You're the One That I Want(83)

He never did.





Ben





Twenty-four years old …




Robert had decided to tell Carol about me suddenly popping the question. I knew this because on Monday morning I woke up to find six missed calls from my mum. The fact she’d tried to call so many times did not bode well. I could envisage the steam from her ears increasing each time she hit the redial button, only for her call to be left unanswered.

Deciding to bite the bullet and get the conversation over with, I called her back straight away from under my duvet, closing my eyes in preparation for the bollocking I was about to receive. Following our conversation the previous week I knew, once my mum found out, I’d have to own up to being a prize idiot, or plead ignorance … whatever I said, there was no way she was going to let me act as though I’d done nothing wrong, or let me get away with it.

‘What on earth have you gone and done?’ she shouted down the phone. I was glad Alice had already left for work, otherwise she’d have definitely heard her shrieking tone, and I’ve no idea how I’d have explained that one.

‘I thought you’d be pleased,’ I said. That was a lie. I knew Mum would be angry at me, I just hoped her anger would subside quick enough so that I could take Alice over to celebrate – the longer I left it the more suspicious she’d become; I didn’t want her thinking my mum didn’t like her. That was why I’d said we should wait before telling our parents – suggesting it would be nicer to do it once we had the ring and could tell them face to face. Alice, who, unsurprisingly, liked the idea of getting her finger blinged up first needed little convincing.

‘You said you liked Alice,’ I cheekily continued.

‘Oh, I do, you know that,’ she said, thankfully losing a bit of the honking volume in her voice. ‘And, yes, I’m very pleased that Alice is going to be a Gilbert one day.’

‘Well, then …’

‘That’s really not the point, though, is it?’ she continued.

‘Isn’t it?’

‘No, and you know it, Ben,’ she said with exasperation. ‘I told you what Robert had planned.’

‘And?’

‘And? And?!’ she shouted. ‘Less than a week later you’ve gone and ruined it.’

‘How?’

‘By getting in there first, that’s how.’

‘Mum, it’s not like that.’

‘Just tell me one thing, had the thought even crossed your mind before I told you about Robert asking Kathryn and Greg? Answer me honestly.’

I screwed up my face before giving her my answer.

‘No.’

I couldn’t lie about that, besides, it was more of a leading question than an actual inquiry – she knew what I was going to say before I said it.

‘Oh, Ben,’ she groaned.

‘What?’

‘What have you done?’

‘Nothing, Mum … it’s not going to affect him doing it.’

‘Of course it is, he’s not going to ask her now, is he? He’ll have to wait – and not just weeks, months!’

I hadn’t even thought of it like that, but Mum was obviously right. There was no way Robert would ask straight after I had – even if his own proposal was going to be properly thought through and planned. He wouldn’t want his proposal to overshadow mine (he was gentlemanly like that) or, even worse, for it to look like he was only doing it because I had. Maddy would have hated the overlap of celebrations, and he knew it. I’d realized he was annoyed the day before – he’d been full of smiles when we first walked in but then hardly said a word after Alice told them, other than to mutter his congratulations. It occurred to me later that, having sought Maddy’s parents’ approval, I might have been next on his list of people to speak to about it – perhaps he’d have found a quiet moment at the pub to tell me – the idea made me feel crap. I’d been so apprehensive about Maddy’s response that I hadn’t even thought about what might have been going through Rob’s mind.

Maddy didn’t even flinch at the news. A smile broke out on her face within seconds as she showered us with congratulations, seemingly delighted for us. It put into perspective how little past events must have meant to her, forcing me into focusing on Alice, basking in her smile as I reminded myself of all the things I loved about her, why marrying her was a good idea and why I didn’t need Maddy.

‘Sorry, Mum,’ I mumbled.

‘A bit too late for that, isn’t it?’

‘I just didn’t think.’

‘You’re telling me.’

‘Okay, so I hadn’t thought about asking before you mentioned it,’ I rambled, hating the fact that Mum was clearly disappointed with me. ‘But hearing that made me think about Alice and me, about our future and what I wanted. I admit, I stupidly got too excited about asking and it slipped out when I hadn’t meant it to.’