King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
And he shall reign forever and ever.
Hallelujah!
As the last ‘Hallelujah!’ faded away, the crowd in the gallery above began to whistle and cheer. Dmitri turned and bowed and acknowledged the small orchestra that had accompanied them on the Messiah choruses and the other carols. It had been a good performance. The choir was energised, the acoustics of the Apple Market were good, and the trumpet player had, for once, hit all the notes in the ‘King of Kings’ section. Dmitri ought to be feeling on top of the world right now. Covent Garden was a worthy stage, and they had taken in quite a lot of money for charity from just this one concert.
As the crowd dispersed, the choir members began to step down from the risers. Phil had joined them tonight, and Dmitri saw him walk over to Tanya and Mark who had also been singing. Despite the triumphant performance, he wished he could just slip away into the crowd, avoid the chit-chat, the invite to the pub, the worried looks from Tanya and Carole-Ann. But after this event, he’d be expected to join in the festivities.
A few people came up, and they exchanged ‘well done’s and ‘that was brilliant’s. Dmitri felt like a ventriloquist’s dummy, with a painted-on smile and words that were not his. Jenny, the soprano soloist, was chatting with a few of the other sopranos and looking in his direction. She gave him an inviting smile, her eyes bold and blue. Sighing inwardly, he gathered up the music and score and put it in his bag. As soon as they all got to the pub – there was already a place booked with an area reserved – he’d have to walk the familiar line of flirtation and detachment. Right now, he just felt so tired.
He’d barely slept over the last few days – just a few hours snatched in the early hours of the morning. Living on tea, water, the sweets brought by Tanya for the choir, and not much else. It was stupid. He needed to pull himself together—
‘…Saw her again. You’ll never believe it.’
He looked over to where Charles, one of the young tenors, was standing talking to Mark and Tanya. Charles worked in Richmond. It was he who had spotted Nicola on the train. Perhaps they were talking about someone else. He didn’t want to join in the conversation or overhear it. He didn’t want to think about Nicola. She’d unwittingly done enough damage – made him want things he could never have. Still, he couldn’t help but tune in to what was being said.
‘I’m not sure I should say it in front of a lady.’ Charles grinned at Tanya. He leaned in and lowered his voice. Dmitri couldn’t hear what was said, but all of a sudden, Tanya snorted with laughter.
‘No!’ she gasped.
‘Yes! I’m serious.’
Dmitri was annoyed with himself for it, but he went up to them. Waves of anger were rising in his chest. They might be talking about someone else entirely. But if they weren’t…
‘You have to hear this, Dima,’ Tanya said. ‘Charles saw her again. The Heckler. And you’ll never guess what she did.’
He took a breath, forcing himself to remain calm and detached. ‘What did she do, Charles?’ he asked.
Charles’ face turned pink. ‘She brought in a bag of fancy knickers to donate to the shop. She said she wanted to get rid of them. Clear them all out. Then she got mad when I said we couldn’t take them. Seriously, she started giving us the history of every pair of —’
‘Charles…’ Dmitri’s voice came out low and menacing. ‘Do not say any more.’
Charles closed his mouth immediately, but Tanya took over.
‘She was saying things like: “this one was from my married lover and this one was from a man from—”
‘Tatiana,’ he said, ‘zatknis.’ Shut up.
Tanya glared. ‘It’s funny. What’s up with you?’
He should walk away. Leave them to it. What did it matter if they wanted to laugh and joke? But he couldn’t leave it. He pulled her a little way to the side, away from Charles, at least.
‘It is not right to joke about this. Do you understand?’
Tanya cocked her head. ‘You’ve seen her.’
‘Just leave it, Tan’ka,’ he said through his teeth.
‘No – you have. When?’
He glared down at her like a dark thundercloud.
‘She came to the church to apologise. To me – and to you – for what she did.’
‘She came looking for you?’ Tanya laughed heartily. ‘When was this?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘You slept with her, didn’t you? Oh God.’ Half laughing, she smacked herself lightly on the forehead. ‘Yes, I can see that she would be just your type. Beautiful, cold. Unconnected. Sleeping around with whoever.’
‘Do not speak to me like this,’ he seethed. ‘I am your brother.’
‘Did you sleep with her?’
‘No.’
‘I don’t believe you.’ She gave him a sly look, and seriously, he almost lost it.
‘I’m not going to stand here and listen to this.’ He turned away from her, only to see that quite a few people were watching them argue. Fuck, what language had they been speaking? This was just the last goddamn straw.
Charles took a hesitant step towards him. ‘Sorry, Dmitri, I didn’t mean to cause a problem.’
‘No worries, Charles,’ he made a monumental effort to smile. ‘There is no harm done. It’s just, I did not find that it was something very nice to laugh at. I’m sure she…’ he took a breath, ‘– The Heckler – has very good reasons for doing what she did. It is Christmastime. Are we not supposed to look upon people with kindness and charity?’
‘Well, actually, that’s what she did.’ Charles gave a sheepish laugh. ‘She kind of took charge. Got us to decorate the shop, clean it up. And the dresses and shoes she brought in made a lot of money for the charity. So I’m not complaining.’
‘She did those things? Helped with the shop?’
‘Yeah. I think we needed a kick up the backside.’
Dmitri couldn’t help himself – he had to laugh. ‘I’m sure she delivered that quite well.’
Charles laughed too and the others continued dispersing in groups to go to the pub.
Dmitri finished putting his music away. From across the room, he was aware of Tanya glaring at him, and he was sorry he’d argued with her. He hoped he’d got through to Charles, and there wouldn’t be any more talk of Nicola, her ability to transform a shop, or her underwear. He wanted her firmly locked away in his mind, which was the only place she could ever have in his life. And he wanted her there, all to himself.