Chapter 31
31
I t was a few days later. Fleur had presented Patrick with the ring without any fanfare but with a whole lot of giggling and he was now wearing it on his left hand. Fleur had just had a shower, washed and dried her hair, and made a cup of tea. Patrick came in from work through the front, stuck his head around the kitchen door, and jerked his thumb upwards and joked. ‘I’m just going to have a shower, and then we’ll have the chat about the wedding and you tying me down for the rest of my life, correct?’
Fleur smiled. ‘Yes.’
About fifteen minutes later, Patrick had showered and was sitting opposite Fleur, a bottle of beer in his hand, the top popped off. He laughed and looked a bit edgy. ‘How funny that we’re talking about where we’re going to get married, even though up until you dropped the bombshell, I didn’t know we were getting married.’
Fleur frowned. Patrick had an uncertainty about him she had never seen before. For as long as she’d known him, he’d always been calm, in control, and had a quiet, organised way about him. But now, he didn’t look that way at all; his voice sounded a little bit laced with something on the edge of panic, was it? Whatever it was, it was unfamiliar. ‘I know, it’s, err, going quickly.’
Patrick took a gulp of beer. ‘So, you mentioned doing it while we’re away. Is that something you really want to do?’
‘I think so. Why wouldn’t we get married in Maui?’
‘It just feels quite quick. You’re sure you’d not want something more traditional?’
‘Nope. What about you?’
Patrick shrugged. ‘Details. Couldn’t care less, just tell me where to turn up.’
‘Ha.’ Fleur rolled her eyes.
‘There are a few other people to think about in this, though.’
Fleur thought about the fact that she was over worrying about everyone else all the time. ‘Correct, yeah, however, really, I want to think about us and not about anybody else here.’
‘Good for you to say that, actually. You’re always considering other people.’
Fleur nodded. ‘Maui it is then.’
‘Great. We’ll have to look into the legal side of it and see how that works. Even if we just do a ceremony out there and then have to do it again here later.’
‘People do it all the time.’
Patrick made a wincing face. ‘There is one fly in the ointment.’
‘Your family?’ Fleur pre-empted.
‘No, no, they’ll be fine. I can’t see how it would be a problem. They’ll love a little jaunt. Mum and Dad will probably combine it with a visit to my brother in Canada. Hopefully, they’ll come too.’
‘Yes, right, I thought that.’ Fleur nodded. ‘So what’s the fly in the ointment?’
‘Lucy.’ Patrick stated.
Fleur inhaled slowly. ‘Why is she a problem?’
‘I know she’ll be on board with it and happy about it, but what if there’s something wrong with her?’
‘I’ve already thought about that, obviously. But there’s a hospital there if the worst comes to the worst. What do you do? Put your life on hold for the rest of forever because of a fainting episode, which we’re not even really sure what it was. The tests said there’s nothing wrong.’
Patrick nodded. ‘I thought that too. But you just, I don’t know. You never really know, do you? Alright, so let’s actually think this through properly. If we do this in Maui, how’s it going to work?’
Fleur leant back in her chair, pressing her lips together. ‘Well, first, we need to see if the hotel can accommodate it. I mean, I assume they do weddings all the time, but they’d need some notice. We can’t just turn up and hope for the best.’
‘I’ll email them in the morning. Worst case, they say no, and we have to find somewhere else, but I doubt that’ll happen. There was a whole section on it on the website. Weddings in paradise or something.’
Fleur drummed her fingers against the table. ‘And then there’s getting everyone there.’
Patrick smiled. ‘Bit of an important detail, that.’
‘Captain Obvious.’
‘So, who will come? We need to work out numbers first.’
Fleur counted on her fingers. ‘Wendy, obviously. Cassy, if she can wangle it. Mum, Marvin. Lucy. Your parents. Your brothers and their lot.’
Patrick pulled a face. ‘Mum and Dad will definitely come. Daniel and his lot I’m guessing they’d fly over from there. That actually makes it easier for them. Tom will probably be a yes, but Will?—’
‘Oh God, Will,’ Fleur groaned.
Patrick chuckled. ‘Exactly. He’ll make a fuss about it being too far or too expensive, and he’ll swear blind he wants to come, but somehow, he’ll make it seem like we’re the ones being unreasonable for doing it so far away.’
‘Let’s just assume for now that he’ll find an excuse and won’t come.’
Patrick tilted his head. ‘Fair.’
Fleur took a sip of tea, still mentally calculating. ‘That puts us at… what, fifteen to twenty?’
‘Yeah, about that.’
‘That’s actually a nice number. Small, intimate, no fuss.’
Patrick smiled. ‘Exactly how you wanted it.’
Fleur nodded. ‘Yeah, but—’ She hesitated. ‘Do you think it’s selfish? I mean, dragging everyone across the world for our wedding?’
Patrick leant forward, resting his forearms on the table. ‘Let’s be real, it’s Maui. Nobody’s going to be weeping into their passports about having to go on a luxury holiday for a wedding. I’m paying so that side of it is sorted.’
‘True.’ Fleur exhaled. ‘So, we’re really doing this?’
Patrick reached across the table. ‘Yeah. We really are. Thanks to your proposal and mad cap idea.’
‘Maui, then.’
Patrick squeezed her hand. ‘Maui it is.’