“All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.”
He smiled at the memory and the joy it brought him to hear her singing. He waited until he heard her come out of the bathroom and go through to the dressing room before he got out of bed. When he joined her she was bending over her suitcase taking out and sorting her clothes, dressed in what was obviously her own dressing gown. Her hair was still damp from the shower and she’d clipped it back into what his sisters called a half pony tail, then it tumbled over her shoulders in soft curls. An unfamiliar lurch in the pit of his stomach startled him and he felt as though his heart was working overtime. He stood still for a minute or two to pull himself together before he spoke.
“Good morning – you're up bright and early after the night you had.”
She stood up, turned and smiled at him. “It's not early! It's nine o'clock.” She stepped closer to him and looked into his eyes. “I want to apologise to you for my being such a baby last night. I'm sure you would rather have gone to sleep than listen to me carry on about my problems and life story.”
He took her into his arms and kissed her. It was as sweet as the first time. “I wouldn't change last night for anything the world has to offer because I found something very special. I found you."
She was embarrassed and suddenly very shy.
“I would like to have you in bed again,” he said softly as he kissed her neck and thinking to himself, This time it will be different - this time, I love her. Convinced more than ever, fate was taking him somewhere important. Now there was no turning back.
“Well, I'm not going anywhere,” she whispered back as he took a step away and headed to the bathroom.
When he returned to the bedroom she was once more standing by the window looking into the courtyard with its fountain and ornamental pool. Ben climbed into the bed and held out his hand to her. “Come,” he said.
She smiled and walked towards him, undoing the buttons on her gown. “Look,” she grinned. “No ribbons,” as it dropped to the floor.
He was gentle with her but after a few minutes she raised herself onto her elbow and spoke sharply to him. “Ben! You don't have to treat me like a delicate piece of porcelain. I'm not fragile. I won't break.”
“I don't want to hurt you again,” he explained.
“You don't understand,” she told him. “It's not about me…it's about you. Last night you saved my life. You have no idea how terrified I was and then you came and I knew I was safe…and you were so kind.” Her voice broke. She hesitated for just a moment and then went on. “You're my knight in shining armour.”
“You mean I'm not the villain in the story then?” he asked, surprised.
“Of course not! You're the hero. You made me feel special. You let me talk and exorcise the ghosts from my past. You saved me from the evil monsters and the dragons that have been plaguing me for years and I have nothing to give in return but myself.” She took his hand in hers and lifted it to her lips and kissed his palm and at that moment he knew. He knew that not only was he was in love with her, but that she was the love of his life. He moved his hand and caressed her cheek then gently bent her head to his, kissed her and gathered her in his arms and held her close, wanting never to let her go and thinking, This is what it has been all about. I’ve found my love.
Later as they sat eating a very late breakfast, or early lunch, Charis wasn't sure which, Ben asked if she’d like to go up the river to Cairo. He said they could go to dinner and to a nightclub if she'd like and spend the night in a hotel and tomorrow he could take her to the pyramids on their way back. He knew her answer immediately as her eyes sparkled with delight.
“Oh, could we? Oh, yes please! I’d love to. There is a boat?” she asked.
“Ravi has a boat. We'll use that.”
“He might not like us taking his boat.”
“I don't care if he likes it or not,” Ben replied, his anger at Ravi still apparent. “He'll be lucky if I don't take his life.”
*****
Ravi's boat turned out to be a luxury yacht. Charis thought it looked like one pictured in a glossy magazine. There were two crew members that took care of the trip to Cairo. Ben and Charis had sat in the front of the boat for some time watching the river and the river bank when he asked about her mother. “Did you ever miss having a mother?”
“Not when I was little,” she replied. “Not when I had my Dad. You see, I never had a mother so I didn't understand what I was missing. And when my father died I was so busy missing him...” Her voice trailed off as memories of her father came flooding back.
“Did you never miss her?” he wanted to know.
“Oh yes, very much…when I got older…when I began to notice other girls with their mothers.”
“Tell me,” he said.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I don't want to bore you with more of my childhood stories.”
“I can assure you I won't be bored,” he smiled.
So she told him.
It had started when Jennifer came to the school in September, the year after Charis turned ten in August. Although Jennifer was a year older than Charis they were in most of the same classes and their cubicles were next to each other in their dormitory. Very soon they were best friends and it didn't take Jennifer very long to discover that Charis only went home in the school holidays - never for half term or weekends, so she invited Charis to her home whenever she could.
The first time Charis visited Jennifer's home she was overwhelmed with the house and with the family. The house was Victorian and seemed positively huge to Charis. Later, she realized that her own home, Meadow Lea Hall, was probably bigger, but as the rooms were smaller, except for the hall itself, and darker with the oak panelling, it seemed smaller. In Jennifer’s home, the rooms were large and full of light and there were always so many people! Jennifer was the youngest of six children and to Charis, an only child, it was an overpowering experience. But the house was full of love and of happiness and laughter - tangible - she could feel it all around her. In the beginning she revelled in it. They’d made her feel so welcome, almost like one of the family, and yet she was not. Soon, although she looked forward to her visits, Charis sometimes wished she’d never been invited, as it had caused her to realise what she’d been missing all those years.
“It was like I was in one of those Christmas cards,” she explained to Ben. “You know the ones with the pictures of children standing outside a shop window, faces pressed against the glass, seeing but not being able to touch…wanting and hoping to get a special gift for Christmas. But I knew I would never get the gift I wanted.” She had yearned for a family of her own.
And then she’d watched Jennifer with her mother. At school, if something special or unusual happened, the first thing Jennifer wanted to do was to tell her mother, and when she saw her the next time she’d run into her mother's arms full of news and say, “Mummy, guess what happened?” or, “Guess what I did this week?” and Charis knew she would never have anyone who wanted, or cared, to know what she’d done or what she’d achieved. “Guess what I did this week? That Mozart piece I've been learning? It took six weeks but I can play it right through now,” or, “Mummy, I got one hundred percent in my maths test,” (Charis wasn't very good at maths) or “This week I got chosen to play on the rounders team.” (Charis wasn't very good at sport either!) Or the first time she was asked to sing a solo at the school concert, or the first time she went to Europe on a school trip and had no one to tell about the adventure of it all. Oh yes! Charis had learned what it was like to have a mother, and how badly she missed hers.
“And then suddenly I was fourteen and I wasn't a little girl anymore and I needed my mother so much. I was so afraid of growing up all alone.” Charis’ voice broke and she tried to keep her emotions in check. Ben placed his arm around her and held her close. Up until then he’d sat sideways, watching her face as she spoke. “I longed for
her to take me in her arms and tell me everything would be alright, that the pain would go away and it wouldn't hurt anymore. I wanted to ask her about boys and sex and what it felt like to have a baby growing inside you and have her tell me all about her and my dad.” Charis hesitated and brushed the tears from her eyes. “And then there was Ben. I really needed to talk to her about Ben.”
“Who was Ben?” he asked quietly.
“Jennifer's brother,” she replied. “She had three brothers and Ben was the youngest. He was twenty when I first went to their house and I knew he was special the very first time I met him. He was in the hall when we arrived and he smiled at me and said, ‘You must be Jen's little friend. Welcome to our crazy house,’ and he ruffled my hair. I always felt so clumsy and shy when he was around and I didn't feel like that with her other brothers…just Ben.” She paused and took a deep breath. Charis told him that by the time she was fourteen she had a full blown crush on him.
He smiled. “Your first love in fact!”
“I don't think so – it was very one-sided. I was just a child and he was all grown up. If he thought of me at all it was just as his sister's little friend. But he was very kind.” If Ben had spoken to her she was in agony because she became tongue tied and didn't know what to say. But if he wasn't there on her visits, and he often wasn't because he was working in a London hospital learning how to be a doctor, then she was in agony because of that. Then looking up at Ben she smiled and said, “You remind me of him…you look like him.”
He grinned and teased, “That good, huh?”
“He was absolutely drop dead gorgeous,” she sighed.
“Well, thank you, young lady,” he replied, laughing a little, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Charis told him how she would often sit a little apart from the others just watching them all and feeling so envious of the love they obviously felt for each other. How in the really nice weather they would go outside and sit on the back lawn in the shade of the big oak tree for their afternoon tea. One day Jennifer's father had stood up and admitted he'd eaten so much that he needed to go for a walk and would Charis like to go with him? When she first met Jennifer’s father she’d been a little afraid of him. He was a QC and had a very important position in his law firm in London. He was also quite a big man and somewhat austere in appearance, but when he smiled his expression changed and he had very kind eyes. Over time Charis had come to like and respect him, so when he’d asked her she’d said, “Yes please,” and jumped up from the grass. Jennifer had stood up, too, and said, “I'll come as well,” and Sir Giles had said quite seriously, “No. You were not invited. This is just an invitation for Jane.”
Ben's expression changed and he looked at her intently, realising that the thoughts he'd had since she’d mentioned Jennifer were right. He had known her as a child.
“Jane?” he asked, sounding surprised. “You're Jane? I mean, your name is Jane?”
“Well, one of my names,” Charis replied. “When I started at school I didn't want anyone calling me Charis. I wanted to be someone different…not have people call me by the name my father used for me. Jane was my grandmother's name so I asked to be called that and the headmistress didn't mind so I became Jane while I was at school. I thought that it would help somehow. It didn't. Maybe because I was still Charis at home.”
His demeanour was intense…his expression serious. “And then?”
“Well we went for our walk. There's a small lake with woods beyond and then some fields, so that's where we walked. It became something that we'd do together, if he was home when I was there, which actually wasn't very often. But when we did take our walk together, Sir Giles would point out the birds and wild animals that I wouldn't have otherwise noticed. I really enjoyed our walks. In a small way it reminded me of happy times with my Dad. And then one day, I think it was soon after I turned fifteen, Ben was home when Sir Giles wasn't and after tea Ben stood up and walked over and informed me that today he was his father's deputy. He asked if I'd go with him instead. So I went and it was wonderful. When I walked with Sir Giles he never touched me, but Ben did. He helped me over the stile. He caught me when I jumped off a wall. He held my hand when we crossed a little stream and after that I never felt shy with him again. I thought he was the most wonderful person in the world.”
Ben smiled. “And now?” he asked.
“Oh, I haven't seen him since I was sixteen,” she said.
“When was the last time?” he wanted to know.
“At my last day at school - our annual prize giving. It was Jennifer's last day, too, so all her family were out in force. I was asked to play a solo on the piano and I also received an award for some history thing I'd done. Oh, and it was announced about my Oxford placement. Afterwards, Ben congratulated me and told me I was a very clever and talented young lady and he kissed me on the cheek.” She smiled at the memory. “For weeks I would touch my cheek and remember.” And she put her hand up to her cheek as though remembering his kiss again.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence watching the fields and houses go by, Ben's fingers caressing her arm. She didn't notice his expression as he looked at her.
“Would that be Sir Giles Covington?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied, looking up at him, a surprised expression on her face. “Do you know the family?”
“I think you could say that I am somewhat acquainted with them.”
“How does an Arab prince know a family like that?”
“I was educated in England and went to school with Jennifer's brothers. It's not such a coincidence as you might think.”
“You've been to their house at Willow Bend then?”
“On occasion, yes.”
“Promise me something?” she asked.
“For you? Anything,” he smiled.
“Well, if you ever see the other Ben again, please don't tell him any of this.”
“Oh I won't have to tell him…he'll already know,” he told her. And as she looked up at him again, embarrassed at the thought, he said, “Young men always know if a girl is keen on them. Why don't you want him to know? He'd be flattered.”
“I'd be mortified.”
But he just smiled and held her a little tighter and suddenly they’d arrived at their destination.
*****
The first thing they did was to check into a hotel. Their room was luxurious and elegantly decorated but they didn’t stay long. Ben took Charis out to explore the city until it was time for dinner. She loved the market, looking at all the trinkets and interesting things for sale. Ben tried to buy her gifts but she refused everything.
Dinner was delicious. They dined at a French restaurant and as they both spoke French, Ben better than Charis, they had no trouble ordering their meal. He asked if she would like wine to drink and when she said she didn't drink he seemed pleased and told her that he didn't either.
After dinner they ventured to a nightclub he’d heard of and she was relieved she’d packed a suitable dress. She looked lovely; the dark blue of the dress not only brought out the colour of her eyes, but showed up her fair, clear skin. She’d put her hair up, showing the shape of her face, and unusually for her, had put on a little make up around her eyes. As they danced, Ben held her close and she felt both safe and comfortable in his arms…as though she belonged there.
They hadn’t been dancing for very long when he whispered to her, “I can't take any more of this. Charis, do you mind if we go back to our hotel now? I want you all to myself,” so they quickly returned to their hotel room. The door had barely closed before she was in his arms and he was kissing her and holding her as though he would never let her go.
When Ben awoke the next morning, he watched her sleeping soundly beside him. He studied her face, her long eyelashes dark against her fair skin, the shape of her cheeks, and the way her hair curled lightly around her face. He thought about her when she was very young and remembered well the little girl she’d described when she'd spoken of her
childhood the day before. He remembered the day she’d recalled, when he’d taken her for a walk as his father's deputy. It was on that walk that he first realised how lovely she was and wondered how beautiful she would become when she grew up. He had another memory that she hadn't mentioned. She’d fallen and hurt her ankle, badly enough that she couldn't walk on it. His mother had called him to come quickly and he'd carried her to the house and then examined her ankle. He decided it was just badly sprained and wrapped it for her. She’d been so brave because it must have been very painful, but she didn't cry or make any fuss.
He remembered, too, the day he’d kissed her on the cheek. He thought at the time that he ought to keep an eye on this young lady because she was going to be very special when she was older. How right he’d been! Ben regretted that he’d lost track of her while he was so busy with his medical studies. Maybe if he had, she could have avoided all the trouble with Mildred and Henry. He didn't quite know what to tell her…how she'd react to him being the Ben she knew all those years ago. He knew that he was already deeply in love with her but he didn't want her memories of him from before to influence her feelings for him now. He wanted her to love him for who he had become. In the end, he decided to say nothing yet…to take it step by step.
She stirred, putting an end to his thoughts and memories of her. When she opened her eyes and smiled at him he felt an overwhelming love for her…a yearning he’d never felt before. He kissed her tenderly on her forehead.
“Good morning, my little one,” he said, his fingers softly caressing her cheek.
“Last night was not a dream then?” she asked.
“If you have dreams like that, my girl, you are wicked,” he told her in a shocked voice, but a decided twinkle in his eye. She giggled and he whispered in her ear, “Do you want some more then?”
She nodded and whispered in reply, “Last night was magical.”
Charis Page 5