Chapter Fifty-Four
Monday 29th July
Sewage and Sixties Records
"Jorge?"
"Hello, who is this?"
"It's Nikki, Jorge. Harry's Nikki from England." She blushed when she said it, but now it was true. She really was Harry's Nikki.
"Nikki, my beautiful English rose?" Jorge asked.
"The very same…"
"Oh! What's he done now? Please tell me he's not done something stupid?" Jorge interrupted.
"I don't think it's stupid." She clarified.
"But he's done something. Hang on I'll call Beto. Whatever it is, he needs to hear this too. I'll put you on speaker."
"He's gone to find Beto," Nikki explained to Harry and put the phone to speaker.
"So what's going on?" Jorge asked a moment later.
"Harry's just asked me to marry him." Nikki said proudly.
There was a loud scream from the other end and the noise of the phone being dropped.
"Did you say yes?" came the sound of Beto's lower voice.
"Of course I said 'Yes,'" Nikki laughed.
"How come we've never heard her laugh before?" Jorge asked. "That laugh Harry, she's beautiful and sexy and with a laugh like that…"
"Steady on you two…" Harry chided.
"Congratulations!" Jorge shouted back.
"Took you long enough," Beto added in the background.
"So you don't have to? You want to." Jorge asked.
"I don't know what you're suggesting!" Harry retorted. "We've got a lot to thank sewage and sixties records for."
"You have problems Harry, you do realise that don't you!" Beto insisted. "Spare us the details please."
"So when's the wedding going to be?" Jorge asked. Hoping he was masking Beto's comments.
"We've not got that far yet! I only asked her five minutes ago."
"And then you called us?" Beto asked.
"We did." Nikki laughed again.
"Are you sure you want to marry him? He's a bit of a sad geek, and we are obviously his only friends. What does that say about him?"
"It says he's lucky to have you, just as I am. And Yes! I said yes," she half shouted half giggled. "Yes I do want to marry him."
"There's no accounting for taste," Beto muttered again. "Ouch!" Without seeing them it was impossible to tell but Harry imagined Jorge digging his elbow in his lover's ribs.
"Don't say you're going for a long engagement. You want to get married, so get married, none of this hanging around." Beto continued. "You know what? Jorge has some concerts booked near Christmas in England. Why don't you have the wedding then and then we can both come!"
"You'd come?" gasped Harry.
"Of course we'd come! And if we're in London anyway…"
"Are you bringing the Show Girls with you?" Harry asked and then made a loud ooph noise as the back of Nikki's hand collided with his stomach.
"Your showgirl days are over my friend; bad luck." insisted Jorge.
"Before Christmas!?" exclaimed Nikki.
"Well it's not as if you're going to change your minds are you? Why not? You've had plenty of time to get to know each other. Hay tiempo como el presente. Aprovecharse la ocasión. No dejes para mañana lo que puedas hacer hoy…" Beto trailed off.
"Enough!" Harry shouted. "Anyway, there's no way we can get married today."
"I told you your Spanish was improving," Beto said smugly.
"But a date before Christmas! That's less than six months away!" Nikki cried.
"And?"
Harry just grinned.
"Harry?" Called Beto. "You're still hopelessly in love with her aren't you?"
"Ermm, Maybe not so hopeless any more, she has just agreed to marry me."
"OK, Culo inteligente."
"Harry, do you love Nikki?"
"I do," Harry smiled.
"Nikki, do you love Harry? Heaven help you."
"I do." Nikki giggled back.
"See, what's so hard? Six months seems too long to me."
"You're not suggesting we fly over to Vegas and get Elvis to do the ceremony in one of those chapels?" Harry asked.
"Now that's a brilliant idea!" piped up Jorge. "I can sing as you walk down the aisle!"
"Both of you STOP!" commanded Harry. "We just wanted to tell you the good news. Email me the dates, you're in London and we'll sort something out."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that!" Harry confirmed noticing the glow of happiness on Nikki's face.
"So we can come to the wedding?" they squeaked together.
"Without you there'd never be a wedding." Harry explained.
"This is going to be the best gig ever!" Jorge squealed enthusiastically.
"This is not a gig, this is a wedding. My wedding. Our wedding!"
There were non-committal grunts from the other end of the phone.
"You two alright, Vegas still agreeing with you?"
"You betcha, we love it. Thanks for calling us Harry. Congratulations!"
"Yeah, Congratulations both of you." Beto added. "Felicitaciones."
"Talk to you soon." Harry said.
"Can I help you choose a dress?" Jorge asked.
"No you cannot," Harry insisted. "And you'll keep your hands to yourself thank you!"
"We're 4000 miles away!" they laughed.
Nikki was laughing too much to even say goodbye.
"Well that went well," Harry admitted after they disconnected. "Shall I try my mother while we're on a roll?"
He took the phone from Nikki's hand, turned off the speaker mode and speed dialled his mother.
"Hi Mum, it's Harry."
"Oh, hello darling. I'm just on my way out. Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine Mum, there was something I wanted to…"
"Have you found a house yet?" Anne interrupted. Nikki looked up, aware of the interruption but unaware of Anne's side of the conversation.
"Actually I have. St Cecilia Road, over near Kew."
"Don't know it."
"I'll send the details to your email."
"Thanks," Anne replied distractedly. "My taxi will be here at any minute. Why don't you come over at the weekend? You can show me the details. I'm sure there's something up with that computer."
"Ok, Mum, I'll look at it when I come over. Is it alright if Nikki comes too?"
"Why would Nikki want to come over and fix my computer? Oh, whatever darling, I think that's the taxi now. I'll talk to you soon."
"OK," Harry agreed defeatedly.
"Oh no, I was wrong, it's Stephen next door coming back from training. St Cecilia Road you say. I don't suppose you know what she was patron saint of?"
"No, Mum. It sounds like you do."
"She's patron saint of music."
"There's a surprise," Harry muttered sarcastically under his breath. "She has a lot to answer for. Mum, I wanted to…"
"Oh that's the taxi now. Bye darling, see you on Saturday."
"Bye Mum."
Nikki stared at Harry. "I'm not thinking that went as planned." She said.
"Not quite," Harry agreed. "I did find one thing out though. St Cecilia…"
"Yes?"
"She's patron saint of music."
"That's priceless!" Nikki laughed her throaty laugh and Harry swept her into his arms, and out of the kitchen. He'd had the determination to reach the top of the stairs yesterday. But today he wasn't so sure. There was still one of Leo's sofa's left…
The phone rang again. They let the answer phone pick up. Harry stopped kissing from an instant to listen to the message.
"Harry it's your mother. I'm sorry I was so short with you. That thing you wanted to tell me. I was just thinking; it seemed important to you. Was it good news? Very good news? I'll talk to you soon. Bye darlings."
My Spanish idioms may not translate… Here's what I was hoping for…
*No time like the present, make hay while the sun shines (although looks more like seize the day to me but same thing) and don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
*Smart arse
Congratulations
Hope you're enjoying a bit of fluff for a change. You deserve it after all the pain. Let me know if you're smiling. It's easy to do, just a click.
