Chapter XLVIII The reunion at Paradise Place
No sooner were the wedding festivities over, than it was time for both gay families to go to Paradise Place for the annual reunion that they had arranged the previous year. Dom's parents' home was new to the three children and Olivia. It had plenty of bedrooms, so there was adequate accommodation for a family of six. "It's good job that all our families are not short of cash," said Tom, "most parents would not be able to take three young children on trips round Europe!" Lord and Lady Wakefield welcomed them warmly. They had arrived before Dom and Sandro, who arrived the next day with Elizabeth and the twins. Bianca came from Paris and Massimo and Dorothea from Italy. Jon and David and Tommy and Eleanor made up the party. They stayed at the local hotel. Tommy and Eleanor announced that they were getting engaged, to the delight of all who knew Eleanor. Both she and Tommy were now teachers in Camford. With a young baby, Cathy did not feel able to come.
By now all five children were fluent in both English and Italian. Jon and David were delighted to have their three grandchildren and their twin great nieces together under one roof. They only saw Dom and Sandro's children once a month and the three Italian grandchildren once a year if they were lucky. They had intended to make regular visits to Italy during the summertime, but this had been frustrated by David's singing pupils, who were often entered for competitions, and in Jon's case by the political crisis around the Camford Men's Fitness Centre. They took the opportunity to tell Luke that, as only two family members were allowed at his investiture as a knight, they had decided to invite Cathy, but they still wanted Tom and Luke to come to the dinner that Jon was organizing after the ceremony.
In addition to his delight that his much loved partner was to be honoured by the Queen, Jon had something else, much less pleasurable, on his mind. Although the sex equality legislation specifically allowed sporting clubs to be single-sex, a group calling itself Women's Equality in Sport and Fitness was campaigning to get the facilities of the Men's Fitness Centre made available to women. In spite of a poll of all the members of the Men's Centre being 95% in favour of remaining all-male, the WESF had begun to picket the Centre. Jon and the Centre's board of management were reluctant to resort to litigation, which would be expensive and socially divisive. The case of the WESF activists had no grounds, because apart from the bar, all of the facilities at the Men's Fitness Centre were available at the Camford Olympic Pool and Leisure Centre, open to all. Even so, the local Member of Parliament supported the women's case in the hope of propping up his small majority.
Because of relatively high membership fees, the Men's Centre attracted relatively affluent undergraduates (and those on Edmund Heptinstall Scholarships) together with well-heeled commuters to London and academics and businessmen in Camford, a substantial minority of whom were of course gay. This led some local people to feel that the Fitness Centre was a recreational toy for wealthy businessmen and homosexuals, in spite of it not drawing any funding from public sources. The WESF had even managed to get questions asked in both houses of Parliament, although the government spokesmen replying had emphasized that no breach of the law was involved. The affair had dragged on for several years, and distracted poor Jon from the things that he really preferred to do.
One of the most enjoyable events of the reunion was a trip led by Jon to what was the only large area of woodland south of the river Thames that had been created and maintained by the Afforestation Trust. It was on the southern slopes of the North Downs and was now twenty years old, which meant that the trees were nowhere near fully grown, but still big enough for exploration on foot. The Italian children, more used to city life, were fascinated by the growing trees. "When we were your age, or maybe a bit older, our two fathers took your auntie Cathy and me round England and Wales in the summer holidays looking for places to plant trees. We slept in a motor caravan and our Pop cooked breakfast in it each morning!" Luke told them.
"Could we do that?" asked Giovanni. "Not really" said Luke. "There were only four of us then. But our family has six people and we would need two motor caravans!"
Chapter XLIX Luke in Antwerp I
Soon after Giovanni had started school, Luke received an invitation to direct, as a special guest, a new production of Antonio di Sicilia's opera
Anna Veronica
by Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp. He immediately went to Pauline and said, "You must be behind this invitation, Pauline!"
"Yes, it was my idea. Di Sicilia is not available to direct it, and you were closely involved with him in the première, so I suggested to my old company that they invite you. I know that it will take you away from your family for at least six weeks, but you need to get yourself known outside Italy if you are to get on in opera production. None of the first cast is involved: all the principals will be new to the role, so you can use your own ideas as to how the singers should develop their roles. You will of course need to discuss your ideas with the conductor and the répétiteur, but you will have total freedom to create something new. You may want to use ideas for the role of Capes from your father's interpretation, or you may want to show Capes in a totally different light. The Danish soprano who is to sing the title role is young but very good. The tenor they have chosen is a very good German and I'm hoping that you may be able to persuade him to come and sing here. Moreover, the pay is good!"
"Pauline, if I were in this job for the money, Tom and I would be childless and living in a garret! It's a wonderful opportunity to take my mind away from mundane staff troubles and making sure that the vending machines in the foyer are kept filled up. Vittore can do that very well. I shall accept, providing that Tom and Olivia each come and spend a weekend with me during the rehearsal period. I'll take Tom to Leuven and Olivia to Brugge."
"You'll love Antwerp, and so will Olivia. The capital of Flanders is a very sophisticated city, and the shops really appeal to women. To be frank, I prefer Antwerp and Brussels to Amsterdam and Rotterdam, even though I am Dutch! Belgium is a wonderful place: the problem about it is the Belgians!"
...
Luke received a warm welcome in Antwerp. Fond memories of his father's visits lingered on among members of the chorus and orchestra, and the conductor, an enthusiastic Italian called Lorenzo, was easy to get along with. The producer was a Fleming called Josef and the répétiteur was a Dutchman called Behrend. Luke of course did have ideas about how the plot should be developed. He had not had any say in the design of the sets or costumes, but he was happy with the Edwardian pre-first-world-war style that had been produced. There was little point in moving a story set in the Edwardian age into the twentyfirst century. As it was a new production, there were to be three weeks rehearsing with the orchestra and chorus alone and then three weeks with the principals as well. The latter were frantically learning their parts at home. Luke explained that although his second Christian name was Dutch he could not speak the language, and it was agreed that at least until the arrival of the principals, all communication would be in English, the language of international opera. Although the chorus had been trained to sing in Italian, very few could speak it as a means of communication.
Like all men, Luke eyed up all the members of the chorus, women as well as men, and found that most were young and some of the men were very attractive. He found that many of the cast and some members of the orchestra would take their evening meal in a pleasant restaurant near the opera house, and two evenings a week, chorus and orchestra would spend a couple of hours in one or other of the excellent bars, of which Antwerp has many. Flanders is a beer paradise, and Luke was delighted at the range of superb beers on offer and spent much of his non-working time with chorus members in these bars. In particular, there was a gay couple with whom he got on very well. Although he seriously missed his darling Tom, his sweet Olivia and the children, he was glad of an opportunity to be alone and to reflect on his life, his faith and his prospects. Every Sunday he worshipped at the English Church and soon got to know most of the congregation, as well as the Chaplain.
Chapter L Luke in Antwerp II
The rehearsals progressed well and Luke was enjoying himself. After two weeks, Tom came for a weekend, which they spent in an upmarket hotel in Leuven. Leuven is a small town with a big university, which means that there were many places to eat and drink. Much of the men's time was spent in frenetic sexual activity. In the absence of Olivia and the children, they could relax without any inhibitions and between an early dinner and a late breakfast, they fucked like rabbits, as well as spending an hour early in the evening in the hotel swimming pool.
