Author's note:
Chapter 15 continues the story of Ezra's sister, Danielle, and follows on from chapter 12, which ends with Danielle and her fiance, Roger, going to her parents' home for their wedding.
*****
1 Australia
Danielle Goldrick and Roger Harcourt were married in a short formal ceremony at the Goldrick family estate on the coast about twenty miles north of Perth, Australia.
Sixty doting family members and close friends watched the couple make their vows under a white canopy on a hill with a view of the blue-green ocean, criss-crossed by white-tipped waves. It was a cool June day. An east wind brought the smell of the sea and lightly fluttered the ladies' dresses but was more of a relief than a nuisance.
The groom was traditionally nervous in his top hat and morning coat. The bride was radiant and beautiful in a white and cream wedding-dress with gold cross-stitching; a dress hundreds of years out-of-date and therefore timeless and perfect.
The wedding party returned to a marquee on the lawn for dinner and embarrassing speeches. Mostly embarrassing. Roger's speech touched on a solemn note when he remembered Danielle's brother, Ezra, who was necessarily absent. They drank to his health and the hope of a safe return.
After the speeches, a string band played waltzes and the racier numbers of the Nineteenth Century for those guests not too replete from a sumptuous dinner to dance. Still in her wedding dress, the bride stood up with her new husband, her father-in-law and her own father. Then she changed into a red party frock and danced with all her other male relatives, her husband's relatives, even the best man. She loved dancing and by eight o'clock, with the party in full swing, returned to claim her husband for the rest of the night.
Although Roger didn't dance very well, he knew how to hold his wife and sway in rhythm. Danielle had always meant to correct this major failing but never seemed to have the time: now she had the rest of their lives together to teach him to dance properly.
Content to hold him around the neck and gaze adoringly up at his face, Danielle let the tingling excitement and unexpected butterflies of the day gently drift away. She rejoiced in a sense of satisfaction that it went so well - not that she expected anything else, with her mother in charge.
Mariotta Goldrick, the famed society beauty and perfect hostess, a vision in a powder-blue dress and white stilettos, effortlessly ensured that no guest lacked food, conversation or a dancing-partner. She supplied her parents and older relatives with brandy and charmed two of her grand-nephews away from the bar and onto the dance-floor, to escort Roger's younger sisters. Finally she turned her attention to bride and groom.
"Come on you two," she commanded. "Eight o'clock: time for bed. Off you go."
"We're happy here, Mum," Danielle said, gazing up at Roger.
"You'll be even happier in bed. Go on. And stay there! I don't want to see either of you for three days. (You can come out tomorrow afternoon to say goodbye to everyone)," she graciously allowed.
"Well, fresh new husband," Danielle said, "are you going to stand up to your mother-in-law?"
"I don't think I dare, Darling. Your mother's very intimidating."
"Nonsense, Roger," Mariotta insisted. "I'm a lamb. Everyone knows that. And, by the way, if my daughter can walk straight or sit comfortably, I'll send you back to do it to her again properly."
Just then, Nathan Goldrick arrived with a glass of champagne for his wife.
"Really, my love," he said, "I'm sure the young people can arrange their bedroom matters for themselves."
"Bedroom matters, forsooth! My dear husband, you weren't always such a prude. Children, shall I tell you what my Lord and Master did to me on the very day we met?"
"Oh, Mother!" Danielle exclaimed, as the seasoned diplomat himself kept a diplomatic silence.
"All right," Mariotta said with determination. "I'll whisper it to my handsome new son-in-law."
She did so.
"That was not very diplomatic behaviour, Sir!" Roger said, sounding shocked.
"My dear boy," Nathan replied, "I have no idea what my flighty wife told you: she changes her stories every time she tells them. ... However, if you are minded to take Mariotta's advice, then I give you my congratulations a final time and wish you both a very good night."
He kissed his daughter on the forehead and shook hands with Roger.
Everything considered, it seemed a good idea to start their rounds of thanks and goodnights. With Mariotta in charge, however, the valedictions were short. She bustled the lovers quickly and efficiently to the secluded lodge-house, a five-minute walk from the main house, where they were spending their wedding-night.
"You'll find everything you need indoors and I'll have food and fresh linen delivered to the pantry."
"Oh, Mum!"
But Mariotta was serious. She kissed their cheeks and whispered a final instruction to Roger, then she pushed them inside and shut the door, regretting only she couldn't lock it from the outside.
In the bedroom, the newly-weds took off their shoes and sat on the edge of the bed, holding hands, breathing quickly, taking in the reality.
"We did it!" Roger said.
"We surely did. You composed yourself very well, husband."
"As did you, wife. You were beautiful, radiant, perfect."
"You were pretty handsome yourself, tuckered up like a grey penguin."
He pulled her to him and they kissed. She climbed onto his lap.
"What scandalous story did my mother tell you?" Danielle asked.
"Are you sure you want to know? Some children never recover from learning that their parents had sex."
"I think I can take it, though spare me the grisly details, if there are any."
He told her.
"Ooh! Ooh!," she pushed herself away. "Grisly details!"
"Sorry, Darling. I'll spare you the rest. ..."
She settled back into his lap.
"I've been meaning to ask this for ages," he said. "How come your father is such a successful diplomat when his wife is so deliciously indiscreet?"
"Ha! You think there's a contradiction? Dad's successful because Mum's so indiscreet. It's all an act: she reveals some trivial secret to put people at their ease and make them want to be less guarded in return."
"Very clever. It helps him, I suppose, that the diplomacy game is still heavily skewed toward men and most men fall instantly in love with Mariotta."
"Yes, that helps. It's the irresistibility gene: all the Goldrick women have it."
