The Right Time

by Dianne Blacklock

  He sighed, looking at her. ‘Don’t get upset . . .’

  ‘What do you expect?’ she said tearfully. ‘Barely a couple of months out from the wedding and you say something like that?’

  ‘I didn’t mean I don’t want to marry you,’ he said. ‘But I would have been happy with a service in a registry office.’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t have,’ she sniffed, ‘and you knew that when you asked me.’

  He reached over and took her hand. ‘Look, this is just a lot to take in, Em. You know I didn’t get a bonus the last couple of years, because of the GFC, and they’re probably not going to give them out this year, now that we’re barely clawing our way out of it.’

  ‘I didn’t factor in bonuses,’ she insisted. ‘I’m not an idiot, Blake.’

  ‘I know you’re not . . . I’m sorry.’ He leaned his elbows on the table and dropped his head in his hands.

  Emma was watching him. ‘What’s this about, Blake? What’s really bothering you?’

  ‘Nothing, it doesn’t matter.’

  ‘Yes it does. Talk to me.’

  He sighed heavily, lifting his head to look at her again. ‘It’s just, the bigger this thing gets the less it seems to have anything to do with you and me.’ He paused. ‘I keep thinking about that legend, the one about Icarus.’

  ‘Who flew too close to the sun?’

  Blake nodded. ‘And his wings melted, and he plummeted back to earth. What happens after all this is over, and you don’t have your wedding to dream about any more, and it’s just you and me and reality?’

  ‘What are you getting at?’

  ‘My parents divorced, one of my sisters is divorced, the other one never wants to get married.’ He sighed. ‘It seems to me if you don’t get married, you can’t get divorced.’

  ‘Blake,’ said Emma, sliding off her chair and over onto his lap, facing him. ‘We’re not going to get divorced.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Because if you did anything that would make me want to divorce you, I’d kill you first.’

  His face broke into a smile finally.

  ‘Blake, I love you. You think the piece of paper doesn’t make any difference, well, neither do I, in that sense. It may not keep us together, but it’s not going to drive us apart either.’

  Emma leaned in to kiss him, and slowly he responded, circling his arms around her. After a while, she drew back to look at him.

  ‘What can I do to make you feel better about the wedding?’ she said. ‘I’m afraid most of this has already been ordered, deposits have been paid . . .’

  ‘It’s okay,’ said Blake. ‘I want you to be happy.’

  ‘And I want you to be happy,’ she insisted. ‘I could bring down the guest list a bit. Would that help?’

  ‘It wouldn’t hurt.’

  ‘Done.’ She looped her arms around his neck. ‘Do you still love me?’

  ‘I never stopped loving you.’

  ‘And you better never stop,’ she said, leaning in to kiss him.

  Saturday

  ‘I can’t believe this is it,’ Evie said wistfully, sipping her tea.

  ‘You’re telling me,’ Liz grumbled.

  The removalists were coming during the week, and Edward and Evelyn would be walking away from their house for the last time, and hopping straight onto a plane to Peru, their sadness at leaving being quite effectively quashed by their excitement about the trip. It had all come about because their apartment was not going to be settled for another month, and when they looked at their temporary accommodation options – including offers from all their children to stay with them – it suddenly occurred to them that they might as well get started on their travels.

  So the family had been summoned to clear out anything that still belonged to them, as well as to help their parents cull the cumulus of forty years.

  ‘This is your last chance if you want anything,’ Edward announced as everyone gathered in the kitchen, ‘or else it’s all going to Vinnies.’

  ‘Nothing’s going to Vinnies,’ said Liz. ‘I’m taking anything and everything you don’t want. Everyone hear that? I have first dibs.’

  ‘But Elizabeth, darling,’ her mother protested, ‘there’ll just be a lot of old mismatched crockery, that kind of thing. You don’t want any of that.’

  That was exactly what she wanted. Everything in Liz’s flat was matching, out of the box, new. You couldn’t make a home out of stuff like that.

  ‘I’ll be the judge of that, thanks, Mum.’

  ‘How long is this going to take?’ Tayla whined.

  ‘Tayla,’ Evie chided. ‘It’ll take as long as it takes. Grandma and Grandad need our help.’

  ‘But you said it’d be fun, it sounds like just a lot of cleaning up.’

  ‘What’s your rush, missie?’ said her grandmother, coming to put an arm around her shoulders. ‘You’re staying the night with us tonight, aren’t you?’

  ‘Ooh, someone’s going to get spoilt!’ said Liz.

  ‘We should get started on the shed, eh Dad?’ said Eddie. ‘You ready for some serious male bonding, Sam?’ he added, slapping his nephew on the back.

  ‘Boys and their sheds.’ Evelyn rolled her eyes.

  ‘This is really sexist, you know,’ said Kate. ‘The men in the yard, the women in the kitchen.’ She gave her head a dramatic shake. ‘I thought better of you, Grandma and Grandad.’

  ‘Katie, you’re more than welcome to come and fossick around amongst the spiders with us,’ her grandfather said with a wink.

  ‘It’s not the spiders I’d be worried about, Kate,’ said Ellen. ‘It’s the rats’ nests.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Kate grimaced.

  All the women nodded.

  ‘Fine, I’ll conform to sexist stereotyping and help Grandma in the kitchen,’ she said airily.

  ‘Yoo-hoo?’

  ‘Is that Emma?’ Edward walked into the hall, backing into the kitchen again as Emma breezed through, carrying a large cake box.

  ‘What are you doing here, Emma?’ her mother asked her. ‘I said you didn’t to have to come today. You must be so busy with all your wedding preparations.’

  ‘I am,’ she returned, dumping the box on the kitchen bench. ‘But I figured if I didn’t come today, I wouldn’t see either of you until Dad’s walking me down the aisle.’ She opened the box. ‘That’s if you make it back in time.’

  ‘Donuts!’ Tayla exclaimed.

  ‘Now, now, Em,’ said her dad, putting his arm around her and kissing her cheek as he reached for a donut, ‘we’ll be back in plenty of time for your wedding.’

  ‘As long as you don’t get sick or have an accident trekking up to Machu Picchu,’ she returned. ‘Have you two really considered what you’ll be doing? Climbing hundreds of stairs, four to five hours a day, at an altitude above four thousand metres. There’s not much oxygen up that high, the statistics of people having heart attacks –’

  ‘Emma!’ everyone chorused.

  ‘I’m just saying, I hope you understand the risks. But it’s only my wedding, so,’ she shrugged. ‘I’ll get started up in our old room.’

  She brushed her hands together and walked briskly out of the kitchen again.

  ‘Is it really as dangerous as Aunty Em says?’ Kate asked tentatively.

  ‘No, of course not,’ Eddie assured her.

  ‘No offence, Uncle Eddie, but you jump off cliffs for a living.’

  ‘And you sound just like your mother,’ he muttered.

  ‘Nothing wrong with that,’ said Ellen.

  Evelyn came over to her granddaughter and patted her arm reassuringly. ‘It will be challenging, Kate, but not dangerous,’ she said. ‘You mustn’t pay attention to Aunty Emma.’

  ‘Because no one else does,’ Ellen said, but she wasn’t joking.

  ‘What are you saying, Ellen?’ her mother asked.

  ‘I think we were all so determined not to let Emma go overboard that we’ve ended up virtually ignoring her weddi
ng.’

  Everyone looked a little sheepish.

  ‘I’ll go up and talk to her,’ said Ellen.

  Liz dropped her half-eaten donut back in the box. ‘No, I’ll go,’ she said with a resigned sigh. ‘I’m maid of honour.’

  She walked up the stairs to the room she had shared with Emma, what felt like a hundred years ago. As she pushed back the door, Emma was standing in front of the open wardrobe, her hands on her hips.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Liz asked.

  She turned around. ‘I suppose everyone thinks I’m a bitch.’

  ‘No,’ Liz said carefully, walking into the room. ‘You’re just stressed about the wedding, that’s natural.’

  ‘It’s not just about the wedding. I’m worried about them. They’re too old to be making that trip.’

  ‘Em, Mum and Dad are in really good shape, they’ve been cleared by their doctors.’ She dropped down on the bed. ‘They will make it back, your wedding’s important to them.’

  Emma shook her head with a disdainful grunt. ‘I don’t think this wedding is very important to anyone. Blake has put more effort into his buck’s weekend. You know what he’s planning?’ She didn’t wait for Liz to hazard a guess. ‘White-water rafting! A week before the wedding. I mean, Blake is fit, but he plays racquetball and works out at the gym, he’s not an extreme sports kind of guy. He’s going to end up drowning himself, ruining everything.’

  A drowned groom would definitely put a dampener on the proceedings, but Liz decided not to wade into that one. ‘So what are you doing for your hens’ night?’

  Emma looked at her. ‘You tell me, Liz.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The maid of honour usually organises it.’

  Liz’s face dropped. ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Em. I’ve never done this before. I didn’t think about it.’

  ‘Don’t worry, you’re not the only one,’ she muttered, dragging a box out of the way.

  ‘Ellen or Evie would have been much better at this. They’ve been through a wedding, they know what you’re supposed to do.’ Liz paused. ‘Sometimes I wonder why you picked me.’

  Emma sat on the bed next to her. ‘How many years did you and I share this room?’

  Liz shrugged.

  ‘Don’t you remember, when Evie was born, they put all three of us in here together, until Ellen complained so much, they closed in part of the verandah so she could have a room to herself.’

  ‘And you were supposed to get that room when she left home,’ Liz recalled. ‘But Eddie was, what, about seven by then? And Mum and Dad said he couldn’t keep sharing with Evie, it wasn’t fair, so he got Ellen’s old room.’

  Emma nodded.

  ‘Then you tried to kick me out,’ said Liz with a smile, ‘or to swap with Evie.’

  ‘You were impossible to live with. You were such a slob.’

  ‘I know,’ Liz admitted. ‘And you were so neat. So you moved out. You were the most independent of all of us. Mum and Dad had to virtually kick me out.’

  ‘As if they would have ever kicked you out,’ she scoffed. ‘They would have had a conniption if you’d even talked about moving out before you graduated.’ She paused. ‘Anyway, I was around the same age Ellen and Evie were when they moved out. It wasn’t that big a deal.’

  ‘They both moved out to get married,’ Liz reminded her. ‘But you made your own way. I remember thinking you were really brave.’

  ‘You did?’

  She nodded. ‘I also thought you were slightly mad.’

  That finally drew a smile out of Emma.

  ‘I’ve been really slack about your wedding, and I’m sorry,’ said Liz. ‘But I’m going to make it up to you. I’ll organise this hens’ night. Do you have anything in mind?’

  Emma gave her head a coy tilt. ‘I had been thinking a high tea might be nice.’

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘A high tea,’ she repeated. ‘They’re quite the thing these days. There are a few places that do them in the city, tea rooms, some of the big hotels. I can give you a list.’

  Liz frowned. ‘And so, at these high teas . . . you have tea?’

  Emma looked at her. ‘Of course. What did you expect?’

  ‘It just doesn’t sound like much of a hens’ night.’

  ‘Liz, my friends are not going to come on a pub crawl with me wearing a nylon veil on my head.’

  Pity. ‘Okay, if that’s what you want,’ she said, slapping her thighs. ‘I’m onto it. Is there anything else I’m supposed to be doing?’

  ‘Well,’ she hesitated. ‘I have my final dress fitting in a few weeks.’

  ‘That sounds like something I should be there for, right?’

  Emma shrugged. ‘It would be nice if someone saw it before the big day. Or else it’s taking the surprise element to a whole other level.’

  ‘Okay, email me the details, and cc them to Michelle, would you?’

  Emma smiled. ‘So she remembers if you don’t?’

  ‘So she keeps my schedule clear,’ said Liz. ‘And it can’t hurt to have someone else on the case.’

  Just then Ellen came rushing into the room and shut the door, leaning back against it. ‘I might not have long, Kate and Evie have started on the kitchen with Mum –’

  ‘Hey,’ Liz said, getting up, ‘I said I have first dibs.’

  ‘Just wait,’ said Ellen, holding up her hands. ‘I have to talk to you in private.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Emma, getting up as well. ‘I’ll go then, leave you two to it.’

  Ellen shook her head. ‘No, don’t go, Emma. I could use your perspective as well. You’ve got more experience than I have in this.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Okay, well,’ she hesitated. ‘Look, before I start, this really is in the vault, okay? You can’t tell anyone.’

  ‘This is getting good,’ said Liz, plonking back down on the bed and hugging her knees to herself. ‘Out with it.’

  ‘Okay.’ She closed her eyes. ‘I did it with the mechanic.’

  Ellen opened her eyes again as they both gasped.

  ‘You’re not still referring to him as the mechanic?’ said Liz.

  ‘She’s a snob, what did I tell you?’ Emma said, sitting down again.

  ‘Of course I don’t call him the mechanic. That was just so you’d know who I was talking about.’

  ‘Yes, because we get mixed up with all the guys you’ve had lined up waiting to go,’ Emma said wryly.

  ‘Well I remember his name,’ said Liz. ‘It’s Flynn, right?’

  ‘Finn,’ Ellen corrected her. ‘Short for Finlayson.’

  ‘You slept with him and you still don’t call him by his first name?’ Emma remarked.

  ‘No one calls him by his first name, I don’t even know what it is.’

  ‘Don’t you think it’s time you found out?’

  ‘Fine, I’ll make that a priority and get back to you,’ said Ellen. ‘But for now, can you please just hear me out? Especially before anyone comes.’ She glanced over her shoulder at the closed door. ‘I obviously don’t want Kate to hear any of this. Or Evie, for that matter.’

  ‘Why not Evie?’ Liz asked.

  ‘Oh, you know, Evie’s so sweet, but she’s a bit naive,’ she said, taking a tentative step away from the door. ‘I don’t want to shock her. She probably expects me to be well and truly divorced before I start sleeping around, or even dating.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know if Evie’s as naive as you imagine,’ said Liz in her defence. ‘You never know what they get up to in the suburbs.’

  ‘Yeah right,’ Emma said dubiously. ‘Go on, Ellen.’

  She bit her lip, looking at her sisters. ‘God, I don’t know how to put this.’

  Liz raised an eyebrow. ‘Wow, this really is getting good.’

  ‘Just say it,’ said Emma.

  ‘Yeah, you can tell me anything, I’m a doctor.’

  Ellen took a breath. ‘Okay, well, you know I haven’t been with anyone but Tim.’


  They nodded.

  ‘So I don’t know what’s normal.’

  ‘Because Tim isn’t?’ Liz snorted a laugh. Emma grinned, nudging her.

  ‘I’m sure Tim’s quite normal,’ said Ellen. ‘Maybe just a little . . . unimaginative. Or maybe I should say ineffectual?’

  ‘What are you getting at?’ Emma frowned.

  ‘Did Finn do something abnormal?’ Liz asked, her eyes wide.

  ‘No, that is, nothing bad, or weird, or kinky. But it wasn’t normal for me,’ said Ellen. ‘I don’t know what’s normal. I’ve got nothing to compare it to.’

  ‘For crying out loud, what did he do?’ sighed Liz. ‘Just spit it out.’

  Ellen closed her eyes again. ‘I can’t say it.’

  ‘Oh come on, we’re your sisters,’ Emma said.

  ‘And I’m a doctor, you can tell me anything,’ Liz tried again.

  ‘Oh, it’s not you guys, it’s me.’

  ‘Since when did you become so squeamish about sex?’ said Liz.

  ‘Since forever, I suppose,’ said Ellen. ‘I’m not used to talking about it. I haven’t even had anything to talk about for years.’

  ‘Okay, well use a euphemism if you have to,’ Liz suggested.

  ‘A euphemism,’ she pondered. ‘All right, that’s good, in case we’re interrupted.’ Ellen glanced over her shoulder again. ‘Okay, I’ve got it. Tim Tams.’

  ‘Tim Tams?’ said Liz. ‘Do they represent sex?’

  ‘Works for me,’ Emma grinned. ‘They’re better than sex, depending on your mood.’

  ‘Well, they’re more than that,’ Ellen explained. ‘Let’s say that coffee represents sex, whereas Tim Tams . . .’

  ‘Ohh,’ Liz nodded. ‘I think I’m with you now.’

  ‘You are?’ Emma frowned.

  ‘Listen, here it is,’ said Ellen. ‘Tim Tams are great with coffee, right? But say you start eating your Tim Tam while your coffee is getting ready, and you eat it all. Well, it’s still great, it’s still a Tim Tam. But if you have your Tim Tam with your coffee, it’s even better, don’t you think?’

  They both nodded thoughtfully.

  ‘Best way to eat a Tim Tam,’ said Liz, ‘is when you bite off either end and suck the coffee through.’

  Ellen gave a wistful sigh.

  ‘So that’s what you did with Finn?’ Liz exclaimed. ‘You sucked that coffee through that Tim Tam till it disintegrated into a big chocolatey –’