Chapter Thirty-One
On Wednesday evening, Rory had been invited to dinner at Lucy’s grandmother’s house in Chelsea. Lucy had been looking forward to it all week, glad that she had something positive to focus on after the disappointment of realising yet again that she wasn’t pregnant. Annie had been calling her daily to confirm that the meal was still going ahead, to discuss the menu and to make sure that she had written down the right time to expect them in her diary. Lucy promised her grandmother that they would both be there by 7.30 p.m. and that they were very much looking forward to it. She was sure that Rory and Annie would get on like a house on fire.
She met Rory at the tube and they walked to Annie’s little studio together. Lucy was carrying a big bunch of lilies and Rory had bought a bottle of champagne, a sure-fire way to win over her grandmother. They walked down the narrow streets lined with mews cottages, peeping through the windows as they passed by to spy on the residents as they settled in for the evening, shedding the stresses of the day.
‘Have you heard anything more from Alex?’ Rory asked, trying to maintain a casual interest in the subject but clearly desperate for reassurance that she wasn’t about to run back to her ex.
‘Not a word,’ said Lucy.
‘That’s good,’ said Rory.
‘As I said, he could do nothing to persuade me. I’ve got you now! And who could want anything else?’ she laughed as he bent across and kissed her.
The melodic chime of the doorbell announced their arrival at number 34. Lucy could see her granny pottering around in the kitchen through the window as she rang the bell. Annie was wearing her most sophisticated dress and a set of diamanté jewellery, her trademark red lipstick was painted brightly on her lips; she looked like a glamorous yet tiny Mrs Pepperpot.
Opening the door with a waft of Dior perfume, she embraced Lucy and then set her beady eyes on Rory, sizing him up as potential grandson-in-law material within seconds, an enamoured smile beaming across her face, radiating her approval.
‘Champagne? Why you shouldn’t have, you naughty boy!’ said Annie playfully as Rory proffered his bottle. ‘And flowers… I keep telling you not to spend your money on me, you terrible children!’
‘We like spoiling you!’ said Lucy. ‘And anyway you’re the one spoiling us tonight, by cooking us a delicious dinner.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t say anything until you taste it. It could be ghastly!’ warned Annie. ‘Let’s open this, shall we?’
Rory did the honours and cracked open the bottle of champagne. Lucy collected three champagne flutes from the corner cupboard and poured them each a glass, tilting the bottle as she did so to prevent the bubbles from overflowing onto the Persian rug beneath them. Rory proposed a toast, and as they chinked glasses, he complimented Annie on her home, resulting in a fairly detailed ‘tour’ of the property, surprising given the size of the place; you could glance an eye over it in a matter of seconds. In response to her captive audience, Annie seemed to develop verbal diarrhoea, regaling Rory and Lucy with endless stories from the long and rich tapestry of her life. Somehow, mid chatter, she managed to assemble their dinner, with a little help from Lucy.
They dined on prawn cocktail with baby gem lettuce, followed by chicken with grape and celery sauce and new potatoes. It was clear that Rory was as smitten by Annie as she was by him. Enjoying the new-found friendship that was blossoming before her eyes, Lucy watched Rory as he threw his head back and laughed time and time again at one or another of Annie’s scandalous stories or peculiar mannerisms and sayings. Her grandmother’s conversation was peppered with ‘Annie-isms’ as Ollie and Lucy liked to call them; she often slipped in and out of an American accent at random intervals and was truly the most entertaining company.
After a cup of Annie’s best filter coffee accompanied by bittersweet Bendick’s mint chocolates, Lucy and Rory finally stood up to leave, mystified at how quickly the evening had flown by as they suddenly realized that it was eleven o’clock. Annie was clearly besotted with Rory, she announced that she had adopted him already. They kissed her goodbye, making the usual promises to call and come and see her soon, then set off for Thurloe Crescent, both of them filled with admiration at how much energy a ninety-one-year-old could have. She made them both look positively lame in comparison. The sparkle and mischief in her eyes, the sheer sense of fun she had, was inspiring, and Rory announced that she would indeed make the perfect match for Great Uncle Seamus, as Lucy had suggested.
Lucy spent the next couple of evenings planning the dinner party that she and Rory were hosting on Saturday night. They had invited Ben and Christina originally, but since then the numbers had grown somewhat with the addition of two more couples: John and Anna, and Daniela and Ed. Anna and Ed were both members of Rory’s old gang that had formed so many years ago back at university; Daniela and John were their other halves, all firm friends now and extremely close to Rory. Lucy knew that she would be under close scrutiny from all parties; she felt under pressure to make sure the menu was up to scratch and that the evening went off with a bang. Lucy also wanted the opportunity to see Rory in his natural habitat surrounded by his oldest mates. It always provided a fascinating insight into a person, meeting their friends. Lucy believed that you never really knew someone one hundred per cent until you had also met their friends and family, for a person’s character could only really be revealed in the context of those who know them best. She couldn’t wait... Lucy was happy with her decision to shelve any plans for future rounds of IUI for the time being. She had a feeling that she may not need to continue down that route now that she had Rory.
After careful consultation with Tor and Claudia, as well as advice from Ginny, the best cook of all time, she came up with her perfect menu. For the first course she was going to serve little cheese soufflés on a bed of watercress, followed by beef Wellington (her personal favourite) with potato dauphinoise, spinach and tender stem broccoli. The dessert was in Rory’s hands and he insisted that he was going to make something; Lucy was suspicious as to his capabilities but appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
On Saturday morning they went for a long run around Hyde Park, Rufus racing ahead of them. After a few miles circuiting around the outer edge of the park, they stopped to catch their breath and walked back to the Serpentine Lake. They sat at the open air cafe watching the tourists feed the swans and ducks. A huge wealth of birdlife had settled in the area thanks to the regular feedings and the cafe by the lake was an ornithologist’s utopia. Rory was in charge of restraining Rufus who was interested in the variety of birds for entirely different reasons. Lucy went inside to order a couple of lattes and bought some huge oatmeal and raisin cookies that were begging to be eaten in a glass jar by the till; they were soft and chewy and the perfect accompaniment to the rich coffee.
As they sipped their drinks and admired the view of the lake Lucy asked Rory to give her the low-down on the couples that were coming over that evening. She knew quite a lot about Ben and Christina but wanted to be armed with some information about the others before she met them.
‘Okay, well in a nutshell… Ed is an incredibly successful investment banker; he often travels to New York and all over the world and is disturbingly good at his job. He works quite long hours but so does Daniela so they don’t seem to mind too much. They have an amazing nanny.’
‘Wow!’ said Lucy. ‘What does Daniela do?’ she asked.
‘Daniela is a human rights lawyer. She did languages with Abi at university and is trilingual, seriously intelligent and also doing something to really help the world. So not at all sickening!’ laughed Rory.
‘Oh my god I’m so intimidated!’ cringed Lucy. ‘What am I going to say? I spend my days selling new flavours of toothpaste, it doesn’t really come close!’
‘Luckily they are very self-deprecating and a totally chilled-out couple, you would never guess in a million years how high-powered they are, which is what makes them so awesome in my view…’ said Rory.
‘Such an attractive quality,’ agreed Lucy.
‘Anna and John met when they used to work in a hospital; they are both GPs now.’
‘Fellow medics with Ben and Christina… Okay I get the picture. I shall try and spend the rest of the day thinking of something even remotely interesting I can say about advertising should the conversation of careers arise! Or maybe I’ll just plan a good diversion tactic to keep up my sleeve!’ she laughed.
‘Stop worrying! They’re going to love you,’ said Rory, giving her a kiss. ‘Of course they will!’
At that moment, the lead slack in Rory’s hand, Rufus caught him unawares in a well-timed dash for the lake, plunging in head first and leaping through the water. A flock of birds of all shapes and sizes flapped their wings and headed for a mass exodus, fleeing for their lives at the sight of this hairy, copper monster. A startled Rory jumped to his feet and ran after him, shouting his name and wading into the water, mortified at his disobedient dog’s complete lack of response. Eventually, with Rory lowering his voice to its most ominous pitch and growling ‘Rufus’, the Irish setter finally stopped and turned his head to face up to his owner. With a little bark and a wag of his tail he reluctantly reversed his way out of the lake. Rory grabbed hold of the lead; he was soaking wet up to his knees. Noticing the interested crowd of onlookers, he raised both his hands in a shrug with a resigned and bashful grin on his face. The tourists burst into an impromptu round of applause at this handsome hero with his renegade dog and the whirr of cameras clicking announced a flurry of photographs being snapped. Lucy joined them, having enjoyed the whole spectacle more than most, taking out her iPhone to snap the bedraggled pair, before bending down to tell Rufus off for being so naughty. Rufus looked extremely pleased with himself, encouraged by the crowd that he had attracted to undoubtedly repeat the stunt again at his next opportunity.
That afternoon, Rory drove Lucy to the nearest supermarket and they filled their trolleys with all the items on the shopping list. By the time they had finished, they had a boot full of goodies and Lucy’s excitement levels had begun to rise at the prospect of what would no doubt be an incredible party.
