
‘Pierre, hi it’s Alyx.’ Alyx was gasping.
‘Hi, did you leave something in the car?’ Pierre was used to picking up after Alyx he was constantly leaving his Blackberry behind him.
‘No, listen, I need you to take me somewhere, how fast can you get back here?’
‘Twenty minutes?’
‘Fine, see you in twenty.’ Alyx paced up and down and thought to himself…
‘Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!’
Chapter 31
One?
Charlie pulled up outside the church twenty minutes later. Fashionably half an hour late… Penelope sat in the back looking immaculate, with perfect hair and makeup, and finally she had conquered the mysterious red rash that seemed to have a mind of its own. Charlie turned to look at her, and without stopping the engine he blurted out.
One? Page 32