Chapter 4: The Future Mother-in-Law
When it came down to it, Richard was not capable of arranging a surprise party in 2 days. He was taking weeks to arrange the proposal for goodness sake. No, there was only one person on the island who could get him out of this predicament: his (hopefully) future mother-in-law.
Of course, Catherine was very unlikely to agree to such a task without a proper explanation. This meant he was going to have to tell her of his intention to propose. In the year he and Camille had been together, there had been no serious clashes between Catherine and Richard. He had, for the first few months, made a very conscious effort with her until his changed behaviour just became habit. He could now receive airy kisses without blushing, cringing or pulling away. His father would probably be a little horrified. But, as a consequence of this, he was pretty certain Catherine would not disapprove of the proposal – though he had no qualms in admitting he was very unlikely to be her first choice for Camille.
If this was going to get done, he really needed to see Catherine that evening. Luckily he could now just tell Camille he needed to discuss something about her birthday with her mother (still not a lie!) and she let him go, if a little reluctantly. Actually, considering she was naked in bed when he left, he was a little reluctant as well. He paused on the porch whilst he considered if Catherine would be able to tell what he and Camille had just been up to. No, surely not, she didn't have mind reading powers…not as far as he knew anyway.
Since it was the evening, it was obviously busy at La Kaz. This naturally meant that Catherine was busy as well, serving all those customers. Perhaps he hadn't picked the most ideal of moments to ask a favour. Catherine slid out from behind the bar to start collecting the empties, and he decided to take his chance.
"Um, Catherine?" He said as quietly as he thought possible to still be heard in the noisy bar.
"Did you run out of milk at home? Because I haven't got any fresh here!" She told him distractedly.
This question blindsided him somewhat, "Uh, what?"
She paused to address him directly, "I thought you were here for tea. Since you and Camille have figured out how to brew a decent cup at home finally, I couldn't figure out why else you would be here on your own."
"Oh, no, it wasn't that at all. I, um, I needed to – ah – talk to you." He told her, before adding hopefully, "Preferably in private."
Catherine shook her head, "I have a bar to run Richard! Besides, it is so noisy in here nobody will overhear what you have to say."
"Ok," he agreed, largely because he didn't think he had any other choice. "Well, the thing is Catherine, I'm going to ask Camille to marry me…"
Now that got her full attention. She spared him a brief look before hurrying over to the bar, depositing the glasses and telling the young girl who sometimes helped out that she would be back in five minutes. In England, there would probably be a riot due to the delay caused by this, but life here was much more relaxed. It was not unheard of for people to grab beers from the fridge and leave the money on the bar, including a tip. Catherine took Richard by the elbow and dragged him into the kitchen. He began mentally repeating the mantra 'don't panic, don't panic, don't panic.'
"Say that again," were the first words out of her mouth after she had shut the kitchen door firmly behind them.
Richard managed to find his voice to repeat, "I'm planning on asking Camille to marry me."
Catherine put her hands on her hips, an act that did not alleviate Richard's panic in the slightest, and said firmly, "And you've what, come to ask my permission?"
Richard couldn't help himself, he burst into laughter. "God no!" This perhaps wasn't the best idea, because now Catherine was looking at him hands on hips and one eyebrow raised. He hurried to offer and explanation for his amusement, "I'm sorry Catherine, I don't mean to seem rude, but can you imagine what Camille would do to me if she found out I asked your permission before I asked her to marry me? My life wouldn't be worth living. You have raised a strong, independent, intelligent woman who doesn't belong to anyone but herself."
He noticed a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "Yes, I did. If you had been here to ask permission I would have been very annoyed. So, where is the ring? Let me have a look!"
"Uh," was the only response he could manage. He hadn't expected any of the events of this evening so far.
"Oh come on, Richard, there is no way you'd risk hiding it at home in case Camille found it. You must have it somewhere on your person!" This was true, he was hesitating because he was worried Catherine would hate the ring and he would have to go through the whole process of choosing one again. So it was with reluctance that he reached into his jacket pocket and produced the box.
As he opened it up, he told Catherine, "The band is made of an alloy of gold and palladium!"
"Is that somehow significant?" She asked.
It was of course, but Richard realised he couldn't actually tell her why. So instead he shrugged and said, "I just thought you might like to know."
"It's very beautiful, Richard," she told him, sounding actually sincere. Richard let out a breath he didn't actually know he'd been holding. "Were you worried? No, you made a good choice, besides this is from Raymond's isn't it? Molly would never have allowed you to pick anything hideous." Come to think of it, Richard had seen her slip a couple of rings off the tray before he could look at them…
"So," Catherine began again. "There will be grandbabies, yes?"
Richard was beginning to wonder if he would ever get the chance to ask Catherine what he had actually come to ask. At least he knew the answer to this question, he and Camille had discussed it in general terms before. They both had parents who were expecting children, and Camille had always wanted them. Richard had previously never contemplated it deeply. After failing to have a relationship that lasted more than a few months, he began to assume it was simply not going to happen at all. But now that he was in a proper, adult, long-term relationship he realised children were something he would very much like.
"All being well, yes," he told Catherine. He blushed as he did so, because his mind decided to remind him of exactly how those children would come about. He really should not be thinking about that whilst talking to Camille's mother.
"Excellent!" She said brightly. "Well, if you aren't here to ask my permission then why are you here? And be quick I don't want to leave Marian on her own for much longer."
"Right, yes, well you see I've been putting in a lot of effort to prepare for this proposal and, well, it has meant being away from home and Camille a bit. And, this led to some, uh, suspicion on her half…"
"She thought you were cheating on her!" Catherine seemed highly amused by this notion. "Silly girl!" It was said in such a dismissive way Richard could only assume Catherine felt there wasn't another woman on the island who would be willing to put up with him. Even though she was probably right, his pride was still a little wounded by her flippant response to Camille's concerns. He wasn't fool enough to argue back though.
"Yes, well, in order to convince her otherwise I may have made a vague reference to the fact it is her birthday this weekend. She then came to her own conclusion, which was that I must be planning some sort of surprise," he explained before pausing, hoping Catherine would discern his intentions.
"Mon dieu! Richard, you want me to arrange a party in two days?"
She was annoyed, he could tell. He took a small step back and said in the most pleading tone he could muster without losing all his dignity, "Please, Catherine? I'd really prefer to keep the proposal a surprise, and you know I'll never manage such a task!"
She huffed, "Luckily, the sort of party I can arrange in 2 days' time is probably equivalent to what it would take you weeks to arrange!"
"Thank you, Catherine." He felt safe enough to step forward and kiss her on the cheek, a gesture she seemed to appreciate.
She shooed him off then, flapping the cloth she used to clean down tables, "Right, I've got a lot of work to do so get out of the way!" As he turned to leave she called after him, "And you better not make me wait too long for those grandbabies!"