Chapter 24
24
Without hesitation, both Lucie and Zoe made their way through the crowd to get to Deva’s side.
‘That was amazing!’ Lucie told him, putting a hand on his shoulder and making sure he met her eyes and understood just how sincere she was. ‘I really mean it. You were absolutely brilliant.’
‘Totally,’ Zoe added. ‘We are so proud of you. All that clapping and cheering was for real. I don’t think you have a career in accounts ahead of you, Deevs… I think you’re going to be A Star!’
They could see the mixed emotion on his face… He was part smiling, part frowning, as if he might break down and cry but with happiness or sadness, or maybe both.
‘My mum…’ he began, voice breaking. ‘She’s furious… about the dress. Blames you, by the way’ – he directed this at Lucie – ‘said she always thought you were a bit wild under the surface.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ Lucie blurted. ‘If I’ve encouraged you to dress as you want to and sing your absolute best, then I’m proud of that,’ she added. And she followed this up with a robust, ‘So your mum didn’t approve, so what? I don’t think my dad approved of anything I did until I was about forty-five. So don’t worry about it. She’ll come round. In fact, at your age, if your parents fully approve of you, you’re probably doing something wrong. OK? Coco would definitely approve.’ She smiled at Deva, then gave him an encouraging hug. ‘Coco and her dress have given you permission to do something extraordinary, and you might have inspired us and maybe half the people in this room to do the same.’
And now Zoe, wide smile on her face, broke in with, ‘Yes… I think you two have totally inspired me – Deva with the song and Mum with that very good advice to never mind what your parents will think!’
Her smile turned into a grin and she looked as if she was about to take a castle by storm.
‘Wait… what?’ Lucie couldn’t help asking.
‘I’ve made my decision… now I’m going for it. Now or never… yes or no… do or die…’
‘What are you talking about?’ Lucie wanted to know.
But Zoe already had her phone out and she was calling up a number…
‘I’m changing to speakerphone,’ she said, ‘so you two can be my witnesses… Let’s just step out into the garden so we can hear him.’
Lucie and Deva looked at one another. What was she talking about?
‘Zoe? What?’ Lucie urged, but they followed her hurried strides out to the stillness on the other side of the tent.
The ringing tone came through the speaker for several moments, then a male voice answered.
‘Zoe!’ The voice sounded excited, almost flustered.
‘Rafi! Yeah, it’s me. I’m phoning to ask you something. It’s important. Very important.’ Then, before he could say anything in reply, she came out with: ‘I want to marry you, Rafi. Please can we get married? I don’t care if you don’t want to live with me, but I do want to be your wife. I want our baby girl to have our surnames and I want you to be legally tied to us…’ Then, taking another breath, she went on. ‘And if that doesn’t sound romantic enough – I want to marry you because you are one of the very best men I’ve ever known and I am so, so lucky to have you.’
At this, Zoe looked up at her mum… and Lucie found herself swallowing hard. Because that was enough, wasn’t it. You wanted your girl and her girl to be with one of the very best guys. And if Zoe thought he was, then he really must be.
There was a pause and Zoe, Lucie and Deva all exchanged nervous glances. Zoe began to look slightly panicked.
Deva made a calming motion with his hands and whispered, ‘It’s OK, he’s processing… Let him just take a moment.’
‘Zoe…’ Rafi began, and his voice sounded husky and a little choked. ‘I’ve just arrived at the airport in Perpignan. I’ve come to ask you the same question.’
At this, all of them screamed with excitement and grabbed hold of one another’s arms.
‘What’s going on?’ Rafi asked into the cacophony. ‘Who else is there?’
‘Never mind, never mind!’ Zoe exclaimed. ‘I’m here. I’m waiting for you… This is amazing!’ Then she repeated the address several times to make sure he knew it and told him to hurry.
When she hung up, they all had to hold one another’s arms and have another little scream.
‘He’s coming here!’ Zoe exclaimed. ‘He wants to ask me! I need to get upstairs, do my hair and makeup again, get prepped. This is big! This is huge! Almost as huge as me!’
Then she took hold of her mother’s hands and asked her, ‘Is this a good idea? Am I doing the right thing?’
‘Zoe.’ Lucie smiled and tried to stem the tear that was threatening to squeeze from the corner of her eye. ‘You’re amazing. Totally awesome. I am so proud of you. And if you think Rafi is the right man to be your husband – then so do I. Go for it, darling, but…’
‘But?’ Zoe asked anxiously.
‘No wedding swing, OK, sweetheart?’ Lucie said with a smile.
They all had to laugh at this.
‘OK, gotta go prep,’ Zoe said, and giving them both a kiss and hug after a quick ‘Is a hug OK?’ to Deva, she hurried off towards the house.
‘Well…’ Lucie began, turning to Deva with a smile.
But Deva was looking beyond her shoulder.
‘Uh oh…’ he began. ‘Angry mother incoming.’
‘Lucie!’
And here was Melissa, approaching rapidly with a very unhappy expression on her face.
‘Is Deva wearing your dress?’ she began.
There was no use in denying this, so Lucie simply said: ‘Yes.’
‘Why?’ Melissa asked beseechingly.
Lucie looked at Deva, who looked at her, as if he was hoping she could somehow say something to make this a bit better and smooth it over.
‘Because he wants to…’ Lucie began.
‘That’s not a reason!’ Melissa snapped. ‘He’s making a complete fool of himself. Is that what you wanted? This is your ex-husband’s wedding. I mean, why are you even here? To make a fool of yourself?’
‘Ooft!’ Deva exclaimed, ‘That was a bit harsh, Mum.’
‘We’ve had a very long journey and Miles offered me dinner and a bed for the night,’ Lucie said simply. ‘I’m also enjoying catching up with old friends… and family.’
‘But Deva… in a dress?’ Melissa blurted. And somewhere mixed in with that anger was upset and an inability to understand what was going on.
‘Deva is a wonderfully talented singer and performer.’ Lucie smiled at her nephew. ‘When he’s wearing Chanel, he performs even better. I don’t think it’s anything more complicated than that…’
‘But…’ Melissa began. ‘I don’t want a son who wears dresses, who thinks he’s a girl!’
‘When you’re twenty, you’ve got to try a lot of things out to work out who you are and what you want. I know I did that. Luckily, my mum and dad just let me get on with it. They cheered from the sidelines… because that’s what we’re supposed to do.’
Whatever Melissa might have wanted to say next was interrupted by the appearance of Miles by their sides.
‘Great song, Deva,’ he said. ‘What a talent. Lucie, can I have a quick word?’
At this, Melissa took hold of Deva’s shoulder and turned him away. Lucie didn’t like the look of that move very much. It was quite controlling, as if Melissa was taking charge of her son. She fully expected that the next time she saw Deva he would be back in his suit, and whatever feelings were bubbling up in his mind as he tried out dresses and singing and figuring out who he was and what he wanted to be would be pushed firmly back down again.
‘Miles?’ Lucie turned with a pleasant smile to her ex.
‘Lucie, did you scalp the cake groom?’ Miles asked, sounding angry.
Oh boy… this was not what she’d expected.
‘Ah… well…’
‘You did, didn’t you? What on earth did you do that for? Jacasta is very upset. She’s upset about that. She’s upset about the swing. She’s upset about her bouquet getting squashed and the stain on her dress. She thinks this whole thing is a disaster.’
Lucie took a breath. ‘This is a gorgeous, beautiful, memorable wedding. Please tell her that. People will take wonderful memories away from tonight.’
‘But why did you scalp me?’ he demanded.
‘Well, maybe, Miles, it was because you deserve to be scalped!’ Lucie said, determined to remain calm but to stand firm. ‘You used my credit card to pay for your shiny new teeth and your stupid new hair and I’m still paying the bill!’
Then, while she had his ear, she thought she might share a few other home truths with him. ‘Do you not think I might have a few other reasons to be pissed off with you? I’m living in a rented one-bed in Tonbridge while you have a flaming chateau wedding in France! What’s that all about?
‘Half of my pension fund has been signed over to you!’ she went on. ‘And on top of that, you seem to have some secret office block that you’ve never told me about. So yes, I scalped the bloody fondant groom. Quite honestly, that was restrained. I should be scalping you!’