Chapter 12

Cate

My life had changed so dramatically and Jack was the catalyst. I had a new slant on my singing career and with him I had found the love that I had craved ever since I was a teenager. As I thought about it I was slowly coming to the conclusion that if the one was to flourish then the other had to be abandoned. I could not give myself one hundred percent to both. There was no contest. If I continued singing and all the travel that incurred, my relationship with Jack would be put under strain and I wasn't going to allow that to happen. This thing with the Stela Swing Band was an episode and like all episodes there would be an end to it. I decided that when that happened I would retire from singing completely and make my life with Jack.

We went up to Blackpool two days before the show. Much as I tried I couldn't get a ticket for Jack. They were reserved for relatives of the celebrity dancers and those who had applied for tickets months in advance and had been lucky in the draw.

A programme assistant explained how we would fit in. Dave Arch and his musicians played for the actual dancing and exhibitions and took a break when the results were scrutinized. That's when we came on. Our performance was recorded and shown during the results show. It was panic as we set up and got everything in place as we didn't have too much time. However the staff at the BBC seemed to know what they were doing so it all happened. When the recording was shown it would appear seamless. We were given some rehearsal time. The dancers needed that time as well to choreograph their routine. I was very impressed by the couple, Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag. I was told by someone there that if you wanted a foxtrot exhibition then this was the couple who you chose.

Jack

I did not usually tune in to 'Strictly Come Dancing'. My usual routine for a Saturday evening was listening to music and reading. Although Cate was performing her spot on the show would not be broadcast until Sunday evening. So I settled for my usual evening, being rudely interrupted by the phone at eleven p.m. It was Cate, bubbling with excitement for their spot and the dancing. She was about to tell me who had been eliminated from the show when suddenly she stopped. "Oh! I can't tell you. It's a secret until Sunday evening." She went on to describe how it all went together, and that whilst their rendition of 'Why do Robins sing in December' would be the only recording broadcast, they had in fact performed three songs, the third being 'You do something to me' when Dave Arch and his band had jammed with them. Then she took breath. "Now for the best news, Jack. The Tower wants to book us for a regular spot, three nights every month. They reckon that with Strictly, there will be an upsurge of people dancing and they want a competent band for people to dance to."

"Sounds great. Perhaps I can get there and we can dance together."

"I can't dance this stuff, Jack."

"Neither can I."

"I don't believe you. You can do everything."

"Good of you to recognise my talents, but that isn't one of them."

"I know of one that is very satisfactory."

"Possibly, but I do need help for that."

"I'm the helper and don't you forget it." She hesitated for a moment. "Jack. I have four days free from Monday. Any chance I..."

"Come. I'll pick you up at Derby station and I'll re-arrange my appointments. Just let me know what time you get to Derby."

"Brilliant! I'll call you with the times."

I watched the programme when it was broadcast on the Sunday evening. It seems silly really as almost everyone knows that the result show is recorded on the Saturday evening, yet everyone involved goes to great lengths to support the fiction that the results are not known until the Sunday evening. I wasn't interested in what couples would be through to the next stage, I wanted to see Cate performing. I set my recorder up so that I would have a permanent record. Of course I had watched the rehearsals; yet the performance with Cate wearing a lovely cream full length dress was something else. If I had any doubts why she had segued from Rock Chick to an accomplished balladeer that programme was all the proof that anyone would need. Of course some would say that I was biased. I wouldn't argue, of course I am biased.

I managed to clear Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Tuesday I had one appointment I couldn't get out of. Luckily it was in Long Eaton, so it would only take a morning to complete. It always surprised me that some celebrities could walk through a crowded place without being recognized. Cate had that ability. The glamorous woman I had seen on the TV just the day before was unrecognizable in jeans, sweat-shirt and a brown leather jacket amongst the bustle of a busy train station. That is until she saw me waiting, then her smile flashed and she ran to me. She dropped her hold-all, jumped into my arms and immediately our mouths and tongues connected. She talked continuously on the journey back to Hulland recounting the show and snippets of gossip from and about the celebrities and the professional dancers until I drove over the cattle grid, then there was silence. I looked over and she wore a small peaceful smile and a visage of peace and contentment. Once inside she seemed to relax completely. "How does it happen, Jack? The first time I came here I had this feeling of peace and welcome. It happens every time."

"Because you are welcome. Anytime and for as long as you want."

She nodded. "Yes, I get that feeling. It seems to enfold me as soon as I enter. It happened the first time I came here, just walking in I could feel the house saying, 'hello, I have been waiting for you'." Cate grinned slyly. "I decided then that I would have to seduce you, so that I could get visiting rights anytime."

"I see. So it's not me it's the house you want."

"Now what gave you that impression?" She pulled her sweat shirt over her head."I am going for a shower." Cate then flipped the waist button on her jeans as she climbed the stair. "If someone would like to help me, like washing my back ... and my front ... and anything else he wishes to, I would be very grateful." She stopped, pulled off the jeans and threw them at me. "Coming?"

"Try and stop me." I kicked off my loafers and started up the stair.

The action started in the shower and when our fingers were wrinkled from the water, we transferred to the bed where the action started all over again.

Later after we had leisurely taken a lunch, we relaxed downstairs. With music playing we watched the sky darken as night encroached. I could feel that Cate had something on her mind and waited patiently till she felt it needed airing. "I have been thinking, Jack. My bookings for Rock are few and far between now. The band has quite a few bookings for late November and December but the new year apart from one booking in Birmingham and the Tower Ballroom, there is nothing else on the horizon. There will be bookings I know, but they will be for the Swing band. So I have decided not to accept any bookings but with the Swing Band. So in many ways I shall be semi-retired." She stopped and took a deep breath, more like a gulp. "Do you think..."

"Yes."

"You don't know what I was going to ask?"

"I thought, perhaps, that you wanted to come and spend more time here."

"Well that was the gist of it. You don't mind?"

"Not at all. In fact I positively encourage the idea. You should know by now that you are welcome, whether I am here or not." I had picked up on the Birmingham booking. "This booking in Birmingham. Where is it?"

"It's the Hippodrome, just the one night, but it's a good venue."

"Any possibility of my getting a ticket?"

"Of course. I was going to suggest it anyway. I'll get you a comp."

The four days that week were good. We seemed to move together around the cottage, preparing meals together, talking, listening to music and later being very much in sync when we went to bed.

I was not one to make too much of Christmas apart from spending too much on presents for Ellen and now Cate. I had always believed that many of the Christmas shows were pre-recorded with celebrities offering fulsome Christmas greetings to all and sundry long before the actual day. However I found that entertainers such as Cate and the band were so busy leading up to that time of year that the actual day came in a blur. Our greetings on Christmas day was made by telephone, with a very tired Cate in her flat and me at the cottage describing to her the countryside crisp with frost. We agreed that we would celebrate the festival early in January. New Years Eve was the same. Revellers, revelled, Cate and the band worked! We got together early in the New Year and just enjoyed being together, relaxing and talking.

I was very busy in January as the Furniture Show loomed; making sure that my customers had the fabrics they had ordered and that they also had swatches of the new fabrics. With the experience of past years I had booked a hotel room close to the National Exhibition Centre well in advance. The four days of the Show was hectic. I wandered around the displays keeping an eye out for any designs that could become best-sellers and fending off manufacturers who wanted to know why I hadn't offered them designs that their competitors were showing. I was very interested in two Turkish gentlemen who were visiting the furniture manufacturers with samples of their production. One of my good customers' spoke to me about them, asking why I wasn't representing them. It turned out that these gentlemen were from the Mill that had missed the appointment with me when I was in Turkey. It was with some glee that I passed on the advice from the Turkish Commercial Bureau about the unreliability of this Mill.