From Notting Hill to New York . . . Actually

by Ali McNamara

  ‘Do you know who’s done this, then?’ I ask him as we hurry along together behind Max and a sprightly Oscar, with Peter and Jamie following up the rear.

  ‘Yep,’ he says, winking at me. ‘But my lips,’ he makes a zipping motion across them, ‘are sealed,’ he says out of the corner of his mouth.

  We finally arrive at Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side, the venue for the now infamous scene from When Harry Met Sally, and we pile inside.

  ‘You need to pre-book for large parties,’ the greeter informs us as she eyes us all standing in the doorway.

  ‘Oh no, we don’t want a table, we’re looking for a clue,’ I reply, forgetting that not everyone knows about our treasure hunt.

  ‘Sounds to me more like you haven’t got one,’ the greeter remarks, pulling a face.

  But I’m too busy looking around the diner.

  ‘Dad!’ I shout as I spot Dad and Eleanor sitting at a table. ‘Look, I just need to speak to my father,’ I smile sweetly at the greeter. ‘He’s sitting right over there.’

  She sighs and shakes her head. ‘Go on then. Just you, though – the rest of them stay here.’

  I head into the restaurant, weaving my way in and out of the tables of diners having their sandwiches and bagels.

  ‘You made it this far, then?’ Dad asks, smiling up at me. ‘We wondered if you would.’

  ‘Of course! The clues haven’t been that bad. In fact, some of them have been quite easy.’

  ‘Well, here’s your next one,’ Eleanor says, opening her bag. She hands me the key with the now familiar note attached.

  If this big guy had been a bit more tired and in love maybe he would have taken the elevator.

  I read the clue to Dad and Eleanor. ‘Any ideas?’

  They shake their heads.

  ‘I’d better go and read it to the others, then, because nothing is springing to mind for me either. Are you coming?’ I ask them.

  ‘Scarlett, we wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Dad says, quickly putting some dollars on the table to cover their bill.

  Outside, we all stand and debate the newest clue.

  ‘Big guy, big guy …’ Jamie says. ‘It could be anyone; there are loads of tall actors in movies.’

  ‘And why should he be tired?’ Max says, pacing along the sidewalk.

  ‘Or in love, for that matter?’ Bradley adds.

  ‘I think the clue is in the word elevator,’ Peter says. ‘What movies have elevators in them?’

  ‘Usually disaster ones,’ I say dismally.

  ‘I know, I know!’ Oscar says, jumping up and down. He’s been unusually quiet up to now, while we have all been discussing the latest riddle. ‘What building in New York do you need a particularly big elevator to get to the top in?’

  ‘The Rockefeller,’ Jamie says.

  ‘No, another.’

  ‘The Empire State Building?’ Eleanor suggests, joining in.

  ‘Exactly, Eleanor! And how do you get to be very tired? If you’re sleepless …’

  ‘That’s it, Oscar!’ I cry. ‘Sleepless in Seattle. It finishes at the top of the Empire State Building, and the big guy the clue refers to is—’

  ‘King Kong!’ Max shouts. ‘He would have taken the elevator if he’d been less sleepless and in love, instead of climbing up the outside!’

  ‘Genius, Max!’ Oscar and Max high-five. ‘Great minds.’ Oscar goes to hug him.

  ‘Don’t push it, Oscar,’ Max grumbles.

  ‘Let me guess,’ Bradley sighs. ‘Back up Fifth Avenue?’

  ‘No, let’s take Fourth and Park,’ Jamie says. ‘It will be quicker and less busy.’

  As we arrive at the Empire State Building, I’m utterly convinced I’m going to find Sean waiting at the top of it. It has to be him. Plus I don’t know anyone else in New York; all my other clue-bearers have already been used up.

  ‘Uh-oh,’ Oscar says as we pile in our now customary fashion through the door. ‘Look at that queue!’

  Of course, when I’d visited before it had been first thing in the morning, and I’d avoided the busy times and the horrendous queueing by doing so.

  ‘Are you the party on the treasure hunt?’ a young man in an official uniform enquires.

  ‘Yes we are, why?’ I ask.

  ‘Then come this way, please,’ he says, guiding us through a different entrance. ‘This will be your own private lift to the top,’ he says, stopping outside a row of lift doors. ‘Enjoy your time at the Empire State Building.’

  ‘Wow, our own private lift?’ Oscar gasps as we all squeeze inside. ‘This is so cool.’

  ‘I bet you do stuff like this all the time, Bradley,’ Max comments as the doors close on us and we’re whizzed up to the top.

  ‘Actually no, this is pretty cool,’ Bradley says, still wearing his baseball hat and shades. ‘The whole thing, I mean, not just the private lift.’

  As the lift pings to signal we’ve reached the top, the doors open and out we all go onto the viewing deck where, not that long ago, I’d stood with the sailors dressed as King Kong having my photo taken. I look madly around for Sean, ready to run over and embrace him for doing something so romantic. But hurrying around all four sides of the viewing platform, I can’t see him anywhere.

  ‘Hello, Scarlett,’ I suddenly hear behind me.

  I turn around and look at the person using one of the sets of viewing binoculars.

  ‘Ursula! Oh my goodness, how come? What are you doing here?’

  ‘Just taking in the view,’ she grins. ‘Actually I was wondering if you were looking for one of these,’ she dangles a key in my face.

  ‘You too?’ I ask in amazement. ‘But … how did you get here? Does Oscar know?’

  ‘No, but he will any minute …’

  ‘Urse! What in the name of all things Dior are you doing here?’ Oscar cries, running along the viewing platform towards us.

  ‘I’m a clue-bearer too!’ Ursula squeaks in excitement.

  ‘I thought it was going to be Sean at the top,’ I say, as everyone else arrives to join us. ‘Like in Sleepless in Seattle.’

  ‘No, far too obvious,’ Ursula says. ‘He thought he’d get his sister to cover for him.’

  ‘So it is Sean, then!’ I say in delight.

  ‘Ursula, you’ve given the game away!’ Oscar moans. ‘We’ve all kept it a secret.’

  ‘She’d guessed anyway, hadn’t you, Scarlett?’

  ‘Yes, pretty much. Well, I secretly hoped it was him. So how many more clues?’

  ‘We don’t know,’ Peter says. ‘None of us knows exactly what’s going on. All we know is our own little part in this. The rest is just as big a mystery to us as it is to you.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Bradley adds. ‘When Sean called me and said what he was doing, I was intrigued, I just couldn’t say no. It’s like something from a movie.’

  ‘But how did Sean get your number? Oh, your card …’ I say, remembering Sean seeing it propped up on the dressing table.

  ‘I don’t know about anyone else, but I want to see what happens next!’ Ursula encourages. ‘Come on, read that next clue out.’

  I look down at the paper and read.

  I hope your hunt is going well so far. If there have been any problems, perhaps you should come here to retrace your history, then we can iron out any hitches …

  While the others stare blankly at each other, Oscar and Ismile and share a knowing look. ‘Ellis Island?’ I say quietly.

  ‘Ellis Island,’ he agrees.

  Thirty-seven

  ‘Please explain this clue again,’ Eleanor asks as we travel in three yellow cabs down towards Battery Park.

  ‘It’s simple, Mum,’ Jamie says. ‘The hitches part of it refers to the movie Hitch which had a scene set here, and the retrace your history part refers to people tracing their families and coming over to Ellis Island.’

  ‘I see, and we’re all going to go over there now?’ she asks, looking around the inside of the cab, then behind
her at the one following us containing Peter, Oscar and Max.

  ‘I hope so,’ I say, wondering how we’re going to get us all onto the ferry. The queues will be massive at this time of day; I just hope Sean has arranged a VIP trip over there again …

  We arrive at Battery Park and, as I suspected, the queues are enormous, snaking all the way around the ticket building.

  ‘So what now?’ my father asks. ‘Do we join the queue?’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Oscar says. ‘This is Scarlett, she’ll be let in in no time.’

  But as we hang around the end of the queue, no one appears to offer us a free pass through.

  ‘Maybe we should ask at the booth,’ Max suggests. ‘Perhaps they don’t know we’re here.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ a voice behind us says. ‘I’m sorry to bother you, but I couldn’t help noticing you all standing there. Are you filming something for TV?’

  Max has been randomly filming all our adventures on a small hand-held video camera while we’ve been travelling round New York. He stops recording for a moment. ‘Not today, no,’ he says. ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s just, I’m from a US TV show and I couldn’t help but notice that one of the members of your party is someone a little famous.’ She nods in Bradley’s direction.

  He drops his head slightly.

  ‘And it’s a bit of a chance I’m taking here, but I was wondering if he’d like to take part in an episode we’re making, over in the bay?’

  ‘I very much doubt it,’ Max says.

  ‘What’s the TV show?’ I ask. ‘Just out of interest?’

  As we head across the Hudson River towards the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island I have to pinch myself, because I’m living out one of my fantasies.

  I’m standing in a speedboat next to Bradley Cooper, who is still wearing his shades, but he’s removed his baseball hat for the ride, and his hair, like mine, is blowing in the fierce wind caused by the speed at which we’re travelling across the water.

  The programme that just happens to be being filmed in the Hudson River today is the US equivalent of Top Gear, and in exchange for a quick interview with Bradley about cars and a shot of him in the speedboat with the host, three speedboats in total are now racing their way across to Ellis Island, carrying my posse of clue-bearers.

  As we pull up at the landing bay, I hop out.

  ‘Are you OK to wait?’ I ask my driver – a woman – just before I dash off.

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ she says. ‘I have Bradley Cooper in my boat. Take as long as you like!’

  I run along the wooden jetty and into the main building.

  I stand in the centre of the Great Hall of Ellis Island looking around me, wondering who on earth is going to be my clue-bearer this time. I couldn’t believe Sean had flown Ursula over to New York just to do that. It was complete and utter madness, but in a very good way.

  ‘Scarlett,’ a voice says, from behind the central display of immigrants’ trunks, suitcases and possessions.

  ‘Mum?’

  As I run over to my mother and hug her, here in this extraordinary building where so many people have been reunited with their ancestors, I find myself brought together yet again with a member of my own family.

  ‘You as well?’ I ask as we embrace. ‘Did Sean fly you over too?’

  ‘Explanations later, Scarlett. I have a gift for you,’ she says, pulling away from me to pass me yet another key.

  ‘But how … I mean, when …?’

  ‘Just read your clue,’ she insists.

  It shouldn’t take you long to get here, should be before tomorrow or the day after … if you’re a lucky Lady.

  I pull a face.

  ‘Oh dear,’ my mother says. ‘Have they all been that bad?’

  ‘No, some have been easy. Some pretty tricky, though. Come on, we’d best go and ask the others.’

  We walk back over to the boats at the jetty, and I read the clue out to everyone.

  Most of the men let out loud tuttings and similar noises, to convey their disbelief.

  ‘That’s an easy one, Scarlett,’ Max says, rolling his eyes. ‘How could you not know that?’

  ‘What’s the answer then?’ I say almost huffily. I don’t like them guessing the film clues and not me.

  ‘The Day After Tomorrow,’ they all shout together.

  ‘And?’ I ask. ‘I haven’t seen that film, have I?’

  ‘She’s not keen on disaster movies, are you, Scarlett?’ Dad says. ‘She likes a nice love story with a happy ending.’

  ‘Nothing wrong with that,’ Bradley says, as our driver nearly melts over her steering wheel.

  ‘So …’ I ask, looking between each of them, ‘where are we going now?’

  ‘Liberty Island!’ They all shout again as the speedboat’s engines start up.

  ‘The movie has a scene where the Statue of Liberty sinks into snow and ice,’ Jamie explains as we set sail for the island. ‘It gets hit by a tsunami, too, if I remember rightly.’

  ‘Nice,’ I say, as the waves begin to splash up the side of the boat again. ‘Sounds like just my sort of film.’

  As we sail over to Liberty Island, I’m now in a complete daze. How are Ursula and my mother here in New York? And how long have they been here? But I hardly have time to think about it before we’re mooring and I’m setting foot on solid ground again.

  I hold out my hands. ‘Where shall I go, to the top, around to the front?’

  ‘Try the front,’ my mother suggests.

  I run to the front of Liberty Island, with Lady Liberty herself watching my every move all the way round. As I get to the most popular spot for tourists to have their photo taken, I see my next clue-bearer waiting for me. She’s wearing a green foam Liberty crown, and holding a fake torch which she points at me as she sees me coming towards her.

  It had to be.

  ‘Maddie!’ I cry as she runs towards me, her crown falling to the ground. ‘I can’t believe any of this is happening. What’s going on?’

  ‘A bit of Maddie madness right now,’ she grins, placing her crown on my head. ‘Here it is, kiddo, your next clue!’

  Enchant me by meeting me here so we can reunite … Just like so many movies that have gone before. You’ll be on one side, I’ll be on the other, but for us to meet in the middle you need to unlock your final clue …

  ‘Enchant me? He sounds like a prince in a fairytale,’ I laugh. Then I stop and stare at Maddie. ‘In Enchanted the characters meet on the Brooklyn Bridge, don’t they? What else did it say?’ I look down at the piece of paper again. ‘You’ll be on one side, I’ll be on the other. Yes, it’s definitely the bridge, but what’s this about unlocking my final clue? Is this what all the keys have been about?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Maddie laughs. ‘But you’d better get over there and find out!’

  Our TV friends drop us by boat under the Brooklyn Bridge by one of the piers, and we head to the entrance of the bridge and begin to walk towards the centre.

  ‘Scarlett, look!’ Oscar shouts when we’re almost in the middle.

  I turn to where he’s pointing and see a giant red ribbon tied in a bow. Dangling off the bow is a padlock holding shut a small box and a tag that says To Red.

  ‘I bet you have to open the padlock with one of your keys,’ Maddie says. ‘How many do you have?’

  I empty all the keys from my pocket. ‘Ten.’

  ‘Go on then,’ Bradley says. ‘Make a start. I’ve been chasing over New York all afternoon to find out what this is all about.’

  ‘And you haven’t enjoyed yourself?’ I ask, grinning at him as I take hold of the padlock.

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t say that,’ he smiles back. ‘Come on, get going – you’ve got a mystery to solve!’

  I begin trying each key one by one. When I get to the tenth, I look back at the others all eagerly watching me. ‘I should have known it would be the last one: typical!’

  But even that key won’t open the lock.


  ‘It won’t work!’ I cry. ‘None of them works.’

  ‘That’s because I have the key …’ I hear a voice call as it comes towards me across the bridge.

  Sean.

  As he gets closer, I see he holds yet another key up in his hand.

  ‘I have the final key,’ he says, as he arrives next to me. ‘Because I’m hoping it’s the key to your heart, Scarlett.’

  I hear Oscar gasp behind me.

  I watch mesmerised as Sean opens the padlock that releases the box. Then he turns towards me.

  ‘Did you know that it’s a tradition for a couple to secure their love by locking a padlock to a bridge and then tossing the key into the river?’ he asks.

  Speechless, I shake my head.

  ‘Yes, I’ve seen that movie,’ Eleanor says. ‘Tre Metri Sopra il Cielo? It was based on an Italian novel.’

  ‘That is correct, Eleanor, thank you,’ Sean says, smiling at her. ‘It is indeed an Italian tradition, and it reached New York and the Brooklyn Bridge as a result of the movie. So, Scarlett,’ he asks, looking at me again, ‘would you like us to secure our love?’

  I look at Sean in astonishment. Yet again he was amazing me with all this, just like last year on the London Eye.

  ‘But you’ve just unlocked the padlock,’ I point out. ‘We’d need to lock it again.’

  Sean shakes his head. ‘I don’t mean with the padlock. I mean with this.’ He drops to one knee and opens up the box, and this time I hear gasps from all the female members of the party as well as Oscar, as a diamond ring glints in the setting evening sun.

  ‘Scarlett,’ he continues, as I gaze down at him with a mixture of love and wonder in my eyes. ‘I hope you have enjoyed today. I’m sorry lately if life has been a bit dull, but I want every day of your life to be just as exciting and amazing and wonderful as I hope today has been for you. And I want to be the person that makes it that exciting. I want to be there to share it all with you, every step of the way. So if you’ll have me, Red, I’m asking you if you’ll be my wife.’ Sean takes the ring from the box and holds it up in his hand. ‘Will you marry me, Scarlett?’