Christmas for One: No Greater Love

by Amanda Prowse

  ‘And I do believe you promised me lots of sex!’ he breathed into her hair.

  Meg rolled on top of him, laughing as she shed her dress and twisted her hair into a bun, from which it quickly fell loose. ‘Well, if you insist. A promise is a promise, just don’t tell your mother…’

  9

  ‘Do you think we should we arrive separately?’ Meg asked nervously as they hovered on the kerb of Bleecker Street, waiting to cross. She rubbed her hands together and pulled her pixie bobble hat over her ears. There was a cold wind blowing.

  ‘What, like you hide in a doorway until I give the secret sign?’ Edd laughed. ‘I could do this.’ He placed his cupped hands to his mouth and squawked like a bird.

  ‘No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. And actually,’ Meg sighed, ‘I was thinking you hide in a doorway until I give the secret sign.’

  Edd grinned. ‘Think it’s a little late for that.’ He raised his hand to wave at Juno, who stood on the pavement smiling and laughing at the two of them.

  Meg rushed forward and practically jumped from the road to the pavement, trying to avoid a particularly large slush-filled pothole.

  ‘Morning! How are we doing, Juno?’ Meg wanted to keep things on a professional footing.

  ‘Great, come see!’ She inclined her head and stood back to allow Meg entry into the premises.

  Edd followed closely behind. Meg looked up at the tangle of wires and loops of flex that had been taped and gathered into bundles. The contractors had been working hard.

  ‘And that’s not the best bit!’ Juno beamed as she walked to the wall. ‘Ta da!’ She flicked the brass switch and clusters of lights shuddered to life under vintage glass cloche shades positioned at regular intervals around the bakery walls. ‘We have light! And more importantly, we have insurance!’

  ‘That’s brilliant. They look great.’ It was an effect that was much commented on in all the Plum branches. Meg was relieved and delighted to see the progress.

  ‘They said they’ll finish off the wiring by lunchtime and then start on the new ceiling.’ Juno clapped her hands under her chin. ‘We are officially back on track.’

  ‘Another satisfied woman!’ Edd commented, winking at the two of them with his hands on his hips.

  Meg glared at him in pretend annoyance, praying that this was the last contentious thing he was going to say.

  ‘And are the team happy? No dissenters in the ranks?’ Meg turned her attention back to Juno, hoping there was calm among the staff, not wanting the rest of her day to be hijacked when she could be spending it with Edd.

  ‘Everyone is fine. You were right about getting them started; once they had dates it was all good.’ Juno cast her eyes over the tables piled with boxes, their contents waiting to be put in place. ‘I think this is going to be one helluva place, Meg.’

  ‘Me too.’ Meg smiled; Juno’s excitement was infectious.

  ‘When you heading back?’ Juno asked.

  ‘Today.’ Meg looped her sleeve back with her index finger and checked her watch. ‘In about five hours, in fact.’ She exchanged a furtive look with Edd. Their clock was counting down; it sent a shiver of panic through her.

  ‘But you’ll be coming back soon, right?’ Juno felt sad that this new fling might be thwarted before it had properly got going.

  ‘I’m sure I will be.’ Meg gave a tight-lipped smile.

  Meg nudged Edd with her elbow as they slid into the back seat of a waiting taxi. ‘“Satisfied woman” indeed!’

  ‘Well I don’t remember hearing any complaints.’ He smirked.

  Meg laughed as they laced their fingers together and let them lie on the seat between them. ‘You know we don’t have that long?’ she reminded him, not wanting the day to spiral away from them and end with a mad dash to catch her flight.

  ‘Don’t you worry. I have everything planned to perfection.’ He lifted their joined hands and grazed her knuckles with a kiss.

  Meg raised her eyebrows as they passed the Apple store again; surely they weren’t heading back to the Plaza? She craned her neck as the cab pulled up outside the hotel.

  ‘Are we going to see your mum again?’ Meg half joked, remembering the judgemental Brenda and her fallopian tubes.

  ‘No! I don’t want to share you with anyone today. I intend to make the most of our last few hours together.’ He was serious.

  ‘I don’t want to leave you.’ She hesitated after this stark admission. ‘Well, I do and I don’t…’ she confessed, staring at the floor and picturing Lucas and the sticky-lipped welcome she would undoubtedly receive.

  Edd placed his thumb under her chin and tilted her face upwards until she was looking directly at him. ‘And I don’t want you to leave. But what did I tell you last night? Hmmm?’

  ‘That our adventure is just beginning,’ Meg offered in barely more than a whisper.

  ‘That’s right. Don’t ever forget that, Meg. I mean it.’ His tone was solemn.

  ‘Okay.’ She nodded and fell into step alongside him as they crossed the street and headed towards Central Park.

  ‘Oh no!’ she wailed as Edd approached the horse-drawn carriage that was waiting by the entrance. She covered her eyes with her hands, but when she removed them it was still there.

  ‘Oh yes!’ he countered, dragging her along the path.

  ‘Are we really getting in that?’ Meg felt elated and embarrassed at the same time.

  Edd took her hand and pulled her towards the shiny white carriage. The dappled grey mare flared her nostrils, breathing steam out into the chilly Manhattan morning as she swished her beautiful thick creamy mane over one eye. She dipped her head and pawed at the tarmac with her front hoof, shaking the stiff wooden rods and leather harness that tethered her to the carriage.

  Meg approached the horse. With her palm flattened, she ran her hand over the mare’s warm flank. ‘Hello, beautiful. What’s your name?’

  ‘She’s called Storm.’

  Meg looked up for the first time at the bearded driver, who was sitting on a bench at the front of the carriage. ‘Hello, Storm. She’s a real beauty.’

  ‘She sure is.’ The man repositioned his hat and sat back on the padded leather seat, his long whip curled against his thigh and his knee-high riding boots resting against the wooden frame, ready for the off.

  ‘Your carriage awaits, Mary Poppins!’ Edd gave an exaggerated bow and stood back, waiting for Meg to get in.

  She climbed up onto the step, gripping the sides of the carriage as she ducked beneath the red leather canopy and settled herself on the red leather seat. Edd got in beside her, then reached over and wrapped a thick red tartan rug around their legs. He pulled a second blanket around their shoulders and scooted across the seat until their thighs were touching and her body nestled against his.

  The driver clicked his tongue and pulled the reins and slowly Storm started to move. She found her rhythm in a dull plod as she made her way into Central Park.

  Meg stared from the open carriage, looking up at the trees that passed overhead and the landscaped spaces of the park. ‘This is quite possibly the most romantic thing I have ever done.’

  ‘Good,’ Edd said, adding smugly, ‘That was the idea.’

  Meg turned to the man who had her anchored in the back of the carriage. ‘I can’t believe this is happening to me, Edd. It’s like every movie I’ve ever seen, every story I’ve ever read. You are Mr Perfect. You are good-looking, funny, kind, generous, romantic, sexy…’

  ‘I’m assuming those are in no particular order?’

  Meg shook her head. ‘I’m serious. You are almost too good to be true. In fact you are too good to be to true. What’s the catch?’

  Edd raised his palms upwards. ‘There isn’t one.’ She ignored the twitch that flickered under his left eye. ‘This is as much a surprise for me as it is for you. You were the last thing I was looking for, the last thing I expected. The situation with Flavia has been…’

  ‘Tricky?’ she offered.
>
  Edd smiled, ‘Tricky is an understatement. I’ve just been concentrating on my career; there hasn’t been room for anyone or anything else, not really. The only thing that’s distracted me has been the same thing that got me my less than impressive grades in Junior High and that is an unhealthy obsession with the Yankees.’

  Meg smiled. ‘Are you sure? There’s got to be something dark about you. I think you must be a master criminal or gay or married!’

  ‘You’ve got me! I’m a gay master criminal, with a wife, in fact several wives, who all visit me during my regular incarcerations, but at the moment I am one step ahead of the law and out on bail, g-dang-g-dang!’ He snapped his fingers.

  ‘I knew it!’ She narrowed her gaze at him.

  ‘You’ve met my mother, for God’s sake!’ he countered, as though this were proof enough.

  ‘Well, she said she was your mother. For all I know, she was hired for the day as part of your elaborate plan.’

  ‘Trust me, if I was going to employ the services of a fake mother, I would have chosen one that didn’t drink so much tea at eight dollars a cup and didn’t give her medical details to my new girl at a volume slightly louder than the pianist could play.’

  Meg smiled and wriggled back against his arm; she liked being his new girl. ‘Trust is the most important thing for me.’ Her mum’s words floated into her head. ‘It’ll only be for a night or two and then you can come home and maybe we can go to the pictures or out for the day. You like the seaside, don’t you? Maybe we could go there, have a paddle…’

  ‘I won’t let you down, Meg. You have to trust me, remember?’ Edd’s words returned her to the present.

  She nodded. ‘I know, but I’ve been let down a lot…’ She bit her lip, thinking how to phrase all that she wanted to say. She looked out of the carriage; opening up like this did not come easily. She drew breath to continue. ‘I’ve told you how I grew up and I don’t know how many more times I can bounce back from having the rug pulled from under me, Edd.’

  ‘I know that, Meg, and you don’t have to worry. You are amazing. I don’t know how you’ve coped.’ Edd leant forward to kiss her.

  Meg placed her hand on his shoulder, keeping him at bay. ‘I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I just want you to be honest with me.’ She thought of Bill’s promises, whispered against her naked shoulder and laced with deceit, his plans wrapped in dishonesty and his words unfaltering. ‘It’s the most important thing for me, to know where I stand.’

  Edd nodded, this he understood.

  The sound of Storm’s hooves clip-clopping along the path filled the air. They passed the zoo and then the pond, where people stopped to watch and wave. She felt quite regal and thought once again of Anna dancing in the arms of her Dimitri. The carriage veered left around a bend and there was an ice-skating rink. The people on it looked like little penguins as they waddled and spun, all going in the same direction around the ice, with the towering skyscrapers as their backdrop.

  ‘I’ll always try and be honest with you, Meg.’ His voice was steady.

  ‘That’s good, because I can cope with separation, I can cope with just about anything, but not dishonesty. Promise me that you will never, ever lie to me, Edd. Never.’

  Meg was studiously looking away from him. Edd’s heart gave a little squeeze at the sight of her. He swallowed. ‘I promise.’

  Meg tore her eyes from the rink and looked at him. ‘Okay then, be honest right now. Tell me exactly what you are thinking.’ She tilted her chin.

  Edd took a deep breath. ‘Apart from thinking that my butt is a little numb and I can’t feel my toes, I was thinking that despite having known you for only approximately sixty hours, I love you. I love you, Meg.’ He looked up at her from beneath his fringe.

  Meg smiled, forgetting that in a few hours she would be on a plane heading nearly three and a half thousand miles in the opposite direction. ‘Do you?’ She needed to hear it confirmed.

  ‘I do. Meg, I love you.’ Edd stood up in the back of the carriage, holding on to the side so he didn’t fall. He brought his right hand to his mouth and spoke as if through a megaphone. ‘I love Meg Hope! I love her!’

  Meg slipped down the seat, giggling, and tried to hide under the blanket; she felt delighted and embarrassed in equal measure. She closed her eyes and couldn’t remember a time when she had felt happier.

  *

  The two collected Meg’s luggage from the Inn on 11th and walked around the block.

  Edd checked his watch. ‘We have exactly an hour and a twenty-three minutes before we need to leave for the airport.’ He held her hand and quickened his pace.

  Meg teetered behind him, wishing she hadn’t chosen her black heels. To hell with being sexy; trying to keep up with him on these icy pavements was proving challenging. She smiled when she saw where they were heading. The Greenwich Avenue Deli, of course.

  The place was busy as usual. Edd opened the door and stood back to allow her in first. She was immediately engulfed in the smell of food, spice and coffee.

  ‘What’ll it be, buddy?’ The sandwich guy tapped the sharp knife on the counter, marking time, impatiently.

  ‘I’ll take a hoagie with pastrami, pickle and sauerkraut, coupla slices of Swiss and tomato, lots of black pepper, hold the mayo.’

  The guy nodded as he slit the bread, reached for the meat, pulled spoons from tubs, separated thin slices of cheese, sprinkled pepper and with nimble fingers reached for the waxed paper. ‘And for the lady?’

  ‘Who? Mary here? She’ll have the same.’ Edd smiled at her.

  10

  Meg settled back, glad of the window seat. She pressed her nose to the pane and watched the city getting smaller and smaller as the plane climbed higher and higher. The powdery snow made the Big Apple look like it was dusted with icing sugar. She swallowed the sadness that sat in her throat, unable to fully reconcile what had happened within such a short space of time with how she felt. Her stomach muscles clenched with excitement at the memory of their carriage ride around Central Park just a few hours earlier.

  He loves me. Edward Odhran Kelly, he bloody loves me! She had to stop herself squealing with happiness. This was almost instantly superseded by a wave of longing. They had agreed to meet in the New Year – he would come to London – but that was weeks away. Meg giggled into her palm. Blimey, girl, you’ve got it bad. You have been on the planet for nearly three decades without knowing he existed and you managed just fine, so what’s a few weeks in the grand scheme of things? Edd’s words of reassurance filled her head. ‘This is the beginning of our adventure. Trust me…’ Meg smiled as she closed her eyes and lay back in the chair, touching her fingers to her cheek where his palm had rested in goodbye. She did trust him. She sniffed the edge of her scarf, which held the faintest trace of his scent, and felt herself drift into the dark abandonment of sleep. When she woke, the bright sky of a British dawn beckoned her home.

  Meg sighed as she stared from the window of the taxi. London looked grey, the cabs bland and sombre compared to their bright yellow New York counterparts and the drizzle no match for the fluffy white snow. It was 8 a.m. and Curzon Street was slowly coming to life; shutters were being raised and curtains drawn, and office workers strode along purposefully, clutching their free copies of Metro and cups of takeaway coffee.

  Meg paid the cabbie with a flutter of anticipation in her stomach at the prospect of seeing her little boy. She smiled as she stood in front of the Plum Patisserie display window. Her thoughts flew to her wobbly performance at the Rockefeller Center ice rink and the solid feel of Edd’s arms on her waist, keeping her steady. She studied Anna and Dimitri, who continued to loop, twirl and smile on the ice, just as they had before she’d left them. ‘I take my hat off to you, Anna, that skating lark is much harder than it looks.’ She winked at the duo as she ferreted through her handbag for her key.

  ‘Mummy!’ Lucas, still in his pyjamas, charged down the hallway of Milly’s flat and collided with Meg’s
legs. He wrapped his arms around her knees.

  She bent down and gathered him up into her arms, kissing his face and hair, inhaling the scent of him as she hugged him tightly into her chest, feeling his hot cheek against her own. Her tears gathered in sweet relief at the joy of reunion. I’m sorry I was happy without you, Lucas; you know I love you the most, don’t you? Always.

  ‘I missed you. I missed you so much!’ Meg leant back to study her little boy who she hadn’t seen for four whole days. ‘Goodness me, did you get bigger? You look like you have grown!’

  ‘Did you get me a present?’ he asked, hopefully.

  ‘I did. I got you some pirate Lego to add to your collection!’

  ‘Yaaaaaaaaaay!’ Lucas punched the air, signalling his approval, before wriggling free and plopping down with a thud, eager to be free of his mum’s grip. ‘I made you a present!’ He scampered off to the sitting room as Milly popped out from the kitchen.

  ‘Here she is!’ Milly wrapped Meg in a hug and kissed the top of her head. ‘Welcome home, love. Tired?’

  ‘No. Actually, I feel great.’ This was true. Seeing Lucas had boosted her flagging energy, but also the thought of Edd kept her adrenalin pumping and her brain wired.

  Milly stepped back and admired her from the kitchen door. ‘You’re right. You don’t look tired. In fact you look great! Glowing!’

  Meg nodded as she grinned.

  ‘Anything you want to share?’ Milly smirked, her hand on her hip.

  Meg rolled her eyes and indicated Lucas, who had just reappeared. Her news would have to wait. Lucas was holding a robot made of empty cereal boxes, loo-roll tubes and a couple of coat hangers.

  ‘Wow! Look at that! It’s amazing and huge!’ Meg bent down to receive the rather unwieldy sculpture.

  ‘It’s a robot,’ Lucas confirmed.

  ‘I can see that. Did you make it by yourself?’

  ‘No.’ Lucas shook his head. ‘Mills helped me.’

  Meg glanced at her friend, employer and mentor, who chuckled into her fist. The robot was vast, at least two feet high. ‘I think as Mills helped you, this robot should probably live in her flat, where she can see it every single day! I’d feel mean taking it upstairs.’