‘Kiss my ass goodbye?’
‘Not if I can help it.’
She steered me into the kitchen and sat me down in a manner that was caring and attentive without being overly fussy.
‘I bet the soldiers loved you.’
‘I think I helped.’
‘Did the GIs ask you to pose for a lot of photographs?’
‘Hundreds. And I think I signed more autographs when I was with the Red Cross than I did at any other point in my career.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me.’
~
I wanted to observe Heather’s initial reaction upon seeing Lizzy, so we opened the door together. There was no sign of recognition on Heather’s face, but she did look surprised.
‘Wow,’ Heather said, staring at Lizzy in admiration. ‘You’re even more stunning in the flesh. Where on earth did he find you?’
Lizzy laughed and offered a hand. ‘Hi, I’m Madeleine. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.’
Heather shook it and then walked inside. ‘Ditto. You’re English?’
‘Yes.’
Before Heather could ask another question, I said, ‘What do you want for breakfast?’
‘Oh, whatever you’re having.’
‘Do you like omelets?’ Lizzy said.
Heather nodded. ‘Love them.’
They got on well and Heather stayed and chatted to Lizzy while Naomi helped me take a bath. I’d initially arranged for her to look after me for a month and when she asked if Lizzy was my girlfriend and what she did for a living, I replied that Lizzy had been a nurse.
Naomi looked surprised and interested in equal measure. ‘Oh? Whereabouts?’
‘She worked in field hospitals for the Red Cross.’
Naomi’s eyebrows rose. ‘Oh wow. She must be real brave.’
‘She is.’
‘Does that mean you won’t need me anymore?’
‘Well, I did arrange for you to come over for the rest of the month …’
‘Oh don’t worry about that. I’m rushed off my feet anyways.’
‘You sure?’
Naomi gave me a conspiratorial smile. ‘Yeah. I wouldn’t want someone else giving my man a bath if I could do it myself.’
Well that was remarkably easy, I thought.
Later, when I walked Heather to her truck, she stopped beside it, waved at Lizzy who was standing on the porch with Mick and Keith, then said in a low voice, ‘I like her.’
‘Good.’
‘She’s a keeper. Much nicer than those other girls you dated.’
I nodded. ‘No arguments there.’
Heather kissed me on the cheek, told me to look after myself, then got into her Chevy and drove away.
~
The first time Lizzy took over Naomi’s duties and attempted to wash me, we ended up in bed.
After breakfast the following morning, Lizzy said, ‘Okay, time to give you a bath.’
There was a hint of forced calmness in her voice; that she was attempting to mask that she was sexually aroused. I had fantasized about this moment since my conversation with Naomi, the fantasy fueled by the way Lizzy had looked at me when she had said, ‘And it’s my turn to see you naked,’ the way she held and kissed me in bed the night before, the intensity of her gaze and now the extra sway to her hips as she moved.
Lizzy led me upstairs as hopeful anticipation caused a warm, fluttering feeling to spread within my chest and I was suddenly thirteen again, watching my first girlfriend, Ruth Chandler, slowly and sensually strip naked. Excitement, desire and a feeling of incredulity - that this was actually, finally happening - saturated me. I ached for Lizzy. Longed to feel her skin against mine. Despite not having the use of my hands, it didn’t stop me from imagining us lying on the bathroom floor, naked and slick with sweat while we made frenetic love.
We walked into my bedroom and Lizzy said in a voice that was low and a little unsteady, ‘Right, let’s get your clothes off then.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
She took off my robe, then my T-shirt, all the while brushing her body against my erect penis, her breathing growing louder and heavier, her cheeks flushing, and then took hold of my waistband, pulled it forward so she could get it over my erection, and slid my PJs down my legs, kneeling as she did so. Slowly, sensually, Lizzy kissed and licked my balls and penis, then took me into her mouth, sucking me, bringing me close to orgasm, then she stood up, wrapped her arms around my waist and kissed me, her tongue thrust deep into my mouth, hips squashed against mine.
We made our way over to the bed, Lizzy helping me in first, then undressing and lying down beside me, kissing me again as her hands caressed my bottom, then my penis as I kissed and sucked her breasts, her nipples hardening as I ran my tongue around and over them. Lizzy made love to me with unhurried and unselfish passion, first with her mouth; her lips and tongue covering every inch of my body, and then she straddled my waist and gently slid me inside her. She was an imaginative and expert lover, bringing me close to orgasm a number of times before we eventually climaxed, Lizzy crying out in pleasure until finally collapsing on top of me, her skin shiny with sweat.
~
We held each other for a long time afterwards, neither of us wanting to break the warm, comforting feeling of skin on skin, the wonderful high that I felt and could see in her eyes.
Eventually, Lizzy said, ‘You’re my first since Marty.’
‘Yeah?’
I had wondered, but as it wasn’t any of my business, I hadn’t asked.
After a moment of silence, Lizzy said, ‘What am I to you?’ Despite the intense love that I saw, or perhaps because of it, Lizzy looked uncertain, anxious.
I gazed into her eyes. It felt as if I was falling from a great height into a deep pool of clear blue water. I was happy to fall because I knew that when I touched the water, it would embrace me softly, lovingly.
‘You’re everything to me.’
She smiled, her insecurity fading. ‘Really?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Good. I’ll make you very happy.’
‘You already have.’ I thought for a moment, then said, ‘Why did you move in here permanently after the trial? I’d have thought that this was the last place you’d want to be.’
Lizzy frowned, various emotions rising in her face. ‘Because this was my house, goddamnit. My home. I’d had it for years, long before I met that bastard. I wasn’t going to let what he did and then what happened to him force me out. I couldn’t face looking for a new house, packing, moving, then unpacking. This is everything I have ever wanted in a home. North Oak was my dream come true. I was damned if I was going to move, no matter what people said.’
‘It really didn’t bother you that your husband had been murdered in one of the bedrooms?’
‘Of course it did. It devastated me, at least for a while. I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t. But I was so mad at him that, after I’d had the house blessed, I pushed it to one side and got on with life. Or at least tried to.’ Lizzy was silent for a few seconds, then she looked at me speculatively. ‘When you found out, didn’t it bother you that three people died here? And then your brother?’
‘Actually, being in his home and having his stuff around was comforting. It made it easier to deal with his death. As to you and your husband … yeah, it was a little creepy at first.’
‘After everything that’s happened, do you regret moving here?’
‘I did for a while, but not now.’
‘Every night I thank God that you did. You gave me my life back. You saved me, did you know that?’
‘No, I didn’t. It felt more like the other way round.’
‘If being together has helped both of us, then even better. I adore you, Bruce. Adore you for who you are and for all that you’ve done for me.’
‘I feel the same way about you, and I haven’t really done that much.’
‘Oh you have, you reall
y have.’
After a pause, I said, ‘Who do you think killed them?’
‘Marty and Norma?’
‘Yeah.’
Lizzy shrugged. ‘God, I don’t know. I’ve been asking myself the same question since it happened. Whoever did it turned my life upside down and put me through hell. First, I discovered that my husband was having an affair, then he was murdered and then I was accused. I felt so lost and bewildered, my emotions swaying back and forth between fury, dismay, disbelief, grief … Through all of it, I still loved him, though. Couldn’t just switch that off. Loved him right up to the moment I took those pills. It took me a long time to heal, as I’m sure you noticed. But eventually, I found that I no longer felt anything for him. Just the sorrow that, despite what he did, he ended up dead. I wished I had discovered his affair sooner. At least then he might still be alive. Divorce is easier to deal with than death.’
~
Beau Harkinen was proving to be a serious pain in the ass. Despite our previous encounter, he turned up again on a warm and sunny Friday evening in late March when we were curled up on the sofa watching a movie.
Lizzy got up and peered out of the window. ‘Oh hell.’
I pointed the remote at the TV and paused the movie. ‘What?’
‘It’s Beau.’
‘Can’t that damn man take a hint?’
‘Apparently not,’ Lizzy said as she returned to the sofa. ‘The cars are in the garage, right, with the door closed?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Then for all he knows, we could be out. We’ll just ignore him.’
‘Works for me,’ I said, pointing the remote at the TV again, lowering the volume and pressing Play. We were tired and neither of us had any interest in entertaining callers.
Both pups went into the reception hall and between barks, we heard the Plymouth’s door creak as Beau got out, then creak again, followed by a tinny clunk as it closed. The front gate open and shut. The slow clomp, clomp, clomp of his boots on the front walk, up the steps and onto the porch. The chime of the doorbell.
I glanced towards the hall. Both pups were going for it.
Another, extended chime. I paused the TV again. Couldn’t hear it.
‘Maybe I should change the doorbell to the sound of me yelling, “Fuck off!” I muttered.
Lizzy giggled and put a hand over her mouth. I could feel her body trembling with laughter. We waited for about a minute, then Beau played Shave and a Haircut on my doorbell. The pups went nuts. We stayed put.
Another minute passed and then Lizzy whispered, ‘Has he gone?’
‘No.’
‘How-’
‘Hey fella!’ Beau shouted. ‘I was driving by and thought I’d just come down and see how you are. You in there?’
For fuck’s sake, I thought. Just take a hike, will you?
We were watching It Happened One Night starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert - Gable’s face now frozen in mid-sentence - when we heard Beau’s boots clump along the porch towards the window. He stopped and pressed his ugly mug against the glass.
‘Hey fella, you in there?! Hey, I can see the TV! Looks like Clark Gable!’
Lizzy and I stared at each other in angry disbelief.
Shit.
I looked out of the window again. The sun was low in the sky, an orange-red ball that cast a beautiful golden sheen over the ranch, the fading light making a TV screen clearly visible through the net curtains, something that hadn’t occurred to me until then.
He rapped on the window. ‘Hey fella!? I got beer! Wanted to see how you were doin’!’
‘God’s sake,’ I muttered.
‘What shall we do?’ Lizzy whispered. ‘I really don’t want to see him. Despite what we said, I’ve been thinking more and more that he won’t believe our story. I think he’ll know it’s me. And if that happens, he’ll never leave us alone.’
I sighed. ‘I’ll get rid of him. The old goat won’t leave now that he’s certain I’m in.’
Beau rapped on the window again. ‘Hey, you all right in there, fella?’
‘Take a book or something upstairs,’ I said. ‘I’ll yell when he’s gone.’
‘Okay.’
There was another loud rap on the window. ‘Hey fella!’
I watched her wiggling prestissimo towards the stairs and shook my head. I could happily wring Beau’s scrawny neck for taking me away from the warm embrace of a gorgeous woman and a good movie.
‘Goddamn old fuckstick,’ I said and walked into the reception hall, Mick and Keith now barking frenetically. I opened the door and did my best to fill the doorframe as the pups squeezed between my legs and then proceeded to sniff every inch of Beau’s scruffy jeans as he made unsuccessful attempts to shoo them away. ‘What can I do for you, Beau? I was in the middle of something.’
‘Like I said, just seeing how you’re doin’.’ He smacked his lips together, a mannerism I was beginning to loathe, and raised a six-pack of Millers as if showing off a trophy. ‘Got up to 75 today. I thought a beer’ll go down real nice. Just taken these from my cooler in the truck. They’re ice cold.’
‘Now’s not a good time, Beau,’ I said, frowning. ‘I’m busy.’
My hope that my gruff, unneighborly demeanor would piss him off enough to send him on his way lived for less than a second. Beau grinned amiably, a layer of saliva on his nicotine stained false teeth giving them an unnatural shine. It was as if his mind deleted every word that he didn’t want to hear and replaced it with something he could work with, my thinly veiled ‘Fuck off, Beau’ turning into ‘Well how-do, Beau. Did you mention beer? Awesome!’ I noticed with surprise that he’d trimmed his beard. For once, it actually looked presentable. And it smelled like he’d taken a bath in Brut aftershave.
Beau wiggled the six-pack. ‘Ice cold.’
Oh sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I thought. It’s like trying to fend off a zealous insurance salesman.
I stared at him, my frown deepening. ‘You really are a stubborn old mother fucker, aren’t you, Beau?’
He laughed; a rattling sound from deep within his chest as if loose, rusty bolts barely held his lungs in place. The grin widened. Anyone else and they would have taken offence. But not Beau. Jeez.
‘Yup! Always liked you, Bruce. You just say whatever’s on your mind, just like your old man did. Gary, too.’
‘Fuckin’ right.’
Beau laughed again and shuffled towards me as if intending to go inside.
‘Place is a mess,’ I said, blocking his way. ‘Another time.’
Unperturbed, he redirected himself to one of the wicker porch chairs and sat down. ‘Oh boy, that feels guuud. Damn knees ain’t what they used to be. Need more and more rest with each passing year.’ He gestured towards the chair beside him. ‘Here, sit down, fella, tell me what’s been going on. I heard your arms got burned up pretty bad.’ Beau glanced at them as he took a multi-tool pocketknife from his belt and opened a bottle, then offered it to me. ‘Guess they’re still mending, huh?’
The burns were healing slowly, my arms still bandaged and although I was able to do more for myself, I was feeling frustrated and irritable and was just about to tell Beau to get lost when it occurred to me that I could use this opportunity to find out if he really did believe that Lizzy was back. If so, and if he continued to turn up unannounced, then I’d talk to my attorney. Perhaps using the words ‘civil commitment’ in an official letter might persuade Beau to back off.
I nodded and took the beer. ‘Yeah, they are. I’ll give you a few minutes, Beau, but then I’ll want to get back to my movie.’
‘And miss this?’ Beau gestured towards the sunset.
He had a good point, but I wasn’t going to acknowledge it. I took a swig from the bottle and looked around. It really was beautiful; a bank of deep orange clouds just above the horizon, fading to a golden yellow halfway up the dark blue sky, the outbuildings, pastures and the Four Nations Al
ps beyond given an almost magical quality by the light. I fervently wished Beau had never come and that Lizzy and I had noticed what a glorious evening it was. We could have watched the sun go down while listening to the birds singing.
I felt a wet nose nudge my left hand and looked down. Keith – who always demanded more attention than his brother – looked up at me. I massaged his scalp with my fingertips, Keith’s eyes closing in pleasure, and glanced to my right. Mick sat ramrod straight beside me, ears pricked, eyes fixed on the old man’s face.
‘Mind if I smoke?’ Beau said.
‘No, go ahead.’
Beau took a packet of Chesterfields from his breast pocket, shook one out and lit it. I had no idea they were still making them.
‘I keep tryin’ to give up,’ he said as smoke curled lazily out of his nostrils. ‘Had gone a whole week when I saw you last. But … I guess I just can’t.’ He looked at me. ‘Not gonna sit down?’
I shook my head.
Beau shrugged as if to say ‘Okay, whatever’ and opened a bottle. He removed the cigarette, swallowed a few gulps and then belched. ‘Aaaaah. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.’ Beau took another gulp and then wedged the cigarette between his cracked lips. ‘So how you been, fella?’ He made a vague gesture in my direction. ‘Apart from your arms, obviously.’
‘Fine.’
‘Hear you got yourself a lady friend.’
There was a look in Beau’s eyes that suggested he knew who she really was and that I should stop trying to hide her from him. I began to take Lizzy’s fears seriously.
‘Yeah.’ I gave him a bland look and waited for the next question.
‘Heard she’s English.’
‘Yup.’
‘And Lizzy’s great-niece.’
‘Correct.’
‘Ha!’
I raised my eyebrows in feigned bemusement. ‘“Ha”?’
‘Is that what she told you?’
I looked Beau right in the eye, feeling no qualms about lying to him. ‘Yes.’
‘She ain’t Elizabeth Dashwood’s great-niece.’
‘Oh? Know that for a fact do you?’ I said, infusing my tone with as much derision as I could.
Beau nodded emphatically. ‘Yup.’
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