Pas de Deux A novel by Bronwen Welsh A Sequel to 'Antonette's Story' Copyright 2021

Chapter 11   A honeymoon and a wonderful surprise

Kate and Ben had a rather unusual 'honeymoon'. They had already been living together for some time, and since Kate's family only had another three or so weeks in Britain, and they wanted to see as much of each other as possible, they had decided that they would all go on a tour of England, Scotland and Wales together. After Kate and Ben spent their wedding night at a hotel, they met up with the rest of the family and headed off in a hired mini-bus, so that they could travel together.

Kate told me later where they went. I'm not sure I remember everything, but I know they headed southwest first and visited Stonehenge and then Salisbury and Old Sarum. Wendy had read Edward Rutherfurd's book and she thought at first that Sarum was imaginary, but when she found out it was real she wanted to see it for herself. They also visited the village of Lacock, owned by the National Trust and looking much as it did in the Middle Ages. It is a favourite location for film and television production companies and has been used in 'Pride and Prejudice' (1995), 'Cranford', 'Wolf Hall', 'Downton Abbey' and a couple of Harry Potter films amongst other things.

After that they headed north and visited the Welsh borders, Blackpool and the Lake District where they spent a couple of days. As a boy, Gary had been a keen reader of the 'Swallows and Amazons' series of classic children's adventure books by Arthur Ransome, and wanted to see where many of them had been set. They reached Scotland and visited Edinburgh, and since Don White was a keen golfer, they had to go to St Andrews, and by chance they arrived on a Sunday, when play is not allowed, but anyone can wander over the Old Course and visit such famous sites as the bridge over the Swilcan Burn where all the winners of the British Open played on the course, pose to have photographs with the 'auld claret jug', and also the famous 17th 'Road Hole' for photos Don had said “Try doing that at Augusta!” He was surprised to find the 'Himalayas pitch and putt' course next the the Old Course was open, and of course had to have a go to say he played at St Andrews! Later they visited the museum and bought some souvenirs. I think that was the highlight of the trip to the U.K. for Don, apart from his daughter's wedding of course!

Time was getting short, so they headed south, first to York where they visited the famous Minster, the Shambles, the Railway Museum, and the Jorvik Viking Centre. On the way south, they went to Stratford-upon-Avon, and since I had told them about my dear friend Harriet Stowe who was an actress performing there, they checked out the theatre complex, and reported back that she was performing the part of 'Desdemona' in Shakespeare's 'Othello'.

“You didn't tell us that she is one of the top actresses there; we thought she was a small part player,” said Kate.

“Far from it,” I replied. “I have a DVD of her performing in 'Romeo and Juliet' which is considered to be amongst the finest ever seen. I'll show you some of it when we get back to London.”

Finally on returning to London with the best part of a week to go, they spent time enjoying some of what the capital has to offer; the Tower of London, the National and Tate Galleries, the London Eye, the British, and Victoria and Albert museums, a trip down the Thames to Greenwich, where they had their photos taken standing astride the Meridian Line that separates the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Hampton Court, and a visit to a couple of the West End theatres.

I did show the ladies of the family my dear friend Harriet Stow performing as Juliet in the balcony scene and they were greatly impressed.

“I use her performance as an inspiration when I am dancing in the 'Romeo and Juliet' ballet,” I said. “Fortunately we are allowed to dance as Juliet when much older than actresses who perform the part.”

On the final Sunday, when Jack and I were free from performing, we spent the day together with them all again, concluding with an excellent dinner at one of London's top restaurants – extravagant I know, but we would not be seeing them again for years and I'm so glad we did it. Since they don't allow bill-splitting, we paid and then the others paid us their share afterwards.

Finally, it was time for the Whites to return to Australia. They were due at Heathrow in the morning, so Jack and I drove Gary and family there, and Ben and Kate drove Kate's parents. We had a final cup of coffee together, and then Jack and I left to go to a rehearsal. We really didn't want to be there when Kate's parents and brother said goodbye to her as it was bound to be emotional, so they needed the time to themselves. We heard later that the flight took off without incident and on time, and a day later there was a phone call to say that they had all arrived safely back in Australia.

Jack and I carried on with our work at the ballet. We were now rehearsing 'La Bayadère', with music by Ludwig Minkus and a libretto by Sergei Khudekov, which, although it is one of the great classical ballets, is not performed as often as many of the others. Minkus, (1826-1917), is not as well known as other ballet composers, but his music is very melodious

The story of the ballet, which in its full form runs for four acts and over two hours, not including an interval, is too complex to relate here – let me just say it is set in the Royal India of the past, and is a story of eternal love, mystery, fate, vengeance, and justice. It is easy to find the story by searching for it online. Dame Monique had now returned from America and she would be playing the part of Nikiya, a 'bayadère' or temple girl. I was given the rôle of Gamzatti, the daughter of the Rajah, and Jack was to play Solor, a warrior. I'm sure you have already deduced that part of the story is two women fighting over one man, which never ends well!

It is a beautiful ballet with lovely music and wonderful costumes. One of the most famous scenes, is 'The Kingdom of the Shades' which features the corps de ballet with the stage to themselves, rather than being the background to the soloists, and commencing with a series of arabesques. It is sometimes performed on its own. I would certainly recommend you attending a performance of 'La Bayadère' if you get the chance.

The production was a great success. Most of the women of our combined families attended a performance and were very complimentary about Jack's and my performances. The reviews were uniformly good and as a result ticket sales were excellent.

Six months after Kate's family returned to Australia after the wedding, she rang me and asked if we could meet up for coffee. The four of us often met up, but obviously this was to be 'girl talk'. The hospital where she worked was not too far from the ballet rehearsal rooms, so we arranged to meet at a café about midway between the two. I could tell that Kate was bursting to tell me something and after we bought our coffees and sat down, she wasted no time in coming out with it.

“I'm going to have a baby!” she said.

“Oh Kate, that's wonderful news! Congratulations to you both,” I exclaimed. “I'm so happy for you.”.

“I'm keeping it a secret at present. I really shouldn't have told anyone before I was three months gone, but I couldn't keep it to myself any longer,” she said. “Only you and Ben know at present, but you are my very best friend after Ben, so I just had to tell you.”

“I'll keep it a secret of course, but can I tell Jack yet?”

“Oh yes, of course, but that's as far as it goes. There's something else too, I want you and Jack to be her godparents.”

“Her?” I said. “Can you tell so soon?”

“Oh no, but I have a really strong feeling that I'm having a daughter,” said Kate. She was just so full of excitement and I could imagine that I would have been too if it had been possible for me to have a baby.

“Well, thank you so much for asking us to be her godparents,” I said. “Nobody has ever asked us that before and it is a real honour.”

“I'm asking you because I know that if anything ever happened to me, you would be there for Ben to make sure that my baby was looked after,” said Kate. She suddenly looked very serious. This was obviously very important to her, so I didn't say anything flippant like 'of course nothing is going to happen to you', and instead said “You have my word on that, and I'm sure Jack will give you his word too.”

Kate smiled' “I knew that you would,” she said. Then perhaps seeing the look on my face, she added. “I'm not sick, and I really don't expect anything to go wrong, but having this baby is so important to me that I already feel a great sense of responsibility and obligation to her.”

I reached across the table and took her hand. “You can rely on Jack and me,” I said.

Our next ballet was 'Don Quixote' with music again by Ludwig Minkus. The story is taken from three episodes in the very long novel by Cervantes. The dancing is unusual in that it is a mixture of classical ballet steps and also Spanish dancing. I was surprised to learn that I had been given the role of Kitri, the innkeeper's daughter, and Jack was Basilio, a barber and Kitri's lover. Dame Monique had decided to take time off and she had said she felt I was quite capable of taking the starring rôle. After taking the second solo rôle in a few productions, this was a special step in my career, and I was excited and not a little nervous.

Meanwhile, we kept in regular contact with Kate and Ben. Kate was starting to show her 'baby bump' now, and another scan had confirmed that she was indeed expecting a baby girl. That was the real icing on the cake. I had told Kate that if I had been good at knitting I would have made some baby clothes for her, but the fact was that my attempts at knitting had only proved that I was best to stick to my 'day job'.

“Never mind,” Kate laughed. “As soon as I told my Mummy and Ben's, they both got to work as soon as they knew what colour wool to use, and my baby is going to be very well supplied with clothes.”

“When she is old enough I'll teach her ballet dancing instead,” I said, and Kate said she would hold me to that.

The 'Don Quixote' rehearsals went ahead and it was very enjoyable. Miss Higgins was nodding her approval at the rehearsals, so Jack and I were obviously doing things to her satisfaction. When the season started, there was royalty present in the Royal Box on the First Night, and all the principals were presented backstage after the performance. I received royal compliments on my performance as did we all. The Princess remarked that it was wonderful to see me performing again, so she obviously remembered me from previous productions. The reviews were uniformly good and ticket sales were excellent.

Meanwhile, Kate was growing bigger and bigger and showing that special bloom that most pregnant women have. Finally, one morning at around seven o'clock, Ben rang to tell us that Kate had given birth to a healthy eight pound baby girl at about 2am. Ben had been present and cut the cord. How different from the old days when husbands were strictly forbidden in the delivery room.

“Congratulations to you both,” I said. “Please pass on our love to Kate. Have you decided on a name yet?”

“Yes, she will be Angela Kate French, because as her mother says, she is a little angel.”

“That's lovely,” I replied. “Please let us know when we can come to see her.”

Two days later, before going in to rehearsals, Jack and I went to the hospital to meet our new goddaughter, carrying a large bunch of flowers. Kate was feeding her at the time and had no problems with Jack coming into the room. Baby Kate, as she came to be called, was as beautiful as all new babies are, and after she had had enough to drink, we were allowed to hold her. She was so small and light, but my heart went out to her, and I had to stop tears forming in my eyes. If only I could have had a baby of my own. I scolded myself, thinking that I must not be greedy; I had a career that many women would give their eye teeth for and we can't have everything we want in this world.

To be continued

Next time: Giselle