Staring up into his face, so intense, so concentrated on her, M thought she was drowning in a deep blue ocean as she gazed into his marvellous eyes, and it seemed to her that she was looking into his soul.
Pushing his hands underneath her, he raised her slightly, and brought her closer to him. No longer able to stop himself, he took her to him, entered her, held her in his arms, loving her. Larry’s throat was tight with emotion, and his heart was clattering in his chest as they moved together in perfect rhythm, lost in each other, coming together as they reached the pinnacle of their pleasure.
Later, sated, they lay quietly together, wrapped in each other’s arms, not wanting to let go. M sighed against Larry’s neck, and sighed again in contentment, and he kissed her cheek, loosened his grip on her slightly so that he could place his head on her shoulder.
And as he lay there next to her, waiting for his thudding heart to slow to its normal steady beat, he suddenly experienced a feeling of perfect peace washing over him, and, a moment later, an absence of pain. He was filled with wonder at himself, and then he instantly knew the reason why. It was because he was with the woman he had searched for all of his life and had at last found.
‘I almost didn’t go to Iris’s party,’ Larry volunteered, as he and M sat in the library, enjoying a glass of wine and smoked salmon sandwiches. He shook his hand. ‘Imagine that! If I hadn’t gone we wouldn’t have met.’
Smiling at him beguilingly, a knowing look in her dark, sparkling eyes, M said softly, ‘Yes, we would…it’s fate…destiny.’
‘If you say so, my pretty one.’
‘You know what, I almost didn’t go myself,’ she confided. ‘I went because I didn’t want to hurt Dax’s feelings.’
Larry gave her a searching look and asked, ‘Was he, is he, a boyfriend of yours?’
Taken aback by this question, M simply shook her head, and also took a sip of wine. Shrugging herself deeper into Larry’s silk dressing gown, which he had insisted she wear, she finally answered, ‘No, he’s not a boyfriend, never has been. We met at the Blane Agency when I first got here, and we kept running into each other. One morning he took me to Starbucks for a coffee, and later he introduced me to Geo, who was his girlfriend at that time. She had a room to rent, I took it, and that’s all.’ She shrugged her shoulders, half smiled to herself.
‘There you are! Look what you do to me! You’ve just witnessed my first flash of jealousy.’ Larry laughed dryly, rose, threw another log on the library fire and stood hovering in front of it, his hands in his navy blue dressing gown.
M said, ‘You’ve nothing to be jealous about—and, incidentally, I’ve never been seriously involved with anyone.’ Her head on one side, she threw him a challenging look. Her tone was cheeky when she said, ‘But I don’t think I can say the same about you, mister.’
‘You of all people certainly know that, considering that you’ve been studying my life and Googling me for years.’ This was said in a jocular manner, and he laughed, then said, ‘But I do have a need…to know about you, missy.’
‘How can you say that? You boasted that you truly knew me.’
‘The kind of person you are, yes, but not much else, no details,’ he shot back, gazing at her, his blue eyes full of amusement.
‘Ask away,’ she responded, steeling herself for his probing questions and lining up her lies.
‘I suspect you have siblings,’ Larry began, ‘am I correct?’
‘Yes, and I’m in the middle. I have a younger brother,’ she answered. ‘And they’re okay, really, when it comes down to it.’
‘Are any of them married?’
‘My two older sisters are, but one was recently widowed. Her husband died suddenly of a heart attack in his thirties just over two years ago now. Very sad, actually. My older brother is single, the happy bachelor, just like you.’
‘Maybe he’s not found anyone he wants to spend the rest of his life with, isn’t that a possibility?’
‘Absolutely, and you’ve hit the nail on the head. He’s very particular. About his women.’
‘Do you have a favourite?’ Larry asked. ‘Most of us usually do.’
‘Yes, the sister next to me. We call her Birdie. She’s the one who’s widowed.’
‘Does she have children?’
‘No, she doesn’t. She works full time, selling women’s clothes, has a boutique of her own. And before you ask, my brother made quite a lot of money in the produce business, supplying food to hotels and restaurants. He built a good business, and sold out. Now I call him the playboy.’
‘And what about your parents?’ Larry stared at her, his eyes narrowing.
Having known this would be the next question, M was totally prepared. ‘My father’s sort of semi-retired these days. He was in the construction business, a builder. He and Mummy are in Australia at the moment, visiting her mother, who’s been sick. My grandmother’s English, but one of her husbands was an Australian.’ She grinned at him and raised a brow. ‘Any other questions?’
‘No, no, not really. Thanks for telling me about your family.’
‘I have one for you.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘I know you were named after Sir Laurence Olivier, and that he was a friend of your father’s. But did you know him well? And did you like him?’
‘I did know him, of course—he was a friend of my father’s and therefore a family friend. Also, my parents worked with him. He was my idol when I was growing up, such a great actor, the greatest, actually. I wasn’t close to him because of the age difference, but he was always rather nice with me. He died when I was seventeen.’
‘Oh yes.’
When she sat back and said nothing else, just sipped her wine, Larry said, ‘No more questions?’
‘Not at the moment.’
‘I have one. Shall we set a date?’
‘A date?’ She gave him a puzzled look, but she knew what he meant.
‘When shall we get married?’
Deciding to go along with him, to humour him, she said, ‘November or December? Which do you prefer?’
‘I know what we’ll do. We’ll have a Christmas marriage. Here in New York. Just the two of us. Don’t let’s tell a soul…it’ll be like eloping, in a sense.’
‘What a fantastic idea! I’ll get married in a white wool suit, a white fur, and carry white flowers, and it’s bound to snow, and then it will really and truly be a white wedding,’ she teased.
Filled with laughter, enjoying her, Larry sat down on the sofa and took her in his arms. Against her hair he said, ‘You’re the most adorable girl I’ve ever met.’
And that was how it began, their grand romance.
SIXTEEN
Caresse walked around the largest studio within the rabbit warren of the complex called Frank Farantino Photographic Studios. She was endeavouring to see it objectively and with cold deliberation, rather than with aching heartbreak and sentimentality. She must not think of her big love Frankie, her fiancé, envision him leaping around like an acrobat in his favourite place, shouting instructions to the models, focusing his camera, shooting his unique shots, and being his impossible but lovable self.
No, that was the wrong thing to do. She must think in terms of money. Not for her, but for Frankie’s kid, Alex. In a certain sense, he was her responsibility now, because Frankie’s older sister Theresa, a diabetic, had become sicker than ever since Frankie’s fatal car crash. So it was up to her to do right by ‘the kid’. Alex would soon be eighteen. But that’s the way Frankie had always referred to Alex and she was just following his guidelines. She must get as much money as she could for the complex. Not only was it an entire building, a vast former warehouse, but Frankie had designed and planned the various studios himself. Aside from the soaring rooms the photographers used for shoots there were hair and makeup rooms, bathrooms, and an eat-in kitchen fully equipped with the latest appliances. And then there were dozens and dozens of Klieg lights, various cleverly designed and beautiful
ly rendered backdrops which rolled around on wheels, plus an extraordinary collection of cameras and other equipment. Yes, money, money, money for the kid. That was her theme song at the moment. No bidders yet, but she could hope. She suddenly asked herself if she had given it to the wrong agency. Bentley’s was not such a big agent; perhaps she should seek out a more important real-estate company.
Walking back to the reception area, Caresse sat down behind the desk and looked at the bookings. Five photographers would be working here today, three doing fashion shoots for magazines, and two working on shoots for fashion catalogues. She nodded to herself, grateful and relieved that Frankie’s pals were still using his studios, touched that they were being loyal to him. She was proud of that, the friendship Frankie had inspired in others.
Caresse glanced down at her sapphire engagement ring. She still wore it because she couldn’t bear to take it off. She was engaged to Frankie Farantino, and that was that. Her eyes filled. He had always been good to her, considerate, and very, very loving. It would be hard to find another man like him…she couldn’t even bother trying.
The jangling phone brought her up with a start, and she answered it with a simple, ‘Farantino Studios, Caresse speaking.’
‘Hey, Caresse, how’re you doing, honey?’ Luke Hendricks asked. ‘Holding up, I hope, sweetie pie.’
‘Doing my best, Luke. Where are you? What’s happening?’
‘I’m stuck in Paris, finishing the shoot for Vogue, but I hope to get back to New York next week. But hey, listen up, honey, where’s M? What’s she doing these days?’
‘Oddly enough, she was in here yesterday to see me. She often drops by; she’s great, cool. She’s still working at that cheese cake place, still looking for a modelling job, still doing the rounds of the agencies. Poor kid, she doesn’t seem able to get that first break. Why are you asking about her?’
‘Because I have that first break for her! A special fashion shoot next week. So try and find her for me, please, and book Frank’s big studio for me, his favourite. Listen, I gotta run, I’m heading out to Versailles to shoot the Coldplay guys…sitting in the middle of a gaggle of blonde models. Yeah, Chris Martin and his compadres.’
‘For Vogue?’ she asked, sounding incredulous.
‘No, honey, for Vanity Fair. I’ll give you a buzz later today. Or tomorrow. Just find her. So long.’
‘No, wait, don’t hang up, Luke. What if she can’t do it?’
‘Are you kidding, she’ll do it no matter what she’s doing. She’ll cancel out the Queen of England to do this fashion shoot. It’s her first break, for God’s sake. See ya, cookie.’
Caresse stared at the receiver in her hand, listening to the dial tone. He had hung up on her. Well, that was Luke, always on the run, always jumping through hoops. Banging the phone in the cradle, Caresse sat back in the chair, frowning, and then a sudden bright smile flashed across her tired face. Gotta find M, gotta find M, she muttered, suddenly cheering up. Life had a purpose again. For the moment.
Dimly, far away in the distance, Larry heard a phone ringing. He let it ring, having no desire to answer it, to talk to anyone. But when the machine did not pick up and it went on ringing endlessly, he finally reached for the receiver.
‘Hello,’ he mumbled, still half asleep and half doped up with the pills he had taken the evening before.
‘Larry! It’s me! Your mother. Are you all right?’
Half pushing himself up on the pillows, he blinked in the murky light. ‘Oh, hi, Mother, I think I’m all right, I guess I am. I’ve got the flu.’
‘You sound drugged to me! Larry, darling, you haven’t fallen off the wagon, so to speak, have you? I do hope not, you promised me…no more pills, you said, yes, that’s what you promised. Oh, darling—’
‘No! No!’ he exclaimed, forcing himself to sit up, trying to sound coherent. ‘Just hold on a minute, I need to get a glass of water…’ He let his sentence slide away.
‘Take your time,’ Pandora Gallen said in a crisper tone.
Placing the receiver on the bedside table, he turned on the lamp, drank from the glass of water already there, and went back to the phone and his mother. ‘Okay, that’s better. I’m a bit dehydrated, what with all the cold pills and the cough mixture I’ve taken. That stuff does you in, even if it also kills the germs.’
‘I know.’ There was a silence, and then his mother continued, ‘You are sure you have flu, aren’t you? You’d tell me the truth, wouldn’t you?’
‘Mum! Come on. You know I’ve never lied to you. Ever. I’ve had a really bad dose of it, and I’m still under the weather.’
She sighed, and said, ‘Perhaps I ought to call you back later.’
‘No, not later, now. Let’s talk now. I’m fine.’ He glanced at the clock, saw that it was eleven, and therefore four in the afternoon in London. ‘Anyway, how are you, Ma? And how’s Dad?’
‘That’s the main reason I wanted to speak with you,’ Pandora answered. ‘About your father.’
He caught a hint of concern in her voice. ‘Is something wrong? You sound funny, Ma, what is it? Is Dad ill?’
‘No. Well, not that I know of, but he’s out there in Canada all by himself, with the most gruelling time ahead of him, and I think somebody ought to be with him. You see, I detect this need in him when we speak, and the problem is I can’t go to Toronto because I start a film tomorrow. But I must admit, I’m genuinely worried about him, my darling.’
Larry cursed under his breath. He had totally forgotten that his father was about to start rehearsals for a play in Toronto…because he had fallen head over heels in love, and was completely engrossed in M. ‘Send Portia, Mother. You know she loves to travel, and Dad adores her—’
‘Not possible,’ Pandora interrupted. ‘Portia can’t leave little Desi. The child has measles. She’s been really rather sick, actually. I thought that you could go, stay with your father for a week or two, give him some moral support. Cyrano de Bergerac is a tough play, Larry. You’re not working, are you?’
‘No, I’m not. At least not this week. I’m sick, remember? Anyway, you know very well I don’t have a job. But honestly, I don’t think I can travel yet, Ma, I’m still a bit weak, wobbly. Besides which, I wouldn’t go near anybody, and most especially Dad, or any other actor about to go into a play, until I’m absolutely positive I’m completely better. Totally germ free, in fact. Doctor Doom I don’t want to be.’
‘I understand that, and you’re quite right. But surely by the end of this week you’ll be much better? You’ve always managed to throw off illness, and very quickly, my darling. You take after me in that. We have great stamina, you and I, the best in the family, actually. Also, you do happen to be the nearest to Toronto, you know.’
‘What about Edward? He’s in Los Angeles. Why can’t he go, Ma?’
‘Because he’s not in LA. He’s here in London, and he can’t leave for another week. Horatio is on tour in Australia, in case you’ve forgotten, and Thomas has a broken ankle and is hobbling around, groaning and moaning like an old man.’
‘He is an old man,’ Larry shot back, grinning to himself, knowing his mother would refrain from making a comment. To say Thomas was an old man got her back up; it was a sore point with her because it aged her. Larry now said, ‘What about Miranda?’
‘My God, Larry, are you insane? I wouldn’t wish her on your father—that in itself would make him ill. You know he can’t stand her.’
Larry burst out laughing. He always enjoyed his mother’s forthrightness. She never minced her words, and was honest about everyone, her children in particular. And she always said what she thought to a person’s face; never spoke behind their back. Suddenly he began to cough, and reached for the water. After gulping some down, he asked, ‘What exactly is it that’s alarming you about Dad so much, Mum?’
‘I can’t really pinpoint it, to be truthful, but there’s something in his voice that seriously disturbs me. I have a feeling he’s a bit trepidatious about th
is play; I don’t think he expected to feel this nervous. But then who wouldn’t be? And let’s not forget that your father is seventy, even though he doesn’t look it.’
For a moment Larry didn’t answer, then he said, ‘Rostand’s Cyrano is a big piece of theatre, Ma, you know that as well as I do, and it can be bloody intimidating…’ He stopped, sighing under his breath. ‘It’s a hell of a role to take on, even for a much younger man. Maybe he should just get out of the play—’
‘Get out of the play! Are you losing your wits? He signed a contract, Larry, he can’t just walk away, explaining that he’s suddenly afraid of the part.’
‘That’s what it is, isn’t it, Mother? And you know it, and so you’re afraid. For him. If that is the case, he should just quit.’
‘He can’t, and he won’t, you’re aware of that. Look, it would help him if you were with him for a couple of weeks, I know it would.’
‘No, it wouldn’t. He doesn’t feel the same way about me any more. Five years ago he called me the black sheep of the family, and added that I was no son of his. Do you think I’ve ever forgotten his words?’
‘No, I’m sure you haven’t, but you’re not remembering his words exactly. Actually, what he said was this: “You’re no son of mine if you continue on this downward spiral.” You’ve conveniently obliterated the last part of his sentence. That has been your problem for a long time.’
‘Well, he’s never retracted his statement that I’m the black sheep of the family. And he should have done. He owes me that. I’m a reformed man.’
‘Larry, with your father, actions speak louder than words, volumes louder. He just gave you the apartment where you are sitting right now. Have you forgotten that you paid hardly anything for it, and he would have willingly given it to you without an exchange of money, except that your siblings might have objected? Your father loves you, Larry, and he’s proud of you. Not only as an actor, but as a man. He knows you kicked that habit of yours, that awful dependence on prescription drugs…’ Pandora cleared her throat, and lowered her voice, ‘You have, haven’t you?’
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