“I’ll be there in less than an hour,” Nathaniel was saying into his phone, his voice vibrating with fury. Victor watched as Nathaniel listened for a few moments and when he spoke again he carefully controlled his voice and said softly, “Darling, I’ll take care of it. I’ll be there in less than an hour.” Then he flipped his phone shut and looked at his father.
“Laura, I have to go,” Victor interrupted his wife.
“But Victor!” Laura cried.
Victor looked at his son. “Nathaniel needs me,” Victor said.
There was silence for a moment and then, with what he knew was hope in his wife’s tremulous voice, she said, “Of course.” Then, with definite hope, “I’ll see you soon, my love.”
He heard the disconnect in his ear and flipped his phone shut.
“What do you need me to do?” Victor asked his son.
“Lily and I are getting married today,” was all Nathaniel said.
Victor nodded that the message was understood and Nathaniel glanced at his daughter who was giggling with Lily’s shopgirls.
“Look after Tash,” Nathaniel ordered.
Victor nodded again.
Fazire charged in and shouted to the room at large, “What in the name of the Great Grand Genie Number One is keeping them?”
Nathaniel didn’t respond. With swift, long strides, he walked right passed Fazire and out of the building.
“Now where is he going?” Fazire cried as Natasha, looking frightened, ran after her father but Victor caught her and swung her back.
“I have to go with Daddy!” his granddaughter yelled, straining against Victor’s arms and reaching toward the door where her father disappeared.
“It’s going to be okay,” Victor soothed Natasha. “Something’s happened and your Daddy needs to go fetch your Mummy.”
Natasha moved shrewd eyes to her grandfather, looked at him closely and deciding either he was telling the truth or her father could sort out anything (likely the latter), her fear melted, a quirky smile tugged her lips and she said, “Okay.”
Then she skipped back to Lily’s girls.
“Would you like to tell me what’s happening?” Fazire, head tipped back, stared down his nose at Victor and Victor moved toward his odd friend and did as requested. Fazire’s face got as purple as his suit but Victor ignored him and turned toward the fidgeting Registry Office employee.
Then he commanded, “Take me to the person in charge.”
* * * * *
Laura
At first they were treated abominably by the police.
What seemed like hours ago (but wasn’t), back at Lily and Nate’s house, Laura, trying to find her opening to intervene (but failing) in the highly escalated situation, had vaguely heard Lily’s attorney call the police. The police, upon arrival, didn’t seem to care one bit that the girl wrestling around on the floor with Danielle was supposed to be getting married in an hour. They’d carted the lot of them off to the police station and didn’t allow them to use the phone.
Lily, to Laura’s dismay, had seemed completely at ease with this.
Her dress remarkably had survived the wrestling match although, to Laura’s despair, her bracelet had been ripped off and her hair was in complete disarray.
Danielle had come out the worse for wear, however.
Alistair and Jeffrey had managed to pull Maxine out of the fray but it took both of them to control her as she tried to dive back in, all the while shouting encouragement to Lily who was in what appeared to be a struggle to the death with Danielle on the floor.
In the final moments of the battle, Mrs. Gunderson decided she’d had enough of sitting on the back of the couch and watching with feigned cat disinterest. She threw herself, hissing and claws bared, into action and scratched Danielle’s arms and legs viciously but, surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, the cat didn’t touch Lily.
As they were sitting in the police station waiting for their chance to use the phones, Lily had smiled at Laura and said, “Don’t worry, as soon as I can I’ll call Nate and he’ll get this all sorted out.”
This, Laura had to admit, did make her feel a little bit better. However it didn’t change the fact that Laura’s two rotten, horrible children had again spoiled things for Nathaniel and Lily and it was Laura’s fault because she had wanted to hear what they had to say hoping, stupidly, that it was going to be an apology.
Lily wasn’t wrong about Nate.
Ten minutes after Lily phoned Nate, an official-looking person came to them looking embarrassed and casting accusing glances at the officers who had arrived at Lily’s home and taken them away without regard to the celebratory circumstances, then didn’t offer them a bathroom or the use of the phone for what seemed like ages.
Upon arrival, the officer smiled consolingly at Lily.
“Ms. Jacobs, I’ve had a call,” he explained. “Please accept my deepest apologies. Your fiancé is on his way. In the meantime, let’s get you some tea and a place to tidy up.”
“Well!” Maxine stated grandly, standing and shaking out her flowing, lavender caftan that was liberally sprinkled with sequins around the collar and hem. Maxine’s outfit hadn’t fared so well in the struggle, there was a big rip rent from knee to hem. “He offers tea. I never,” she snapped.
“Could I please have some first aid?” Danielle asked snottily from her place down the hall, luckily far down the hall from where Lily, Laura and Maxine were sitting.
“And you would be?” the policeman asked.
“I’m Danielle Roberts,” Danielle stated as if she was saying, “I am Queen of the Universe”.
Laura closed her eyes in despair then opened them to see the man’s back straightening.
“We’ll get to you in a minute,” he said dismissively and somewhat threateningly. Laura noted Danielle’s face registering deep affront but she tore her gaze away from her birth daughter and watched as the officer turned back to Lily and offered her his arm. In a tone that was nearly reverential, he said, “Ms. Jacobs.” He also nodded to Maxine and Laura and they knew they were to follow.
Lily took his arm and they walked away, passed an outwardly fuming Danielle, a surprisingly silent and guilt stricken looking Jeffrey and the glaring, pacing, unrepentant Alistair.
Laura tried very hard to ignore her children but Danielle was scratched and bleeding though she knew it wasn’t that bad, Laura was still a mother and she couldn’t help herself. Even though she vowed never to care, never even to think about her two children again, she opened her mouth to speak but Lily beat her to it.