‘Look at me? Look at you!’ I laugh, admiring her slinky red dress and tiny glittering beads threaded through her hair.
Josh leans down and gives me a kiss, and I am relieved to see that he has truly forgiven me, and the twinkle in his eye tells me everything is back to normal. He shakes James’s hand as Lucy links her arms through James’s and smiles up at him with a wink.
‘Could it be you, young James, making our Cath look so sparkly?’
‘I’m certainly trying,’ he laughs, as the buzzer finally lets us in, and we all fall into the hallway and up the stairs, chattering as we rub our arms to warm up.
Paul answers the door, and I introduce him to James, Josh and Lucy, all of whom have heard about him constantly since Si’s arrival home, although mostly from me, it has to be said, and I watch them closely to see if he wins them over.
More fool me. With that large, open smile and trusting eyes, how could he do anything other than win them over? Si runs out of the kitchen to greet us, then runs back in to stir the soup, and Paul opens a bottle of champagne and pours it, shouting for Si to come in and join us for a toast.
‘To old friends,’ Si says, as we all raise our glasses and echo his words, and as I take a sip I catch sight of Lucy, who has a huge smile on her face, and she stands up.
‘And to new arrivals,’ she says, as we all say ‘new arrivals’, and Si puts an arm round Paul as I squeeze James’s leg.
‘Tiny new arrivals,’ Lucy says, stressing the word ‘tiny’ and looking around the room at each of us, as Si squeals and runs over to her.
‘Are you trying to tell us there’s a tiny bun in there?’ he says, patting her stomach. She nods and he throws his arms around her, and I go to give Josh a kiss.
‘We were planning to wait until twelve weeks,’ Josh says ruefully, ‘but my gorgeous wife evidently couldn’t keep it to herself.’
‘And when are we all going to be together in such beautiful surroundings again?’ she says, and Josh leans down and kisses the top of her head as she leans into his arms.
‘Lucy, I’m thrilled,’ I say, although quite frankly, given how I feel about Max, I’m hardly relishing the prospect of yet another devilspawn-child-from-hell, although if I’m honest Max does seem to be getting slightly better, and I am thrilled that they’re thrilled, because that’s all that really matters.
‘Oh bugger. The canapés.’ Si stands up and puts down his champagne glass, but Paul jumps up. ‘Don’t worry,’ Paul says. ‘I’ll get it. You stay and chat.’
I catch Lucy’s eye and she raises an eyebrow, and I know we are thinking exactly the same thing: that all these years we thought that Si was waiting to be someone’s wife, but not only does he now appear to have found a wife of his own, he’s obviously thrilled to pieces with the arrangement.
Lucy has followed Paul into the kitchen, ostensibly to offer help with the canapés, but actually to find out whether Paul is really as perfect as he seems (and by this time I’m pretty sure that he is), while James and Josh are deep in conversation about children.
I squeeze in next to James and pretend to look interested, as Josh explains how children have changed his life.
‘But Cath’s not ready, are you, Cath?’ And Josh and James both look at me as I stammer slightly, because up until now of course I haven’t been ready, but then I’ve never wanted to say never, and a part of me had always hoped that my lack of maternal instincts had been down to not finding the right man.
But of course I can’t say that here, so I simply shrug my shoulders and give what I hope is an enigmatic smile. ‘I’m only thirty-one. I’ve got plenty of time to worry about children.’
Si raises an eyebrow and I scowl at him as he starts to laugh, and Lucy, typically, chooses just that moment to walk back into the living room bearing a tray of pâté and crackers.
She sets the tray down on the coffee table, then hurries over to the sofa and sits on Josh’s knee. ‘Children? Cath? Are you thinking of children? Gosh, that would be lovely! Imagine, we could all go off to Tumble Tots together.’ She couldn’t even hope to hide the excitement in her voice.
Si takes one look at my stricken face and starts to laugh, as I go pale because this is all sounding horribly like I’ve been talking about James to everyone and telling them that I’m planning marriage, children, the whole works, when I haven’t done that at all.
I don’t dare look at James, because I’m sure he’s getting the wrong impression. I clear my throat and say, ‘No, Lucy. I’m not thinking of children, certainly not in the foreseeable future.’
‘I’ve got an idea,’ Si pipes up. ‘You know how in America they give twelve-year-olds realistic dummies of babies that scream all night to put them off having children? Why don’t you give Max to Cath for a week or so to see how she likes being a mum?’
My mouth opens and closes in a remarkable impersonation of a goldfish, and Lucy and Josh start to laugh, not altogether unaware of my feelings for Max.
‘Oh ha bloody ha,’ I manage eventually, sneaking a look at James to see his reaction to all of this, and very relieved to see he’s laughing with the others, breaking off only to gaze affectionately at me and plant a kiss on my lips, as Lucy catches her breath and tips her head on one side with a ridiculously soppy smile.
A bell goes off in the kitchen, and Si stands up and calls everyone to the table, where we stand for a while, oohing and aahing over the crystal rose bowl in the middle, the beautiful calligraphy on the name cards, the candlelight flickering off the silver.
‘I must say, I do feel special,’ Lucy says, pulling out her chair. ‘This feels like we ought to be in some rather grand castle somewhere – ’
‘Instead of in a poky one-bedroomed flat in Kilburn?’ I say.
‘Poky? Did I hear you describe my palace as poky?’ Si looks at me in mock anger.
‘Moi? I wouldn’t dream of it. Mmm, something smells completely gorgeous.’
Si dashes into the kitchen and emerges moments later with a tureen of soup.
‘I wish I could take credit for this – ’ he says, placing it on the table.
‘But Queen Delia got there first?’ I say, unable to resist.
‘Actually, Paul got there first,’ and we all turn to look at Paul, who pretends to look humble and then laughs.
‘Before you call me Queen Paul, I have to say I’d be happier as Prince Charming.’
‘Prince Charming it is.’ Si looks at him affectionately, and, given that the champagne has already had its desired effect, we all loudly raise our glasses and toast Prince Charming, who duly bows his way back into the kitchen to fetch the croutons.
James starts off quietly, getting used to the whole crowd in all their boisterous glory, but the alcohol keeps flowing, the conversation starts rising, and soon he is as loud as the rest of us.
I watch him, watch him banter with Lucy, with Si, and I smile to myself as I sip from my glass of red wine, delighted at how he fits in, how James could never be the sort of person I’d ever have to worry about.
We are so busy having a good time that I completely forget that there is a reason for tonight, and it is only when all the food (broccoli and stilton soup, roasted rack of lamb with apricot stuffing, hot chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce) has been served, when we are all groaning and complaining about the amount of food, that I wonder whether Si is still planning to make his announcement tonight.
For he looks so calm. So content. And the Si I know, the Si I knew, would be having a huge anxiety attack right now, palms sweating at the prospect of revealing his innermost secret.
I am about to follow him into the kitchen to ask, because I am quite sure he has changed his mind, when he comes back into the living room bearing a cafetière, and calls for silence.