Could It Be Forever? My Hero
Tumbling back to her youth, Patti relived her teenage crush on David Cassidy – but little had she known that true romance was waiting just outside the door
It’s a joke, really.” Patti peeled the cling film from the vol-au-vents and placed them on the table beside the cake. The number 40 dwarfed the names Shaun andPatti, and she looked at it for a moment, secretly proud of her handiwork.
“What is?” Kerry replied, bayonetting chipolatas with gleeful enthusiasm.
“Valentine’s Day. It’s a joke. I mean, look at me and Shaun – married on Valentine’s Day and he’s the least romantic bloke you could wish to meet.”
“Yes.” Kerry looked up, chipolata dangling her from stick. “We did think it was a bit odd at the time.”
Patti eyed her friend with a grin. “I really appreciate you coming all the way down here just for this.”
“And miss an anniversary shindig? Come on. What sort of mate would I be if I were to miss this?”
Patti laughed, uncovering some cupcakes just before Kerry’s chipolata narrowly missed her eye as she zoomed in for a hug.
Of course, she knew they were lucky to have so many guests on an evening like this. After all, Valentine’s Day was a day when couples liked to go out for a romantic dinner alone.
She’d tried to get Shaun to agree to the Saturday but, no, it had to be Wednesday. It had to be 40 years to the day. He was insistent. Patti had been terrified that only the oldies and the singlies would turn up!
Yet, looking around, almost everyone they’d invited had come. Their sons were all there with the grandkids, and even her mum had managed to make it down from Scotland with her new man. Soon the party was in full swing. Patti glanced around for Shaun from time to time, but was never quite able to pin him down.
By 10.30pm, Patti had decided Shaun no longer knew what the party was actually for. She’d barely seen him all evening, having spent most of it herself ensuring that the guests were happy and well fed.
Patti sighed, flopped down and kicked off her shoes. Kerry had pulled her up for a dance, or six, and she was beginning to regret the high heels that were so alien to her. Two-inch court shoes were the most she ever usually managed, day to day.
As she slugged back a mouthful of G&T, the music faded and suddenly there was a comical tapping of the microphone.
She looked up to see Shaun standing in front of the DJ’s equipment, looking slightly the worse for wear.
“Uh-oh…” she murmured, more to herself than to anyone on her table. “Here we go.”
“… and so, I’d like to call up the love of my life, my Patti. Come on, Patti! I have something for you!” “What?” Patti glanced at Kerry for support, but Kerry merely shoved her off her chair. Patti made her way across the dance floor to her husband.
“It’s not much,” he said, “but… well… it’s just to say thanks. For putting up with me for this long.”
Patti smiled at him, silently panicked that she had nothing to give him in return. Shaun picked up something from the table beside him and passed it across. It was elaborately wrapped in gold paper with a huge silver bow. It felt like a magazine. “Open it,” he whispered in her ear. Blushing deeply, aware of all the eyes focused on her, Patti carefully unwrapped the present to find it was, indeed, a magazine…
One of her favourite ever. A Jackie magazine, from 1972. David Cassidy, with his soft wavy hair, gazed out at her from the cover and, in an instant, she was transported back in time.
She remembered how, every week, she’d waited with bated breath for the magazine to drop through the front door. It cost 3½p and was “payment” from her mum for looking after her brother after school every day.
“Hold it up,” Shaun whispered, an age-old glint in his eye that she hadn’t
seen for some time. There was a softness to it too that made her feel funny inside. She hadn’t felt that for some time either – and that took her right back as well.
“This isn’t just any old magazine,” Shaun announced to their guests, then quickly corrected himself. “Well, it obviously is an old magazine, but not just any one. When I started my paper round in 1972, this was the first magazine I delivered to Patti’s house.
“I remember it not just ’cos of the date, but because of who’s on the front of it. I knew Patti from the school bus, although she had no idea I existed, but I knew all about her. I knew she had a sister, younger brother, and a father at sea. I knew that she liked horses and was a huge David Cassidy fan.”
Patti lowered the magazine, staring at the cover. You could hear a pin drop in the hall and she wondered what Shaun would say next. He obviously hadn’t finished and had settled his large frame on the front of the DJ’s table.
I was GREEN with envy and wanted to WRING that Cassidy bloke’s NECK!
Patti worried about its contents. She hoped the DJ was well insured.
“I didn’t really want to deliver it because I knew she’d be poring over the stuff about Cassidy and there was probably a poster inside. I imagined her taking it carefully from the middle and deciding where in her room to put it. Probably somewhere where she could see it from her bed.” Patti felt Shaun’s hand slip into hers. “I was green with envy. If I could’ve got hold of that Cassidy bloke, I’d have wrung his pretty neck!”
The room rumbled with laughter and Patti stared at Shaun in amazement. She’d heard none of this in all the years they’d been together. Even from this distance, she could see Kerry’s eyebrows raised in surprise.
“So, it was a good job, really, that me and Dave moved in different circles.”
Patti laughed out loud, but it appeared Shaun still hadn’t finished.
“Months passed and, finally, instead of shoving the magazine through the letterbox, I rang the doorbell instead. I made up some excuse that we’d had complaints about damaged magazines. It was a lie, but I got to talk to her. I even pretended to like Cassidy’s music so I could chat to her about something. I thought I’d take that one to my grave! If my mates had known…”
He grinned and a few leery cheers peppered the room.
“Anyway, it was worth it. A few years of putting up with pretty-boy, and I won this lovely lady for life. She always wondered why I wanted us to get married on Valentine’s Day…
“Well, it’s confession time. I’m old enough and ugly enough not to worry about looking as soft as butter. After hand-delivering for nearly a year, on February fouteenth ’73, she started a long conversation about West Ham. I knew she hated football, so I finally knew that she liked me! I got into hot water for being half an hour late finishing my round, but, well… Five years later, she was my wife.”
Patti watched as a lone tear dampened her magazine. Funnily enough, it landed right on David’s cheek and looked as if he’d been crying.
Well so you should, she thought to herself. You had your chance, but you blew it. And I’ ve got Shaun and he doesn’ t need to take hours blow-drying his hair. Not now he’ s bald.
She knew she was being silly, but she knew that she had to be. If she wasn’t being ridiculous, she would be drowning poor David in tears. She squeezed Shaun’s hand gently and he drew her closer to him.
“Happy anniversary, and happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart,” he told her, the microphone abandoned on the table beside him, but he’d forgotten to turn it off. Cheers and toasts drifted into the background. “Sorry it wasn’t anything special. I’d love to have given you rubies or whatever it is for a fortieth anniversary…” Patti silenced him with a kiss. “It couldn’t have been more special. I don’t need rubies and rubbish like that. But where on earth did you find it? The magazine, that is.”
“You can find anything on eBay if you’re willing to pay enough.”
“You shelled out for a David Cassidy magazine? For me?”
His theatrical wink made her laugh. She looked searchingly at her husband and realised that there was always something new to find out about someone. There were always still depths left to plumb.
She turned to Jackie and started to thumb through it, mercilessly catapulted back to her teenage years and the wonderful first flush of youth. She reached the centre pages. “Mmmm…” She turned it this way and that, then glanced back at Shaun. She gave him a returning wink.
“I can’t believe what great condition this is in. Would you mind if I found a space for this in our bedroom? Now?”
It was as well she’d kicked off her shoes a bit earlier. There were chairs and tables everywhere, guests and their bags to negotiate, and her heels would have slowed her right down…