The Chocolate Lovers’ Wedding (29 page)

In the ward, after completing the obligatory paperwork, she was shown to an area by the window with two armchairs. She took one and Jacob took the other. They were both tense now and conversation had dried up, but he held her hand and that was all she needed.

Two other ladies sat with companions in adjacent chairs. ‘Hello, love,’ one of them said. ‘First time?’
Chantal nodded.
‘It’s not so bad. You get used to it quickly. Third one for me.’
Then the nurse brought the cold cap and strapped it on.
‘I don’t even want to see myself in this.’
‘It looks like some kind of mad scooter helmet,’ Jacob told her with a grimace. ‘It’s not a look you’d want to be seen out in public with.’ Thankfully, the ward was quite private.
However, calling it a cold cap was an understatement. It was freezing and within half an hour her scalp was burning uncomfortably. She could feel it bringing on a headache. This was stage one and she’d hoped that she could waltz through it easily. Seemed as if it wasn’t to be.
She bore it for as long as she could, but soon she just wanted to rip it off. Jacob called the nurse. ‘I can’t cope with this,’ she told her.
‘No problem. Not everyone can. Let’s take it off you.’
She turned to Jacob, tears in her eyes. ‘Looks as if my great new hairdo is going to go.’
‘You’ll manage,’ he said. ‘It’s a small setback. Nothing more.’
She was going to look every inch the cancer patient now. It felt as if she’d fallen at the first hurdle.
‘Don’t cry,’ he said. ‘We’ll get through this. I hate to see you upset. It’s only hair. It
will
come back.’
‘I know. I’m not crying about that. Not really. I’m just thinking that I’m very glad we got married when we did.’
He nodded. ‘Me too. It was a great day, wasn’t it?’
‘The best.’
‘Let’s look at the photos on my phone while you have your treatment.’
‘Sounds like a good idea.’
So they were flicking through images of their friends laughing, sharing their wedding day, when the nurse came back with the chemotherapy drugs that were going to be put in intravenously through her PICC line. Chantal eyed the drip anxiously.
‘Promise me you’ll get me to Nadia’s leaving party.’ Lucy was organising a big send-off for their friend and she wanted to be there with every fibre of her being. She couldn’t let Nadia go without saying a proper goodbye. ‘Even if you have to push me there in that pimped-up wheelchair again. I don’t want to miss it for the world.’
Jacob kissed her tenderly. ‘I’ll get you there by hook or by crook. Promise.’
She looked up at the nurse. ‘Let’s get this show on the road.’
‘One chemo cocktail coming your way,’ the nurse said as she hooked her up.
Both she and Jacob watched as the toxic fluid seeped into her body. Chantal allowed herself a small and slightly grim smile. She was on her way now. Bye-bye cancer.

The noise in Supersonic Spaceland was ear-splitting and Autumn wished she’d worn ear defenders or noise-cancelling earphones. It was a vast warehouse that had been transformed into a blindingly bright planet with aliens and astronauts painted all over the walls. There were climbing frames, ball pits and all manner of toys to keep discerning toddlers amused. A little bit of outer space re-imagined in the industrial wastelands of north London.

‘This is a special kind of torture invented for parents,’ Miles said over the din. ‘But I thought we’d check it out for Flo’s birthday party. I’ve learned to my cost that having twenty little girls at home and a jaded magician is a recipe for disaster. You don’t know how much trauma the balloon animals caused.’

There was no doubt that Flo was in her element. She was currently wearing a sparkly space helmet and terrorising a small, blond-haired boy with a big, pink space gun. ‘Hide in the grass,’ she shouted at the top of her voice. ‘Or the monster will get you.’

The boy looked terrified.
‘Flo,’ Miles called over to her. ‘Play nicely.’
His daughter gave him ‘the look’. Not a hope.
‘Do it!’ she yelled at the cowering child.
A moment later the boy’s mother came and scooped him

out of harm’s way, casting a withering glare in their direction. Flo rolled her eyes in disdain, adjusted the helmet that was failing to control her hair and marched off in search of fresh prey.

Autumn noted.
‘Ah, yes,’ he agreed. ‘She must have her mother’s tempera
ment.’
Through it all, Lana dozed peacefully curled up on Miles’s
lap, oblivious to the intergalactic mayhem around her. He looked
down at the child tenderly and nestled her to him. ‘It seems as
if it was only yesterday when Flo was just like this.’ ‘Time flies.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘I feel sad that I missed all of this with Willow,’ she said.
‘Even the noise and the expense.’
Miles glanced down at Lana again. She had her thumb in
her rosebud mouth and her black lashes brushed her little apple
cheeks. ‘Let’s have a baby,’ Miles said. ‘One like this.’ ‘They don’t stay like that for long.’
‘No. They turn into grumbly teenagers who wear Goth clothes
and run up terrible phone bills. But we still love them.’ Autumn laughed. ‘I could cope with two Flos. Just about.
I’m not sure I could manage two of Willow.’
‘She’s a great girl,’ Miles said. ‘It’s lovely to see you both
together. You must be so proud of her.’
She felt herself flush. ‘I am. And I’m just so relieved to have
her back in my life. I’m even pleased that she feels comfortable
enough to have her meltdowns with me.’
‘Yes,’ Miles said. ‘Strangely, that’s never bothered Flo either.’ Flo was currently fighting over an oversized, orange, eightlegged thing with yellow spots that was supposed to be some kind of alien. One little girl tugged one way at the soft toy, one the other. The alien thingy looked in danger of losing a leg.
Maybe two.
‘Flo!’ Miles called again. ‘Play nicely!’
She completely ignored him.
Autumn laughed.
‘I don’t know what you’re laughing at, Ms Fielding. Next
time we’re here there’ll be twenty of the little darlings to control.
All of them hyped up on E-numbers from the dubiously coloured
pizza and complimentary Haribo.’
Suddenly, Autumn was overwhelmed with love for him. He
was such a kind and caring man and a great dad. Her life was
so much better for having him in it.
Miles shook his head, despairingly. ‘It’s no good. I’m going
to have to stage an interstellar intervention before Flo destroys
the universe as we know it. Take this little one from me.’ He
went to hand over Lana.
‘I’ve got something that I want to say first,’ Autumn said. He raised an eyebrow. ‘The stuffing is going to come out of
that alien any minute. Then what will happen to the cosmos?’ ‘It can wait. This can’t.’ She put her hand on his arm. ‘I
know it’s not the most romantic of places, but Mr Miles
Stratford, would you marry me?’
Miles paused and turned to look at her. Their eyes met and
she could see the love in her eyes reflected in his. ‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Of course I will.’
She pecked him on the cheek. ‘Good. That’s settled.’ ‘I was going to do it,’ he said. ‘Honestly. I had plans and all
that. Posh restaurant, candles. Probably a ring. But I’m glad
you beat me to it.’
‘Let’s do it soon,’ she said. ‘No fuss.’
‘Sounds perfect.’ He glanced over at the restaurant decorated
to look like a spaceship. ‘This is a very momentous occasion.
Shall we have hot dogs and ice-cream at the starship
Enterprise
to celebrate?’
Autumn giggled. This was why she loved him. ‘Yes. Why
not? Let’s push the boat out.’
‘Here, you hold this one.’ His gaze had already gone to Flo,
who was now clambering up the climbing frame, a look of grim
determination on her face. ‘I’m just going to stop my child
from boldly going where she shouldn’t be.’
‘Don’t let me stop you from saving the universe.’ Autumn
took Lana from him, and she blinked awake. Soon she’d be
wanting her lunch. ‘Hello, little one,’ Autumn cooed. ‘Did you
have a good sleep?’
Miles turned back to her. ‘Did I mention that you are the
most fabulous woman in the world and I’m the luckiest man?’ ‘You didn’t,’ she said.
‘Well, I am,’ he said. ‘I love you to the moon and back.’ ‘I love you more,’ Autumn said.
He winked at her and blew a kiss, then turned and shouted,
‘Flo, get down from there!’
And, while Autumn looked on, smiling happily, he bolted
after his child.

Nadia watched the man hammering the ‘Sold’ sign into her scruffy bit of front garden. So that was it. The house was gone. It had been priced to sell, the agent said and, on the first day it was up for sale, three couples had come to view it. One had paid the asking price and that was it.

She was surprised that, in its current state, the house had sold so quickly but that was the benefit of the overheated property market here. It would, obviously, take some time before the sale was completed, but she felt as if it was one less thing to worry about. Nadia glanced around the faded property seriously in need of a makeover and some TLC. Most of her possessions were now packed in boxes, which made it look even worse. It was bare, unloved. This had once been a happy family home – perhaps the right couple could make it so again. But she’d had her time here and now it was right to move on. Even if it didn’t work out with James – and she had every hope that it would – she wouldn’t be coming back to this house.

Despite being able to rationalise all that, it was still hard to move away. This had been her home for so long and she would be leaving her final ties to Toby behind. She was boxing up all the books that stood on the shelves by the fireplace, along with the last of the family pictures. There was one of her and Toby on their wedding day and she stroked the image of his face. He’d been so handsome when he was young and she’d been smitten. They’d set out with so much hope, so much promise, so much love – enough for her to disobey her family’s wishes and have them cut her off. How naive that seemed, with the benefit of hindsight. There were days, even now, when she still missed him.

Stroking Toby’s face on the picture again, she put him in the box and considered what she’d do with the photos at her new home. James had photographs of his wife and children on show all over the house and she wondered whether he’d be happy for her to put some pictures of Toby and Lewis there, too. She wanted her son to remember his dad, as Seth and Lily should remember their mum. Perhaps they could just choose a few special ones to display and put the rest in a safe place in the attic for when Lewis was older and wanted to know more. It was something she and James would need to talk about. She didn’t want all these little points of etiquette to cause friction between them. Nadia sighed to herself. The joys of trying to make a modern, blended family. She was sure there’d be a few teething problems along the way, but if they worked together everything could be resolved. Couldn’t it? Panic gripped her. She’d be up there alone without her girls to turn to. That was the hardest thing to bear.

Lewis came downstairs dragging his current favourite teddy bear. ‘Stuart said he doesn’t want to go in a box.’
‘That’s fine, darling.’ Nadia took Stuart from him and gave the bear a hug. ‘He can sit with you in the car.’
He looked placated by that. James had come down yesterday and was currently sorting out the shed for her. Then he was going to drive them both back to the Lakes the day after her leaving party at Chocolate Heaven. She was conscious of the amount of time he was taking away from the farm, but was grateful to have him here to do the heavier lifting. It was quite handy to have someone around who was used to hefting hay bales.
She was also glad that he’d be with them on their way to their new life. If she and Lewis had to get on a train by themselves, that would seem too awful. Now it felt as if they were coming together properly as a family right from the start.
Her son looked downcast and she ruffled his hair as she pulled him into her arms.
‘Aren’t you looking forward to moving?’
‘I don’t know,’ Lewis said. ‘How long are we moving for?’
‘For always.’ She gave him a hug. This was the only home that Lewis had known, and she wasn’t sure that he fully understood that they weren’t coming back.
‘Is Flo coming with us?’
‘No, darling. She’s staying here with Auntie Autumn and Uncle Miles.’
‘Oh.’ He didn’t look as if he liked the sound of that. ‘But I’ll still be able to play with her on the swings?’
‘You’ll have Lily and Seth instead,’ Nadia said. ‘Won’t that be nice?’
He considered it thoughtfully.
‘Flo can come and see us for holidays,’ she promised. ‘You can show her the lambs and the mountains.’
‘And we can throw stones in the lake?’ Lewis had been very taken with the idea of skimming stones, but hadn’t quite mastered it. Instead, he usually found the biggest one he could lift and tipped it into the water with a plop.
‘Yes. We’ll have a lovely time,’ she said. ‘You liked it at James’s house and now it will be our house, too. You’ll have a new bedroom and a new school to go to. That will be exciting.’ He didn’t look convinced.
‘And your pet lamb is still waiting for you.’
His eyes lit up. ‘Wellyboot?’
‘You haven’t forgotten her?’
‘No,’ Lewis said. ‘If we live there every day, she’ll be properly mine?’
‘She will.’ That certainly made him look a lot happier which was a relief as she wanted it all to go as smoothly as possible. Nadia squeezed him again.
Anita came downstairs, sniffing back tears as she had done all morning. Her sister wasn’t handling her departure well. Despite her distress, she’d insisted on being here to help and was currently packing up Nadia’s wardrobe for her. Nadia had taken out the clothes she thought that she’d need immediately and had put them into two suitcases, but the rest were going into sturdy boxes. She wondered if James would have second thoughts when he saw exactly how much stuff they were bringing with them. She had no idea how it had all fitted into her few rooms. Perhaps moving into the bigger house in the Lakes would be a necessity rather than an option.
‘How’s it going?’ Nadia asked.
‘Nearly done.’ Anita burst into tears and pulled a tissue from her sleeve to dab furiously at her eyes.
‘Oh, come here,’ Nadia said.
‘I’m going to play.’ Lewis wriggled free and bolted for the door.
‘Finish your packing!’ she shouted after him, to no avail. But at least it meant that her arms were free to embrace her sister.
This was the hardest part. She could just about hang on to her own emotions, but dealing with other people’s reactions was too much.
‘I can’t believe you’re leaving when I’ve only just got you back.’
‘It’s not far at all. Really. You can be up there in a few hours.’
‘I’ve never driven that far,’ she sobbed. ‘My little car doesn’t know its way out of London. I’d be terrified.’
‘You can take the train. It’s so easy. You don’t even have to change.’
‘I don’t understand why you’re going!’
‘Because I’ve been lucky enough to find one of the few hot, single men left and I love him very much. Thankfully, he loves me. He just happens to live in one of the most beautiful places in our country.’
‘Doesn’t it rain all the time?’
‘Quite a lot. That’s why there are lots of lakes.’ She rested her forehead against her sister’s. ‘Come as soon as you can. Then you’ll see why I love it. The scenery’s stunning and the house has plenty of rooms. There are lots of great cafés, too.’ She chucked her sister’s chin as if she were a child. ‘No excuse.’
Anita wiped away her tears. ‘I’ll miss you.’
‘And I’ll miss you, too. You’re still coming to the leaving party, though?’
‘Yes. I’ll bring the boys, but Tarak can’t come. He has some important business to see to.’
It was no great loss. That was one person she would be glad to see the back of.
‘Mum and Dad are very upset that you’re leaving.’
‘They’re not,’ she said, softly. ‘Well, maybe Dad is.’
‘You could have made more effort,’ Anita admonished. ‘It’s not all their fault.’
Nadia sagged. ‘I know. I’ll try to call them once a week when I’m settled. I’ll see how that goes.’
‘Promise me?’
‘Yes.’ Nadia reached out for the box of tissues she’d kept to hand and passed one to her sister.
‘I need to get home soon,’ Anita said, blowing her nose.
‘Then go. Let me finish off the packing. You’ve already been a great help. I don’t know how I’d have managed without you. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
Anita gave one last sniff and put her tissue away. ‘Has my make-up run?’
Nadia smiled. ‘No, my sister, you still look lovely.’
She got a teary grin in return. ‘Call me if you need me to make anything or do anything. You know where I am.’
She showed her sister to the door and, with much hugging, waved her goodbye. Then she made a welcome cup of tea and took one out to James. The shed door was open and all her gardening equipment, such as it was, was spread out on the ragged patch of lawn. If she’d thought about it earlier, all this stuff could have gone on eBay. She was hardly going to need her little lawnmower and strimmer with the vast acres around James’s house.
When she called him, James emerged from the shed. He was sweating, his damp hair stuck to his head, his face smeared with dirt.
‘I think you have the entire spider population of north London living in this shed.’ He wiped a cobweb from his face. ‘I’m sure working on a farm is a lot easier than this.’
She laughed, put his tea down on the picnic bench and then went to lean against his chest. He wrapped his arms round her.
‘Everything OK?’
‘This is hard.’ Her throat all but closed and it was a struggle to get the words out. ‘I’ve just had Anita in tears and I’m not sure that Lewis really realises what’s going on.’
‘It must be difficult.’
‘I know I’m doing the right thing,’ she said, wiping away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. ‘But it’s definitely tough.’
He kissed her hair. ‘Thank you for doing this for me. We’ll have a fantastic life together and I’ll do everything I can to make sure that you don’t regret it.’
‘I’m dreading the leaving party,’ she admitted tearfully. ‘I can’t bear the thought of saying goodbye to the Chocolate Lovers’ Club.’
Then her phone rang and she pulled it from her pocket. ‘Talk of the devil. It’s Lucy.’
But it wasn’t Lucy who spoke.
‘Hi,’ he said. ‘It’s Aiden. I’m ringing about your leaving party. Sorry to do this at short notice, but I’ve got a really big favour to ask.’
And, when she heard what Crush had to say, Nadia cried again.