After All - Part Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

The top-hatted man at the door of the Ritz gave her a smile as she approached. Mattie smiled back. The nature of her night meant that she was anything but glum. She’d been to the Ritz several times, for tea with her mother for her eighteenth birthday, dinner with her old boss on a couple of occasions, and drinks with Dylan when they were married a dozen or more times. He had loved to impress would be contacts and investors. Usually they, or rather she, ended up footing a huge bill and nothing came out of the soiree such had been his luck when they’d been together.

Tonight was a different story, tonight he was a self made man, and he was entertaining his mother. And she was about to gatecrash.

At the door to the restaurant, the suited maître’d met her.

                “Hello Ma’am, can I help you?” He gave an incline of his head, as ever the staff here were the most courteous in the business.

She smiled, that was a habit at the moment, “I understand Mr Dylan Wallace is here, I’m supposed to be joining him,” leaning forward she whispered, “he’s with his mother, wants to dilute her attention. I declined, but there’s been a change of plans. Could you show me to his table please?”

The man looked a little concerned, this was against the protocol of the place, but as he dropped his head to the reservation list, Mattie looked behind him and was rewarded to see Maggie Fredricks sat at a table in the window, facing her. Dylan was sat opposite his mother, whilst she could only see the back of him, she could tell that he was tense, his shoulders were hunched, she could almost see the whiteness of his knuckles as he gripped his cutlery.

As the man in front of her lifted his head his face all set to question her further, she grinned in her most genial yet authoritative way, “there they are, in the window. I’ll head over; could you get me a Manhattan please? They truly are the greatest here. And an extra chair of course.”

Before he could protest, she started the slide across the room between the tables in her most elegant way. She should be nervous, Mattie thought as she sidled across to them, but she wasn’t. She truly had nothing left to lose. Over the last ten years this man had created every emotion in her, she was left with nothing to be scared of. Nothing to fear anymore, and that gave her a confidence that she hadn’t felt in years, maybe ever.

Maggie spotted her first, eyes lifting and staring for a moment, it took several seconds to place her, and Mattie could see the exact moment that she realised who she was. It was at the very same moment that Dylan looked up, sensing something distracting his mother, and Mattie was gifted with two awe struck, stunned faces staring at her.

In that initial split second she saw anger in Dylan’s eyes, he hated that she’d crossed this line, but Maggie was pleased, a smile growing as she stared at her ex daughter-in-law.

                “What are you doing here?” Dylan asked trying his best not to hiss. But completely ignoring that, Maggie stood and stared at her.

                “Matilda? I can’t believe you’re here! How are you?”

Mattie accepted a fairly sterile hug from the older woman then gave another of those genial smiles in her direction; her cheeks were beginning to ache from the effort. Dylan was still sat in his seat, his face sullen. Maggie sat and gestured to the seat that the waiter was approaching with, and as Mattie sat down the ice cold VERY appetising Manhattan was placed in front of her.

With an appreciative nod, she reached for the martini glass full of cold dark liquid and a maraschino cherry and took a well deserved sip. Then she looked up at Maggie.

                “Dylan knew you’d love to see me again, but I was so busy tonight.” She reached out and touched her arm, “it’s good to see you again.”

Dylan tried to contain his anger; he’d had his mother ranting at him for the best part of the last ninety minutes. Her latest husband had left her, and she’d just found out that he had managed to coerce her into a prenuptial agreement. She was due to get nothing from the marriage, and she wasn’t happy. Any man who planned to marry a five times divorcee should protect himself, that was blatantly obvious. But it didn’t help to highlight that. Now the devil incarnate husband was a devil incarnate son.

He looked at Mattie, and was amazed at the change in his mother, from the grim angry aggressor he’d picked up for dinner into a smiling friendly woman. Then he looked at Matilda, she was enjoying this. When she’d walked up to his table, caught him mother’s attention, he was glad for a moment that he was in a busy room and wasn’t a violent man. He’d calmed a little as he’d silently let her join him without protest, but now he was wondering why she was there, what her plan was.

                “I was sorry to read about your mother. You must miss her.”

The caught his attention. His mother’s words were edged with genuine concern. How did his mother come to know about that? How hadn’t he known? He really was a bastard. No wonder the two women were instantly back on mutual ground.

He watched Matilda fight with the emotion that was obviously still raw, “it wasn’t easy. I miss her every day.”

His mother smiled and nodded, “she was a very nice woman, you were lucky.”

Matilda nodded, “I didn’t have enough of her, but what I had was amazing.”

Dylan instantly compared that to his opinions on her own mother, in the time he’d been with Mattie her mother had been like a mother to him too. He couldn’t imagine how much he let her down by abandoning her daughter.

                “Unlike your husband.”

His head shot up in shock at his mother’s harsh words and was only relieved to see an equal display of shock on Mattie’s face.

                “Maggie!”

His mother shook his head, “no Matilda, he let you down...”

As he opened his mouth to speak again, Matilda beat him to it, “sorry Maggie, but you are wrong. Dylan and I were best friends, that’s the best basis for a marriage that I know, not money, status or convenience.” He grinned at the veiled dig at his mother’s six marriages, “but we grew in different directions. The only thing that was against us was our ages, and our priorities. He was never bad to me, and I could have done a LOT worse.”

Mattie watched the other two as she finished her comment, she was perfectly aware that less than two hours ago she’d told Dylan that marrying him was the worst thing she’d ever done, she only hoped that he took the comment as the indirect apology that it was. He was trying to hide a smile and she knew that he’d appreciated what she was saying. Maggie on the other hand looked a little more uncomfortable. But then the woman was constantly down on her son, it was no wonder that he didn’t do well with commitment, with sharing, with being part of a marriage. He’d not had a half decent role model in his whole life. She on the other hand had grown up in a loving, caring and supportive family unit. She WAS the lucky one.

                “Yes well,” Maggie offered, “you always did cover for him. So you haven’t told me how you came to be invited to dinner.”

Mattie put on her most respectful face, “ah, well. Your very successful son has bought the hotel I manage. Saved us from a fate worse than death, so he’s become my saviour for a change, rather than the other way around.”

As she finished the sentence she looked up at Dylan and smiled a genuine, apologetic smile. It wasn’t often she was wrong, and even less likely that she’d admit it, so she tolerated his smug grin as he stared right back.

When Maggie gave a humph in a disgruntled manner, Mattie knew she had to steady the water, reaching out she placed a hand over her arm, “I couldn’t wait to come meet you again once we’d got over the last six years. But we’re all adults, and I’d like to think that we were...and still are friends Maggie.”

                “Oh you are SO good!” Dylan announced the second his mother excused herself to ‘powder her nose’. “We’re still friends Maggie!” He did a childish impression of her schmoozing his mother. 

Whilst he was angry at the way the evening had panned out, he had to admire his ex wife’s smoothness. Because in all honesty she'd schmoozed him too. When she walked in he'd been furious. She had no right to gatecrash his fragile family meal. But he also knew instantly that this was what she wanted to achieve, she wanted to get back at him, show him that two could play his game...not that his was a real game, not in the way she thought anyway.

                “I truly am sorry. I was wrong earlier. I’m angry that you didn’t tell me the truth, but even before I looked up the delight that is Stybar, I knew that you weren’t someone malicious, that you didn’t lie to me, ever when we were married. I meant what I said earlier. I’ve been hurt for a long time, and that’s been hard. But I can’t blame you forever.”

He couldn’t have been more stunned, “I don’t want to ruin your life again.” Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, and then when he opened them he gestured for a waiter. “Another Laphroaig please, and another Manhattan?” When she nodded the waiter moved away with a nod.  Over the years he’d become a whisky aficionado...well a keen fan anyway. The Ritz did fifty or more types, and whilst his favourite was fifty pounds a shot, he was uncaring.

                “I mean what I say. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you...but in this case walking away would have been the wrong thing.”

She nodded, “I get that, and I’m sorry I flew off the handle. I should have let you explain.” He chuckled and was rewarded with her eyes widening, “you find it funny? Me apologising?”

Despite her scowl she wasn’t serious and he smiled, “that’s closer to an apology than I’ve had in the twelve years since I met you. And we’re in the Ritz having a genial conversation...that deserves a laugh.”

She paused as the waiter laid the drinks in front of them, then she asked, “what happened with your mother earlier?”

He sighed, “way to ruin a good atmosphere.” Laughing she took the cherry from the drink and popped it in her mouth, and he almost lost his chain of thought. “Her latest mug of a husband has left her and sprung the prenup that she doesn’t remember signing but clearly has on her, and it’s my fault. But then what isn’t it?”

He gave a self deprecating laugh, doesn’t matter how much I make, how successful I am, she can bring me back to a useless teenager in one sentence.”

                “I guessed as much.”

Matilda had been the only one who could handle his mother, she was blunt, honest and often a little rude, but his mother accepted that, and she’d been the only person ever to challenge his mother over the way she spoke to him. He’d barely seen her in the last five years, partly because he had no one to defend him when she became nasty, vindictive, or even worse drunk.

                “Can we do this? Work together?”

He looked up at her, suddenly quiet, unassuming and knew her anxiety was real, “of course.” He gave an enthusiastic nod, “I’ve got loads going on in the States...I’m not going to be here much, and there’s no one I’d trust more in the hotel. I’m not about to interfere.”

                “Really?”

Dylan was amazed at her genuine surprise, “you think otherwise?”

She laughed, “after all that’s gone on, over the years, not just the last few weeks, I’d have thought you’d want to hold me at arm’s length.”

                “On the contrary, what you said to my mother earlier was right. We were a good team once before our personalities got in the way. We can work for a singular goal, I’m sure.”

He drank another sip of his warming whisky and smiled at her silence, “Have you eaten?”

She glanced up from watching her fingers twirling the cherry stalk, “not had much chance.”

Waving he signalled to a waiter, “can we have the menu please?”

                “But you’ve eaten.”

He shrugged, “this night is descending into chaos; why not throw etiquette with caution to the wind! Have whatever you want.”

Grinning Mattie ordered a club sandwich, which was, as expected, the greatest club sandwich when it arrived. As she started to eat, under the scrutiny of Dylan, just as Maggie returned from what had been a rather prolonged trip to the bathroom.

She stopped at the table and reached for her mink wrap, “you two seem to be getting on...and I er...” Suddenly she looked a little sheepish. “I’ve bumped into a friend...”

With that she grabbed her bag and almost ran out of the restaurant with a beaming smile on her face.

Dylan groaned, and when her eyes returned to meet his, he sighed, “daddy number seven?”