CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The plane lowered itself in to land as Katie looked out of the window. There was a tiny airport below, palm trees, the landing strip, flags fluttering in the breeze and an indigo blue, sparkling sea out beyond the runway. They were landing at Mermaid Island; so far it mirrored the brochure perfectly, she smiled. Inside the plane the view was not so brochure-perfect: popcorn strewn across the floor. Katie watched as James and Andy flicked popcorn, pinching their fingers and firing it, a la Tiddlywinks, across the aisle to each other.
‘Boys, will you stop it!’ Tom hissed at them, exasperated.
‘Is there a problem?’ the air-hostess came up to Katie and smiled at her. Oh no, we are just enjoying the first part of our Holiday of a Lifetime with three very active little boys. Please can I have a double vodka. ‘No, no problem at all,’ said Katie smiling at the impossibly immaculate stewardess.
‘Amazing, look at the view,’ said Tom.
She spun her head around. Is he talking about the air-hostess?
As she looked round she realised he was craning his neck to look out the window. Stop it, Katie. ‘This is what we all need. A decent break.’ He squeezed her hand with his free one. In the other was his Blackberry – he had been reading his emails all flight, she realised, frowning. Why can’t work leave him alone?
He hastily put it in his pocket. I am looking forward to this holiday so much, thought Katie, staring at Rory. My final baby, seven months old, up and running on formula, she mused. One more bit of the umbilical cord had loosened up. Part of her felt sad; the other, jubilant - overjoyed that she no longer had to be in a bovine daze, getting her tits out in cafes and children’s libraries and trying to look nonchalant, when all she wanted was to hide under the muslin herself.
Arriving at Sandy Bay Resort, the bus swept through the entrance flanked by palm trees and a mass of white bougainvillea. Inside, ceiling fans directed a welcome breeze over the foyer. A water feature tinkled away as the newest load of guests enjoyed the cherry red mocktails from a smiley girl in a Hawaiian print shirt. Outside, two Olympic-sized swimming pools stretched across the horizon, a thatched roofed swim-up bar between them. Katie realised she was taking this all in with a huge grin on her face. How long has it been since Tom and I really enjoyed ourselves, she reflected. She couldn’t wait.
Once they unpacked their bags, they headed to the pool. Looking at the programme they decided not to put the kids in the club that day, tomorrow was early enough to start the ‘fun activity programme.’
Katie watched as Tom went off to fetch some towels, his toned body and bright blue boardshorts hugging his waist. She looked down at her one-piece swimsuit and sucked her stomach in. Why did it always fold around her middle so much, she fretted, pulling her sarong hastily across it, but then she remembered her secret plan, and felt much better. Leaning back on the lounger, she watched as her boys dived in, splashed each other, shrieked with laughter. Anyone would think they were Australian, she grinned.
James was enthralled that he could go up to the bar and order a drink, without getting out of the swimming pool. He looked across at Katie, shouted: ‘Way cool!’ (Way cool?)
Beyond the thatched roof of the bar, sailing boats were bobbing on the horizon, snorkellers paddled in the shallow waters of the beach. Katie spotted a mum, her turquoise sarong blowing in the breeze – she reminded Katie of Ann - and a little girl, holding a bucket, collect shells. I wonder how Ann is, thought Katie. Back at the clinic again this week, injecting herself, forcing her system to take on board unnatural levels of hormones; bullying her body into producing fat follicles, to produce eggs, to fertilise the eggs … An image of how they force-feed foie gras ducks came into Katie’s mind as she watched a fat, middle-aged woman haul herself from the pool.
Going down to the beach, Katie took a dip in the sea, didn’t venture too far, was a bit nervous of what was beneath. Heading back to the sun loungers, she noticed Tom had taken the boys for an ice cream, could see them standing at the kiosk, hair matted to their forehead, water dripping down their backs as they stood in the queue. An enormous surge of love jolted through her body at the sight of her husband and children.
Idly, she picked up Tom’s blackberry. She didn’t know the code, but could see the beginning of the text message before it was cut off. The sun was in her eyes, she squinted. Memories of a … And yes, she thought, there was definitely a ‘x’. Who’s that from? Suddenly, she was being squirted with water from James’ water gun. ‘Oi!’ she went up to him in the pool, dived in next to him, splashed him. What fun!
Andy and James had really taken to the idea that the whole holiday was pre-paid. They were wearing little pink wristbands which indicated that they could have what they wanted, when they wanted. Last night, she had caught James pouring Sprite into Rory’s milk bottle.
‘Boys! You cannot just go and order what you like at the bar!’ Katie laughed shrilly at them at dinner that night. She was trying hard to relax, but honestly! They had just brought their fourth Sprite to the table. ‘Yes we can Mummy; remember you said when we were packing, ‘We can all order what we want, won’t that be fun?’
‘Leave them, Katie, it’s their holiday too.’ Tom picked up his deep-fried calamari, dropped it on his new shirt, and swore.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ Katie said gently, taking his hand, remembering her plan.
‘Nothing,’ he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. ‘You’re the one who seems a little tense. Work’s been a bit of a nightmare, if you must know, sorry,’ he forced a smile.
‘Mum!’
‘Yes James?’
‘What do you call a kitten after it’s three days old?’
‘Don’t know darling?’
‘Four days old!’ As James creased up laughing, he knocked over his Sprite just as Rory started to howl. He was trying to stand up in his high-chair. It was that scream of a baby who has had too little sleep, too much sun, and probably some Sprite, thought Katie. She stood up to take Rory out of the room, took a deep breath, and wondered what on earth had got into Tom. By now, Rory was really yelling. Other diners were looking at them. Katie stood up and plonked Rory in his buggy. Despite being a ‘family’ resort, we seem to be the only family who has brought an actual baby, thought Katie as she pushed the buggy outside. Our holiday of a lifetime is starting to resemble our life at home, only with sunburn, chicken nuggets and carbonated drinks at every meal, Katie realised as she hastily pushed the buggy through the glass doors of the dining room.
She remembered last night: Rory somehow managed to haul himself up, hold onto the hotel’s flimsy travel cot and tip it over. With him inside it. At 3am. Finally after milk (down the corridor, up the steps, into the ‘shared kitchen’ and back down the steps, sidestepping the cockroaches and stifling a scream) Katie and Tom had managed to calm him down. But he’d woken Andy by then, who had to come and sleep in their bed.
‘Some relaxing holiday this is!’ Tom had muttered, and turned over in the bed, ‘we have more sex at home – and that’s saying something!’
Back in the hotel room, Katie sank into the pillows, and grabbed a magazine: How to Put the Spark Back was emblazoned across the cover in hot pink lettering, just as Tom and the boys opened the door. The boys bounced around. Tom was punching the buttons on his Blackberry, furiously. Honestly, can’t work leave him alone for a minute? He hastily turned on the news on the TV.
And today, the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre has been monitoring sea levels to verify if a Tsunami Watch will be issued tomorrow. Residents are being asked to follow the initial safety precautions listed on the Government Website and follow news bulletins.
Oh crickey, thought Katie, who then made a feeble excuse about needing some more towels and headed to the hotel reception. She quickly phoned Ann while she had the chance.
‘How you doing, Ann?’
‘Oh, Katie, hi,’ replied Ann with a shrill voice. ‘Yeah fine – why you calling me?’
&n
bsp; ‘Why shouldn’t I?’
‘Sorry, right, snakes and ladders … one minute you’re up, up … with these hormones, hoping THIS time they make eggs; then crash, down you go with some awful results,’ she sighed down the phone. ‘How’s, um, the - the holiday?’
‘Bit snakes and ladders too!’ Katie confided, telling Ann about the mayonnaise-covered food, the sleepless nights. She didn’t mention the arguments, the plan … Something made her stop. ‘OK, gotta go.’
She spied the bank of guest computers and logged on to her email.
‘Dear K,
Feeling not only fat, but fat and sick these days. Must be another girl … Have half-heartedly started painting the smaller room, the nursery in yellow, just in case it’s a boy. Somehow seems darker than in London, which I know is ridiculous, but it is. Freezing too. Started to look into schools for Rosie, some open days coming up. Gosh, where to send her? Everyone here has an opinion. The Lady of the Light College is one of the best schools around here, but I’m not sure because they don’t do A Levels, they do the IB.
Luce.x’
Sitting on lime-green cushions in the hotel foyer for her meeting, Katie wondered, how, when you had a baby under one, you could even think about A-levels. Have the aliens got to her as well, she wondered.
She focussed back to the details for tomorrow with Tina, the hotel’s event co-ordinator. Tried to remember what was to happen in 24 hours’ time.
‘Mrs Parkes?’ Katie looked up.
‘I said it will be fine, Mrs Parkes,’ Tina was reassuring her, ‘the winds are due to die down tomorrow, I’ve been on the website.’
Katie stared out to sea, past Tina’s sleek mahogany hair. She noticed palm trees swaying in the sunset outside and spotted a young couple, arms entwined, further down the beach. Could that be Tom and I again? She smiled to herself, enjoying the thought and mentally went over the schedule for the next day: the boys in Kids’ Club, babysitter booked, hair appointment sorted. Tom’s suit was hanging in the cupboard. Tina took down a few more notes and then reached over for Katie’s hand and touched it.
‘It’s a lovely idea,’ she said, ‘very popular package. We’ve got the photographer standing by too – compliments of the hotel.’ Katie beamed at her as she slipped off her chair and went back to the room. It’s going to be a fabulous surprise.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
‘Not going.’
‘What?’
‘Not going to the stupid Kids’ Club.’ James was standing, arms folded across his chest, glaring at Katie.
‘James, it’s the Kids’ Club we showed you on the internet. The one you said you’d go to. The one with the trapeze thing, and sailing, treasure hunts …’ she wracked her brain, pulled out her ace card. ‘It’s got Y-box you know.’
‘Mum, you can’t be serious. It’s X-box,’ said a militant James.
Think. You and Tom have to be dressed and ready in 50 minutes.
‘What about the lovely sea-shell hunts?’
‘That’s for girls. And Andy doesn’t want to go either, do you Andy?’ he said poking his little brother in the arm.
‘No. No Kids’ Club. Want to stay Mummy.’
‘I think they might have the new iPads.’ Tom came out the bathroom and joined the game.
James looked at Tom sideways, suspiciously, not sure if he was going to go for the bait or not.
‘This is ridiculous,’ muttered Katie. ‘We are all cooped up in here because they won’t go to kids club. They HAVE to go in today.’
‘Katie, it’s not the end of the world,’ said Tom, rubbing his hair with a towel. ‘What’s the urgency?’
There is some urgency when the hotel staff and hotel photographer will be waiting at the beach for us in 50 minutes.
She marched over to the balcony doors and opened them. Without warning, she was hit with a huge gust of heat like a hair-dryer was on full pelt across her face. She closed them again and walked back to Tom. Hauling him into the bathroom, she took a deep breath. This had to be a surprise. She was determined to make a go of her plans, breathe new life into her marriage.
‘Listen, sorry, sweetheart, I’ve booked a babysitter for Rory so that we can have some, you know,’ she winked at him, ‘special time together.’
‘Oh right,’ he looked at her as the penny dropped. He looks about as happy as if I’d said we’re going to wax his chest hairs, thought Katie, as she flounced out of the bathroom.
When Tom came out the bathroom, Katie had laid out her dress, her carefully chosen Elle McPherson matching underwear, Tom’s suit, tie and button hole.
‘Ta-da!’ she clasped her hands together, triumphant.
‘Katie, what’s all this?’ he said, closing the door behind him. ‘Are we going to a funeral?’
‘What? It’s a carefully planned surprise!’
‘I thought …’ he said, scanning the room, taking in the lacy dress, his linen suit, the new silk Pierre Cardin tie.
‘We’re going to renew our wedding vows at the beach!’ She put her arms around his waist and pulled him closer, breathing in the delicious scent of him, feeling goosebumps as she thought about what would happen after, how he’d be blown away by the romance of it all.
‘Oh. Right,’ he muttered into her hair.
Right? She pulled away. ‘Is that all you can say?’
‘No, it’s great, jolly good idea …’ he faltered, starting to change into the suit. Before she could give it any more thought there was a call on the hotel phone.
‘Mrs Parkes – your babysitter is on her way up, we’re all set, see you down at the beach in 10 minutes. And I wanted to check, you did say Heartbreak Hotel, right?’
‘No! Love Me Tender,’ she whispered, hanging up.
*
The beach was deserted. The white-and-gold umbrellas were folded and tied down on their wooden stands. They were flapping furiously in the breeze like birds trying to loosen their wings; the sand was a bit damp underfoot and large grey clouds were swirling over the horizon. Still, thought Katie, it’s amazing here, a tropical oasis. As she and Tom made their way down the path to the beach, the wind whipped sand onto her face so hard she winced with the pain. She grinned and tried to forget the acid-like feeling on her cheeks.
She could just make out a man with a huge camera down by the seashore, snapping away at them. Tina waved, motioned that they should come down to the sea. Katie’s pale lavender dress was pressed tight against her; the chiffon unforgiving against her curves. Sand was swirling around her ankles as the wind whistled through her hair. Tom’s pearly-white silk tie was almost horizontal across his torso. Elvis started up from the loudspeakers, making Tom jump with a fright. Tina came towards them with a garland of frangipanis.
‘Hi guys!’ she said breezily, and placed the flowered necklace over both of them. Tom tugged at his. He was never one to get into any New Age thing, sighed Katie. It was all I could do to persuade him to come down to the beach in bare feet, she thought, looking at his perfectly cut toenails.
‘Christ, Katie, we’re not teenagers anymore.’
‘I thought it would be a romantic touch,’ she mock-pouted, then smiled. Tom didn’t smile back.
‘So. Welcome,’ said Tina, as the photographer snapped away in the background. Katie’s dress was stuck like glue to her thighs in the billowy wind. Can anyone see my pants? She’d chosen a pretty bra with a tiny cornflower blue daisy motif. Cotton. Comfy but sexy - a nod to how much Tom seemed to enjoy stealing a peek at Naomi’s upholstered cleavage. She thought she’d break the bread with him, as it were.
‘We are gathered here so that Katie and Tom can build on their eight-year marriage, and remind each other of their vows, please take each other’s hands.’ Tina looked at them, smiled; her eyes looked moist.
They both took each other’s hands. Tom’s were clammy. Katie’s $100 hairdo was flapping in the wind. Can I see tears in his eyes, she thought, and smiled to herself. Yes, he’s as moved by this as me.
&nbs
p; ‘Tom, please can you tell Katie why you married her?’ smiled Tina, furiously yanking down her skirt as it whipped up behind her.
The noise of the waves crashing on the shore was deafening.
‘I can’t do it,’ Tom hissed.
‘What?’ Katie shouted, leaning towards Tom.
‘I can’t do this right now, Katie.’
‘Why not? It’s all booked, we can’t do it any other -’
Silence.
‘No, not that. I, feel weird about it …’
‘OK! Let’s lose the frangipanis,’ she said, yanking the floral garland over his head in the wind; it snapped. God, he’s always hated fancy dress, she thought, as she watched all the waxy flowers fall to the sand.
‘No, it’s not that, it’s, I …’
‘What’s wrong?’ He was really starting to annoy her now. Why couldn’t he enter into it, make an effort?
‘I can’t talk here … I did, I had … just, oh honestly, Katie, I thought I could just forget about it,’ he said, his mouth twitching at the sides ‘Just let it pass … but I can’t stop thinking of …’
‘Of what, Tom?’ she hissed.
‘We need to talk, let’s go somewhere else … I didn’t know you’d planned this …’
‘No. It’s called a Nice Surprise!’ she yelled.
‘Katie …’ he said yanking her elbow and moving them out of earshot of Tina.
‘Everyone’s. Waiting. Tom.’ She stared at him, tried to smooth her hair down. Stared at the man she had been married to for nearly nine years and realised she couldn’t really see him anymore. Couldn’t make out this nervous, angry Englishman who always had to do the right thing, always wanted things tidy, wouldn’t wear a God-damn flower garland for his wife, always wanted things his way …
He leant in close and whispered in her ear: ‘Katie, listen, look, something’s happened. Something not great …’
Jacaranda Wife Page 15