by Joanna Rees
‘You should get glasses,’ Leila said. They’d all been telling her this for years, but Maliba, who believed firmly in her Ayurvedic remedies for everything, refused to believe that her eyesight wouldn’t fix itself with the right encouragement.
‘How is your mother? I haven’t seen her for a few weeks,’ Maliba said, as the soft glow of the lamp lit up the basic kitchen, the walls covered with crude drawings that all the children had made over the years and given to Maliba, most of them yellow with cooking smoke.
‘She’s busy. There have been lots of guests.’
Maliba placed her arms akimbo, as if deciding something. ‘I hope you have been helping. Poor Bibi has been working non-stop, and Parva hasn’t had a day off for a month. Not to mention Rasa.’
She heard a note of recrimination in Maliba’s tone.
‘I guess it’s good for business, though?’ Leila ventured. ‘All the extra work.’
‘It would be if they got paid,’ Maliba said.
So Rasa had been telling the truth. ‘Bibi hasn’t paid them? Are you sure?’
Maliba shrugged her shoulders, turning away as if she’d said too much. Leila didn’t understand. Bibi was always fastidious about paying the staff on time.
‘I’ll ask her,’ she said. ‘There must be an explanation.’
‘Don’t you go bothering your mother,’ Maliba said sharply. ‘Now. You will sit and tell me all about England.’
Leila sat at the wooden table while Maliba fussed around her, filling up her cup with fresh mango juice, and Leila gave her a palatable, edited version of her time in England. Mina sat patiently, drawing a pattern on a piece of paper.
‘It always rains there,’ she told Maliba. ‘Not proper rain like we have, but cold drizzle. You wouldn’t like it. And the food is terrible. So bland. It tastes of nothing.’
But as she spoke, she felt as if something had changed. She wasn’t one of them anymore. She was Bibi’s daughter who’d been away in England, as if her journey overseas had set her apart from them forever.
And with her sense of otherness came a new sense of responsibility. What if this awful Shang guy and Chan were planning something terrible that would hurt Maliba and her family? It was unthinkable that there was a man with a gun on this island where all these innocent children played.
‘Look, Leila – Rasa is here,’ Mina said, nodding at the door.
Maliba clapped her hands happily and looked at Leila. ‘Just like you wanted,’ she said, making Leila blush. The way she said it made Leila feel as if she knew her innermost thoughts. Or, more likely, Parva had been gossiping.
‘Hey,’ Rasa said, coming right into Maliba’s kitchen now and putting down the smoked fish on the table. His eyes met Leila’s and she felt something squirming inside her when she looked at him. Something that made her feel breathless and awkward.
Leila felt Maliba’s curious and knowing eyes watching them both.
‘You must be going,’ Maliba told Leila. ‘Give this to your mother,’ she said, pushing a small brown paper package of powder in her hand. ‘Tell her to dissolve it and drink three times a day.’
‘What’s it for?’
‘Your mother will know. Go now, before it gets dark. Rasa will see you up to the road, won’t you?’
Flung together by Maliba, Leila and Rasa walked on the short path down to the paddy field. The cow in the field turned and observed them with its big eyes as they darted along the muddy path to the line of trees.
‘Let’s walk along the beach for a while,’ Leila suggested.
They crossed the road and ran down through the mangrove plants onto the hot sand. The sea seemed to be sighing after the heat of the day, gently whooshing as it dragged back the fine sand. Leila watched her and Rasa’s footsteps sinking as they strolled in the ripples. It was always wonderful at this time of evening, the sun having sunk below the horizon, the water shimmering purple, the palms casting long, dark shadows.
Rasa picked up a flat stone and skimmed it over the water. It bounced several times.
‘It’s the last few days before the rains come,’ Rasa said. His voice had a sad air to it. As if something was over.
‘I don’t mind the rain,’ Leila said. ‘All the guests will finally go. I like it here when it’s quiet.’
‘Do you? I can’t stand it,’ Rasa countered. ‘I’d rather be anywhere but here.’
Leila walked on. His comment stung and he knew it.
‘You can take my place,’ she said bitterly. ‘You can go to school in England if that’s what you really want.’ She couldn’t keep her voice from sounding petulant. ‘I don’t know why you’re so angry with me.’
Rasa stopped and sighed. He reached out and grabbed Leila’s arm, forcing her to face him. ‘Why don’t we talk honestly for once?’
‘OK,’ she said, feeling nervous.
They walked on for a moment or two, and then Rasa said suddenly, ‘What happened in England, Leila? I know you have a secret. Why don’t you tell me? If I had a secret, I’d tell you.’
So that’s what was bothering him? That she hadn’t told him why she’d come back from school early.
‘Whatever’s bugging you, just tell me and we can work it out together, hey? What was so bad? It can’t just have been the food.’
‘No, it wasn’t the food.’
‘Then what?’
His eyes were so honest and searching, and she remembered then that Rasa was her one true friend. She’d been wrong to shut him out. Because she could trust him. She saw that now.
‘Someone . . . someone . . .’ She felt a great shuddering breath threatening to choke her.
‘What?’
She cast her eyes down, feeling them bulging with tears, remembering the horror of Sussman in that shower cubicle, feeling the same revulsion.
‘Tell me,’ he pressed, holding her arm. They’d stopped now and Leila covered her face. ‘Leila?’
‘Someone – a teacher – they touched me,’ she whispered. ‘They . . . they . . . It wasn’t what I wanted . . . I . . . They made me . . .’
She gasped, the tears coming now as the secret that had burnt through her and eaten her alive was purged like the creature it was onto the rippling white beach.
‘Did he hurt you? Did he?’ Rasa’s voice was urgent.
Leila felt shame then. Horrible shame that she’d told him. She shook her head, sniffing away the tears. She couldn’t tell him it was Miss Sussman. He would never understand, could never understand that a woman like that existed.
‘Listen to me. Listen. It’s over,’ he implored. ‘Whatever happened, it’s done. And you’re still you.’
Was she? She didn’t feel like the same person who had gone away. Rasa might want to believe she was still innocent and untainted, but Leila knew differently.
‘Don’t ever let anyone touch you again. Unless you want them to. You promise?’
‘I promise,’ she said. She took a shaky breath.
‘I’ll toughen you up,’ he said, playfully punching her shoulder, ‘teach you how to fight.’
He was making a joke of it, but she knew that her confession had upset him.
She nodded and wiped away her tears. ‘OK. I’m sorry.’
She tried to smile, but something inside her felt like the embers of her secret were still smouldering, still waiting to burst into flame. Telling him hadn’t helped; it had just made her feel more alone. She knew that he was trying to be comforting, but he would never understand what being terrified felt like. He’d never been scared in his life. Why would he be? Everything here on Lace Island was in his control. And he was a man. Almost a man, in any case, and strong as an ox.
‘I didn’t want to tell you. It’s so embarrassing. And I can’t tell Bibi. And that’s why I can’t go back. Do you understand now?’
He nodded. ‘You know you can tell me everything,’ he said. ‘We’re best friends. Always will be.’
They walked along the beach as the light faded, but they were
getting slower, knowing they’d nearly reached the place where Leila must peel off and go on the road back up to the big house. They were right near the rock that looked like a frog, and Leila leant her hand against it, feeling its smooth, cold surface.
‘Rasa, why were you so cross with me yesterday, about seeing Adam and Monique?’
He sighed. ‘I don’t want your experience to be . . . of them,’ he said. ‘It should be special, shouldn’t it? Sex, I mean. When it happens.’
Leila nodded, touched once again at how much he wanted to protect her innocence. She knew he was embarrassed to be talking to her about this, and they stayed silent for a long while.
‘Look. The first star,’ she said, pointing up into the sky.
She felt as if the air between them was charged with electricity. She turned towards him at the same time as he turned to her and she knew then that they were going to kiss. And this would be the kiss that would make everything right. She held her breath, waiting for their lips to touch, wanting it more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life.
But then the sound of engines out on the sea broke the moment. They both turned towards the noise, seeing bright lights shining out, temporarily blinding them.
‘What the hell . . .’ Rasa said, putting his arm up over his face.
He grabbed Leila’s hand and they moved behind the frog rock. Two boats were coming quickly towards the beach, men jumping out of them. Gruff voices reached them on the breeze.
‘Who are they?’ Leila whispered.
She could see men now in the shallows unloading boxes. And then she saw the red tip of a cheroot.
Shang. He was there too. He was in charge.
She stiffened. ‘It’s him. Like I told you. Look, they’ve got guns.’
‘Go,’ Rasa implored her. ‘Go back to the house now and stay there.’
‘But—’
‘They mustn’t see us, Leila.’
‘But—’
‘I’ll find out what I can.’
‘Be careful, Rasa.’
‘I will. I promise.’
His hand squeezed hers briefly, and then she turned and ran.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Dubai, present day
On the flight to Dubai, Jess stood in the galley, stacking the breakfast trolley, the air filled with the smell of scrambled eggs and coffee, but Jess, who usually loved breakfast, was too excited to eat.
‘Sorry,’ she said to her colleague Anneka, realizing she’d hardly paused for breath. She’d just finished her latest recounting of her whirlwind romance with Blaise. She knew how smug she sounded, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t help herself. She’d never had anything to crow about before. Never had anything that made her special. But now she had Blaise. And she couldn’t help wanting to shout about him, especially when it made her colleagues so clearly jealous. She sympathized with them. It was hardly believable to her either.
‘He certainly sounds like a dreamboat,’ Anneka said.
And that was only the half of it, Jess wanted to tell her. In the month since New York, Blaise had done everything to see her as often as possible, rearranging his business meetings to coincide with her flights. It had been the most romantic whirlwind she could ever have imagined, and she was loving every second.
There had been a weekend in Italy, when he’d whisked her off to a vineyard for a wine-tasting in a sun-dappled farmhouse. There’d been dinner at the poshest restaurant Jess had ever been to in Paris, followed by a heavenly moonlit walk back to a suite at the George V. An exclusive spa in Iceland had followed, when they’d stayed in an ice hotel and bathed in the thermal waters. With each retelling of everything that had happened, Jess still had to pinch herself, even though she knew it was real. She was grateful for the time away from Blaise when she was in the air and could let every detail soak in.
‘He’s picking me up when we land in Dubai,’ she said. The steam hissed as Anneka filled up the steel jug with hot water. ‘I’ll probably stay with him for the weekend.’
‘It’s not a whole weekend. You’d better not miss the connecting flight back home.’
Jess rolled her eyes. ‘Of course I won’t.’
But she heeded the warning. Every time she saw Blaise, it was like her normal life went out of the window. She’d nearly missed the flight home from New York. Time seemed to speed up when she was with him. Like they were in this crazy bubble together, where the rest of the world just ceased to exist.
It didn’t help that she always had jet lag and that they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, making normal sleep almost impossible. Even now, being on this flight, it felt like all she was doing was biding time until she could be naked with him again.
Anneka laughed and nodded to Sarah. ‘She’s got it bad all right. I don’t mind admitting I’m jealous.’
Jess smiled, but she knew that Anneka’s jealousy was tempered by a hefty dose of scepticism. Jess could see it in her face. She could see it in the look she’d given Sarah just now.
‘Listen, kid, I know you really like him, but just be warned,’ Sarah said, glancing at Anneka. ‘There’s plenty of us who have dated passengers, but it never lasts. They like us because we’re pretty and sociable and have our own jobs, but for those guys . . . well, they’re looking for something else when it comes to settling down.’
Jess felt her heart thumping hard and her cheeks getting warm. She wanted so much to bite back at Sarah to stop being such a cynic, to prove that her relationship with Blaise was different.
She knew how it must seem to them, though. But if Blaise had just wanted to have sex with her and then dump her, he wouldn’t have followed her to New York or taken her to any of the places she’d been. And yes, she knew she ought to play it cool, but she couldn’t. It might be too good to be true, but it was happening right now. To her.
Blaise was leaning against the bonnet of a midnight-blue Porsche Cayenne when Jess wheeled her bag out of the terminal with Anneka and Sarah. He looked incongruous among all the Arab men in their white tunics and headdresses.
You see, she wanted to scream. Instead, she rushed over to Blaise, who scooped her up and kissed her. She felt Anneka and Sarah staring at her.
‘How have you been?’ Blaise asked, putting his arm round her. ‘I’ve missed you.’ He breathed in the expensive perfume she’d bought in Paris.
She felt herself lighting up from the inside as he wheeled her bag to the boot and put it inside.
Jess gave a discreet wave to Anneka and Sarah, and they smiled back, clearly impressed.
‘Are they your friends? Do they want a lift?’ Blaise asked, and Jess was touched that he was always such a gentleman. But she didn’t want to share Blaise with anyone.
‘No, I think they’re fine. Let’s just go,’ Jess said, getting into the passenger side. ‘Wow, it’s hot out there,’ she continued. ‘I can’t wait to get out of this uniform.’ She tugged at the red necktie to undo it.
‘I can’t wait to get you out of it too,’ he said with a grin, turning the key. ‘Look at you. Look at that super-spray.’ He patted her hair, which was solid from the hairspray she’d used. She took great pride in looking perfect for her job, but she knew Blaise liked her much more natural.
‘I know. I can’t wait to get in the shower.’
Blaise expertly swerved out into the lane. ‘I’ve booked us into the hotel by the mall. We don’t want to be too far from all the shopping.’
‘Shopping? Oh God, I’m useless at shopping,’ Jess said.
Blaise glanced at her, his eyes dancing with laughter. ‘You’re a girl. Last time I checked, you were a girl. And you don’t like shopping?’
Jess bit her bottom lip and shrugged. How could she explain that she didn’t like shopping because she’d never had the money to shop? That she had no idea what did or didn’t suit her. That she had only ever had the option to go with what was cheap.
‘I want you to come to a business dinner with me next week when I’m in Lond
on.’
‘Really?’
‘Sure. Why not?’
There were many reasons why not, Jess thought, but she was still flattered that he’d asked her.
‘I won’t know what to say.’
‘You don’t have to say anything. Well, not if you don’t want to. All you have to do is be yourself.’
Jess felt a jolt of triumph. If she was going to accompany him to business dinners, then he must be serious about her. ‘But I’ve got nothing to wear.’
‘Which is why we’re going shopping,’ Blaise said, as if she’d just justified his whole argument. ‘And they do say that this is practically the best place in the whole world to do that.’
Later, as they strolled around the Dubai Mall, hand in hand, Jess couldn’t stop grinning. This is what couples did, right? They shopped together. They held hands and snuggled like this.
She wanted to stand on a podium and hold her hand and Blaise’s aloft, like an Olympic champion. Because that’s how she felt. Like she’d won something incredible.
‘You like it here,’ he said, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it. ‘I knew you would.’
‘It’s fab. I never imagined somewhere this bling could actually exist. Look at all the gold,’ Jess said, staring in at the window of a nearby shop.
‘It’s a bit gaudy. Come on. My friend Cara is working in Cartier. If ever there was a neck designed for diamonds, it’s yours.’
‘Oh no . . . really, I can’t,’ she protested.
‘Come on. It’s just up there. Don’t you even want to try one on? It’ll be fun. Come on.’
He held her hand tightly as she resisted and he pulled her towards the door.
The doorman tipped his top hat and smiled at Blaise. ‘Nice to see you again, sir,’ he said.
So Blaise had been here before, Jess guessed. With one of his multiple girlfriends, she assumed. The girlfriends who did nothing but shop. For diamonds.
Inside, the atmosphere was hushed and immediately Jess wanted to giggle with nerves. She’d never been anywhere this classy in her life.
‘Hey, Blaise,’ she heard someone say, and turned to see a stylish woman in a grey suit walking in high heels across the thick red carpet. She had an American accent and a tease in her voice as she stared at Jess, flicking her glossy brown hair over her shoulders.