Desert Honeymoon

by Anne Weale

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I was older than Dan. Sixteen. So there was less excuse for me. A friend and I went climbing. We thought we knew more than we did and I fell off the rock face and staggered home bleeding from a head wound. It looked worse than it was, as head injuries often do, but I had to be taken to hospital and X-rayed and kept in for observation for a couple of nights. My mother kept calm at the time, but she was upset. When I was allowed home, my father tore me to shreds. I did the same to Dan.’

  ‘How did he take it?’

  Alex finished refreshing their drinks and came to sit down beside her. ‘He took it like his mother’s son. It’s obvious most of his genes come from you.’

  ‘You didn’t make him cry?’

  ‘No, no, he wouldn’t have cried if I’d hung him up by his thumbs. That’s not to say he didn’t have a quiet boohoo after I sent him to bed. We’ve all done that on occasion. But he certainly didn’t cry while I was blasting him. The upper lip was so stiff it didn’t even quiver.’

  ‘Oh, dear, poor Dan,’ murmured Nicole, her heart wrung by the thought of all that her son had been through in the past twenty-four hours. ‘I hope he’s not crying now. I think I ought to go and see.’

  When she would have risen, Alex restrained her by looping his fingers round her wrist. ‘He’ll be having a bath. Drink your drink...give him time to recover. If he has been crying, he won’t want you to know it. And don’t worry: he won’t resent my telling him off. He knows why I was angry. Because I love you... and him.’

  ‘Do you really? Already?’ She had thought it would take much longer for Alex to come to love Dan.

  ‘How could I not when he’s your son? And very like you.’

  ‘Is he? People have said that, but I’ve never seen it. But nor do I think he’s like his father. Pete was only here a short time, but I couldn’t see any vestige of resemblance between them.’

  ‘I might have liked Pete if I hadn’t known what he’d done to you. But that girlfriend of his is a pain. If she ever has a child, it will be spoiled rotten one day and shouted and sworn at the next. You didn’t mind what I said to her, I hope?’

  ‘Of course not! While you were out of the room I asked her why she wanted to be bothered with him. What you told her was spot on. It would never surprise me if both of them had a drug habit. It’s not unusual in showbiz circles. Even if they don’t do drugs, I’m certain their outlook is completely different from ours. Suzi would probably buy Dan all sorts of flash clothes. She might even encourage him to wear a safety pin in his ear,’ she added jokingly.

  ‘Mr Browning would love that,’ Alex said, smiling. ‘What’s your feeling about when to take Dan back to school? Shall we let him have a couple of days with us, calming down after all the excitement?’

  ‘I certainly don’t think we ought to hurry him back there tomorrow. Oh, Alex—’ she put her hand on his leg ‘—you can’t imagine how wonderful it is to have someone I can talk to about Dan. After Dad married Rosemary, it was virtually impossible ever to get him alone. So there was no one to share my problems with.’

  He put a hand over hers. ‘Even when there are no problems, it’s good to have someone to share life’s pleasures. I’ve told Jal that we’ll dine à deux and Dan will have supper in bed. He should be out of the bath now if you want to check how he’s doing.’

  ‘I shan’t be long,’ she promised.

  She found Dan already in bed, wearing a too-large T-shirt that Jal must have found for him.

  This is better than last night,’ he said, as she sat on the bed. ’It was a bit scary being on my own after dark. I know it was a stupid thing to do, Mum. It’s just that I’ve always wondered about him and when I found out who he was...’ He paused, fidgeting with the edge of the duvet. ‘Yesterday I was thinking about telling people at school that my dad was a pop star. But now that I’ve met him...’ He paused.

  ‘Did he disappoint you?’ she asked. ‘I thought you were impressed by the two swimming pools and everything.’

  ‘The pools were great but...I dunno...Pete isn’t like Alex.’ After another pause, he burst out, ‘I wish Alex was my dad.’

  ‘He’s the next best thing, your stepfather,’ Nicole said gently. ‘Do you want to see Pete and Suzi again?’

  Dan considered the question. ‘Not really,’ he said finally. ‘They’re OK but they’re not like us. There’s stuff in their house that you’d hate. Suzi thinks if it cost a lot it must be nice. She took me up to their bedroom. The bed was huge, all piled up with fancy lace pillows and dolls and furry animals, like a little girl’s bed.’

  ‘That might be because she didn’t have anyone or anything to cuddle when she was little and she’s making up for it now,’ Nicole suggested. ‘It would be a boring world if we all had identical bedrooms.’

  There was a tap at the door and Jal entered, carrying a tray with short legs that he let down before placing it across the boy’s lap.

  ‘I will be serving dinner in five minutes, madam,’ he said; in his quiet lilting voice.

  ‘Thank you, Jal. I’m just coming.’ She had already risen. When he had left the room, she lingered for a few moments, watching Dan start to eat

  ‘I’ll look in again later on.’

  ‘Can I read for a bit?’ he asked. There was a stack of new books on the night table, as there was in all the bedrooms.

  ‘For a bit, but not for too long. It’s been a strenuous day. When you’ve finished your supper hop out and brush your teeth.’

  His mouth full, Dan nodded.

  Alex had been watching the news on TV, but he switched it off when she joined him. ‘Unlike our small corner of it, the outside world has had a quiet day for a change. How’s Dan bearing up?’

  ‘He’s tacking into his supper as if nothing had happened. But I’m sure everything you said to him has been taken on board and won’t be forgotten in a hurry.’

  ‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ Alex said, smiling. ‘It’s not in the nature of boys to stop and think before they act. That kind of prudence comes later. Though he did show a good deal of sense in preferring to sleep in a field than in a big city doorway. Except that, if it had rained, he’d have been a drowned rat by morning.’

  For them, Jal’s wife had prepared a more elaborate dinner than Dan’s grilled halibut with chips. With their main dishes—lamb with rice and several kinds of vegetables—came a napkin-lined basket of pooris. Nicole thought these balloons of bread made by deep-frying discs of dough were, when eaten hot, the most delicious of all the many Indian breads.

  The lamb had been cooked with cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. She was enjoying the distinctive blend of spices when she looked up from her plate and saw that Alex had stopped eating and was watching her.

  Before she could ask what he was thinking, he told her. ‘I’m still not used to the idea that, after a long time alone, I’m going to have your lovely face on the other side of the table “To-morrow, and to-morrow. and to-morrow”.’

  ‘Where does that come from?’

  ‘Shakespeare...Macbeth. It’s one of the few lines I remember.’

  As always when he spoke of the future, she could not help being reminded that this special kind of happiness, which for her was a new thing, he had experienced before, only to have it snatched from him.

  With disconcerting insight, he said, ‘You’re thinking about Nuala who lost her tomorrows.’

  ‘Yes, I was,’ she admitted. ‘You must think of her sometimes...don’t you?’

  ‘We grew up together so, yes, I think of her sometimes, as I think of my sisters. But the short time we were together is like one of those dreams that, when morning comes, you can’t remember properly.’

  He leaned across the table to cover one of her hands with one of his. ‘I thought I would have a problem being civil to Pete. I was as jealous as hell of what he had once meant to you. But when I met him today that feeling evaporated. He was merely a part of your past that had lost its importance. Who you we
re then—who I was—is not who we are today. It’s only the future that matters... a future we’re going to share.’

  Not very long after dinner, they decided to go to bed. When, on the way to their room, they looked in on Dan, his reading lamp was on but he had fallen asleep. There was no sign of his supper tray so Jal must have taken it earlier.

  Nicole removed the book Dan had been reading and stooped to kiss his cheek. Then she straightened, switched off the lamp and turned towards the tall figure standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the light from the passage.

  She knew intuitively that, very soon, Alex was going to make love to her again. She thought of how far they had travelled, not only in air miles but in their hearts and souls, since the first time she came here.

  It would have been so easy for them to miss each other and never find the happiness they had now. But, thanks to Kesri, they had made it to the safe haven of each other’s arms.

  Author’s note: The city I have called Karangarh is a synthesis of several walled cities I visited in Rajasthan.

  ISBN: 9781472067777

  DESERT HONEYMOON

  © Anne Weale 2013

  First Published in Great Britain in 2013

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