Page 41 of A French Country Escape
As the two of them ate their slices of pizza and salads, Penny glanced at Sasha.
‘Lucas asked me to have dinner with him.’
‘I hope you said yes. Lucas is lovely,’ Sasha said.
‘I’m not sure I’m ready for another relationship yet,’ Penny said quietly. ‘I said no, but I did say he should ask me again after Stella’s wedding.’
‘Good. Go for dinner and tell him you’d like to be friends for a bit. That you’re just out of a painful break-up and want to take things slowly,’ Sasha said. ‘I’m sure Lucas will understand.’
‘Once this wedding is over, I’ll definitely say yes,’ Penny said. ‘Did I hear Freddie has met someone?’
‘Yes, Maddie lives in the next village and has a young daughter. He wants to bring them here for me to meet them properly. They’re coming one day next week. I just wish I didn’t have this funny feeling that it’s all going to end in tears.’
Penny looked at her. ‘Why would it?’
‘My brother hasn’t had much luck with women and I think he does really like Maddie. He said earlier that we needed to talk, he wants some sisterly advice. Which is worrying. But sorting his love life out is going to have to wait,’ and Sasha and Penny looked at each other as they chorused together, ‘until after the wedding,’before they both burst out laughing.
Just before ten o’clock, Penny stood up and pulled an envelope out of her jeans. ‘I’d better get back. But I almost forgot to give you this. Mum said to say a big thank you for thetrompe l’œils. They are truly special. She’ll thank you in person the next time she sees you, but she wanted you to have this straight away.’
‘I loved doing them,’ Sasha said, taking the envelope and slipping it into her own jean pocket. ‘Thank your mum for me.’
After Penny had left, Sasha cleared the table and had a quick tidy-up of the kitchen before taking the envelope out of her pocket and opening it. It was full of hundred-euro notes. Twenty of them. Sasha stared at them in disbelief. Had Ingrid reallyintended to pay her two thousand euros for her paintings? The note that was with the money confirmed it wasn’t a mistake.
We can’t thank you enough for your amazing trompe l’œils that have completely transformed the orangery. We hope that the enclosed 2K is enough to cover paint costs and also your time. L. Ingrid and Peter.
30
The day of the wedding began bright and sunny and Penny was up with the dawn chorus. Even though the wedding reception wasn’t until late afternoon, she knew the day was likely to pass all too quickly.
Peter and Freddie had carried the five tables and thirty chairs through to the orangery the day before and placed them in a small horseshoe shape fanning out from the bride’s table. A small round one had been placed in the middle of the space, ready for the wedding cake. An additional one had been placed in the corner for Peter to use as a bar. Currently, all the tablecloths and place settings were on it. Once the tables were set, Peter would transfer the champagne and white wine from the large fridge in the utility room to the smaller drinks fridge hidden under the bar.
The previous day, Penny had spent most of her time in the kitchen. The meat for the requested main course, boeuf bourguignon, was cubed and marinating in red wine. Her first job this morning was to fry it off in butter before dividing it between two casserole dishes and slowly adding all the other ingredients, as per her favourite Julia Child’s recipe. By nineo’clock, the two large casseroles would have been placed in the oven to cook the bourguignon slowly all day. The five dishes of dauphinoise potatoes to accompany the beef were prepared and ready to go in the oven.
Over thirty individual smoked salmon terrines for the first course were in the fridge, ready to be placed on a bed of cucumber and served with a light dill sauce, and the cheeses were in the old pantry in the utility room. The three desserts Stella had wanted were all ready: a creamy tiramisu, chocolate mousses and a lemon tart. Josette was bringing up a selection of freshly baked bread rolls this afternoon, along with some special petits fours to go with coffee.
Sasha and Ingrid were going to set the tables that morning and make sure everything was in place and looking as good as possible. The plants, a mixture of large and medium size, were all in good health; the two Grecian girl garden statues that Ingrid had found in the old out-of-townpépinièrethat was closing down, and which she had quickly snapped up, looked perfectly at home in amongst all the greenery. The chandeliers had arrived and been fitted, and the three hanging birdcages added an amusing touch. Both Penny and Sasha took photographs of the orangery set up for its first ever wedding reception.
Sasha, who’d offered to come and prep the green beans that were to accompany the boeuf bourguignon, arrived at eleven o’clock. There was no time for more than a quick ‘Thank you so much for the money’ to Ingrid, before she was caught up in the preparations.
When the wedding cake arrived, Penny took the baker into the orangery and showed her where to place it. The cake maker’s exclamation as she walked in – ‘What a wonderful venue for a wedding reception!’ – made Penny’s day. And when the woman insisted on giving her a business card and asked her to remember them for any future weddings, she smiled happily.
Everything was organised by five thirty – all they needed now was the newly married couple and their guests.
It was six o’clock when they all heard a loud cacophony of car horns approaching the château.
‘Okay, everyone – action stations,’ Penny said.
Three hours later, the food had been eaten, copious bottles of champagne and wine consumed, the cake had been cut and the speeches had everyone within earshot creasing up with laughter.
The only minor crisis occurred when Penny, plating up the main course, realised she’d forgotten about gravy boats. Although the bourguignon was going out with a normal amount of the rich red wine sauce, she always liked to send extra out for people who wanted to add more. ‘We need five gravy boats.’
‘Use the white china milk jugs,’ Ingrid had said, moving across to the cupboard where they were stored. ‘Don’t point it out,’ she instructed, ‘and nobody will notice or care, the food is that good!’ And so it proved.
Now the guests were ready to party…
In the kitchen, the pace had slowed down as everyone relaxed after a job well done and the clearing up was in full swing. Jean-Paul was reloading the dishwasher as Sasha carefully started to wash the vintage plates by hand. Within minutes, Jean-Paul joined her to wipe the plates and they worked in companionable silence. Alice and Lucas were back and forth from the orangery, helping Peter serve drinks as well as clearing tables of used crockery. As Ingrid, whose ankle was clearly aching if not actually hurting, sat down for the first time that evening, Penny threw an anxious glance in her direction.
‘I’m fine,’ Ingrid said in answer to the unspoken question. Peter, choosing that moment to appear, looked at her and she waved his look away too. ‘What have you got there?’
