The SPECTRE Of The VATICAN ©

Chapter 39 - Wedding Pains.

Time: Present Day
Location: HereAfter

Carter watched as his movie skipped again. He watched as Father Dan married Amanda and Roger. His Mum looked amazing, her dress was gorgeous with a long satin trail that flowed along the aisle like a wave of foam on the dark blue carpet. Carter turned to see his real Mum had returned, he could see that she was glowingly happy for her twin sister.

Jean had spared no expense for the wedding, since Amanda had joined her mother, Monique, as a junior reporter at the Telegraph, his family had come under even more media scrutiny. He had an argument with Amanda about little Carter's proposed involvement in the wedding as the ring bearer. He had argued that having a child involved introduced a number of risks of disrupting the occasion especially if that child was to play an integral role. Didn't she realise her wedding would probably get some media attention because of her mother's and now her, standing in the media. Her mother appeared regularly enough on TV segments to be recognised by the public wherever she went and Amanda being determined to follow in her footsteps should be mindful of the scrutiny. After all, this was the real reason he had spent so much money on the wedding, to allay any suspicions that he was anything but happy about how both his daughters had turned out, and was completely happy with Amanda's decision to take on a readymade family in little Carter.

He lost the argument when Amanda turned this part of his argument back on him. She was already an expert negotiator at her tender age of 21. Her wedding coincided with the twins 21st birthday. He secretly hoped that Amelia was looking down on the proceedings from wherever she was, though he didn't believe in such things, but if there was such a thing as heaven, she surely would be there.

The movie now went into a type of fast forward, zipping through his early life and schooling, making a number of pit stops along the way. He recognised most of them. How he was bullied at a new school when Amanda and Roger moved into their new house nearer the city in Paddington. The bully was a kid called Malcolm. They had a fight in the playground of St Francis Primary. They were both brought up before Brother Daly and disciplined. Afterwards as they were leaving Mal said well that's our Daly Discipline. They both laughed out loud. Brother Daly put away his strap and walked away in a huff.  After that they became fast friends, Malcolm became his best friend, and was so till the end.

The only major falling out had come when they were 20 years old. Malcolm introduced him to a girl from his theatre group, a girl called Layla, she was the most gorgeous creature Carter had ever seen. Carter had followed in his Mum's footsteps and joined the media, but he had concentrated on TV and secured a job as a reporter on a start up current affairs show called After Dark. He had been to some wild media and show business parties and had had his fair share of beautiful girls, including a stunning blonde called Sue, who was a go-go dancer at Whisky a Go-Go night club in King's Cross, a seamy part of Darlinghurst the adjoining suburb to where he lived. Sue had been married and divorced and broke his heart by returning to her ex-husband while they were dating. What followed was a binge of late night parties and drinking sessions and a succession of beautiful one night stands with everyone from barmaids to actresses. That was until Layla. He knew Mal had a crush on her, who wouldn't, she was exquisite, beautiful, lively, funny, intelligent, a rare combination. Mal confided in him that he thought she was out of his league. Carter remembered asking him, "have you told her yet, how you feel?" Mal just shook his head. "Then you'd better, Mal, or I will."

Annoyed at Mal's inaction Carter had rung her and invited her out for a drink about a month later. He got her number off a list of contacts in Mal's room. I'll surprise him he thought.

The movie slowed at that point and showed that night.

"How do you feel about Mal?" he asked. His media training had taught him the direct approach was usually the most fruitful.