Chapter 56
Chapter Fifty-Six
T here were more guests at the wedding than Evie expected, and she made an effort to blend into the crowd, hoping to go unnoticed. However, her mother spotted her the instant she arrived. The service and reception were set to take place in the same room, with a celebrant positioned at the front, patiently waiting for everyone to gather. Alongside the celebrant stood David and a couple of other men.
Evie waved back at her mother, who gracefully made her way toward her. She looked stunning, a striking transformation from the last time Evie had seen her. A captivating blue dress with puffy sleeves and a stylish low-cut bodice showed off her mum’s slender figure. The waist was cinched in elegantly with a white satin sash, while the skirt billowed out, showcasing her toned legs and exquisite white high-heeled shoes.
‘Mum, you look absolutely incredible,’ Evie exclaimed, kissing her cheek and embracing her tightly. She was reluctant to let go. Over the years, Evie had often been indifferent or even annoyed by her parents' struggles and emotional turmoil. Yet now, having dealt with her own challenges, all she could feel was overwhelming happiness. She was elated at the prospect of her mum finally finding that elusive joy, her true love.
‘I’m so glad you’re finally here, Evie. It’s been too long. You look gorgeous. Can you believe it? It’s really happening. I’m getting married. Your father sent me a lovely letter. I’ll show you later.’
‘I think they’re waving at you from up the front. Maybe they’re about to start.’
Mum grabbed her hand. ‘You’re coming up the front with me. David is there, and Chris. We want both of you to sign as witnesses. The other two girls, Rose and Lily, are sitting there in the front row.’
Evie could hardly breathe as her mother led her to the front. By now everyone was starting to take their seats, and she kept her eyes focussed on the celebrant rather than David and Chris, who was standing beside the groom, both dressed in black suits and white shirts.
It would have been nice if her mother had mentioned she would be standing at the front, as if she was in the wedding party. Thank goodness Matilda had helped her with the dress. The floral, strappy dress complemented her figure, and she sat neatly just above her knees. She walked with confidence in the new platform shoes she had found at the op shop in Yeppoon and smiled when David nodded at her. Her heart thumped hard when Chris also smiled at her. Nerves rippled in her stomach and she focussed on standing next to her mum, trying to look at ease. All of them now faced the celebrant, and the other guests fell silent as they waited for the ceremony to begin.
As the reception progressed, she managed to avoid Chris and mingle with some of her mother’s friends. Thankfully she was seated next to Rose and Lily, and she enjoyed catching up with them both.
Rose had already been married and separated. ‘Didn’t work out. The relationship just went stale. Now I’m a single mum. Davo’s only six and Johnny’s four. They’re pretty good kids. They go to their dad’s on the weekends, and some of the school holidays. We both live in Gladstone. He’s not a bad bloke. Trouble was, we got married because I was pregnant. Shouldn’t have. Anyway, you win some, you lose some. I’ll give you my address in case you’re ever passing through.’
Lily was different from her sister, and she reminded Evie of some girls she had hung out with up north. Her long blonde hair was loose, and she wore a band around the top of her head made from colourful beads. She was still single, although Rose said she had a fella in Mullumbimby, where she lived. Lily said he didn’t go to fancy social events, so it was better he stayed at home. Home was a commune in the hills behind the small town, and Lily told Evie that if she ever wanted somewhere to stay, she was more than welcome at their place. ‘It’s only a bit of a shack, but it suits us. The door’s always open.’
‘Thanks, that’s so kind of you, but I keep fairly busy in the shop. ’
‘Chris said he saw you in Yeppoon,’ Lily said.
She wondered what else he had said. Trying to put on a brave face, she described the beaches and small town. ‘It’s a great town and a top fishing spot. People come from everyone to go to the islands nearby.’
Lily was staring at her in a strange way. ‘Your aura is out of kilter,’ she said, tilting her head sideways as she looked into Evie’s eyes. ‘You’re having an inner struggle. It’s written in your eyes. You need to realign the colours in your aura.’
Evie laughed. ‘You’d get on really good with the friends I lived with north of Cairns. In fact, some of them moved to northern New South Wales. How good is this dessert?’ She tried to change the topic, just as she glimpsed Chris moving towards them. Someone at another table stopped him though, and she breathed a sigh of relief as the music started up and Lily got up to go to the bathroom.
‘Don’t worry about her,’ Rose said. ‘She’s been living in Mullum’ for too long.’
‘It’s okay.’
Rose also stood up. ‘I’m just going to check with the caterers about when they want me to take the cake around to everyone. I’ll be back in a sec.’
Evie turned in her chair to watch her mum and David waltzing on the dance floor. Other guests were also up dancing, and she enjoyed the music as she watched couples shuffle across the parquetry floor.
She inhaled sharply, her body tensing when she sensed someone behind her. It was Chris, and he dragged a chair from a nearby table so that he could sit down right next to her. For a moment neither spoke, both watching the dancing.
Her mother waved at them and Evie waved back. ‘They look happy,’ Chris said, his deep voice sending a wave of emotion flooding through her. ‘At last.’
She nodded and took a long sip from her wine. ‘At last.’
‘Do you see your dad much?’ he asked. ‘Your mum said the three of you lost contact for a number of years.’
‘No, but we talk on the phone. I spend most of my time working. He’s busy too.’
There was a long gap of silence and she wished Rose and Lily would return.
Chris’s next words were barely audible. ‘What happened Evie? What happened to us?’
She turned to gaze at him, struck by the familiarity in his eyes. The slender features of his youth had given way to a rugged, robust appearance. Once-boyish traits had matured, sculpted by the passage of time, and the defined lines of his jaw now framed a resolute, determined expression. She looked at him for a long while and he stared back, his blue eyes searching for answers. He spoke softly. ‘What happened?’
Looking away, she took a cigarette from a packet and lit it, drawing deeply before answering him. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Just tell me and I won’t ask again. You know what I’m talking about.’
Laughing, she threw him a smile. ‘Oh, come on Chris. You know exactly what was going on. You and Geraldine, up in your bedroom every Thursday afternoon while I was at music lessons. Apparently, the entire house used to shake.’ Flicking the ash that gathered at the end of her cigarette into the large ashtray in the middle of the table, she looked back at him, still with a smile on her face. ‘Good on you for getting it when you could. I mean we were so young and the word was, you were just ‘sowing your wild oats’.’
Chris’s face scrunched up, as if he was trying to remember.
‘It’s okay,’ Evie continued. ‘We’re adults now. You were just a kid, and I guess she was more available than I was at the time.’
‘I have no idea what, or who, you’re talking about.’
Giggling as the effects of the champagne started to have an effect, Evie stubbed her cigarette out in the ashtray. ‘Geraldine Goldsberg. I never would have guessed at the time, but you know what, good for you.’
It was as if a light bulb went off and Chris stared hard at her. ‘Geraldine Goldsberg. Are you kidding me? Whoever told you that rubbish? Geraldine? Are you joking?’
‘It’s okay. We’ve all got our own lives now. Look, here come your sisters. Rose wants me to visit her in Gladstone.’ Rose was good value, and Evie felt like she could talk to her. They understood each other. They had talked while eating the buffet dinner, Rose also filling Evie in on what Chris had done since he left school.
Rose hadn’t held back, obviously keen to rattle off her younger brother’s accomplishments. ‘He had a girlfriend for a long while, but they went their separate ways a few years ago, and he hasn’t had a steady girl since. There’s been a run of others but nothing serious. He spends so much time with the business that we’re worried he’s going to burn out. Not everyone can make that much money by the time they’re thirty.
Rose told Evie how Chris started making surfboards once he left school. He sold them to his friends to start with, but then a big-name board rider from Sydney got hold of one of his boards and loved it. ‘That guy backed Chris, and together they formed a company, Vivre . They design and sell boards in Australia and overseas. He’s worth a motza,’ Rose said. ‘And the business is going gangbusters this year. They’re starting to make skateboards and other surfing accessories. He’s a big name in California.’
‘ Vivre ,’ Evie said the name out loud, the word running off her tongue. ‘What does that mean?’
‘I think he said it’s a Spanish name.’
‘Oh.’
Now she wanted to ask Chris what the word meant, but from the set look on his face it would appear he wasn’t up for light conversation.
Rose wrapped her arms around him. ‘What’s up big brother? You look like you’re cranky about something.’
He shook his head. ‘Do you girls remember Geraldine Goldsberg, from school? I was friends with her.’ He glared towards Evie, a look of disdain on his face. ‘Evie seems to think I had sex with her, when she and I were a couple.’
Lily put back her head and laughed. ‘That would have been some accomplishment if you had. She was a lesbian back then, and she still is now. I see her from time to time. She’s always worked at the Hacienda in the Valley. Of course, that’s not general knowledge about her love for girls, but to us who knew her well, it was. Always was, and always will be.’
Rose added in. ‘She could wrestle better than a bloke. That’s when the house used to shake, when her and Chris practised fighting upstairs. I think Dad thought something sexual was going on, but we all knew Geraldine would take you out if you even mentioned her getting a boyfriend, or being with a boy.’
Evie’s heart sank into her stomach, and she stood up as her mother came towards them. For a moment she looked at Chris whose demeanour hadn’t changed, an unhappy look fixed on his face. When she went to walk away, he reached out and grabbed her arm. ‘Is that why you didn’t turn up that night and never said goodbye to me?’
Wrenching her arm away from him, she rubbed it, the touch of his fingers on her skin sending electric shocks through her body. ‘I overheard a conversation. The person said you were having sex with Geraldine. What was I supposed to do?’
Nausea rose in her throat and her entire life flashed before her. The night the phone had rung. Her father’s revelation. Her mother’s confession. The feeling that she had been kicked in the gut. Her broken heart. Leaving Chris. Years of an unhappy home life. With Bob.