Chapter 22
After a billion photos, videos and selfies, we sit down to eat.
The staff have transformed the dining room into something straight out of Hogwarts with the help of the hundreds of floating candles, strung across the ceiling with invisible fish wire.
There’s a distinctly magical feel in the air.
Ged and Liam are sitting with both sets of parents and immediate family and their assorted offspring.
They are all chatting animatedly in a relaxed and joyful manner.
Everyone enjoyed the ceremony and Baron von Goodlay was a huge success.
Three high chairs have been pushed up to one of the tables for Peaches, Clementine and Louis who have all become inseparable, despite Cherry’s insistence that the puppy is most likely with disease.
‘It could be a flare-up of the anal glands or a parasite of some sort. Peaches! For God’s sake. Stop kissing him on the lips.’
I have to say, it has not made for the most appetising small talk just as the starters are being served.
Thank God Liam’s brother-in-law is a vet.
‘Let me take a quick look,’ he says in his thick Australian accent.
He all but turns Louis upside down, peers closely at his backside, then gives him the all-clear and declares loudly that he does not have worms, which is the best wedding gift that Ged and Liam could receive today.
I sweep my gaze around the other tables.
The long table that we’ve been eating at since we arrived has been replaced by several round tables that sit eight.
The pristine white tablecloths and the sage-green napkin holders, candelabras and flower arrangements with bursts of deep red are very tasteful.
Sunlight is streaming through the full-height arched windows, heating the room, while the cloudless azure-blue sky and palm trees provide a glorious backdrop.
The whole effect is stunning. Tash and Sister Kevin are sitting with Big Mand and Big Sue and some of Ged’s music industry friends.
I’m pleased to see that Big Mand has regained some of her colour, but Big Sue appears still to be very protective of her.
I can see that they are holding hands at the table.
Such a public display of affection is quite unusual for them.
My immediate concern, however, is the level of awkwardness at my own table.
I’m sandwiched between my dad and Matteo.
We are currently still not speaking to one another.
The subject of me moving to LA, him abandoning me immediately to run off into the Tokyo sunset with Birdie, and the second wedding, has yet to be addressed.
Sitting opposite Madge is Nacho, next to Liberty who is next to Eddie who is next to Birdie who is next to Matteo.
It’s like we are at a therapy session, sitting in a circle with each of us queuing up to address our issues.
Fortunately, Madge breaks the ice by commenting on the beautiful chateau, saying it’s the nicest place she’s ever been and asking how on earth we came to find it.
Birdie is quick to step in. ‘It’s my family home. I grew up here.’ She waves a delicate hand about. ‘Well, here and Switzerland where I went to boarding school.’
Of course she did.
‘And the Bahamas where we have a second home.’
Of course she has. It’s probably their own private island and will have a superyacht moored to the jetty.
‘But yeah, essentially, I call this little pile home.’ She smiles politely at Madge, who has dropped her fork.
Flustered, she retrieves it. ‘Oh, that must be lovely to have two homes.’
‘Three actually. I have a place in LA near to Matteo.’ She beams at him. ‘Don’t I? We’re practically neighbours, aren’t we?’
Fucking hell. Something else he has kept from me.
Liberty begins choking on her spinach roulade with smoked salmon and cream cheese. Nacho instinctively pats her on the back, which does nothing to ease the growing atmosphere between him and Eddie. ‘So, you and Connie will be neighbours?’ She gives me a worried glance.
‘Birdie and I don’t see each other that often,’ Matteo is quick to interject.
‘What about our six-month stint in Tokyo?’ Birdie frowns wickedly. ‘We’ll be seeing a lot of each other then.’
Liberty gasps. ‘You’re leaving Connie to go and shack up with Birdie for six months?’
‘No. That’s not how it will be.’ Matteo flicks his eyes at me briefly. ‘If we go to Tokyo, and it is a big if, Connie and I will have our own place.’
Birdie looks furious. ‘What do you mean “if”?’
‘We haven’t had a chance to discuss it,’ Matteo says tightly. ‘Can you drop it please, Birdie?’
But Birdie does not want to drop it. ‘You will be coming to Tokyo because that was the condition of allowing you into my home to accommodate this lovely wedding and all your lovely friends.’ She says ‘friends’ as though she means the opposite. ‘You agreed, Matteo.’
‘As I said. We’ll discuss it later.’
Suddenly the penny drops. OMG.
‘You made him promise to spend six months with you in Tokyo or we couldn’t have the chateau?’ I am livid. ‘Who does that? What sort of friend does that?’
My father puts a concerned hand over mine, defusing the situation. ‘But you’ve yet to decide where it is you want to live, is that right? You and Matteo have options?’
I shrug glumly. Do we? Do I? Or will we both jump every time Birdie or whoever else puts work his way?
‘Yes. Yes, I suppose we do. I mean, Matteo’s business is mostly in Spain, so I’d like to think we’ll spend time there.
Plus, I have gigs at Voices. And of course, I have my Sinfonia tours in Newcastle.
So, I’ll be around a lot of the time.’ I do my best to reassure him.
‘It sounds exciting. So what would take you to Los Angeles? Apart from the lovely weather?’ asks Madge jovially.
‘Erm… Matteo, I guess. If he’s there, that is.’ I can’t resist getting that barb in even though we’re going to great lengths not to make eye contact.
‘And a recording contract,’ answers Matteo, his brow creasing slightly. ‘And the chance to write her own songs and collaborate with whoever she wants, basically. It’s a great career opportunity for her.’
His words hang in the air.
It is a great career opportunity. Pity I feel so hesitant about it now, with all the skullduggery. I take in my dad, his eyes soft with worry. I force a smile for him.
He squeezes my hand and talks directly to Matteo.
‘If you love each other, you’ll make it work somehow.
’ My dad chuckles to himself. ‘When I met your mother, I followed her around on tour every single weekend, living in my car. I’d often drive for over five hours, straight to work every Monday morning. ’
Madge huffs affectionately. ‘My husband and I had to spend the first three years of marriage living in his nan’s tiny caravan because it’s all we could afford. It was held up on bricks.’
How horrific. I can see Birdie’s eyes bulge as though Madge has just confessed to being Patient Zero. ‘I can’t imagine how you survived in a caravan. They’re just glorified cardboard boxes. That must have been hell for you.’
‘They were the happiest days of my life,’ she says, smiling at my dad. ‘It’s funny where life takes you.’
My dad leans back in his chair. ‘You certainly learn what really matters and what doesn’t, in the early stages of a relationship.’
I can’t read Matteo’s expression, but he clears his throat. ‘I assure you, Geoff, I love your daughter. I won’t force her to do anything or live anywhere she doesn’t want to. Like you say, we’ll work it out somehow.’ He turns to me. ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been entirely honest with you.’
He reaches for my hand under the table and links his fingers through mine. My heart instantly melts. I love him. I do. Matteo and I share a moment to look at one another before Birdie interrupts us.
‘I could never live in a damp caravan,’ she says, holding her hand to her chest, bewildered by such low standards. ‘I don’t know how you poor people do it.’
Oh my God. She did not just say that.
‘I was raised on a ranch in Texas.’ Eddie sits back in his chair, eyeing Birdie, who is visibly shuddering at the thought of nowhere to keep her collection of Louboutins.
‘My folks worked for a rich family. My pa was a cattle manager, my ma was the cook and cleaner. I worked as a ranch hand from the age of six. We were dirt poor.’
Madge gives Eddie a warm smile of gratitude.
‘Those three years taught me and my husband everything we needed to know about the caravan business. We became the largest suppliers in the UK and, when he died, I sold it for millions.’ She tilts her head at Birdie.
‘So, you see, if we hadn’t have been poor first, we’d never have become as rich as we did.
Or had the amazing life together that we shared. ’
Birdie’s jaw is practically on the table.
Eddie starts chuckling and gives Madge a slow clap. ‘I gotta hand it to you, ma’am. I do love an underdog story.’
She nods her head. ‘I’m guessing yours is even better.’
Eddie strokes his stubbled chin. ‘That rags-to-riches tale is for another time. Now, if you’ll excuse me I gotta take this call.’ He shows us his vibrating phone. ‘It’s about the camera footage.’
Liberty opens her mouth to say something to him but thinks better of it. When Eddie leaves the room, she bites her lip nervously. Nacho leans in to whisper something in her ear and puts a reassuring arm briefly around her shoulders.
‘I’d have confessed by now if it were me,’ says Birdie.
She’ll be desperate to distract us from the fact that she horribly misjudged Madge.
Although, I have to admit I didn’t know any of that and hadn’t thought to ask either.
I may be guilty of being slightly self-absorbed since my quickie Vegas wedding, my unexpected burgeoning singing career and my obsession with all things Matteo and his kissable lips.
I make a mental note to do better. To be more interested and engaged with those around me. Like my husband is.