Madelaine had changed into buff coloured ankle length pants, a pair of soft suede leather flats and a long, draped white sleeveless top. Her hair hadn’t needed attention, it was its usual meant-to-be-messed-up do, but she freshened up her lipstick and blush.
So. Married. It was done now. She looked down at the ring.
Not that she felt any different. And she was determined not to let a good party go to waste because she was feeling awkward and unsettled.
She misted more of her favourite cologne over her hair, took a deep breath then pulled open the door.
There he stood. And he looked gorgeous. He wore dove-grey silk and cotton shirts, opened at the neck, cobalt blue trousers and soft leather loafers. Liam has worn the same.
She sucked in a breath then let it out. Good God, she’d just married this hunk. She tried a smile at him, or thought she did. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He dug his hands in his pockets. “Victoria won’t let us escape until we’ve signed the register.”
“Right. Well, let’s go do it.” Did she sound like she was trying too hard to be nonchalant? She twisted her hands, then smoothed them over her pants.
“Madelaine, I—”
“Don’t. I’m not ready.” Her heartbeat was thundering in her ears and the prickly heat burning her cheeks crept down her neck and over her chest.
He inclined his head, stepped back and allowed her to go ahead of him, his hands still in his pockets.
When they arrived back in the garden, no one except Victoria was taking any notice. “Over here.” She beckoned towards a little table and a couple of chairs. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Madelaine sat down and stared at the register. Troy hovered at her back.
Victoria had rounded up Carol and Liam who were laughing and crying at the same time and had brought them over to the table. “Now you four are witnesses for each other, so don’t mess it up.”
She guided Liam and Carol to sign where appropriate for Troy and Madelaine, and then advised the younger two where to sign for their parents.
When Carol had gathered herself enough to beam at her daughter, it only took a couple of moments for her face to crumple. “Oh, Maddy, you look so sad.”
Madelaine saw Troy dart a look at Victoria whose eyes had widened and shoulders squared.
Liam gathered both Carol and Madelaine and exclaimed loudly how proud he was of both of them. With one arm outstretched he managed to pin Troy’s sleeve and tug him into the hug. “We’re all good,” he said over his shoulder to Victoria.
Madelaine bobbed up out of the hug then and smiled at the celebrant. “We’re all good.”
Victoria’s shoulders dropped. “All right. I’m going to leave you to it, then.”
All four shook her hand, hugged her and helped her pack her bags. Troy took the little table and the iPod back to her car for her. Madelaine followed.
They said their goodbyes again and Victoria wished them luck.
Troy stood for a moment and watched as she drove up the steep driveway hill, then he turned and looked at the little party. “It’s going to go on without us.”
“Not for long,” Madelaine replied and stepped ahead of him back to the garden. “It’s not every day my mother gets married,” she said over her shoulder.
“Or my father,” he called a couple of beats later as he followed her.
***
They mingled, laughed, joked, and strenuously avoided each other.
There were photos of the happy couples taken together and separately, but Madelaine had baulked at lovey-dovey pics and Troy hadn’t pressed the issue.
Fiona and little Darcy bobbed up in almost all of the pictures. “These pics are going to look great at his twenty-first. ‘How I photo-bombed my aunty and uncle’s wedding day’. Come on, Madds. Another one with you.”
Everyone was a wee bit tipsy as the afternoon drew to dusk.
Vehicles pulled up to transport Liam and Carol’s guests into Regency where they’d elected to stay and continue the party.
Madelaine and her mother hugged. “Mum, you won’t mind if I don’t come into Regency?”
“Of course not, darling girl. You have your fun here.” Carol smoothed Madelaine’s cheek, but her eyes twinkled.
“It’s not like that, Mum.”
Liam planted a kiss on his step-daughter’s cheek. “Goodbye for now, my good girl. Look after my son.” He jogged around to the driver’s side as Carol settled herself in the car. “See you in Regency.”
Troy managed to get to his father before the engine ignited. “Dad, I’m not coming in to Regency. You don’t mind?”
Liam grinned. “You youngsters just have fun.” He reached over and squeezed Carol’s hand. “We can manage without you.” Then he turned the ignition over and drove off.
Amidst wolf whistles and knowing winks from the last of the guests to leave, Troy and Madelaine stood by the remaining vehicles and waved goodbye.
Even Fiona, who carefully bundled Darcy into his capsule and strapped him in, was leaving. She wasn’t going to Regency either.
“Me and the babe are a wee bit knackered. I’ll call you tomorrow, Madds.” She wound up the driver’s window and waved goodbye as she headed up the driveway.
Madelaine stood for a few moments more watching her friend leave.
Troy stood beside her. “I feel like I should go with them after all. They’ve waited a long time to get married and I could be celebrating with them.”
She turned to look at him. “I sort of feel the same. But I seem to have lost my party mojo.”
“Yeah. Me too.” He dug his hands in his pockets again, swung his shoulders from side to side. “Might get out of this god-awful get-up. Then I’m going to open a bottle of wine. Care to join me?”
“Sounds good. I’ll grab some cheeses and stuff. Will you be in the house or up in the kitchens on the balcony?”
“House is fine. I’ll put the fire on.” He headed into the house.
Madelaine turned for the kitchens. This was going to be so weird.
Troy sat on the settee, his bare feet on the ottoman, a bottle of cousin Berry’s shiraz open on the table and two glasses standing alongside.
He’d changed into a t-shirt and jeans, had stoked up the fire and its ambient heat replaced the descending cool of the evening air.
Madelaine breathed in the atmosphere, glanced out the front windows over the ocean and on to the mainland beyond. It was a different outlook to the one from the kitchens, but just as breath-taking.
Troy stood up. “Need a hand?”
She removed the plastic wrap from a tray of nibbles, hastily prepared before the ceremonies. “I’m ready for that drink now.”
He poured as she set the platter on the table.
“You’ll be going to the mainland tomorrow?” She settled into a single chair alongside the settee, touched a button on the arm and waited for the electronic foot stool to lift into place. She stretched and let her feet rest on it as she took the glass he handed her.
He sat on the settee in the space closest to her chair, sipped his wine. “Yes. And as soon as I land, I’m being whisked away to sign papers, sort the tax, check appropriate investments and roll it all into motion.”
“It’s a serious amount of money.”
“It is.” He stared at his glass. “I thought I’d feel elated or nervous or something. But it’s just another investment package to set up and keep my eye on.”
“Lucky you.”
He glanced up. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking it. Of course not. I just thought I’d feel differently about it.”
“Maybe it’ll take a little while to sink in.”
“I think a lot of things will take a little while to sink in. How do you feel?”
When that direct gaze met hers, a little flip-flop turned over inside. It powered a rush of colour to her face. She shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I admit I’m doing my level best to believe that we were at Mum and Liam’s wedding and at not ours.”
He nodded. Waited a beat. “I wasn’t sure if you’d have a drink with me now.”
“We always have a drink. Why would that change? I just want things to return to normal as soon as they can. If that’s possible.”
“We’ll make it possible. And you’re right, we shouldn’t let a little matter of our getting married interfere with a good working relationship.”
Madelaine glanced at him and when she saw his smile, she smiled too. She looked out over the water. “Anyway, it was a nice day for it.”
“The best. Baby spew aside.” Troy laughed.
Madelaine lost a hoot before she could stop it. “Vile stuff.”
“You should have seen your face.”
“And poor Fiona was mortified.”
Silence grew for a minute. Then Troy looked across at her. “Did I say ‘thank you’?”
“Yes, you did.”
“I mean it.”
“I know. Thank you, too.” Madelaine looked at her glass, took a long sip. “This was always a good drop.”
“Berry knows what he’s doing.”
“Heard he’s got himself a new lady-love. Clancy Jones. A chef I believe.”
Troy nodded. “Been a while now, coming up a year soon. I reckon they’ll make it all right. Both foodies.” He looked at Madelaine. “Both winos.”
Madelaine laughed. “Being a vintner doesn’t make you a wino.”
“No.” Troy held his glass up to the light. “We should go down their way sometime. His restaurant was always pretty good, but Clancy seems to have made a big difference.”
Madelaine nodded. “Maybe.” She reached across to fill her glass, offered to fill his. As she poured for him she said, “Think you might have your diary full for the near future.”
“Think you’re right. Liam’s taking a few days off now, but come Monday he’ll be back in Adelaide at the desk. And he’ll be cracking the whip for me to get on with it.”
He fell silent. Madelaine didn’t want to make conversation for the sake of it, or about Troy’s inheritance. If anything, she wanted the conversation steered well clear of that.
They sat quietly and watched the sun go down. It seemed to hover on the edge of the horizon, bob a little, descend and drop out of sight.
A soft orange glow remained for a few moments until the remnant glow in the distance slowly gave way to pitch black, and the stars took centre stage.
“You could never get used to this.” Troy spoke softly.
“I never do. Not at sunset or sunrise or midday. It is my perfect place.”
“And now it’s safe. It’ll always be yours.”
She glanced across to where he sat but the light was so dim she couldn’t make out his features. The glow of the fire in the combustion heater lit one side of his face, but not enough for her to see his expression.
“I’m grateful for that.”
***
Troy heard the sigh in her voice.
He couldn’t see her clearly enough in the twilight. He looked back at the star dusted sky and the soft halo of the lights of Adelaide. They sat with their drinks in amiable silence.
She leaned over and held out her glass for a top up.
He poured. “Not exactly how I thought I’d be spending my wedding night.”
“I suppose not.”
He lifted his free hand in her direction and held it there.
She hesitated the briefest of moments, switched her glass to her other hand and slipped her free hand into his.
His fingers closed around hers. “If we just plain forgot we got married today, we would probably fool around a bit.”
She laughed a bit. “If we could forget.”
“Before I realised Dad had a contract out on us—”
She laughed again.
“—I was hoping we had something going.” He heard the intake of her breath, and felt the slight retracting of her hand. He waited a beat, then leaned towards her. “I think you know how I feel about you, Madds.”
“I don’t think it has a chance, now.”
But she hadn’t taken her hand from his. “I don’t understand why not. I wonder how Petny and Eva managed.”
“They had to stay together. It was the done thing. We, on the other hand, are just friends.”
Troy didn’t let go of her hand as he put his glass on the coffee table. He took the glass from her hand and set it down. “Come sit by me.” He wanted to wrap her in his arms and feel her heartbeat against him. Wanted to feel her warmth.
He wanted to see her smile.
Again she hesitated but only for a moment. She slid past him and settled alongside, tucking her legs under her bottom, one foot touching his thigh.
Then she turned and snuggled, and his heartbeat roared in his ears.