“Well, I think mine went on. Don’t know about yours, dear.”
“I’ll worry about that when we get to Portugal. Not a lot we can do about it now is there?” Mary replied, fastening her seatbelt and gazing over the runway. “We’re nearly there, Mom. We did it. We got to Europe. All on our own.”
The flight to Faro was considerably shorter than the flight across the Atlantic and it wasn’t long before the plane began its descent. Mary gazed down as they flew over the shoreline. She pointed out the sandy beaches and turquoise sea they were skimming over the top of.
“Oh, good heavens. If we get any lower he’ll be rowing us to the airport,” Lillian said, startled. She gripped the armrests tighter as she saw the sea coming ever closer, before the plane turned into the airport and down onto the runway.
The airplane’s wheels hissed and screeched as it taxied gently to a halt and the announcements started over the intercom.
Mary and Lillian disembarked with the other passengers and this time made a concerted effort to stay with the herd and follow them through to the baggage carousel.
Lillian was delighted to see her suitcase making its way round to her and hauled it off with a loud exclamation, “See! I told you mine went on the plane!”
Mary grabbed her suitcase when it eventually came. “Well who would have thought, Mother? They put mine on the same plane too. How very thoughtful of them.” She laughed.
It didn’t take them long to find the exit and a taxi rank. Mary had a piece of paper with the name of the village and the name of the house.
“Excuse me? Do you speak English?” She asked a taxi driver.
“Sim, of course. I speak good English. You want a taxi?” The driver replied climbing from his driver’s seat to open the doors.
“Sim, I mean yes,” Mary said handing him the piece of paper. “We need to go to here okay?”
“Ah, Maragota. Yes, I think I know where that is. Please, please, let me get the luggage and I take you there, okay,” the driver said, as he loaded the suitcases into the back of the cab. Lillian and Mary climbed onto the back seat nervously. Neither of them, in all their lives had ever been in a taxi. There had never been a need. Anywhere they went someone would be driving. It was really that simple. Now they found themselves in a strange land, in the back of a car with a strange man they’d never met. It did however say “Taxi” on the side of the car and it was in a taxi rank, which brought both ladies some level of comfort.
The taxi pulled away from the airport and out onto the highway. Mary and Lillian watched in wonder as they drove past tiny villages of brightly coloured houses, all bedecked in blossoms. Any one of these houses could be the one, they both thought. The description of the house they were looking for was identical to any number of houses they’d passed.
“It must be the most beautiful place in the world, Mary,” Lillian announced after an initial silence. “Totally, and utterly beautiful.”
“Yes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so incredible,” Mary replied. “Wouldn’t it be beautiful to get married here? I wonder if the air only smells like that in April? What is it?” Mary held her nose up to the window, inhaling deeply of the natural air freshener overpowering all the other smells.
“First time in Portugal, sim?” the taxi driver asked. “Beautiful place is Portugal. You’ll never want to leave. Air smells of laranja.”
“Laranja? Oranges?” Mary asked politely, hoping she didn’t offend.
“Sim, oranges, laranja! Is beautiful!”
After half an hour of driving, Mary began to worry because the taxi driver had been on his phone for some time. Neither of them could understand a word but every so often he would repeat “Maragota”. She knew because he’d repeat it very slowly, his gaze flicking to the address written on the paper he held in the hand gripping the steering wheel.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Mary asked the driver, nervousness starting to set in.
“Sim, sim, sim, of course. Maragota. We’ll find it, have no fears. I know all these places. Lots of times, sim!” the driver replied, with a not so convincing grin of reassurance.
The grin didn’t convince either Mary or Lillian as they watched village after village disappear behind them.
Soon the taxi turned into a side road that took them deep into an area of orange orchards with small houses nestled within them.
“Could be very close now, ladies. We find your house.”
He slowed to a crawl and looked at the mail boxes and house signs for clues. Unlike in America, Portuguese houses didn’t all have numbers, some simply had names where numbers should be.
“Well this is Maragota, ladies. But I don’t think this house you are looking for is real, you know?” the driver said, desperately glancing down side roads and through driveways.
“Of course it’s real, we rented it and paid for it! On the internet. Of course it’s real,” Mary huffed.
“Ahhh, sim! Internet, yes. Lots of bad people on there. Take your money but no hotel, understand? Maybe you met one of those kinds of people, sim?” The driver replied, his frustration and confusion mounting.
A few hundred yards down the lane they were driving down, a man was standing beside of a large villa, covered in bougainvillea. He was looking towards the taxi that pulled up to him and stopped, the engine ticking over.
“We could ask that guy there,” Lillian said pointing at the very handsome man.
“Yes we could. Can you ask him, driver?” Mary said, she’d noted how handsome the man was too, but her recent experience had taught her a lesson about handsome men.
“Sure, we can ask. But I don’t think we gonna find it ladies, sim?” the driver shrugged as he eased the window down to get the man’s attention.
As the driver rolled the window down, the man looked at the taxi driver, his face knowing. Mary’s face lit up as the driver began speaking with him. She opened the passenger door and jumped out, pointing at the sign on the wall of the house.
“Quinta Paradiso” the sign read.
“This is it! This is definitely it!” Mary yelped turning to where the driver was talking to the man.
“Welcome to Portugal, ladies. I’m Ben, your neighbour. Let me help you with your bags,” the man said, as the driver climbed out and went to the back of the taxi to get the luggage.
“He said it didn’t exist!” Lillian glared at the taxi driver.
“That’s why I was stood waiting. Not an easy place to find, even for taxi drivers apparently. But you’re here now and it’s getting late. Let’s get your stuff inside,” Ben replied. “If you’d like to pay the taxi driver I’ll take these ahead for you okay?”
Mary paid the driver and waved him off with a thank you. Then she and Lillian followed Ben through a wrought iron gate into a large courtyard and into the sliding glass doors of a huge converted barn built into the villa. Following behind Ben, Lillian poked Mary in her ribs with her elbow. “Don’t you try it, lady. He’s a dream come true and he’s all mine,” she whispered snickering.
Mary growled back, her cheeks flaming. “Mom! Please!”
Ben, hearing the muttering behind him, stopped to turn around.
“Everything okay?” he asked, a dark blond eyebrow crooked.
Mary felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at him but kept it to herself.
“Yes, Ben, thank you. You’re so kind.” Mary smiled back at him, hoping it didn’t come across as awkward or goofy, even if that was how she felt as she looked up at him.
“Again, welcome to Portugal. It’s quiet here, but I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time,” Ben said, lowering the cases and making his way out the doors as they called out their appreciation once more.
Ben made his way back to his own apartment leaving the two staring at his disappearing back with amazement. He really was quite a handsome fellow, and so nice, Mary thought.
“I think he’s English, Mary. He sounds like a film star. And soooo sweet don’t y
ou think?” Lillian said softly, still staring at the patio doors.
“Yes, Mom, I think he is.” After her recent experience, she was too tender to do anything but appreciate just how beautiful the man was. “Shall we unpack? I think this might be some kind of a vacation already.”
Chapter Four
Morning had broken on their first day in the Algarve. As was usual in the Algarve, it was perfect. Warm with a gentle breeze, and barely a cloud in the sky.
“Mom? You awake?” Mary called from her room, her voice tight as she stared at some unfamiliar creature at her window. “Are lizards poisonous?”
“Lizards? Poisonous? What are you talking about, girl?” Lillian called back from her own room, sitting up to pay attention.
“Well, there’s one on my window, staring in at me. Are they geckos? I don’t think they’re poisonous, right? It isn’t very big,” Mary called back and slowly climbed out of bed.
“Whatever it is, don’t touch it. Lord knows what creatures they have here,” Lillian muttered, as she rolled her eyes. She climbed out of bed and made her way to Mary’s room.
Lillian sat on Mary’s bed and gazed out of the window just as the tiny lizard darted away. She noticed the long palm fronds outside, and in between the palms were prickly cacti. Large and full, just like she had seen in cowboy movies.
“This is a very exotic place isn’t it, Mary? I wouldn’t touch anything if you can help it. Shall I make coffee and we’ll see what the place looks like in daylight, honey?” Without waiting for a reply from her daughter, Lillian made her way into the small kitchen and dining room and filled the coffee percolator.
“It was sweet of them to leave us coffee, but we’re going to have to find a store somewhere and buy some food. No telling what these folk here think of as food, though,” she shouted to Mary as she investigated their new temporary home.
“It said on the website the stores are a short walk away in the town. It’s down by the sea. I didn’t notice any shops as we drove in, though. Maybe we need to head the other way perhaps,” Mary called as she clipped her hair up, wondering just how they were supposed to get to a town. She hadn’t thought about it too much when she was dreaming about a romantic honeymoon with her new husband.
They met in the kitchen and decided to take their coffees outside to sit in the warm morning sunshine. One of the first things that struck them was the smell.
“Tell me that’s orange blossoms I can smell!” Lillian declared as she drew in a huge gulp of air, pretending the taxi driver hadn’t told them that’s what the scent was.
“Yes of course! Orange blossom!” Mary agreed. “We’re surrounded by orange orchards. I guess it would smell of them, wouldn’t it? How fantastic!”
Elated by their new discovery, they sat smiling and taking in large breaths of the scented air. It was then they heard a rap on the lattice wooden gate that separated their barn from the house next door. It was Ben, Mary saw, and her heart skipped a beat. Mary ignored it. Handsome men that made her head spin were only trouble as she’d so recently learned.
Ben gave a polite cough as they called out to him.
“Good morning, and how are you today?” He walked in, his usual attire of shorts and a white t-shirt in place. Mary looked him over silently, noting how the t-shirt stretched across broad shoulders and the shorts revealed muscular calves that screamed endurance.
“Good morning, Ben! We’re recovering from the trip, thank you. We’re going to have a walk to the shops later and get some groceries. Which is the best way?” Mary asked with a broad smile. Seeing Ben in daylight had got her heart pounding significantly faster than she’d anticipated considering she’d just been dumped, but she ignored it again. Twitching, she adjusted her own clothes, pretending to herself that she wasn’t preening for the man.
“I’m not sure walking to the shops is a good idea today. It is going to be hot and it’s a long way. Even longer walking back loaded up with shopping. Jenna didn’t tell you this place was so isolated did she?” Ben replied, knowing full well the landlady waxed lyrical about what the place was supposed to be and less about what it really was.
“You’re kidding? So how are we going to get around?” Lillian piped up, taking a gulp of her coffee but also smiling at the handsome young Englishman with the film star accent. He would do just fine for her daughter, maybe even help her get over the slump she’d been in since that treacherous leech had dumped her.
“People here usually hire a car, but obviously you didn’t. The other option of course is to hire a couple of bicycles. They’re perfect for the country lanes around here.” Ben told them as he lowered himself into a seat at the garden table.
“But, we have to get to town, I suppose, to find somewhere to hire these bikes? I don’t think I’ve been on a bike since I was a child,” Lillian said, her voice warbling at the prospect.
“I know you need to buy groceries and the like, so I’d love to drive you into town. I’d rather drive you there than have you walking. Jenna really should have told you,” Ben replied, a look of irritation clouding his face for a moment before it quickly disappeared. “I’ll show you around the area a little bit too. It’s a fantastic place, but you’ll need some way of getting around it.”
“That’s so kind of you, Ben. We really never thought we’d be stuck in the middle of a foreign country with no way to get food. Silly really, don’t you think?” Mary chipped in, watching him for a reaction. She didn’t like the idea of appearing to be little more than a silly woman to the handsome man sat with them. “Would you care for coffee? At least there was some of that here for us, and it doesn’t taste bad at all.”
Ben accepted a cup of the rich dark coffee, promising himself he’d get to work soon, he just needed to make sure these two didn’t starve to death. He had his “don’t get involved rule” to think about, but preventable starvation would eat away at his conscience. “No problem at all, and you’re not the first guests here to have been caught stranded. Just give me a yell when you’re ready to leave and we’ll go meet the natives okay?”
“Natives indeed!” Lillian chided and smiled at the same time. She was totally smitten with the handsome, much younger man. Ben gave her an amused smile and got up from his seat.
Ben left Mary and Lillian to get themselves ready as he went back to his courtyard and apartment. He was smiling, despite the interruption to his day. He’d been planning a day of work but the daughter of the pair was far too lovely to turn down. He didn’t know enough about her yet to guess whether he could get her into his bed for a night or two but her mother certainly seemed to be pushing it.
In his time at the villa, he’d become used to occasionally guiding newly arrived visitors around, something he’d taken up with Jenna more than once because of her flighty approach to giving people information about the place. He’d take them around to the shops, give them a few maps and offer directions, but that was usually about all. Unless they were female and alone, of course.
For some reason this was different, and he had to admit Mary was the reason. She was beautiful. He loved her rich, warm, gentle accent as much as they seemed to like his. He shrugged it all off as nonsense for the moment, and went into the house to make himself a pot of proper tea. An Englishman cannot face a day of any kind without a decent cuppa. He knew the two women wouldn’t be ready for a while. More than enough time to sit and contemplate the universe over a cup of tea.
He’d barely taken a sip of his hot tea before he heard the jingle of the bell hanging at his gate. He smiled and got up to let them in to the courtyard.
“Please ladies, come into my humble home,” Ben said with a sweeping gesture as Mary and Lillian walked into the cobbled courtyard.
Ben’s gaze flicked to the wall where only a few days before he’d first felt the pleasures Arabella had to offer. He looked Mary over as she sat down, instinct telling him that pretty little Mary might just have the same precocious approach to sex as the beautiful Italian.
&nb
sp; “Oh my, Mary, it’s like walking into a fairy-tale or something. Look at all the beautiful flowers,” Lillian said, astonished at the array of plants and blossoms that adorned the tiny courtyard.
“I like to keep it nice, thanks. Glad you like it. It’s small, but it’s home,” Ben answered, feeling a little embarrassed at the attention.
“Home?” Mary asked, “You mean you’re not on vacation then? Like us?”
“Well, living here is always a vacation, but no I’ve lived here a couple of years now. I work on the internet, so no real need for an office back in rainy old England. I prefer the sun,” Ben said making his way back to the gate. “Shall we go then?”
He escorted them to his small Renault car, which of course got more comments from Lillian.
“Oh my!” Lilian exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anything so cute! Are we all going to fit in it?”
“I’m pretty sure we’ll all fit in,” Ben said as he opened the doors. He opened the large wrought iron gate that secured the small gravel car park and returned to the two giggling women who were now sitting in the back seat.
“I think we’ll go topless, don’t you? You’ll enjoy the sun better,” Ben said, standing beside the car.
The two women in his car looked at each other shocked and then at Ben.
“I beg your pardon? Topless?” Lillian stammered, her hand resting at the top of her chest.
Ben laughed as he rolled back the foldable roof and fastened it at the back.
“The car. The car will be topless today.” He laughed as he climbed in the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Well, that’s a relief. Mary might be young, pretty, and liberal but I might be a bit old for scaring the locals. Did I mention she’s single?” Lillian replied, before grinning at Ben in the rear view mirror.
Ben saw Mary jab her mother in the ribs before she glared at the other woman.
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