One More Try

Groundbreaking News

Cissy had never been this happy. The next few days she almost walked on air. She and Wilf spent every spare second together, sometimes at her place, sometimes in his apartment and on the weekends he took her to his manor in Cornwall, where she'd never been. Cissy fell instantly in love with the people as well as the landscape. The house itself was lovely, very old with beautiful landscaped gardens, some greenhouses and Wilf even had some horses there. Ciccy loved riding and he loved watching her, she was a natural and he wondered where she had learned to ride like this. To Cissy, Bond Manor and its surroundings almost seemed like an enchanted fairytale place where the sun was always shining. She tried not to show it though because she didn't want him to think of her as materialistic and only interested in his fancy house and lovely horses. Little did she know that she had nothing to fear.
Wilf had fallen hard for her, and instead of getting used to being around her and the novelty of it all wearing off, he fell even more every day. He was fully aware that he probably looked like an idiot, swooning and looking at Cissy like a hardcore fan would. But Wilf didn't mind at all. He was in fact her number one fan. He accepted the role of Doctor Dulcamara and now they were practicing together every day, even though it wasn't easy. Not because the music was difficult, or that they didn't want to. It was just that sooner or later, they got distracted. Sometimes the actions of his character would upset or agitate Cissy's character and he hated seeing Ciccy upset, even if she was acting. So Wilf just had to comfort her, they lost track and ended up cuddling on the couch instead of singing. And Ciccy loved the attention he gave her, how he'd go from loud, confident and just a little obnoxious to loving and gentle in a split second. Wilf really did seem to care for her and his commitment to show her just how serious he was to make things work out between, meant the world to her.
Ciccy also continued to look after Ophelia during most days as Jean had to finish another job and she didn't have a nanny anymore. She also wasn't planning on hiring another one, at least not for a very long time but Cissy was more than happy to look after her goddaughter and spend more time with her, even if that meant not seeing Wilf, who thankfully understood how important this was to his girlfriend. Ophelia noticed a difference in her aunty Cissy pretty much immediately and she kept asking her what was going on until Cissy told her that she was in love. Ophelia looked at her quizzically, trying to make sense of what she had just heard, but then her face lit up.
"Like Mum and the Rigoletto man!" She was thrilled to finally have a word for her mother's rather strange behaviour in the last few weeks. Cissy however was visibly confused.
"Your mum and who? What do you mean?" Was Jean dating again and hadn't told her? But she wouldn't do that and when would she even meet someone? Ophelia was a little annoyed by her aunty's slowness. Wasn't it obvious? So she went to show her the record.
"Mummy loves him." She explained confidently, pointing to the picture on the sleeve. "I don't blame her because I guess he's handsome and he has a good voice. Sometimes she borrows my record when I'm asleep. Then she listens to it on her own and then she cries, but mum doesn't know I know so please don't tell her."
"I see." Cissy tried to find a reasonable explanation she could give Pheli. "Well maybe she just likes the music a lot, sometimes music can make people very emotional, you know?" Not her best lie, but also not her worst. Ophelia seemed to buy it and shrugged. She seemed to be more interested in a different matter now.
"So when can I meet your special friend? Is he going to be my new uncle? What does he do, is he a singer too?" Ophelia had about a thousand more questions because she was a naturally inquisitive child, as well as just a little bit jealous that she now would have to share Cissy's attention.
"He's a singer like me and we met long ago. We were friends until recently and now... well, we will see what happens. But I don't know if it's time for you to meet him just yet. It's still very new after all." Cissy wasn't sure whether Wilf would even be remotely interested in meeting or spending time with her goddaughter. He was a funny man and sometimes like a big child himself, but actually dealing with children? And the conflicting loyalties between him being Reg's best friend and her being Jean's and Reg not even knowing? It would be far too complicated.
"Does he make you happy? Does he make you feel special?" Cissy blushed. Now those were really important questions. But she was very confident when answering them because ever since getting together he hadn't given her a single reason to doubt him.
"He does, Sweet, he makes me very happy and to him I am the most special person in the world." While Ophelia was happy for her, she did have another burning question:
"But I make you happy too, right?" It had to be asked because she always worried about losing those she loved most. Cissy pulled her into a hug, understanding that parts of her insecurity stemmed from the whole nanny affair.
"Pheli, sweetheart, you're my little ray of sunshine, of course you make me happy. It's just a very different happy from the one he makes me feel." Ophelia nodded, deep in thought. Apparently there were lots of happies and lots of different kinds of love.
"Do you know the Rigoletto man? Because he's a singer as well. Or maybe your special friend knows him. I think we should introduce him to Mum and help things fall into place a little. She's pretty, she could definitely make him fall in love with her." Ophelia had everything planned out in her head, to ensure her mother's and her own happiness, she would play matchmaker and end up with a complete family unit in return.
"How about we have a snack first, I could make waffles..." Ciccy quickly changed the topic. She couldn't believe Jean hadn't at least told Ophelia that she had a father or that her father was a singer, while also letting her listen to her dad's records. She was actually a little angry at her friend, this was not fair, neither towards Ophelia, nor Reginald. How confusing for the little girl. And he at least deserved to know and decide to what extent he would be a part of Ophelia's life. Cissy sighed deeply and followed a bouncy Ophelia to the kitchen to make waffles. Her heart wasn't in it. She knew that she urgently needed to speak to Jean, not just about Ophelia but also about the news for the upcoming production, but she was nervous. She loved Jean but her friend had the unpleasant habit of shooting the messenger that brought her unpleasant news. And she really didn't want her to pull out last minute and have someone else play the part. It had to wait, at least a little bit.