by Ivan B
Henry stretched himself. “As for us, you all know my battle against cancer and you have all given us superb support, much of it beyond the call of friendship. The good news is that they found it early, operated quickly and gave me a superb cocktail of drugs so it looks like I’m in the clear.” He paused, “But thank you for your prayers.”
He paused again. “On the company front, we’ve just marketed our new white-current and grape juice and it’s going down a storm in Denmark, but nowhere else.”
He waited for the laughter to die away and Derek interrupted, “Bet you weren’t going to mention that you were awarded the accolade of employer of the year for the third time in five years.”
Henry gave a slight smile, “It probably slipped my mind. However, Willow’s new book, What’s all this hullabaloo about Hollywood?, has got off to a good start and if it earns as much as Hollywood’s Hysteria Hype Machine then it will keep her off of the streets and the kids in pocket money!”
He paused and looked around, “I suppose recent event have made me reflect on life. There’s nothing like being told that you are seriously ill to hone the mind.”
He mopped his brow, “It hardly seems ten years since we first met and there have been good times and bad times and none of us have been immune. Riona had that terrible fall off of her horse and broke her pelvis, amongst other things. Gwen managed to break her jaw eating cherries, Roberta nearly died in childbirth, Treasa managed to stab herself in the eye while pruning roses, contract one of those nasty antibiotic resistant infections and lose the sight in her left eye, I got cancer; I could go on.”
He frowned, “What I’m trying to say is we’ve come through it all, our marriages have stayed intact, sometimes when under tremendous strain, our friends have stayed by our side through thick and thin and God’s love has surrounded us all.”
He reached for his glass and Gwen interrupted. “If we’re in to maudlin mode. I’d like to thank everybody for making me auntie Gwen to their children. That couldn’t have been easy as when most of them were born I looked like everybody’s worst nightmare as my face was being reassembled. It’s no secret among us that Derek and I can’t have children and being a proxy aunt, and sevenfold Godmother, helps considerably.”
Willow raised an eyebrow and Derek stepped in by saying quietly, “The adoption panel turned us down, something about my high-profile occupation.”
Gwen tucked her arm through his, “My knight gallant as ever. They did mention his occupation, but they were more worried that I suffered from Munchausen's syndrome, after all what person in their right mind submits to ten operations when, in theory, you could do it in one or two.” She added softly, “So thanks that we can enjoy your children.”
Riona thwacked her sandals together, “Life wouldn’t be the same for them without you and without Derek’s pre-recorded bedtime stories.”
There were cries of here-here and Roberta added, “It’s not just the children. Who came to my aid when I was stuck in hospital and Ben had two children with chickenpox and caught it himself?”
Annie suddenly put her head round the door and made a few signs at Riona, who replied likewise. Henry got the drift, he tapped his glass again. “So to the toasts: To long and happy marriages!”
“To long and happy marriages,” they all chorused, before sipping their grape-juice.
“To friends.”
“To friends,” they all replied.
“And,” he said, “finally to:”
There was a pause as everybody got ready:
“To the Soulmate Agency.”
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