The Chocolate Lovers’ Wedding (14 page)

When it was time, Autumn took her back to Paddington station to catch her train. She felt tearful, and it was clear that Willow was feeling the same.

She hugged her daughter tightly. ‘It’s been a fantastic day. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.’
‘It was great.’
‘You’ll come again soon?’
‘I will,’ she said.
‘Good.’ She kissed her cheek and Willow didn’t pull away. ‘You’ll have to hurry to catch your train.’ They’d lingered too long over tea. ‘I’ll call you.’
‘OK.’ Her daughter left her and ran down the platform. The guard was blowing his whistle and she swung onto the train as the doors closed. Autumn stood and watched it pull away, taking her daughter with it and the hole opened up in her heart once more.

Chantal was in her hospital gown. Once the lump had been discovered, it seemed that everything was moving at breakneck speed. Practically, that was a great thing. Emotionally, she felt all over the place. But at least she didn’t have much time to dwell on it.

Today she was having isotopes injected, to check that the cancer was contained in the offending lump and that it hadn’t spread to her lymph nodes. She didn’t believe in God, but she’d never prayed so much in her life. She had to be well for Lana’s sake.

Jacob was here holding her hand, but she wished that the girls could have been with her too. Nadia and Autumn were sharing the childcare duties between them and she’d handed Lana over at seven o’clock this morning, a bit grisly and out of sorts. Chantal had squeezed her within an inch of her life.

Chantal had been glad to hear that Autumn’s first solo day out with Willow had gone well. She didn’t even want to leave Lana while she was in hospital, so how difficult must it have been for Autumn to hand over her child for adoption? She couldn’t even begin to imagine. Would there come a day when Ted would want to take Lana back to America, maybe for holidays? She didn’t think she could cope with that. Hopefully, it was a long way off. Even more hopefully, she’d still be here to experience that dilemma.

The girls had given her an amazing bouquet of flowers and there was a signed card for her, which she was now displaying on her bedside table. They’d all just texted her, too. They might not be here in the room with her, but there was no doubt that they were all rooting for her.

The consultant came in to see her. ‘Hi, Chantal. Big day. Lots of procedures. We’re going to be removing the lump for you and also checking the lymph nodes to make sure that the cancer hasn’t spread to another site. All good?’

Chantal nodded, shakily. She was trying to be strong for Jacob and Lana’s sake, but her insides felt like liquid.
‘We’re going to turn you into one of my Smurf ladies, I’m afraid.’ Livia glanced at her notes. ‘We’re going to inject you with radioactive tracer and also a blue dye. They attach themselves to all the bad stuff to show us what we’re dealing with. But it means that you’ll wee blue and you’ll poo blue. You may even turn a bit blue for a while.’
‘I’ll look forward to that,’ Chantal said wryly. That, she was sure, was the least of her worries. As long as they got this cancer out of her then they could turn her whatever colour they liked.
‘If I think any of the nodes look as if they have cancer cells, I’ll remove those too and send them to the lab.’
Chantal blew out a wavering breath.
‘We’ll have a much better picture of what we’re dealing with after today. Are you doing OK?’
‘I’ll be a lot better when this is over.’
‘You will,’ Livia assured her. ‘I have no doubt about that. Ready to go?’
She nodded and Jacob hugged her tightly. ‘I’ll be right here waiting for you. I love you.’
‘I love you, too,’ she said. And she’d never meant it more.

Chantal struggled to open her eyes, which felt as if they had lead weights on them. Jacob was gently rubbing her arm and he smiled when he saw that she was awake.

‘Hey, sleepyhead,’ he said softly.
‘Have I been out for long?’
‘Quite a while. How are you feeling?’
‘A bit bashed and bruised.’
‘You look OK.’ He stroked her hair. ‘Your lips are a bit

blue. I was worried for a while, but they said it was only the dye.’
‘My mouth’s dry.’
Jacob passed her a glass of water and she sipped gratefully at it.
‘The girls are coming in soon,’ he said. ‘I’m going home soon to put Lana to bed. I just wanted to be here until you woke up again. Livia popped in afterwards and said that it had gone well. She’ll be back in to see you again soon.’
‘You look exhausted.’ There were dark shadows round Jacob’s eyes and his face looked grey with tiredness.
‘I’m fine. Worried about you, that’s all. I’m happier now you’re back from theatre and awake again.’
‘Me too.’ Chantal let her head rest back against the pillow. She felt weary down to her bones. She let her eyes close again as they were heavy and it was an effort to keep them open. She didn’t drift off to sleep, but was grateful that Jacob sat quietly next to the bed, hand covering hers, until Livia came in.
‘How’s the patient?’ she asked brightly.
‘Still here.’ Chantal eased herself to sit up, feeling the ache across her chest and down her arm.
‘Well, you’ll be pleased to know that the surgery went well. I got a good, clean margin round the lump and that’s what we always look for. I’ve taken three lymph nodes and sent them off to the lab for analysis. It’ll be a day or two before the results come back and we can decide then what you need next in terms of treatment. We’ll keep you in overnight but, all being well, you can go home tomorrow.’
Chantal wanted to weep with relief.
‘That’s good news,’ Jacob said, squeezing her hand. ‘Great news.’
‘It is,’ Livia agreed. ‘I’ll leave you to it now, but I’ll be back to see you in the morning.’
‘Thanks, Livia,’ Chantal said.
‘I wish they all went as well as this,’ the consultant said.
Livia left and, a moment or two later, Nadia and Lucy arrived. They tiptoed into the room and whispered, ‘Hello.’
‘I’m awake,’ Chantal murmured. ‘Drowsy though.’ Her eyes kept threatening to close again.
When he’d kissed them both on the cheek, Jacob said, ‘I’m going to take this as my opportunity to go home and relieve Autumn from her babysitting duties. Is that OK?’
‘Of course,’ Nadia said. ‘Lana’s fine. She’s been a little poppet all day.’
He turned to Chantal and caressed her cheek. ‘I’ll call you later, hun, and I’ll be back in the morning.’
‘Kiss my baby for me.’ She could have wept for the want of a cuddle with Lana.
‘Will do.’
‘Anything you need, just phone me,’ Lucy said to him. ‘Whatever the time.’
‘Thanks, Lucy.’ And he left.
The girls both kissed her and Nadia asked, ‘Are you pleased with how it went?’
‘I’m not quite out of the woods yet, but it all sounds positive,’ Chantal said. ‘Livia’s really pleased with how it’s gone. Thank goodness.’
‘We’ll have you out of here and back at Chocolate Heaven in no time.’
‘That sounds wonderful.’
‘The Chocolate Lovers’ Club needs you. You’re not going anywhere on our watch, Chantal Hamilton. You just remember that.’
Then she cried with relief, with fear and gratitude, with having come through the first step and, most of all, for having the best of friends.

‘It is totally pants having a meeting of the Chocolate Lovers’ Club without Chantal,’ I declare. ‘We should have a minute’s silence for her before we eat our cakes.’

‘She’s not flipping dead, Lucy,’ Nadia says with a tut. ‘Stop being a drama queen.’
‘But what if it had been worse? She’s so lucky that she went to have that lump checked out and they found it early.’
‘I know. It’s too awful to think about. How can I possibly trot off to the Lake District while she’s in the hospital?’ Nadia asks forlornly. ‘I’d feel terrible. I’ll have to cancel.’
‘No!’ Autumn and I shout together, making her jump.
‘You
have
to go,’ I say. ‘Chantal will be furious with you if you change your plans on her account.’
‘You’d lose a lot of money, too,’ Autumn reminds her. ‘She wouldn’t want that, either.’
‘You needn’t have paid me back so quickly,’ I tell Nadia. ‘It would have waited.’
‘I know you’re not flush with cash at the moment,’ Nadia says.
‘It’s better since I’ve been here,’ I admit. ‘Autumn’s right, though. Chantal would definitely be upset if you cancelled because of her. Besides, you and Lewis both need the break.’ The cut on Nadia’s lip was healing nicely now, but you could tell that she’d lost some of her nerve and was jittery.
‘I suppose you’re both right, but it doesn’t feel proper going off to have fun while she’s poorly.’
‘I insist that you have
lots
of fun. We need some juicy gossip when you get back.’ It would make a change for someone other than me to be the number one topic on the gossip list.
‘That’ll cheer her up. Promise me that you’ll go and that you’ll behave
really
badly while you’re there.’
Nadia laughs. ‘I’m not sure that’s going to be possible when we’ve got three kids in tow.’
‘Give it your best shot,’ I beg. ‘For the team.’
‘You’ll make sure Chantal’s all right until I get back, won’t you?’ Nadia is clearly worried.
‘As soon as we’ve eaten this very delicious chocolate cake in her honour, Autumn will be going to look after Lana so that Jacob can go to the hospital and I’ll be taking over as soon as I’ve finished my shift here.’ We have the rota down to a fine art.
We’d all been hoping that she’d come out today, but the consultant has said that she’s to stay in for another night. ‘Why do you think they’re keeping her in?’
‘They said it was a precautionary measure.’
I don’t like the sound of that, but I don’t voice my opinion. I do know that I’ll be relieved to see her tonight.
Ms France is having a day off today, so I’m at the helm on my own. Bliss. Had I remembered that I wouldn’t have dressed up quite so much this morning. As it is, I’m getting up half an hour earlier so that I can do my hair, put make-up on, iron things. It’s all bloody hard work having a glamorous assistant.
I’d like to tell you that she’s stopped rolling her eyes and making some sort of disdainful French guttural noise in her throat every time I ask her to do something, but she hasn’t.
‘I’d better eat my cake and get going,’ Nadia says. ‘The train is just after lunch. I’m collecting Lewis from school and going straight to the station.’
‘Aren’t you excited?’ Autumn asks.
‘I’m terrified,’ she admits. ‘This could make or break our relationship.’
‘You shouldn’t think of it like that,’ I say. ‘It’s simply taking it to another level. And it’s a week. If you find that you can’t stand each other, you’ll be back before you know it. Chantal will be out of hospital by then and everything will be back to how it was before.’
Nadia downs her coffee and has the last bite of her cake. ‘I hope you’re right on all counts.’ She plants a peck on my cheek. ‘I’d better get a wiggle on. I’ve still got a few things to pack.’
‘Jeans and wellies, that’s all you’ll need, woman,’ says me, style adviser. ‘You’re going to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Leave those killer heels at home.’
‘I’m looking forward to walking on some of those hills we saw at Christmas.’
I shake my head knowingly. ‘It must be love.’
‘On that note, I’m off.’ Nadia goes round to kiss Autumn goodbye. ‘Wish me luck.’
‘Text us when you get there to let us know you’ve arrived safely,’ I tell her.
‘I will. And keep me posted on how Chantal is doing.’
‘I’d better be going, too,’ Autumn says. ‘Jacob will be wanting to be with her.’
‘Give them both my love,’ I say and then they both disappear, leaving me to clear up.
While I’m tidying the tables, Crush comes in. ‘Hello, Gorgeous.’
‘This is a nice surprise.’
‘I’m on my way back to the office from a meeting and took a very slight detour.’
I put the tray of crockery down and give him a big hug. ‘I’m glad you did. Have you time for a coffee?’
‘Just a quickie.’
‘We can’t do that,’ I joke. ‘Look where it got us last time.’
Crush shudders. ‘Don’t remind me of that. Marcus isn’t here today, is he?’
‘No. I haven’t seen him all week. Thank goodness. Now that the figures are picking up again, he seems happy enough to leave me alone.’
‘You do seem in your element here. Glad you came back?’
‘Yes. I love it. And Marcus really isn’t a problem.’
Crush doesn’t look convinced.
‘Let me make you a cappuccino. And I’ve got some mini coffee and walnut cakes that you might like.’
‘Sounds great.’ He follows me to the counter. ‘How’s Chantal doing? Have you had an update?’
‘They’re keeping her in for another night, which I’m a bit worried about.’
‘She’s in the best place.’
‘Yeah,’ I agree. ‘I keep trying to tell myself that. Stay positive and all.’
‘You’re going to see her tonight?’
‘I can’t wait.’
‘I can come with you, if you like.’
I shake my head. ‘Go straight home after work. Make sure that my dad isn’t up to any mischief.’
Crush laughs.
‘I won’t stay long at the hospital. I just want to pop in for a few minutes.’
Crush stands and waits patiently while I serve a couple of other customers before him, then I make his coffee.
‘We should get one of these for the flat,’ he says.
‘No way. It’s a beast. I’m glad to see the back of it when I leave. Plus, if we start making great coffee at home, we’ll never get my father to leave.’
‘He does seem quite comfortable.’
‘He’s
got
to go. He’s driving me nuts. His stuff is everywhere. We can’t get near the television remote. He leaves his dirty dishes in the sink. His laundry is all over the bathroom floor. No wonder Patty the Pilates instructor got fed up with him if he was like this. Do you think I should give him an ultimatum?’
‘We should give him a few more weeks yet. Let’s just start making strong hints.’
‘You’re being so patient.’
‘It’s one of my biggest virtues.’
I laugh at that, but it’s true. ‘We should be making wedding plans. The date is rushing towards us and I haven’t done anything yet.’
‘We’re keeping it low-key, remember. And Jacob is on the case.’
‘I’d be a lot happier if I’d found my dress. Or even started looking.’ I’m thinking something a bit sticky-out and fifties style. Something that doesn’t scream ‘wedding gown’.
‘It will all be fine,’ Crush assures me. ‘The sun will shine. We’ll have a great day. And, most important of all, the groom will be there.’
And that’s why I love him. Crush is calm, collected, chilled. Reliable. The perfect partner for me.