Love to Hate You: Ask Vicky...

Chapter Twenty-Four - Predictable

Ramona Paxton was another year older. Old enough to be of an age when it was polite to celebrate her birthday, but decidedly rude to mention how many birthdays she'd had. In another fifteen years or so, people would start to announce her age again, because instead of just being "old", she'd be "ancient"; ancient enough to engender admiration and respect for no other reason than that she "hadn't died yet". This year, she was not that old, and so her friends and family (and some of her family's friends, like Vicky and Xander) gathered for her birthday dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant in London, without knowing exactly how old she was.

'Happy birthday,' Rudy said, kissing his aunt on the cheek, as he arrived at the restaurant with a guest of his own. 'This is Rachel,' he said, gesturing to his plus one.

'Oh,' Ramona replied, tucking her chin into her neck as she peered inquisitively at the younger woman. 'I didn't know you were seeing anyone, darling. Does your mother know? She's not mentioned it.' Rudy's face twisted into an awkward, fleeting smile, before he said gently, –

'You know what Mum's like; best to say nothing until it gets serious.' Naturally, Ramona wanted to say, "Oh, so it's serious, then, is it?", but she didn't, because she wasn't tactless like her sister.

'Of course,' she smiled, offering Rachel a welcoming press of the hand. 'Lovely to meet you,' she finished.

'And you,' Rachel said. 'Happy birthday.' Rudy quickly ushered her away from his aunt, steeling himself for his mother's reaction. Fortunately – or perhaps it was unfortunate; he couldn't really decide – Vicky was in conversation with his mother when he reached her, and so he was obliged to introduce his girlfriend to his mother, in front of the woman he had once wanted to be his girlfriend; the woman his mother still wanted to be his girlfriend.

'This is Rachel,' Rudy said, a little awkwardly.

'Hi,' Vicky replied, frowning in confusion, because Rudy had been insistent that he and Rachel were a "no-go". 'I'm Vicky. Do you remember me from, –'

'Yes,' Rachel put in, cutting her short. Vicky was very difficult to forget.

'Rachel?' Aunt Vee asked, blinking with deliberate confusion, because she had never heard of any "Rachel". She didn't like not knowing things, so she tended to assume that what she didn't know wasn't worth knowing; poor Rachel!

'We work together,' Rudy explained. 'Rachel's a nurse.'

'I see,' his mother replied, with a dismissive smile. 'And are you two...'

'A couple, yes,' Rudy said stoically. He didn't sound thrilled about it. His tone was, truth be told, a little offensive to Rachel's delicate sensibilities, because his voice held no note of pride, nor excitement.

'You have a wonderful son,' Rachel said to Vee, in an almost sycophantic voice.

'Of course I do! He shares fifty percent of my DNA, after all,' Vee said, smirking at Vicky. Vicky was not smirking. Vicky was trying to work out why she hated Rachel, because, after a mere minute in her company (namely, after hearing them refer to themselves as "a couple") Vicky had decided that she detested Rachel, and that she ought to be assassinated at the first possible opportunity.

'Oh, look,' Vicky said, without her usual bitchy flare, 'Tobias is here. He's always good for a laugh. Excuse me.' Rudy frowned. He could be a little oblivious where his own desirability was concerned, but he was astute enough to notice that Vicky Wilkes was unhappy. So was Aunt Vee, and so – as soon as Rudy had taken his new girlfriend to meet his father – Verity made a beeline for Ramona and said, –

'Who on earth is this Rachel? I've never heard of her. And to bring her here, to your birthday dinner, when I hadn't even booked a seat for her?' She frowned and shook her head. 'He can't have been with her long, because I know he was fond of Vicky, and Kip isn't the sort of man to date one woman whilst having feelings for another.'