Chapter 30
30
The day of the wedding began bright and sunny and Penny was up with the dawn chorus. Even though the wedding reception wasn’t until late afternoon, she knew the day was likely to pass all too quickly.
Peter and Freddie had carried the five tables and thirty chairs through to the orangery the day before and placed them in a small horseshoe shape fanning out from the bride’s table. A small round one had been placed in the middle of the space, ready for the wedding cake. An additional one had been placed in the corner for Peter to use as a bar. Currently, all the tablecloths and place settings were on it. Once the tables were set, Peter would transfer the champagne and white wine from the large fridge in the utility room to the smaller drinks fridge hidden under the bar.
The previous day, Penny had spent most of her time in the kitchen. The meat for the requested main course, boeuf bourguignon, was cubed and marinating in red wine. Her first job this morning was to fry it off in butter before dividing it between two casserole dishes and slowly adding all the other ingredients, as per her favourite Julia Child’s recipe. By nine o’clock, the two large casseroles would have been placed in the oven to cook the bourguignon slowly all day. The five dishes of dauphinoise potatoes to accompany the beef were prepared and ready to go in the oven.
Over thirty individual smoked salmon terrines for the first course were in the fridge, ready to be placed on a bed of cucumber and served with a light dill sauce, and the cheeses were in the old pantry in the utility room. The three desserts Stella had wanted were all ready: a creamy tiramisu, chocolate mousses and a lemon tart. Josette was bringing up a selection of freshly baked bread rolls this afternoon, along with some special petits fours to go with coffee.
Sasha and Ingrid were going to set the tables that morning and make sure everything was in place and looking as good as possible. The plants, a mixture of large and medium size, were all in good health; the two Grecian girl garden statues that Ingrid had found in the old out-of-town pépinière that was closing down, and which she had quickly snapped up, looked perfectly at home in amongst all the greenery. The chandeliers had arrived and been fitted, and the three hanging birdcages added an amusing touch. Both Penny and Sasha took photographs of the orangery set up for its first ever wedding reception.
Sasha, who’d offered to come and prep the green beans that were to accompany the boeuf bourguignon, arrived at eleven o’clock. There was no time for more than a quick ‘Thank you so much for the money’ to Ingrid, before she was caught up in the preparations.
When the wedding cake arrived, Penny took the baker into the orangery and showed her where to place it. The cake maker’s exclamation as she walked in – ‘What a wonderful venue for a wedding reception!’ – made Penny’s day. And when the woman insisted on giving her a business card and asked her to remember them for any future weddings, she smiled happily.
Everything was organised by five thirty – all they needed now was the newly married couple and their guests.
It was six o’clock when they all heard a loud cacophony of car horns approaching the chateau.
‘Okay, everyone – action stations,’ Penny said.
Three hours later, the food had been eaten, copious bottles of champagne and wine consumed, the cake had been cut and the speeches had everyone within earshot creasing up with laughter.
The only minor crisis occurred when Penny, plating up the main course, realised she’d forgotten about gravy boats. Although the bourguignon was going out with a normal amount of the rich red wine sauce, she always liked to send extra out for people who wanted to add more. ‘We need five gravy boats.’
‘Use the white china milk jugs,’ Ingrid had said, moving across to the cupboard where they were stored. ‘Don’t point it out,’ she instructed, ‘and nobody will notice or care, the food is that good!’ And so it proved.
Now the guests were ready to party…
In the kitchen, the pace had slowed down as everyone relaxed after a job well done and the clearing up was in full swing. Jean-Paul was reloading the dishwasher as Sasha carefully started to wash the vintage plates by hand. Within minutes, Jean-Paul joined her to wipe the plates and they worked in companionable silence. Alice and Lucas were back and forth from the orangery, helping Peter serve drinks as well as clearing tables of used crockery. As Ingrid, whose ankle was clearly aching if not actually hurting, sat down for the first time that evening, Penny threw an anxious glance in her direction.
‘I’m fine,’ Ingrid said in answer to the unspoken question. Peter, choosing that moment to appear, looked at her and she waved his look away too. ‘What have you got there?’
‘A bottle of champagne for you all to share as a thank you from Stella and Bastian for a wonderful evening and delicious food. You’ll have to pour it yourself though, I have to get back to the bar. Lucas and Alice have theirs in the orangery.’
Minutes later, the four of them were raising their glasses in a toast to the happy couple and enjoying some leftover canapés.
Afterwards, Sasha and Jean-Paul packed the vintage plates away. As Sasha closed the cupboard door, she looked at Jean-Paul. ‘Supper , demain soir? Huit heures ?’
Jean-Paul smiled and nodded. ‘ Merci . I see you at eight o’clock.’
Overhearing Jean-Paul speaking English, Penny gave Sasha a discreet thumbs up. They’d only met recently, but she liked Sasha a lot and had a feeling that they would easily become best friends the more time she, Penny, spent in France.
The low background sound of guitar music could be heard drifting out of the orangery. Lucas, bringing some dirty glasses through, said, ‘I leave the door a bit open so you hear the next song, maybe have a look. Stella and Bastian are going to sing a duet, not have a first dance. Apparently, they are both professional cabaret singers – that how they meet.’
Hearing the first chords of ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’, the song made famous by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, they all moved closer to the door and slowly opened it fully to watch. Stella and Bastian were standing close together, gazing lovingly at each other, Bastian’s eyes never leaving Stella’s face as he strummed on his guitar. As they started to sing, everyone fell silent and, enraptured, watched as two people sang as if they were the only people there, leaving everyone who witnessed the performance in no doubt about how much in love with each other they were.
‘Wow,’ Penny murmured as they moved back and closed the connecting door. ‘That was something else.’
Lucas moved to her side. ‘A once-in-a-life sort of love, I think.’
‘The kind of love everyone hopes for,’ Penny said.
‘You said to ask you out after the wedding,’ Lucas said quietly. ‘Have lunch with me one day soon?’
Penny turned to look at him. ‘Thank you. That would be lovely.’