CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
It was the night of the show at Maisie’s school, and I’d left Amelie with Pauline and Nigel next-door for a few hours so I could be there.
Unfortunately, Ellie’s usual babysitter had let them down at the last moment, so Zak had been forced to come along by himself while Ellie stayed at home to look after Isla.
I knew how sad Maisie would be that her mum wouldn’t be in the audience watching, and I had nervous butterflies in my stomach as I sat there next to Zak, waiting for the lights to go down.
‘I wanted to stay with Isla myself so that Ellie could come along,’ Zak explained. ‘But she said I should just go and that she would try and sort something out.’
‘I really hope she does.’
He nodded wearily. ‘Maisie doesn’t know about the babysitter cancelling. She’s going to be so disappointed not to see Ellie here.’ He handed me the programme to read. ‘It’s a take on Pride & Prejudice with modern music.’
I nodded. ‘Ironically, just the sort of thing Ellie would love.’
The lights went down at that moment and the show began.
Even though I kept glancing behind me at the door from time to time, checking for Ellie’s arrival, I still found myself getting thoroughly engrossed in the show.
I was especially eager to see the first ball scene, when the gathered assembly of dancers swept onto the stage in all their finery.
Maisie looked amazing in her ball gown. Very regal.
We’d done a great job on that charity shop dress.
The starched petticoat made the dress balloon out softly so that it had the shape of a traditional crinoline.
Her dress was the best of all, I decided ( Biased? Me? )
The dancers were now forming a rectangle, facing each other in their couples.
This must be the quadrille Maisie had told me about, which had sounded rather complicated to me.
She’d said it had taken them ages to learn it because people kept going the wrong way and twirling when they weren’t supposed to.
But she’d reassured me that they’d been practising really hard so that it would be perfect on the night.
So far, it seemed to be going as planned. But just then one of the ‘men’ turned completely the wrong way and bumped into another couple, who staggered back and completely lost the rhythm of the dance.
At that, there were gasps from the audience, followed by a few chuckles.
The partner of the boy who’d gone wrong then pulled him very firmly back into position, at which point a ripple of laughter went round the audience.
Well done, Maisie! Get that ratbag into line!
I was still smiling to myself as the scene ended and the dancers were departing.
From what Maisie had told me, Reuben hated being laughed at. Even though his slip-up in the dance was nothing to do with Maisie, it still qualified as sweet revenge in my opinion! His mates would no doubt have great fun teasing him about it...
I was sad, though, that Ellie hadn’t been there to see Maisie dance. I glanced back at the door to check once again – and this time, to my delight, there she was! She was standing just inside the door, looking around the audience.
When I waved at her, she smiled and came hurrying down the aisle in the middle. She had to squeeze past people’s knees and say ‘sorry’ a lot before she finally got to her seat. Zak moved along one and she slipped into the seat between us.
She had a quick word with Zak, then she turned to me and whispered, ‘Jaz is looking after Isla overnight, so we’ll be able to take Maisie out for pizza after the show.’
‘Really? Oh, she’ll love that.’
‘Has she been on already?’
I nodded. ‘But she’ll be on again later.’
She still looked gutted that she’d missed Maisie’s first scene.
The stage was currently in darkness between scenes but I happened to glance up and I suddenly saw a face peering out from behind the curtain at the side.
I nudged Ellie and – spotting Maisie – she sat bolt upright and started waving frantically at her. Maisie’s face lit up in a big smile and she waved back before disappearing off-stage.
Then the stage lit up and we were off again...
Afterwards, when the show had finished, we waited for Maisie to emerge.
‘You were absolutely brilliant!’ exclaimed Ellie, commandeering the first big hug of congratulations. ‘Thank goodness I made it in time to see you.’
‘You were great,’ agreed Zak, putting his arm around her. The pride on his face as he smiled at his daughter made me feel quite emotional.
‘Those dances were so complicated,’ said Ellie. ‘But no one seemed to put a foot wrong.’
‘Ah, well, someone did.’ I gave Maisie a sly wink and she burst out laughing.
‘Someone definitely did. Reuben was rubbish. It was actually the best thing in the whole show. Everybody was in hysterics.’
‘It was rather amusing,’ I agreed.
‘Oops, there he is,’ said Maisie, looking over. ‘Better not let him see us laughing.’
My eyes met Maisie’s and we both started chuckling. And Ellie smiled and said, ‘I’m looking forward to hearing what I missed. Over pizza.’
‘Pizza?’ asked Maisie eagerly.
‘We’re taking you out to celebrate an amazing show,’ said Zak.
‘Now?’
Ellie nodded. ‘We’ve got a table booked at Carlo’s.’
Maisie frowned. ‘But what about Isla?’
‘Jaz has kindly said she’ll look after Isla overnight.’ Ellie shrugged. ‘So we can stay out as long as we like.’
‘On a school night ?’
‘Why not?’ Zak chuckled. ‘Just this once.’
Ellie turned to me. ‘You’ll join us, won’t you, Rosie? You played a big part in all this by making Maisie look so elegant in her gorgeous dress.’
‘Yes, you have to come,’ urged Maisie.
I smiled. ‘Well... thank you for the invitation, Maisie, but I think tonight is all about you and your mum and dad.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Ellie.
‘Quite sure. You go and have fun!’
Smiling, I watched them as they walked away, feeling so pleased for Maisie. She was chatting excitedly to her mum, and Ellie was laughing, and I imagined she was already hearing about how Ratbag Reuben had ruined the dance!