Foreign Affairs

by Patricia Scanlan

  ‘Oh Nick, it’s beautiful! Oh Nick, thank you.’ Paula flung her arms around him and kissed him on the jaw. He hugged her back, pleased with her reaction.

  ‘I thought you were a bit down in the dumps when I was leaving and I just wanted to say thank you for the way you’ve looked after me. You’re the best Mrs Mops in the world,’ Nick teased.

  Paula fingered the delicate filigree gold bracelet with its exquisite mother-of-pearl stones and felt indescribably happy. I love you, I love you, I love you, she wanted to shout. She looked into his smiling blue eyes, still bluer against the deep tan he’d acquired in Africa, and wished the moment would go on for ever.

  ‘You’re easy to look after, Nick,’ was all she could say, she was so moved by his gift.

  That night, Paula sat in her bedroom gazing at her bracelet. To think that Nick had bought her such a personal gift. Not the perfume and chocolates he usually bought. It gave her immense hope. What she felt for Nick was totally different to anything she’d ever experienced before. Normally, she was extremely confident in her dealings with men. She knew she was intelligent and attractive. She knew men were drawn to her. When she was interested in someone, she let them know. But it wasn’t like that with Nick. She wanted him to make the first move. It was important to her that he did. What she wanted from Nick was something far more precious than a flirty affair. Buying the bracelet for her was a big step, Paula thought happily. Things could only get better. Maybe when she came back to Dublin after the summer their relationship would develop. It was her dearest wish.

  It had been the longest summer of her life. St Margaret’s Bay had been deadly dull. In desperation she’d even gone out with the assistant manager of the hotel. But it had been a very half-hearted affair. She’d hardly let him kiss her. All Paula could think about was Nick. She couldn’t wait to get back to Dublin.

  When she arrived back in Dublin she was deeply shocked to hear from Helen that he’d had to go to Africa again. This time he’d be away for six months. He wouldn’t be home until the end of January. He’d asked Helen to ask Paula to carry on looking after the house and, thoughtfully, he’d arranged for a standing order to be paid into her bank account.

  He arrived home smothering with the flu, which he’d got in London on his way back from Africa.

  ‘For God’s sake, Nick, go to bed, this minute,’ Paula urged as she put her hand against his forehead and felt him burning with fever. She’d been waiting for him to arrive home and had a fire lighting and a meal prepared.

  ‘Paula, I’m sorry I can’t eat the lovely meal you went to so much trouble to cook. This thing just hit me out of the blue and it’s knocked me out,’ he apologized. She could hear the hoarseness in his voice.

  ‘Just go to bed, I’ll make you a hot whiskey,’ she said, taking his coat from him.

  ‘It’s good to be home, Mrs Mops.’ He smiled at her. But he looked grey and exhausted beneath his tan.

  ‘Bed!’ Paula ordered.

  She heard him moving around upstairs as she boiled the kettle for the hot drink. ‘I’m just going into Helen to get some cloves,’ she called.

  ‘Poor Nick,’ Helen exclaimed when she heard the news. ‘I suppose coming from such a hot climate to London, in the middle of winter, didn’t help. Have you got a lemon?’

  ‘Yep.’ Paula was anxious to get back in to her darling Nick.

  ‘Hold on until I see if I have anything in the medicine box that might help,’ Helen instructed. Paula tried to quell her impatience as her aunt rummaged around in the bathroom. What rotten luck for Nick to arrive home with the flu.

  ‘Here’s some Asprin, they’re good for a flu.’ Helen handed her the packet. ‘I thought I had some Lemsips but I couldn’t find them.’

  ‘I’ll make him a hot whiskey,’ Paula assured her. ‘We can call a doctor tomorrow if he’s no better.’ She hurried back next door and put a clove into the glass, sliced a lemon, added a good measure of whiskey and a spoon of brown sugar and topped it up with the boiled water.

  There wasn’t a sound from Nick’s room when she knocked on the half-open door. She peered in and saw in dismay that he was already asleep. Paula put the hot whiskey and a glass of water on his bedside table and stood gazing down at him. He lay with just a sheet flung over him. Against its pristine whiteness he was deeply tanned. Paula devoured the sight of him. How fit he was, the lean flat plane of his stomach hadn’t a hint of weight. She longed to trace her fingers through the dark hair on his chest that tapered tantalizingly down to a thin dark line along his abdomen and disappeared under the sheet. She wondered if he was naked. Paula felt the heat of desire and bit her lip hard. She’d missed him so much. She’d dreamed of making love to him many times in the warm humid nights of the summer when she’d lain in bed frustrated and aroused by her erotic fantasies. She wanted to kiss and caress and arouse him and make him desire her the way she desired him.

  Very gently she reached out and shook him softly, her fingers lingering against the hardness of his shoulder, the palm of her hand resting against the rough hair on his chest.

  ‘Nick, I’ve brought you a hot drink and some Asprin.’

  His eyes flickered open. He looked at her feverishly.

  ‘Sit up, Nick, and take these.’ Paula held out the tablets. Nick hauled himself up against the pillows and swallowed them obediently. She handed him the glass of water and he took a gulp of it.

  ‘Here’s your hot whiskey.’

  ‘Mrs Mops turns into Florence Nightingale,’ Nick said hoarsely and she laughed.

  ‘Thanks, Paula, I’d be lost without you.’ He took a few sips of the drink and handed it back to her. He could hardly keep his eyes open.

  ‘Is there anything I can get you? Is there anything I can do for you?’ she asked as he lay back against the pillows.

  ‘No, I’ll be fine thanks, Paula. You’ve done more than enough already.’

  ‘Go to sleep, Nick.’ Paula drew the sheet up over him. ‘You should have the duvet over you as well.’

  ‘I’m too hot.’

  ‘That’s only because you have a temperature,’ she said. ‘You’re not in Africa now.’

  ‘No, I’m home, and Mrs Mops is ordering me around as usual. Some things never change.’

  ‘If you feel bad during the night, phone me,’ she urged.

  ‘I will,’ he promised.

  ‘I’m glad you’re home, Nick,’ she whispered as she leaned down and gave him the lightest butterfly kiss on his forehead.

  ‘Me too,’ he murmured and she knew he was almost asleep.

  Please God . . . please please please let Nick fall in love with me, she prayed as she froze the uneaten meal and cleaned up. She wasn’t normally one for prayer but this was so important Paula felt that divine intervention was necessary. She wanted so badly to take care of Nick, to love and cherish him and share his life. She felt very close to him. They had a great relationship, all it needed was for him to realize that he loved her. Then they would be the two happiest people in the world.

  She looked in on him before she left. He was asleep, limbs sprawled to the four corners of the bed, the sheet pushed half off him. Gently she drew it up over him, her fingers brushing his chest lightly as she did so. Some day she would cover that gorgeous sexy chest in kisses, Paula shivered at the thought of all she would do to Nick and all he would do to her.

  Once he fell in love with her, it would be perfect.

  Nick didn’t fall in love with her that winter, that spring, or even that early summer. Paula was at her wits’ end. He treated her as he always had, in the teasing affectionate manner that meant a lot to her but that just wasn’t enough.

  She could make the first move, she knew. Indicate in some way that she was attracted to him, but she wasn’t sure how he would react. It could ruin everything if he took it the wrong way.

  It had to come from him. Only that way would she be truly sure that he loved her and wanted her. Maybe the thing to do was to spend some time away from h
ome after her college exams. And when she came home, he would see her in a different light and realize how much he missed her and needed her.

  Paula knuckled down to her language studies with grim determination. She couldn’t afford not to do well in her exams. Whatever career she decided upon would most certainly be influenced by her results. And she wanted to get the best. It was hard to concentrate sometimes though, her thoughts would stray and she’d fantasize about the moment Nick would take her in his arms and tell her he loved her.

  It would happen, she assured herself over and over. Perhaps going away was the best thing. Maybe she was just suffering from a massive case of infatuation. Paula doubted it. Nevertheless, she decided that once her exams were finished she was going abroad. She needed a break. She’d worked like a Trojan all year. She needed to sort out her head . . . and her heart.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Brenda pulled a towel over her head and held her face over a basin of water. She was giving her skin a steam treatment to try and help it recover from the excesses of Christmas. She hadn’t stopped eating junk the whole time. Of course it didn’t help working part-time in a newsagents. There was chocolate everywhere for the taking and her skin was suffering as a result. The sooner she was called for the Corporation or the Eastern Health Board or the County Council, the better. Her name was on a panel and it was just a matter of time. Brenda wished it was immediately, she was getting a bit browned off waiting.

  Kathy had got into the bank and was earning good money. Brenda longed to have a full-time job. She was doing a commercial course as well which was a bit of a pain in the neck. It was just like being at school. She patted her skin dry, slipped out of her towel and stepped into the bath. It was a pleasure to ease down into the hot water and she took two slices of cucumber from a saucer on the corner of the bath and placed them on her eyelids. It was cool and refreshing. Brenda settled back to enjoy a good soak.

  She wanted to look good tonight. There was a party on and she’d been looking forward to it for weeks. She and Eddie were going and, of course, Kathy and Kenny. They’d had such fun this Christmas. It was nice being part of a foursome, and even nicer being part of a twosome. She really loved Eddie. To think they’d been going with one another all this time. Four years. It was hard to believe. Brenda smiled to herself as she stretched out her hand, turned on the hot tap and topped up the bath water. She and Kathy had been double-dating Eddie and Kenny ever since that Saturday so long ago when they had gone to the Dandelion Market and she’d had to bring Jenny along as well. It had looked like being such a disaster instead of the start of the most wonderful thing in her life.

  Eddie was the best. He made her feel so special. He was always buying little treats for her. He’d bought her a gold bangle for Christmas and she’d been so happy when he’d placed it on her wrist and kissed her under the mistletoe. Of course he could afford to buy expensive presents now that he was working in Post and Telegraphs as a trainee installer. She bought him a camera. Eddie loved taking photographs. He was always experimenting. Looking for the perfect shot. No doubt he’d be prancing around with his camera doing his Lord Snowdon act tonight, she thought fondly.

  A sharp ta ra on the door jerked her out of her reverie. ‘Are you going to be in there all night, Miss?’ Her grandfather’s irascible tones penetrated her steamy haven.

  ‘I’ll be out in a minute,’ she hissed.

  ‘Well don’t be long. Some of us have weak bladders.’ She heard him stomp down the stairs. No doubt he’d be moaning to her father about her hogging the bathroom. Brenda hated her grandfather’s guts. Ever since he’d come to live with them four years ago, he’d done nothing but cause trouble. He was always moaning and whingeing, telling her parents that they were much too soft in the rearing of their children. It drove her mother mad and she’d start giving out to her father-in-law and then her father would tell Kit to be quiet and there’d be a row. Since her grandfather had come to live with them, there wasn’t a bit of peace in the Myles household.

  Brenda felt very sorry for her mother. She had no choice in the matter. She was lumbered with Grandpa Myles whether she liked it or not. They’d all been at school, her father was out all day working, but her unfortunate mother got very little respite from Grumps.

  Fortunately, she got on well with Eddie’s parents, she mused as she reluctantly pulled the plug in the bath. If she and Eddie ever got married, as was her dearest wish, and it so happened that she ended up having to take care of one of his parents, Brenda felt she’d find it much easier than her mother had.

  Mrs Eddie Fagan, it just sounded so right. To be Eddie’s wife was all she wanted. She was crazy about him, she thought happily, as she cleaned out the bath and tidied up her beauty accoutrements. How wonderful it would be to get married and have a house of their own, away from the squabbling that went on here.

  ‘I’m finished,’ she yelled down the stairs.

  ‘It’s about time too,’ her grandfather growled as he walked slowly up the stairs, limping on his lame leg. Brenda didn’t deign to answer and slammed her bedroom door.

  ‘Cranky old git,’ she muttered as she sat down at the dressing-table and started to apply her make-up.

  ‘You can say that again,’ Jennifer said glumly. She was sprawled on her bed reading one of Brenda’s Mills & Boon romances. ‘Angela Reilly invited me over to her house to see in the New Year and HE had to put his oar in. He said I should be with my own family to see in the New Year and midnight was much too late for me to be out. And now I’ve to be home at half ten. It’s going to be just so embarrassing saying I’m not allowed stay. I wish he’d just mind his own bloomin’ business. I’m sick of him. He’s a pig!’

  ‘Why don’t you just say these things to Ma on the quiet and don’t let him know anything?’ Brenda queried as she smoothed on her foundation.

  ‘He’s always stickin’ his big nose in,’ Jennifer fumed. ‘You’re lucky you can do what you like ’cos you’ve left school. And you have a fella. I think I’m going to be left on the shelf. Who’d want to go with me after meeting Grumps?’

  Brenda smiled at her sister’s mournful tone. ‘You won’t be left on the shelf, you idiot,’ she retorted. ‘You’re much too pretty.’ This was true, she thought privately. Jenny was lovely-looking with her silky black hair and luscious black-lashed brown eyes. Compared to her, Brenda felt quite plain. She studied her reflection in the mirror. Brown hair, which fell straight to her shoulders, framed an oval face. Her eyes, grey with flecks of hazel, were her best feature. Her nose, in her own opinion, was a bit too sharp, her lips on the thin side. Her figure was OK. Nothing spectacular. She’d put on a bit of weight over Christmas, she could see it in the thickening of her waist. She’d have to watch it. Playing basketball and swimming would help. Fortunately they were her favourite sports and she looked forward to resuming them after the holidays.

  No, Jenny was definitely prettier than she was. But tonight Brenda didn’t care. She felt like a million dollars and she had a gorgeous pair of black bell bottoms and a red skinny rib jumper that she’d treated herself to. With her gold bangle and her nice cameo choker that she’d got in the Dandelion ages ago, she’d look quite glam.

  ‘If you want to put on a bit of my make-up you can, only do it now because I’ll be taking it with me,’ she offered her younger sister in a rare burst of generosity.

  ‘Yeah, thanks.’ Jennifer shot off the bed with alacrity, unable to believe her luck.

  ‘Don’t let Da see you wearing it or there’ll be a row,’ Brenda warned as she coated her lips with Coral Frost, her current favourite lipstick.

  ‘You look gorgeous,’ Jennifer breathed as she applied foundation with a rather too heavy hand.

  ‘Go easy, you don’t want to end up looking like a tart,’ Brenda admonished, grabbing the tube from her.

  Ten minutes later both of them were made up to their satisfaction and ready to go out for their respective celebrations.

  ‘You go on and
just call out “see you later,” and I’ll go in and say goodnight. Make sure you wipe off that makeup before you come in tonight,’ Brenda instructed.

  ‘Thanks a mill, Bren,’ Jennifer said gratefully. ‘Happy New Year and give Eddie a big kiss from me at midnight.’ She giggled.

  ‘You bet.’ Brenda grinned as she headed towards the sitting-room.

  ‘’Night, folks. Happy New Year,’ she said, utterly relieved that she didn’t have to spend the rest of the evening at home. Sean and Gerard were playing chess under the Christmas tree. Her father was snoring in the armchair. Her mother was knitting an Aran jumper and watching the TV at the same time. Her grandfather was doing his crossword.

  ‘Happy New Year, Brenda, don’t be too late,’ her mother smiled.

  ‘I won’t,’ Brenda assured her.

  ‘That’s a very tight jumper and it’s too revealing. Surely you’ve something to say about your daughter going out dressed to make a cheap exhibition of herself.’ Grandpa Myles drew his bushy eyebrows together in a stern frown and glared at his daughter-in-law.

  Kit’s mouth tightened into a thin line. ‘I’ll ask you to keep your unwelcome remarks to yourself, please,’ she snapped.

  Brenda scowled ferociously at her grandfather.

  ‘The trouble with women today is they have no respect for themselves. And that’s why men have no respect for them either. If you had any respect for yourself you wouldn’t go out dressed like a floozie,’ her grandfather lectured.