A Night, A Secret...A Child

by Miranda Lee

  ‘I suppose he’s staying in a pretty snazzy place,’ her mother said. ‘A man like him.’

  Serina dropped her bag on a nearby filing cabinet before pulling out her office chair. ‘I thought I told you the other night. He’s rented an apartment in the new Blue Horizons building.’ She sat down and turned on her computer. ‘Maybe I didn’t.’ She’d been very distracted during that phone call. Spending the afternoon in bed with Nicolas did that to her. ‘Yes, it’s a very snazzy place with a lovely view. He’s decided to stay on there for another week.’

  ‘Another week! But he told Mrs Johnson and me just last night that he was leaving today.’

  ‘He was going to. But he’s changed his mind and extended his booking. Since he’ll still be in Port for Christmas, Mum, I…er…thought I’d ask him to join us on Christmas Day.’

  ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean…Christmas Day is for family.’

  Serina’s heart turned over. If only her mother knew. Nicolas was family. He was her granddaughter’s father. ‘Family and friends, Mum,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m sure Franny and Bert won’t mind. And Felicity will be delighted. She likes Nicolas a lot, you know.’

  ‘Yes, I know. She never stops talking about him.’

  ‘Then there’s no problem, is there?’

  ‘I guess not,’ her mother said. Suddenly, she didn’t look so approving, confirming Serina’s suspicion that any relationship she had with Nicolas might be frowned upon. She could not imagine her mother being pleased with her daughter becoming any man’s mistress.

  ‘Can I come for Christmas, too?’ Allie piped up with a mischievous grin.

  Serina smiled. ‘I don’t think your parents would be too pleased with that idea.’

  ‘Darn. Oops. Incoming call. Browns Landscaping and Building Supplies,’ she trilled. ‘Oh, Mr Dupre! We were just talking about you. Yes, yes, all right…Nicolas… Yes, she does that sometimes. Just a sec. Serina,’ Allie called out. ‘Nicolas said you’ve got your cell phone turned off and could you please turn it back on.’

  Serina tried not to look flustered as she stood up and retrieved her phone from her bag. There she’d been, handling everything quite well, she thought, then bingo, Nicolas called and she was immediately in a state. In a way, she wished he hadn’t told her that he loved her this morning. It could make her go crazy, if she let it. Crazy with wanting and hoping and…and just plain crazy!

  ‘Tell him it’s turned on now,’ she said a little stiffly.

  ‘It’s turned on now, Nicolas. ’By-ee,’ Allie finished, her voice having gone all soft and simpering.

  Serina suppressed a sigh.

  Ten seconds later, her vibrating mobile phone was dancing over the desktop. Serina snatched it up to her ear, telling herself all the while to stay cool. Her mother was listening and so was Allie. She had to be careful not to say anything that would contradict what she’d told them about last night.

  ‘Hello, Nicolas,’ she said. ‘Sorry about the phone. It’s a habit of mine. So what’s up?’

  There was a short sharp silence at the other end of the line, then Nicolas laughed. ‘I get it. Your mum’s there, isn’t she?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘And you haven’t told her about us.’

  ‘Not exactly.’

  ‘You bad girl, I’m going to have to take you in hand.’

  ‘Yes, please.’

  ‘Ooh, you are a bad girl. So when can I take you in hand? This afternoon too soon?’

  ‘I’ll have to see what Felicity is doing first. I’ll give her a call and then get back to you.’

  ‘Don’t make me wait too long. I’m not a patient man. Not when I want something.’

  Serina almost opened her drying mouth to ask him what he wanted. Fortunately, common sense won and she remained silent.

  He laughed again, softly, sexily. ‘You can’t talk. I get it. Shall I tell you what I want in minute detail, with accompanying sound effects?’

  ‘Not right now, Nicolas.’

  ‘Oh, I love that schoolmarm voice you have at times.’

  ‘I’ll call you back after I’ve contacted Felicity, all right?’

  He sighed. ‘Spoilsport.’

  Serina finally began to find some amusement in the situation.

  ‘Yes, I know it’s terribly hot,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you go have a swim and cool down? ’Bye now. I’ll call back soon.’

  She hung up, but her mind was already on the time when she could be with Nicolas again, when he could take her in hand.

  ‘Serina…’

  Serina blinked, then turned her head towards her mother.

  ‘You were going to call Felicity,’ her mother reminded her.

  ‘What? Oh, yes. I forgot for a moment.’

  ‘I can see that….’

  Serina resented the note of disapproval in her mother’s voice. Heavens, it wasn’t as though she was a neglectful mother.

  Felicity answered straight away.

  ‘Hi, Mum. How’s things? You have a good time last night?’

  ‘A great time,’ Serina admitted. ‘And you? I suppose you and Kirsty stayed up all night.’ Sleepovers between girlfriends never involved much sleep.

  ‘We passed out on the lounge around two, didn’t we, Kirsty?’

  ‘So what time do you want me to pick you up today?’ Serina asked, knowing full well that it wouldn’t be anytime soon. When those two got together, wild horses couldn’t drag them apart.

  ‘Not till dark,’ Kirsty replied straight away. ‘How about eight o’clock?’

  ‘I don’t like driving along that road in the dark.’ Kirsty’s place was a few kilometres out of town along a narrow winding road that had no lighting whatsoever. ‘Could we make it seven?’

  Serina heard some fierce negotiations going on in the background. ‘Look, Kirsty’s mum said I could stay for another night, if that’s all right with you.’

  ‘Are you sure? I think I should talk to her.’

  Janine, Kirsty’s mother, came on the phone and it was finally agreed that Felicity could stay another night.

  ‘How’s the weather out your way?’ Serina asked.

  ‘Very hot,’ Janine said. ‘And windy.’

  ‘Don’t let the girls go too far into the bush, okay?’

  Kirsty’s place was on the edge of a state forest that was simply huge and very thick.

  ‘Will do. Oh, and Serina?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I thought you looked really lovely last night.’

  ‘Why thank you. What a nice thing to say!’

  ‘A little bird told me you went out with Nicolas Dupre after the party?’

  ‘My, my, that little bird flies fast.’

  Janine laughed. ‘That’s Rocky Creek for you. So is it true?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And is it also true that he’s an old flame of yours?’

  Kirsty’s family only moved into the area a few years ago, so they knew nothing of the time when Nicolas Dupre and Serina had been teenagers. Serina decided that she was tired of denying that they had some kind of relationship in the past. But she wasn’t about to admit too much.

  ‘Yes, he was,’ she said.

  ‘Lucky you. Do you think anything will come of it this time? I mean, is he sticking around or is this just a whirlwind visit?’

  ‘I’m not sure yet, Janine.’

  Which just about said it all. She wasn’t sure. About anything.

  The adrenalin rush that she’d felt earlier when Nicolas called had totally dissipated by the time she hung up. Was she being a fool, thinking they could make a lasting relationship this time?

  ‘Serina…’

  Serina blinked then turned to face her mother.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Could you come outside for a minute? I want to speak to you about something. Privately,’ she added softly with a surreptitious glance Allie’s way.

  The heat hit them both the moment they stepped outside the door.

>   ‘Better make this quick, Mum,’ Serina said as she moved back into the shade of the building’s eaves. ‘Or we’re going to melt away.’

  ‘I’m not sure I can be quick. To be honest, I’m not sure where to even start.’

  Serina was taken aback before the penny dropped. Her mother wanted to say something to her about last night but didn’t have the courage. She’d never been one of those mothers to voluntarily bring up the subject of sex. If it had been left up to Margaret Brown, then Serina would never have learned the facts of life. She grew up, grateful that she lived in the country, and had been able to work things out for herself. Her father had been of a similar ilk, a shy man who wasn’t given to conversations or confidences about private matters. Serina wasn’t surprised that she was an only child.

  ‘I’m beginning to get worried about you and Nicolas,’ her mother blurted out at last.

  ‘In what way?’

  Her mother’s face twisted into a mask of concern. ‘I’m worried he’s going to break your heart again. And don’t go telling me that he didn’t break your heart all those years ago. You can lie to Felicity if you want to. I wouldn’t expect you to tell your daughter the truth.’

  Serina’s heart skipped a beat. ‘The truth?’

  ‘About you and Nicolas in the old days. I knew you were way more than just good friends. I knew you were sleeping together, right from the first night you went out with him. It was there, in your eyes, the next morning. You looked…different. Older.’

  ‘Mum, I…’

  ‘Oh, it’s perfectly all right,’ her mother interrupted. ‘I’m not judging you. I never judged you. I understood exactly what you felt for that boy.’

  ‘You did?’

  ‘I felt the same way about a boy when I was around the same age. I was simply mad about him. Couldn’t keep my hands off him.’

  ‘Goodness!’

  ‘There was nothing good about him, I can tell you. He was a wicked lad and he broke my heart. I was never the same after he dumped me. I couldn’t bear for another boy to touch me for years. And then I met your father.’ Tears filled her eyes. ‘If it wasn’t for your father I would never have gotten married, or had you. His tenderness was my saving grace. Plus his shyness. He was nothing like Hank. For which I was eternally grateful.’

  ‘What… What happened to this Hank?’

  ‘Got killed on his motorcycle when he was twenty-one. I still cried when he died. But I think it was more for my own sorry self than for him.’

  ‘Oh, Mum. I had no idea.’

  ‘How could you? I never told you. I’ve never talked to you at all much about myself, or even about you. When Nicolas left Rocky Creek I knew you were heart-broken. But I was afraid to talk to you. Afraid you might tell me what you’d been doing together. Afraid I might tell you what I went through. And I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me.’

  ‘Ashamed of you! Why would I be ashamed of you?’

  She flushed a beetroot red. ‘The things I did with Hank. They were wicked.’

  ‘Were they really, Mum? You loved him, didn’t you?’

  ‘More than I thought was ever possible.’

  ‘There, you see?’ She put her arms around her mother’s shoulders and held her close. ‘Not wicked at all. Just in love. Like Nicolas and I were. Like we still are.’

  Her mother lifted wet eyes to Serina’s. ‘He loves you? He said that?’

  ‘Just this morning, before he kissed me goodbye.’

  ‘And he’s going to stay this time?’

  ‘Only for the next week. But he’s promised to visit often.’

  ‘Do you think you might get married one day?’

  ‘No, Mum. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.’

  ‘You’re a very brave girl, Serina, very brave and very strong. Did I ever tell you that?’

  She had, actually. At Greg’s funeral. But Serina thought it wasn’t quite the right moment to mention that. Instead, she steered her mother back inside, where she made her a cup of tea, after which she surreptitiously carried her mobile phone into the ladies’ and called Nicolas back.

  ‘I thought you were never going to call,’ he said sharply. ‘I was getting worried.’

  ‘No need. Everything’s fine. Felicity’s going to stay another night at Kirsty’s. And I’m going to ask my mother to hold the fort for the rest of the day so that I can spend it with you.’

  ‘Wow! They say all good things come to those who wait, but I’ve never believed it till now.’

  ‘Oh, and there’s one more thing.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I love you….’

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  NICOLAS had experienced several moments of happiness in his life.

  But this moment surpassed all others: it was true happiness. He was stunned to feel tears pricking at his eyes. Never in all his forty years had he cried with happiness.

  ‘Well you’ve done it now,’ he choked out.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I’m never going to let you go now, Serina. Not if you love me.’

  ‘I still won’t go overseas with you, Nicolas. Well, I would…briefly. Just not permanently.’

  ‘Even that small compromise shows me you do really love me.’

  ‘You doubted me?’

  ‘Might I remind you that you were the one who said I was only good for one thing.’

  ‘Oh, Nicolas…I’m so sorry I said that. That wasn’t nice. But you only have yourself to blame. A girl tends to forget a man’s other qualities when one stands out.’

  ‘You should be grateful that it stands out at all. When a man approaches forty…’

  She laughed. It was a delightful laugh.

  ‘When can you get away?’ he asked.

  ‘Soon.’

  ‘How soon?’

  ‘Very soon,’ she said softly.

  An hour later, Nicolas was pacing the pavement outside Blue Horizons, impatiently waiting for Serina’s car to arrive. The temperature had risen dramatically during the last sixty minutes and a hot wind was whipping down the street. He’d finally dressed sensibly in shorts and T-shirt but was still feeling uncomfortably warm.

  Suddenly, there she was, pulling up to the curb opposite. Nicolas raced over and wrenched the driver’s door open.

  ‘Why has it taken you so long?’ he demanded to know. ‘I could have flown back to Sydney in that time.’

  She smiled up at him as she climbed out of the car, looking cool and pretty in cream Bermuda shorts and a lemon blouse.

  ‘I was held up for a while with a builder who wasn’t happy with the timber we’d delivered to him. Sorry, but Mum isn’t at her best dealing with difficult customers, and Allie’s useless.’

  Nicolas wasn’t in the mood to be mollified. ‘I thought you’d had an accident. You could have called me. That’s what mobile phones are for.’

  ‘I said I was sorry.’ Her smile widened. ‘My, but you’re not a happy chappy when you have to wait for something,’ she said, echoing his words of that morning. ‘Now why don’t you just kiss me and stop being obsessive compulsive?’

  ‘Takes one to know one, sweetheart,’ he growled, and pulled her into his arms. His kiss was deep and long and brought several toots from horns of passing motorists.

  ‘I have something I want to show you,’ he said when he finally came up for air.

  ‘Not down here, I hope,’ she teased. ‘I don’t want to be arrested for indecent exposure.’

  ‘Very funny. No, it’s nothing like that. I want you to come upstairs with me.’

  She laughed. ‘I already gathered that.’

  Nicolas gave her a droll look. ‘Will you get your mind off sex for the moment?’

  ‘You mean you want to actually do something else?’

  ‘No, I don’t want to do something else. I just thought it might be wise to show you that I can do something else.’

  ‘Such as what?’

  ‘If you’ll just
be quiet for a minute or two,’ he said as he steered her across the road, ‘I’ll show you.’

  ‘I’m already speechless.’

  Serina laughed when he ground to a halt and speared her with a fierce narrowed-eyed glance. ‘You will be punished later for your sarcasm!’

  ‘Oooh. Is that a promise or a threat?’

  ‘Another twenty lashes for Madame!’

  ‘Are we on the Bounty here, or in one of those old war films? You keep changing characters.’

  ‘I am the master of disguise.’

  ‘Good grief,’ she said, laughing. ‘It’s Boris Karloff!’

  ‘I’m not that old!’

  ‘You’re nearly forty.’

  He pretended to look horrified. ‘You must not mention the dreaded F word. Not unless you want to be punished.’

  ‘That depends on the punishment.’

  ‘You will be tied naked to my bed for the rest of the day.’

  Her face fell in mock disappointment. ‘Oh…is that all?’

  ‘I will rub your entire body with oil.’

  Her eyebrows arched coquettishly. ‘What kind of oil?’

  ‘What other kind is there?’ he countered, flexing his biceps like Popeye. ‘Olive oil!’

  ‘You’ll ruin the sheets.’

  He waved nonchalantly. ‘There are plenty more sheets where they came from. But first, we must ride up to the penthouse.’

  ‘The penthouse! You’ve moved apartments?’

  ‘Not as yet. But I’m thinking of buying the penthouse. It’s for sale.’

  ‘Oh, my!’ Serina exclaimed as soon as she walked inside. ‘This place is out of this world. But it must be worth a small fortune.’

  ‘It’s on the market for three-point-five million. But in this current economic climate, I think I can close the deal for three.’

  ‘Far be it for me to persuade you otherwise, Nicolas,’ Serina said as she wandered from the extensive and expensively furnished living area into the equally lavish master bedroom. ‘But can you afford it?’