Page 71 of Just for the Season

I really want to follow her but decide that I don’t want to be in a pathetic lapdog (fake) relationship and that I should really be able to entertain myself for a while at a party, especially one with so many nice guests who I know.

I do struggle, though, while talking to some good friends, to focus on them rather than on Frankie on the dance floor. I love the way she moves. I’m not much of a dancer myself, usually, anyway, but right now I really want to go and join her.

‘Mate. You can’t keep your eyes off Frankie,’ Miranda’s husband Rob says, laughing.

‘True,’ I admit.

Simon and a couple of other men who I don’t know have now joined the women on the dance floor, and I’m wondering about joining them myself, when there’s a lot of clapping. Ellie’s son Jack then hollers down a microphone, ‘Everyone, it’s time for my amazing great-grandmother Rose to give a little speech.’

We all cheer, and I begin to sidle towards Frankie on the dance floor, and see that she’s moving in my direction.

We meet in the middle, as Rose begins her speech.

‘Thank you so much, everyone, for coming. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have reached the grand old age of eighty-five and to have such a wonderful family and so many splendid friends. I need to thank everyone for coming and for helping to make this such a marvellous evening, and in particular Frankie and Ellie for organising everything. Also—’ she turns to the band ‘—drum roll please.’

The band oblige, we all cheer, the rest of the room clearly knowing that something is about to be said, although almost certainly not guessing the magnitude of it, and she continues, ‘Last but not least, I need to thank my new husband, Roderick.’

There’s a pause while everyone digests her words, and then the room erupts in congratulations (and murmurs of didn’t she jilt him a very long time ago).

‘Guessing Gran told you earlier like she told me and Jack?’ Ellie has appeared at Frankie’s side.

‘Yep,’ Frankie says. ‘They told us together. Big news for both Marcus and me, of course.’

‘Wow.’ Ellie’s eyes are like saucers. ‘About the whole thing. You. And them. Both of them now invested in… you. I mean, sorry for mentioning it, but…’

Frankie and I both nod. The ramifications are indeed huge. I think we’ve both been busy just being delighted for Rose and Roderick, but it’s definitely complicated things in regard to our strange situation.

When the noise eventually dies down, Roderick stands to make his own speech.

‘Sixty-three years ago I felt pretty damned unlucky when the woman I loved was too scared to marry me,’ he says. ‘But now I feel the luckiest man in the world, and the wait made this all the sweeter.’ He raises his glass. ‘My wife and I would like you all to join us in a toast.’

When we’ve finished toasting the happy couple (my mind boggles every so often about the fact that it is my grandfather and Rose), Roderick waves us all quiet.

We all sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Rose and then she stands to tell us we must all partake heavily of the wedding cake that Simon prepared in secret for us.

I’m mind-blown again. How did he manage that without anyone finding out?

‘Did it in my own kitchen in the evenings,’ he mouths at Frankie, who’s clearly wondering the same thing as me.

Two of the servers then wheel out a trolley on which is the most enormous tiered cake.

‘There are different layers,’ Rose announces. ‘Fruit, chocolate, lemon. Dairy-free. Gluten-free. All sorts. I expect everyone to gorge themselves on it.’

She and Roderick do the first cut together, with a very large knife, to more cheering.

‘We’ll eat later, in a dance break,’ Rose says, ‘when it’s all been cut up. Now, it’s time to dance.’

‘And we—’ Roderick leans into the microphone Rose is holding ‘—are going to have our first dance.’

They dance, very slowly, to a ballad that I don’t recognise but like very much, and I’m not ashamed to say I have a tear in my eye.

They then beckon everyone else onto the dance floor. I hold my hand out to Frankie, and she takes it immediately, our hands now slotting together completely naturally, like we’ve been regularly holding hands for years and years, before we walk towards the happy couple.

As we join them, Rose says, ‘Marcus and Frankie, it might be you doing the first dance at your own wedding soon.’

‘Ha,’ we say in unison, both slightly wincing.

From my side, though, I forget quickly about the wincing as the band strike up their next tune and I enclose Frankie in the circle of my arms and we begin to sway like we did before.