‘Fellow medics with Ben and Christina… Okay I get the picture. I shall try and spend the rest of the day thinking of something even remotely interesting I can say about advertising should the conversation of careers arise! Or maybe I’ll just plan a good diversion tactic to keep up my sleeve!’ she laughed.
‘Stop worrying! They’re going to love you,’ said Rory, giving her a kiss. ‘Of course they will!’
At that moment, the lead slack in Rory’s hand, Rufus caught him unawares in a well-timed dash for the lake, plunging in head first and leaping through the water. A flock of birds of all shapes and sizes flapped their wings and headed for a mass exodus, fleeing for their lives at the sight of this hairy, copper monster. A startled Rory jumped to his feet and ran after him, shouting his name and wading into the water, mortified at his disobedient dog’s complete lack of response. Eventually, with Rory lowering his voice to its most ominous pitch and growling ‘Rufus’, the Irish setter finally stopped and turned his head to face up to his owner. With a little bark and a wag of his tail he reluctantly reversed his way out of the lake. Rory grabbed hold of the lead; he was soaking wet up to his knees. Noticing the interested crowd of onlookers, he raised both his hands in a shrug with a resigned and bashful grin on his face. The tourists burst into an impromptu round of applause at this handsome hero with his renegade dog and the whirr of cameras clicking announced a flurry of photographs being snapped. Lucy joined them, having enjoyed the whole spectacle more than most, taking out her iPhone to snap the bedraggled pair, before bending down to tell Rufus off for being so naughty. Rufus looked extremely pleased with himself, encouraged by the crowd that he had attracted to undoubtedly repeat the stunt again at his next opportunity.
That afternoon, Rory drove Lucy to the nearest supermarket and they filled their trolleys with all the items on the shopping list. By the time they had finished, they had a boot full of goodies and Lucy’s excitement levels had begun to rise at the prospect of what would no doubt be an incredible party.
They unpacked the shopping bags in the kitchen and filled the drinks fridge with white wine and bubbles. They set the huge, mahogany table in the dining room with eight places. The walls were lined with coral wall paper, giving the room a warm and cosy feel. While Rory assembled the most enormous trifle Lucy had ever seen, layer upon layer of colourful calories, Lucy set about preparing the mixture for the cheese soufflés. When she was happy with its creamy consistency she poured it into eight individual ramekins and set them to rest in the fridge until she was ready to cook them later on. With a quick phone call to Ginny to run through the recipe for beef Wellington, she began to prepare the meat. Rory wanted to learn how to cook it so was getting a step-by-step tutorial from Lucy as she went. He was so impressed with her cooking; he proved the theory that good food was the way to a man’s heart.
‘You know you really are the ideal woman,’ he announced admiringly, watching Lucy wrap the pastry carefully around the cylinder of beef as she rolled it up snugly in its pastry blanket.
An hour or so later, both Lucy and Rory were showered and dressed. They lit candles in the kitchen where they would have pre-dinner drinks and also in the dining room. The fire was flickering in the wood burner at the end of the room, the only kitchen in London with a fire, as far as Lucy knew, and bowls of crisps and dips were scattered across various surfaces. Rory had cranked up his old record player. The needle ran smoothly around the ridged orbits of the disc, filling the room with crackling, atmospheric blues.
Ben and Christina were the first to arrive.
‘Lucy how lovely to meet you!’ said Christina.
‘It’s lovely to meet you too,’ said Lucy, kissing Christina and then Ben, who were both clearly thrilled at the opportunity to have a night without their children.
‘Can I offer you my cocktail of the night?’ asked Rory.
‘And what might that be?’ laughed Ben.
‘It’s gin and tonic with elderflower liqueur… as yet to be named,’ said Rory. They both wasted no time in accepting.
The other two couples arrived simultaneously a few minutes later and soon they were all chatting happily in the kitchen, sipping their refreshing drinks with remarkable enthusiasm. As their cocktail glasses slowly emptied, Ben and Rory reminisced about their days working in a cocktail bar as students.
‘I didn’t know you were barmen,’ said Lucy.
‘We were indeed,’ said Rory proudly.
‘They were both savvy enough to realize that their chosen trade would not only give them extra, much-needed, beer money but also teach them a trick or two to last them into later life. Am I right, lads?’ laughed Ed.
‘It was definitely a sure-fire way to meet lots of women,’ said Anna.
It seemed that Ben, a blond Leonardo di Caprio look-a-like in his youth, valiantly took on the challenge single-handedly, doing his utmost to plough his way through both men’s allocation of ladies with serious dedication.
Amused by the recollection of their Cocktail days, John challenged Ben and Rory to see if they could still remember any of the tricks they used to practise from their days of flair bartending. Both men accepted the contest with relish, surprisingly competent given their years out of practice as they flipped and spun the bottles on their arms.
‘Come on boys… you have to show Lucy your old party trick,’ said Anna to rapturous cheers from the rest of the gang. Their party trick double act seemed to involve passing the bottle between the two of them with a risky catch in the air, three hundred and sixty degree turns and a bit of juggling. Rising to the occasion, they gave it their best shot, but unsurprisingly the bottle slipped from their grasp mid-air and went crashing to the floor, covering the tiles in Tia Maria. The whole party collapsed in laughter, with Rufus doing his best to lap up the spillage.
‘Oy Rufus, no!’ shouted Rory, shooing him away. A drunk dog would be just what they needed to add to the chaos the evening would undoubtedly bring.
A short while later they sat down for dinner, everyone well-lubricated and bright-eyed after their cocktails. The soufflés were crisp and golden brown on the surface but perfectly mousse-like in the middle. The watercress with balsamic glaze was the ideal combination of bitter and sweet to go with it.
‘This is absolutely delicious,’ said Daniela.
‘May I propose a toast?’ said John. ‘To the chefs!’ he said, raising his glass.
‘Hear hear,’ cried the others, clinking their glasses.
‘To the chefs!’
‘And to Rory… for his amazing taste in women!’ said Ben, winking at Lucy as he did so, prompting another flurry of cheers and chinking glass around the table as Lucy tried not to blush.
The beef was resting and the potato dauphinoise was bubbling happily away in the oven so Lucy stayed at the table and settled back into the conversation. ‘So Ben, tell me more about your lothario days,’ said Lucy.
‘I blooming wish I still had that pulling power!’ laughed Ben.
‘I don’t know what went wrong,’ chuckled Christina, ‘You were so promising when I married you!’
‘I think it’s called middle-aged spread…’ said Ben, patting his slight paunch and reaching for the wine.
‘Better keep working on it,’ agreed Ed. ‘This kind of peak physical condition doesn’t come easily you know!’
Glancing at her watch five minutes later, Lucy excused herself and popped back into the kitchen to steam the spinach and broccoli while Rory began to carve the meat. She could tell he was thrilled to have the house filled with his friends, good conversation and a delicious meal. It was great to see him so happy. Not that he ever really seemed to get down. Unlike Alex. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head once again in disbelief at him turning up out of the blue like that earlier in the week. She marvelled at how far she had come since their break-up and smiled to herself when she thought how much better Rory was for her in every respect.
Together, they plated up the food. The beef was perfectly cooked, rosy red in th
e middle and oozing juices, the pastry flaky and golden on the outside. Lucy’s stomach rumbled at the sight of it, the creamy, garlicky potatoes smelt amazing. She carried two plates at a time into the dining room, another rapturous round of applause erupted from Rory’s friends as she set the plates down in front of them. As Rory came and poured a bottle of his finest claret into their bell-shaped red wine glasses, Lucy insisted everyone start to eat before their food began to cool. It was thankfully as mouth-watering a meal as Lucy had ever cooked, Ginny would have been proud of her, and she enjoyed every mouthful, relaxing into the sparkling conversation that flowed around and across the table now her catering duties were over.
The group of old friends had a wonderfully amicable ease with each other. The girls had formed a sort of triple entente against the boys, resulting in a comedic battle of the sexes which Lucy thought was hilarious. They would reprimand the men whilst the men wound them up purposefully, all resulting in some highly entertaining conversation.
Having given themselves enough time to digest their first two courses, Rory asked whether everyone was ready for pudding. He received a resounding cheer and went to fetch his pièce de resistance, the trifle. He dolloped huge portions into bowls, which were passed out along the table. Tasting a big spoonful of the gooey pudding, Lucy was impressed. It was a superb trifle; she had forgotten how much she loved it.
By the time Lucy had finished eating, her tummy was straining against the waist of her jeans; she was full to bursting. The conversation had moved onto the charming and not-so-charming antics of the accumulated couples’ children. Between them they had six children aged between one and nine years old. Rory was godparent to two of them and clearly loved hearing what they had been up to recently. It seemed that children really did say the funniest things. Much to their embarrassment with the neighbours, John and Anna’s eldest had screeched from the top floor out into the garden last week that her brother Freddie had punched her in the vagina. They couldn’t understand where she had even heard of that word and assumed that it was from the older children at school; they could only hope that she didn’t really understand what she was talking about. Along the same vein, Daniela and Ed’s eldest, nine-year-old Joe, had been humming along to the Harry Potter theme tune when he had suddenly sung the word ‘erection’ quietly to himself. Not wishing to embarrass their son, Daniela and Ed had barely been able to disguise their giggles.
By one o’clock in the morning, everyone was more than ready for bed. The parents amongst them were conscious of their babysitters who would be annoyed if they didn’t come home at a relatively decent hour. Taxis were summoned and everyone kissed and hugged goodbye, declaring themselves thrilled to have met Lucy and over the moon for Rory at his wonderful girlfriend. Lucy was sure that the flattery was partly down to the booze but was secretly delighted that they all seemed to rate her so highly. Rory looked proudly at her as she said goodbye to all his friends, an expression of adoration plastered across his face. It had been a truly fantastic party.
They cleared up happily, loading the rest of the dirty dishes into the machine and washing the dishes that were too large to fit in under the tap. Lucy went up to get ready for bed while Rory took Rufus out for a quick walk around the block. She was half asleep by the time he joined her and she snuggled into his arms, kissing him and resting her head on his muscular chest as she drifted off to sleep.
‘Luce?’ asked Rory in the darkness.
‘Mmmm,’ said Lucy drowsily.
‘Do you want kids some day?’
‘Yes… I do,’ said Lucy, her heartbeat quickening. She immediately felt guilty that she still hadn’t told him about the IUI yet she felt excited that he was bringing the topic of conversation up in the first place. ‘Do you?’ she asked.
‘I want a few,’ said Rory, stifling a yawn as his breathing deepened. ‘Quite a few…’
Within minutes he was asleep, leaving Lucy to contemplate what he may have meant by asking her that question. Did he think they might have children together? Did that mean he might have been okay with it if she had turned out to be pregnant last week? In the silence of the room, with the rhythmic breathing of Rory’s breath in the background, she considered what his reaction might have been. She dared to imagine what he might have done if he had found out the baby wasn’t his.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The following weekend Ginny and Gus were making a rare train journey up to the big smoke for Ginny’s birthday. They were planning on taking Annie out to the theatre and had invited Lucy and Rory to join them. Lucy wondered whether their biennial trip to London had arrived a little earlier than usual, suspecting that it was probably connected with enormous curiosity on both their parts to meet the by-now famous Rory. Especially since Annie had not stopped raving about him during Ginny’s nightly telephone calls ever since their dinner in the studio the previous week.
Rory couldn’t wait to meet Lucy’s parents and was excited about their evening together. He wasn’t a massive fan of musical theatre but was more than happy to make an exception to spend the evening with her family. Gus was treating them all to dinner afterwards at a French restaurant in the West-End. They were going to see Ginny’s best-loved musical, Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, and Lucy spent the whole week looking forward to it.
Rory’s friends had all written charming thank you letters after the dinner party, singing Lucy’s praises and thanking them both for such a fun and spoiling evening, promising to invite them back for a return meal soon.
During the week, Rory and Lucy spent most of their evenings together in the familiar routines they had established as a couple. On Thursday they stood side by side brushing their teeth before bed. As Rory put his toothbrush back in the holder, he asked her whether she was around in the first week of March.
‘I should think so,’ said Lucy. ‘How come?’
‘Would you like to meet my folks?’ asked Rory. ‘I really want you to.’
‘Are you kidding?’ asked Lucy. ‘I would love to!’
‘I think it’s unfair that I am going to have met Annie, Ginny and Gus by the end of the week and none of my family have had the chance to meet you. They’re all dying to lay eyes on the famous Lucy Johnston! What would you say to a weekend jaunt in Ireland!’ suggested Rory.
Lucy couldn’t think of anything she would rather do. She was thrilled with the way things were going between them; it felt like every piece of the puzzle was falling into place. Meeting each other’s families would be the icing on the cake.
That Friday evening they celebrated Valentine’s Day, until recently Lucy’s worst day of the year. Not anymore. Rory cooked Lucy a romantic, candlelit meal and they exchanged cards with heartfelt notes written inside. Lucy felt closer to him than ever and loved him for spoiling her so much; he made her feel like the luckiest woman alive.
Saturday was a drizzly, damp day; a day for winter warmers, leather boots and duffle coats.
‘I don’t want to go outside in this,’ Lucy sulked, looking out of the window.
Rory mimicked his mother Trina scolding, ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothes,’ as he zipped up his oversized waterproof jacket and pulled on his beloved Caterpillar boots.
Having travelled underground into central London, Lucy and Rory emerged from the tube and bowed their heads as if in prayer as the misty rain sprayed their faces. Rory unleashed the catch on his enormous umbrella, which sprang into a full arc above their heads, protecting them from the elements as they trundled through the throngs of Saturday night drinkers that flocked to Soho each weekend. Gus was waiting for them, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his coat, seemingly lost in his thoughts as he stood at the entrance to the theatre like an off-duty security guard. Spotting his daughter as she approached, he roused himself from his thoughts and stepped down from his vantage point to greet them.
Having kissed Lucy, Gus turned towards Rory held out his hand and gave him a firm handshake, saying, �
�Rory, lovely to meet you’ as he did so.
‘It’s very good to meet you too, Gus,’ said Rory. ‘I see London’s pulling out all the stops for your visit!’ he joked, gesturing at the water that was gushing along the gutter.
‘Yes, I know! We don’t seem to have the best of luck with our wonderful capital, it would appear. I would hazard a guess that eighty percent of our trips up to London have been exactly like this, while there’s nothing but blazing sunshine back home in Cornwall!’ said Gus as he showed their tickets to the doorman. ‘Sod’s law I suppose!’
‘Poor dad,’ consoled Lucy. ‘How was the train journey?’ she asked.
‘Oh, fine, fine thanks, darling. It only takes four hours you know, it’s so much faster than driving!’ marvelled Gus.
‘That’s what I’ve been telling you for years! It’s so much more comfortable too,’ said Lucy. ‘I can’t bear the thought of driving down there now; sitting in traffic on the motorway for double the amount of time it should take!’
They climbed a flight of stairs, admiring the framed pictures of actors and actresses that lined the walls, before arriving in the opulently decorated bar. The seats were covered in red crushed velvet and gold light fittings mimicking chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Annie and Ginny were waiting at one of the tables with a bottle of prosecco and five champagne flutes full to the brim. They both stood up as they entered the room, two matching grins mirrored each other on both of their faces, so similar despite one being slightly more wrinkled than the other.
‘Darlings!’ cried Annie as she held out her arms to embrace her granddaughter and her ‘beloved’, as she called Rory. ‘So lovely to see you both!’ she said, kissing them both on each cheek.
‘Annie, I see you’re looking gorgeous as ever!’ replied Rory. ‘And you must be Ginny,’ said Rory, turning to face Lucy’s mother with his most charming smile as he, in turn, kissed her on the cheek.
‘I certainly am. It’s lovely to meet you at long last,’ simpered Ginny. ‘I’ve heard so much about you from both Lucy and my mother… I feel like I know you already!’
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