Awakening Lucy

by Susan Bella Ikin

  Then the rest of Adam's family joined them, and finally the photographer called over Mum, Rick and myself for a few group shots. That would be a magic shot I thought, even Mum and Percy had taken off their shoes and let the sand run through their toes. After that we all piled back into our minibus for our return trip to the ship. When we arrived back at the ship, the staff member who had been organizing everything today went ahead to make sure that security were aware that there would be two non-passengers boarding until the evening. While arrangements were being confirmed, I noticed that Adam, Sarah and Emily had gathered in a little knot around Rick, I assumed to keep him hidden from curious eyes. Well, I was in on that little secret too, so I decided to bunch up with the small crowd of people to lend my assistance. Sarah turned and winked at me. She really was a lovely woman, even on her wedding day she was thinking of the happiness of her friends. I turned at hearing my name, and saw Mum calling me. Nick was helping her and Percy towards the ramp, and he turned and looked at me oddly. I felt guilty for not helping Mum, but Nick obviously did not know that she was not as frail as she liked to pretend!

  We made our way to one of the ship’s specialty restaurants, we had been set up in a private area where we could have some privacy, yet the area was only screened, not closed off, from the atrium downstairs. What this meant was that later on, when the band started playing in the atrium, we would be able to hear them. We were all seated around a large round table, so that everyone could see everyone else. Nick was seated next to Sarah, and I was on his other side. I thought I might have Sarah to thank for that arrangement.

  However, dinner did not go as smoothly as I would have hoped. At first Nick seemed very frosty, I had been looking forward to the relaxed Nick from the wedding, but this was a different Nick. I couldn’t understand what had gone wrong, and spent quite some time going through everything in my head, trying to work out why Nick was so different now. Was he really that annoyed because I had not been helping Mum? Right now, Mum was sitting across the table from us, chatting amiably to Percy and to Robert, she didn’t appear any the worse for wear from the day’s exertions. Apart from having to stand for a while at the beach, she had done very little walking, and I knew she was quite fit for her age.

  I decided to ignore Nick’s mood, and spent a bit of time chatting to Josh, who was on my other side. We talked about school, sports, and what he had been getting up to on this cruise. He was quite an interesting boy, and clearly loved his uncles very much, as he kept talking about what Adam and Nick had said and done.

  After the main course had been cleared away, Nick stood up and did his duty as the best man – making speeches about some of the scrapes Adam had got into as a young man, and how he would have to fly straight now that he was married and about to become a father. He then proposed a toast to Sarah and to Emily. As everyone raised their glasses, Rick leaned in and whispered something to Emily, causing her to blush and giggle. As Nick took his seat, he took a deep breath, and turned to me.

  “I have to apologise to you. I think I’ve probably been quite rude for the last couple of hours”.

  As I looked at him in surprise he continued softly, “I have been very stupid. I saw you huddled up to Rick earlier, and got a little jealous. It was silly of me to jump to conclusions without talking to you, and I’m sorry. Truce?” and he offered his hand.

  I shook it, full of curiousity. Nick, jealous? Of Rick? So what did that mean to me – was Nick interested in me? Was I ready for that? I took a deep draught of the champagne left over from the toast and thought about what that meant. The mood of the day was probably making me rethink some of my actions over the years. Here was a couple who had not had it easy in the romance stakes, Adam had been in a bad relationship before he met Sarah, and I knew that Sarah was divorced, yet they both had found each other and were clearly in love.

  Now it was clear that Nick felt something for me, and I certainly knew that I felt something for him, surely I owed it to myself to explore what that could be? For years I had been deriding myself for my lack of judgement as a young girl, but I was young. I had made a mistake, and paid for that mistake, but was that a good enough reason to lock my heart away for so many years? I looked at the champagne glass, and then set it aside. I needed a clear head.

  10.

  After we had lunch, we moved to a side area where there were some easy chairs, and people broke into smaller groups. I ended up sitting with Nick, and we spent much of the remainder of the afternoon in deep conversation. I learned a lot about his background, and told him a lot about mine. Late in the afternoon, the band began to play down in the atrium, and everyone goaded Adam into leading Sarah out for a dance. With a murmured apology to me, Nick partnered with Emily, which again left Rick and I partnerless, so we ended up dancing together. Although I felt a bit selfconscious, being quite a bit older than him, Rick was very charming and I soon forgot myself and relaxed into the dance. Everyone else was dancing, even the children were jigging about together, and then I was pleased to see Nick and Emily make their way over to us. Nick tapped Rick on the shoulder, and then I found myself whisked off into Nick’s arms, where I suddenly felt that I belonged. Nick and I swayed to the music through several tunes, not caring that the others in our party were starting to look at us. Today had been a wonderful day, and I was going to enjoy as much of it as possible.

  Around dinner time, the waiters brought in some cocktail food, and everyone picked at the food as we mixed, and talked, and generally had a good time together. Late in the evening, Emily and Rick took their leave, and then Adam and Sarah disappeared to their cabin. After that, the party broke up. Mum said that it had been a long day, and that she was going to bed early. She turned and winked broadly at me, telling me not to hurry. I blushed. Imagine, your own mother hinting that you should stay out late! Percy got a similar admonition from his father, and as they left we turned to each other and laughed. I was sharing a room with my mother, Nick was sharing a room with his father, which didn’t leave us any place to go for privacy!

  We ended up walking around the ship watching various entertainments, but not engaging in any, just enjoying being together. I had never enjoyed this closeness with a man. I knew that Nick was attracted to me, both for my company, and also there was a sexual attraction, but he was allowing me the space to make my own decisions. Obviously we could not act on our attraction on this cruise as we were both sharing rooms with our respective parents, but if Nick was agreeable, then we could continue seeing each other when we got home, and would see where our relationship went from there. I resolved to speak to Nick about this later, but for now, I was just enjoying the evening with Nick. There was no need to speak of the future right now.

  I took my leave of Nick around midnight, as the next day would be our last in Bermuda, so I wanted to get some sleep so that I could enjoy the time that was left.

  After going to bed, I lay awake for a while, going over the events of the day in my head, and amazing myself with the strength of my resolve not to shy away from Nick as I had from men for many years past. I had three more days with him before we got back to New York. Mum had told me that Percy wasn't visiting New York, so I assumed that Nick was going with him. Mum and I were staying on in New York for a few days, so I would not get to see him again until I got home as well.

  11.

  The next day Adam and Sarah were late for breakfast, and when they arrived in a rush, Sarah gave everyone a shy smile. Although I knew that their wedding night was not their first together - Sarah was pregnant after all - it was clear that they had not got a lot of sleep! From discussions it became apparent that Nick had already made arrangements to spend the day with them and with Emily and Rick in Royal Naval Dockyard for the day. Somehow Mum managed to insert the both of us into those arrangements, and so I found myself walking down the gangway with Mum, and Richard was just behind us. I couldn't understand Mum's anxiety to get ashore, I thought she had already done her shopping a couple of days before.


  We met up with Emily and Sarah, and headed into the shopping precinct, which was a very brief walk from the dock. We were just walking past a little coffee house, when Mum suddenly decided that she was in serious need of a cup of tea, and showed exceptional organisational skills by getting everyone but Nick and myself to go on ahead. She was leaning on Nick's arm, and I was carrying her shopping bag, so we had to stay with her. No sooner were we all seated and the waitress arrived to take our order, than Mum decided that she really should have stayed on the ship to keep Percy company, and she left us sitting there, dumbfounded.

  Nick and I looked at each other, and then at the waitress, who was still waiting patiently for our order. We placed our orders and then turned to each other, and I felt a broad grin spreading across my face, which was matched by the grin on Nick's.

  "Your mother is a crafty old woman", Nick started saying, "A suspicious person might think that she had planned all along to separate us from everyone else, and then to leave us here on our own".

  I leaned in closer, "That suspicious person would be right. I would bet you my last dollar that not only was that Mum's plan all along, but that your father had something to do with it as well".

  Nick laughed, "You might be right there. He has just this morning informed me that he has changed his plans for when we dock. We had planned to stay in New York for a few days, but Dad told me that a couple of days ago he went online and booked a trip to Miami instead. So now, I am alone in New York - I can hardly tag along with the honeymooners, so unless you mind, I would prefer to join you and Rose rather than be alone and have no-one to enjoy the sights with".

  I took a deep breath. "Clearly they’ve been planning this for some time, Mum told me a couple of days ago that your father wasn't staying on in New York. They are a crafty pair and clearly not to be underestimated, don't you think?"

  Nick smiled, and was clearly about to say something when our coffees arrived. He thanked the waitress and waited until she had gone inside before going on to say:

  "Tell me if I am out of line here. I get the impression that someone hurt you in the past and that is why you can be a bit touchy sometimes. But I'm not him. If you’re prepared to take a chance on me, I’d like to get to know you better. When we get home, would it be ok if I called you?"

  I stared at Nick for a while. He was very perceptive. And he deserved to know that I was likely to be 'touchy' as he called it sometimes.

  "Yes, someone did. I was very young and he hurt me a lot. It took me a long time to recover, and it left me with serious trust issues. I’m probably not the easiest of people to be around, and if I have overreacted before, I apologise, but have to warn you that it might happen again. If you have the patience to put up with that, I would really like to keep seeing you. In fact, before I chicken out" - here I took a pen and paper from my bag - "here is my number", and I wrote my phone number on a page of my diary, tore it out and gave it to Nick.

  Nick took the piece of paper, not breaking eye contact with me, and put it in his shirt pocket.

  "Well, when we have finished our coffees, we shouldn't let your mother's work go to waste. How about instead of shopping, where we are bound to run into people from the ship, we go for a walk instead?"

  So that is what we did. We walked a fair way along the road, until we found a stretch of beach that was almost deserted. Although we hadn't planned to swim, so weren't dressed for it, we both took off our sandals, and I hitched up my skirt - Nick was wearing shorts so he was able to wade in to the water - and we splashed about in the shallows. When we had enough of that we sat in the shade of an overhanging bush and watched the waves.

  We were sitting there in companionable silence for a while, when I turned to Nick to comment on how beautiful the scene was, and found that he was watching me. Slowly he lowered his head to mine, and oh so gently, brushed his lips across mine. Nick withdrew and looked into my eyes, maybe looking to see my reaction, and obviously happy with what he saw there, his head lowered again. This time the kiss was more insistent. Nick’s lips were warm against mine, and his hand came up to brush against my jaw. Slowly Nick teased my lips with his, using a gentle but insistent pressure and then his tongue lapped around my lips. Surprised, I opened my mouth on an indrawn breath, and Nick seized his opportunity, exploring my mouth with his tongue. Although it had been so long I had forgotten the sensations of such a deep kiss, I responded without any further hesitation, and we kissed for a very long time.

  Slowly I found myself being lowered gently to the ground and Nick was laying by my side, but leaning over me, kissing me deeply. My arms snaked up around his neck and one hand pressed against the back of his head, ensuring that he was locked to me. How long we remained like this I do not know, only that the noise of someone walking past and talking loudly startled us apart. Nick stared down at me, with a dazed look in his eye.

  “Well, that was an unexpected and very pleasant surprise”. He looked at me more closely as his eyes came back into focus. “Are you ok Lucy, shouldn’t I have kissed you? I thought you wanted to, but if you didn’t-“

  I stayed him by placing my hand gently against his mouth. “I must have really scared you off, and yet you just kept being patient with me. I really enjoyed that. So much in fact, that I wouldn’t mind another try, just to see if it was good the second time, you understand,” I said with a smile on my face.

  Nick smiled behind my hand, and then instead of bending down to kiss me again, instead he kissed my fingers, then he shocked me by taking one into his mouth and gently sucking on it, and then licking along the length of it with that agile tongue of his. I drew in a breath, I think there must have been a nerve connecting that finger with my innards, as I felt something deep inside me contract in pleasure. Nick must have seen something in my eyes as he slowly released my finger, and then leaned down to me again. How long this kiss would have lasted I will never know, as we heard someone on the road say loudly:

  “If we don’t hurry up we’ll be late back, and the ship will leave without us”.

  Nick and I stared at each other for a moment in shock, then quickly sat up, put on our shoes, and started jogging along the road. We noticed that there weren’t many people around the town now, and realized that it must be quite late. We finally reached the ship, just behind the other couple that we had heard, and breathlessly ran up the gangway and scanned our cards at security. We arrived at the lift, breathless but trying to laugh, and held hands for the brief journey to my floor. Nick gave me a quick peck on the cheek and gently pushed me out the door, saying that he would see me at dinner, and I walked hurriedly to my room.

  I inserted the key in the control, but before I could turn the handle to open the door, it was wrenched open from inside, and there stood Mum, with a worried look on her face.

  “Where have you been? I thought you had gotten lost or had an accident or something”. Her eyes narrowed as I brushed past her to get into the room, and as I walked past her I felt her snagging something from my hair. I turned to see Mum holding a twig, with a twinkle in her eye and a ghost of a smile twitching at her mouth.

  “About time”, she said, “At least you’re finally having some fun. Well, I’m already dressed, so I am going to have a nice cup of tea upstairs and watch our departure from Bermuda. Take your time getting ready. Make sure you put on something nice for dinner”, and I swear she smirked at me as she left the room!

  I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I was shocked at what I saw. The woman looking back at me looked quite young and alive. She looked like someone that used to look at me from the mirror, not the tired woman I had been seeing of late. My lips looked slightly swollen and I ran my fingers over them, then I remembered Nick sucking on my finger and how that had made me feel inside. This was something I was going to have to explore. I had two more days – and three nights – on this ship with Nick, then some time in New York, although Mum would be there to chaperone us, and I was impatient to continue with what
Nick had started to awaken in me.

  I picked up my brush and started running it through my hair, stunned when a couple of leaves fell to the floor. What must people have thought, I wondered. I shrugged. I was probably never going to see most of these people again in my life, what did I care? I had had FUN, and that was all that mattered.

  12.

  I dressed for dinner with care. Not only did I want Nick to like what he saw, but I thought that the woman that I had seen in the mirror deserved to have a bit of care taken of her, more care than I had been taking of her for a long while. Among all the lovely, but sensible dresses that I had bought, was a dress that Mum had convinced me to buy. It was a loose material, quite light and suitable for the warmer weather, but a dress reminiscent of I Love Lucy. Mum had noticed the 1950s style and had joked that my namesake could have worn it, I had originally resisted as it had a button front which I thought either had to be buttoned up too high, or too low, it didn’t seem to have an in-between button! So, I left it buttoned low, and put on a diamond drop necklace that drew the eye downwards. I applied eyeliner and mascara slightly more heavily than I would normally have done, creating a dramatic, smoky look, and applied a vibrant pink lipstick that suited my colouring.

  I looked at myself critically in the mirror, and nodded. Not bad at all I decided. I selected a light wrap to carry, so that if the weather turned cold I did not need to return to the cabin, and after giving my hair a final pat, I headed to the restaurant. As I approached the restaurant, Judy and Tom were just arriving. Tom saw me and whistled.

  “Looking good Lucy! The tropics must agree with you”.

  Judy insisted that I turn around to see my skirt swirl around, and commented that it would be ideal for dancing. I replied that I thought so too, and did not miss the knowing look pass between the pair. Were Nick and I really so obvious? Well, it didn’t matter. I was determined to continue as the new, bolder Lucy, rather than the meek and mild Lucy of old. But then I thought, the bolder Lucy was not new, she had just been asleep for a while. Clutching that thought to myself, we walked to our table. We were the last to arrive, and Adam saw us first. I saw his lips form a little ‘wow’ and Nick, who was seated opposite, turned to see what Adam was looking at. I was jubilant to see the look on Nick’s face, it could only be described as appreciation.