‘I don’t want you to get married.’ Despite himself.
Penelope inhaled deeply and it was as if everything was happening in slow motion.
‘But I am getting married, I want to get married, the time is right for me…’ Penelope stated in a shocked monotone.
‘But I don’t want you to marry him,’ Charlie whimpered.
‘Why not?’ Penelope asked calmly.
‘I… just don’t’ Charlie stammered.
‘That’s not a good enough reason,’ Penelope probed further.
‘I just, don’t think he is the right one,’ Charlie added.
‘What do you mean?’ Penelope was breathing deeply to maintain composure and to process this bombshell.
‘I don’t think he really loves you as much as… as much as…’ Charlie trailed off.
‘As much as what?’ Penelope snapped.
‘As much as… he should.’ Charlie just couldn’t say it.
‘Well you took a great time to tell me! Why didn’t you tell me this before.’ Penelope retorted.
‘I didn’t think you were going to go through with it.’ Charlie admitted his state of denial…
‘Even with the ring, the dress, the reception, the church booked… you didn’t think I would go through with it!’ Penelope shrieked.
‘No, I just always sort of thought that we would end up together.’ Charlie looked sheepish.
‘Oh…’ Penelope was pleasantly speechless.
‘I know I don’t have a big City job, or wear a suit to work every day, but I think I could… really… love you…’ Charlie’s confidence was growing as he saw her reaction to his revelation.
‘You know those things don’t matter to me…’ Penelope reassured him.
‘Yes, but they matter to him!’ Charlie blurted out.
‘I’m listening…’ Penelope leaned a little closer. It was the first time she had dared to move since he had started his speech. Time felt like it was standing still despite the engine running in the background.
‘I know he is not the right guy for you, because I really know you. I can’t promise that I am exactly the right guy either, but I think if we don’t give it a go, we’ll never know… and I don’t want to see you make this mistake. Even if you don’t want to be with me, please don’t marry him!’ Charlie pleaded.
Even though what he was saying seemed surreal, and the implications were huge, both for that day, and for the rest of her life, for the first time since her engagement Penelope felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Up until Charlie’s revelation, Penelope had no idea she had been carrying around this burden.
She sat there, like a queen in her beautiful ivory dress, flawless hair and makeup, and reviewed the situation, for what felt like an eternity to Charlie, but was in reality a moment or two… letting the information sink in. The engine ticked over. Her Dad was standing at the church door, waiting to signal to the organist. He smiled and waved at her and pointed at his watch. She looked over at her Dad and mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’ to him, and with a weak smile she turned to Charlie and said…
‘Let’s get out of here!’
And in a cloud of Rolls Royce dust… they were gone.
With a knowing smile, Bernard Chesterfield slowly turned around. ‘That’s my girl’ he thought, ‘That’s my girl’ as he walked down the aisle… alone. Row by row the congregation started to turn around and stare at him, and then the whispering started. The noise grew louder, so loud in fact that Grace Chesterfield, who was beaming at the front of the church, wants to turn to see what the commotion is…but she can’t. She can’t because she is afraid. This is the moment she has been waiting for since her own wedding day. She wants to turn around and see a perfect bride approaching the altar, but she can sense that something is wrong. She can see Richard, he looks a little flustered. Has Penelope’s shoe got stuck, did she trip on the step, did the veil fall off? The questions rush through her mind? The noise is unbearable, they are talking now… not whispering… actually talking! She has to turn around, so very slowly, with a smile plastered onto her face, she slowly turns, she sees her husband walking down the aisle… ALONE! She sees the sea of faces all talking and frowning, and then it all goes blurry and she sees no more…
Pierre delivered Alyx at St Augustine’s… just in time to see the Rolls Royce, and a glimpse of Penelope, leaving the church and disappearing into the distance. …
‘Is this alright Alyx?’ Pierre called back to him as they pulled up at the church.
‘What? I mean, oh em, no… no… no it’s not alright, it has all gone horribly wrong.’ Alyx retorted as the reality of the events happening before his eyes began to sink in.
‘Are you ok back there?’ Pierre sounded concerned.
‘Yes, yes, just give me a minute.’ Alyx tried to pull himself together.
‘No problem, I’ll wait here…’ Pierre knew when to keep his nose out of things.
Alyx got out of the car and paced up and down. Had he not been suffering from lingering jet-lag, and had he not been so wound up… he might have noticed the amount of cars still parked in the car park and the distinct lack of confetti and beaming onlookers.
‘Grace, darling, wake up, wake up… you’re rambling.’ Bernard held his wife’s head in his lap.
‘But the dress… the beautiful dress, and the pearl necklace, and the Rolls Royce and where is she?…’ Grace’s croaky voice ricocheted off the marble columns and echoed throughout the church.
‘Shhhh, shhh, everything is ok.’ Bernard tried to soothe her.
‘No! The satin shoes, especially designed…’ Grace kept babbling as she slowly regained consciousness.
‘The shoes are fine, just fine!’ Bernard cajoled her.
‘Everything is fine, where am I, what is going on?’ Grace snapped as she began to regain composure.
‘You are in the church, we are all here, at the wedding, except Penelope…’ Bernard trailed off.
‘Except Penelope what?’ Grace sat bolt upright on the church floor.
‘No… we are all here except for Penelope.’ Bernard dreaded the torrent that was coming next.
‘Well where is she?’ Grace demanded.
‘She has gone,’ Bernard admitted reluctantly.
‘No, no! She is just late, wedding jitters, maybe she had too much champagne…’ Grace was in complete denial.
‘No jitters love, she was fully sober when I last saw her, and she has gone…’ Bernard soothed her. The whole congregation was privy to this entire exchange.
‘I don’t understand, why would she do this to us after all that we have done for…’ Grace began her usual rant.
‘Love, the whole family is here, and everyone can hear you…’ Bernard reminded her.
‘Where did she go?’ Grace hissed to Bernard as he helped her to her feet, and she dusted herself down.
‘She did the right thing love, she didn’t feel that it was right, so she left, she made the right decision, if it wasn’t right…’ Bernard reiterated.
‘But it was right, he was all we could ever want for her!’ Grace was indignant.
‘What we want is not as important as what she wants… for herself… we have to be happy with her choice….let’s discuss this later… we have other things to deal with here…’ Bernard motioned to the gaping congregation.
‘Yes… I see… let me just sit here for a few minutes and take this in…’ Grace sat back down in the pew at the front of the church and took a moment to regain composure.
‘Alright, I’ll speak to the guests.’ Bernard turned to address the congregation.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all so much for coming, as I’m sure you have realised by now… there will be no wedding today. The good news is that the reception will go on as planned, and we would be delighted to see you all there. As I’m sure you can imagine this has been a difficult morning for all of us, and we could all do with a few drinks… .’ Bernard chuckled as he said this,
avoiding Richard’s mother’s steely glare.
Richard stood at the top of the church deflated, but not heartbroken, his reaction was more like disappointment that a business deal had gone sour, as opposed to just losing the love of his life.
The Lord-McFleuries whispered amongst themselves, and remained poker-faced, all except Angus, who thought the whole thing was hilarious and he went up to clap Bernard on the back.
‘Kids these days, totally unpredictable! Good on you for carrying on with the merriment, I’ll just round up the clan and we’ll see you at the reception,’ Angus winked at Bernard as he motioned to his family. Lady Lord-McFleurie didn’t budge and inch. She had no intention of going to the reception, the humiliation in the church was bad enough. She glared at Angus until he got the message.
Meanwhile back in the Rolls Royce, Charlie and Penelope were going as fast as was legal in a car like that. They didn’t know where they were headed, but as far away from the church as possible was the initial plan.
‘Where are we going?’ Penelope asked.
‘I have no idea… any suggestions?’ Charlie muttered.
‘We have to think of somewhere where my mum can’t find us?’ Penelope sighed.
‘Yeah, good idea… she will not be happy about this…’ Charlie grimaced.
‘Well she can bloody well marry him herself, then, I’m really not ready to deal with her wrath yet!’ Penelope retorted.
‘Well we can’t drive around like this all day!’ Charlie chided.
‘I know! Work!’ Penelope cried
‘What?’ Charlie looked baffled.
‘Work… I always leave a change of clothes in work, I can go there and at least change into something a little less dramatic.’ Penelope motioned to her outfit as she said this.
‘Great idea! And then we can go somewhere and talk.’ Charlie agreed.
‘Ok, work first, let’s go!’ Penelope started giving Charlie directions.
In no time at all, they were in the City and Penelope had to explain herself to the weekend security guard, who was highly amused, as she stood in front of him like a vision in white. She managed to talk her way in and within minutes she was at her desk rooting through her drawers. Thankfully her colleagues had already left and her office was empty.
‘Now what have we got here, let’s see… Oh my god! I love me… for being so organised. Look jeans, and a clean top, oh a full outfit, shoes and everything. I remember now, I was supposed to go straight out after work on Wednesday last week so I brought these in, I must have forgotten to bring them home.’ Penelope cried with glee.
‘Could you help me out of this dress, there are about a million little satin buttons…’ There was no way that Penelope could get herself out of the dress all on her own.
‘Gladly!’ Charlie chuckled.
‘Ah…I can breathe again. Should we bring the dress with us or leave it here?’ Penelope was reluctant to leave it in work.
‘I think we should bring it with us, what would your bosses think if they saw it first thing on Monday morning?’ Charlie suggested.
‘Good point, I’ll take it now… it’ll be safe in your Dad’s car.’ Penelope agreed.
‘Exactly.’
‘Do you have your mobile with you? I left mine at home… it didn’t really go with my outfit.’ Penelope laughed.
‘I have it here, what are you thinking?’ Charlie got his mobile out of the car.
‘I’m thinking let’s go somewhere that they can’t find us for the moment.’ Penelope had a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
‘Like where? Everyone you know was at the wedding, we can’t go home, that’s the first place they’ll go. And we stand out like a sore thumb in this car.’ Charlie challenged her.
‘There is one person who wasn’t at the wedding.’ Penelope stated matter-of-factly.
‘Zara?’ Charlie suggested.
‘Exactly!’
‘But she is with her parents for the party.’ Charlie didn’t get it.
‘Oh… I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if we headed up there to join in on the birthday celebrations… stop here and let’s give her a call.’ They pulled over and gave Zara a call.
‘Charlie, hi, is everything alright?’ Zara said as she answered her mobile.
‘Hi Zara, it’s not Charlie, it’s me, Penelope, I’m calling from Charlie’s phone.’ Penelope giggled.
‘Penelope! Hi… Congratulations.’ Zara sounded baffled.
‘Not exactly congratulations… but everything is ok… I didn’t go through with it…’ Penelope exhaled as she said this.
‘No!’ Zara gasped.
‘Yes!’ Penelope cried.
‘You left him at the altar?!’ Zara couldn’t believe it.
‘Oh my god… that’s what they’ll all say isn’t it! Well to put a label on it… yes… kind of… yes, well yes that’s exactly what I did.’ This was the first time that it had sunk in what she had actually done.
‘Where are you now?’ Zara was totally intrigued.
‘That’s the thing, we were wondering if you wouldn’t mind if we joined you, at the party.’ Penelope sounded sheepish.
‘Of course you are more than welcome… what do you mean “we”?’ Zara sounded curious.
‘Well, me and, erm, Charlie.’ Penelope beamed.
‘Charlie who?’ Zara wasn’t catching on.
‘You know… Charlie!’ Penelope restated.
‘Our Charlie?’ Zara sounded astonished.
‘Yes,’ Penelope stated calmly.
‘Well what’s he doing with you?’ Zara was dying to know more.
‘He’s kind of the reason!’ Penelope confided.
‘No!’ Zara gasped.
‘Yes!’ Penelope gasped back.
‘Ok, I demand that the two of you get up here as soon as possible, I can’t wait to hear all about this!’ Zara couldn’t wait to see the two of them.
‘We are on our way,’ Penelope laughed.
‘Are you getting the train?’ Zara asked.
‘That’s the other thing I meant to tell you… we are in Charlie’s Dad’s Rolls Royce.’ Penelope roared laughing at the thought of herself and Charlie arriving in a Rolls Royce to an eighty-year-old’s birthday party. Penelope was wearing jeans, with immaculate hair and make-up. Charlie was still in his morning suit.
‘Hilarious! Granny will love this!’ Zara giggled.
‘But Zara… please don’t tell them what happened, myself and Charlie need to sort this out between the two of us before we are ready to face all of the questions… I haven’t even spoken to my parents yet,’ Penelope pleaded.
‘No problem, I won’t say a word.’ Zara hugged this juicy secret to herself.
‘That’s sorted then… Zara can’t wait to see us,’ Penelope turned to Charlie as she hung up the phone.
‘Great. We are nearly halfway there now,’ he replied.
‘I think I am still in shock actually, I don’t think it has sunk in.’ Penelope stared into space.
‘Call your mum… that should help!’ Charlie laughed.
‘No thanks! I’m definitely not ready for that yet.’ Penelope snapped out of her daze pretty quickly at the mention of her mother.
‘I can’t believe this has happened. Poor Richard! I don’t know how he is going to take this, and his poor mother. I hate the fact that I have hurt all of these people. I will have to face everyone in work. Oh no!’ Penelope grimaced as the reality of what she had done began to sink in. ‘I can’t believe it! Charlie… all this time, and I had no idea. I knew I loved him, but I never thought it could be in that way. I still don’t know if I love him in that way, but it’s definitely worth giving it a go. I feel such a sense of relief at not marrying Richard. I must have known at the back of my mind that it wasn’t right. What a huge mistake it would have been, even though everything seemed perfect. He said he would give me everything, and I have no doubt about that, but it was always with unspoken conditions… I have to look perfect all the time.
I have to give up work when I get pregnant. I have to socialise with his friends and their wives. I have to learn to play golf. I have to be interested in current affairs… but not too interested. His career comes first, always, always comes first. Now that I think of it, what the hell was I thinking.’ Penelope shuddered at the thought of all that she would have had to give up to be with him.
Chapter 32
The Lord and the Ring
Although not quite as bad as the exchange with her mother after the wedding fiasco… Penelope was dreading her meeting with Richard to return the ring. They had arranged to meet briefly at the Duke of York Square off the King’s Road to get it over with. Penelope took one long last look at her beautiful ring before she knew that she would never see it again.
‘Richard, I am sooooooo sorry,’ Penelope began as he approached her.
‘No need to go on about it, what’s done is done, it’s a bit late for any apologies now,’ Richard replied abruptly. ‘Did you bring the ring?’ he snapped.
‘Yes, yes of course, here it is.’ Penelope handed the turquoise box over, hiding her reluctance.
‘Good, good, well, I must be on my way, have a nice life,’ he snapped, and he turned on his heel and stormed off.
Penelope stood there gazing after him for quite some time. ‘I suppose that I deserved that.’ She thought to herself, as the tears started welling up. She ran into the toilet in Patisserie Valerie to try to stop the deluge.
‘George, hi… sniff, it’s me.’ Penelope began.
‘Oh my god, what happened? Did he take it very badly?’ George asked.
‘Oh, he took it alright. He didn’t even let me apologise, or say anything, he just snapped the ring off me, said “Have a nice life” and stormed off. It was horrible, really horrible. I dread the thought of ever bumping into him again George.’ Tears began welling up again as soon as Penelope recalled the scene.
‘Oh my god, what an asshole! I know that you did a terrible thing, but surely if he was in love with you he wouldn’t act like that?’ George sounded baffled.
‘I know, it’s very odd.’ Penelope mused, as the tears dried up momentarily. ‘Thank god I have Charlie, otherwise I would be completely devastated,’ Penelope sniffled.
One? Page 33