by Nanette Fox
The door-bell rang, with a sense of fore-boding Tim starting muttering “keep calm, keep calm” to himself. Izzy took his hand and held it tightly in hers, she frowned. Paul had got up to open the door and got swept aside as Lainey burst in. “I haven’t missed anything have I?” She was all in black and looked like she was off to a heavy metal gig.
Tim swallowed and calmly said, “What the hell are you doing here?”
Pointing at Veronica, “She invited me, but she obviously didn’t know the circumstances about me when she suggested I come. Stefan sends apologies as he has taken his children and Zot to basketball.” Izzy looked at Ronnie who was looking very embarrassed at her obvious mistake and so got up to squeeze in between Ronnie and Antonio to give her a hug. Then Izzy turned to whisper with Julia across Antonio’s broad chest. The blonde head bent across his chest meeting with his dark-haired fiancée in some scheming had Antonio looking very bemused about where to put his hands particularly in relation to Izzy’s almost backless dress.
Paul looked at his expression, “It’s your lucky day mate, your birthday gift, two luscious women adoring you.”
Meanwhile, Tim was standing hands in pockets glaring down at Lainey; she was hands in pockets imitating his stance. “What part of my statement today did you not get, not understand.”
“There’s always a chance you’ll change your mind.”
Tim holding his temper ran his hand up his face, ruffled through his hair and stood with his hand at the back of his neck for a few moments, then turned and sat back down dismissively saying, “There’s not a chance Lainey just get out. Go, get out of my sight.” Lainey paid no notice and plonked down beside him stretching her arm up to creep across his shoulders. “Lainey, stop it.” She didn’t. He looked stricken. She snuggled in to him. His look changed to irritated, as he tried to ignore her. “Please Lainey, don’t do this.”
Isabella popped up and was tiding up the glasses and empty bottles, walking backwards and forwards to the kitchen. Bec got up to help her. “We’re just going to tidy a bit and then we’ll go. David and Ronnie, can you take Paul and Bec with you? I am going with Antonio and Julia. We’ll leave Tim to get his shit sorted out with his ‘creature’,” said Izzy. Paul snorted. David sniggered; Ronnie was still looking mortified at her mistake and was telling him off for not keeping her informed about his family.
Bec was horrified when she was in the kitchen with Izzy, and Izzy slipped off her engagement ring, quickly scribbled Tim a note from a shopping pad under it that said, “Tim do you truthfully want me to have this?”
“Bec don’t worry, it’s a wake-up call. I am going to fight for my man.” Tim caught sight of her actions.
Suddenly, without a hint, he was going to do it. Tim was up from where he had been sitting. With large strides he was behind Izzy as she took a step with the last of the glasses and bottles. It was surprising she didn’t drop anything as his hands slipped into the back of her dress and he held her his arms around her body under the knitted fabric, nuzzling into her ear. “You are so naked at least there is a g-string and stockings.” He whispered, “I love you, I want to see you later, don’t drink too much.” He withdrew his hands, straightened the cowl neckline, patted her bottom as she continued on to the kitchen before turning to Lainey, “Got the picture?”
His next move, two strides, took him into the kitchen where he quickly reached for the note and the ring and shoved it into his pocket. As quickly as he had got up, he sat down again next to Lainey but removed from her and took a swig of the beer he had picked up somewhere in all the quick actions. Lainey was shocked into containment, her hands on her lap she was sitting looking down. Paul under his breath said, “Shit make a point mate,” and caught Julia’s eye, she was smirking as she was getting everyone up and organized. It had all happened so quickly the others hadn’t taken in the whirl of activity as they talked amongst themselves. Bec turned around from the sink after rinsing the glasses and was looking puzzled as she walked past the empty bench where the note and ring had sat.
Within the space of ten minutes, Julia had marshalled all the others and they were setting off for the restaurant. Tim was left with Lainey as they all trailed out calling “goodbye”, “see you Tim”, “sorry Tim got a go” and Izzy last of all. “Tim that was mildly inappropriate before, but I love you, so I’ll forgive you.”
Tim responded with, “Izzy, it’s simple I love you and I want you. I need everyone to understand.” Blue eyes met brown in understanding.
Izzy looked down at Lainey and with a little spite, “I don’t need drugs to get me through, I just live life.” Izzy then smiled and said mischievously, “Wonder what you two will get up to?”
“Bye Tim,” she said blowing him a kiss. She looked at his unhappy face and winked as she flicked up her leg and waved as she closed the door behind her.
*
30 minutes later, Paul felt his phone vibrating with a message, ‘Mate I’ll drive you to the airport in the morning’. Next message read, ‘When Izzy comes home tonight, I want her to find a very naked man in her bed. Where is the spare key?’ Next message, ‘She left her engagement ring in the kitchen with a question which I need to answer tonight.’
Paul replied with, ‘Lainey gone?’
‘Yep, she didn’t get the scene she was hoping for,’ came back the reply with ‘Key?’
Paul whispered to Bec, “Do you guys have a spare key hidden outside? Where is it hidden?”
Bec looked at him, “Tim needs to use it.”
She replied, “It’s under the third dwarf near the five blue pots.” Paul chuckled. Bec said further, “Sounds complicated; he’ll know, he detests that clutter at the back door.” Paul roared with laughter.
Chapter 44
The Morning After
The next morning, about seven, Julia arrived to have breakfast with her mother as she was anxious about the Tim and Lainey events of last night. Just as they were making tea and coffee, a rather loved-up Tim strolled in, still in last nights’ clothes. He looked very happy and calm. “Hey, can you make me a coffee then I’d better get showered and ready for work. I drove Paul to the airport. The traffic was brutal. He liked his ride in the Porsche though, cheeky bugger.”
Julia was looking at him, “So what happened after we all went?”
“Well sis, just before you all left, I found Izzy’s ring and a note with a question that needed to be answered urgently, so I went and waited in her bed until she came home. Sounds like it was a good dinner and I was hungry too, so I missed out didn’t I.”
Julia said, “With Lainey what happened?”
“I reckon she’s ‘got the picture’ now,” but he sounded just a little doubtful. Ruth was looking backwards and forwards at her adult children, none of their conversation made sense, all she knew was that for some reason, Tim had been ushering Lainey out the front door with a “it’s the way it has to be Lainey, just contact about Zot only” when she had arrived home last night and he’d grabbed her and given her an expansive cuddle, “love you Mum” as he’d disappeared into the night.
Julia looked up her younger brother, “Tim it unnerves me, the things you say, your mannerisms; they are so much, in fact too much, like Dad.” He used to say, ‘got the picture’ in an argument." She sighed. Tim reached out and dragged his very pregnant sister in for a cuddle. “Sorry I am just feeling very emotional,” said Julia. Feeling the security of his arms so much like her father’s, she sighed, “I wish he was here to see his grandchild.”
“Jules, I think we all wish for things like that,” he said gently. “When I marry Izzy, which by the way is going to be very soon, it would be nice for him to be there. David would like him there when he marries Ronnie. We have to adjust our lives to him not being here. I miss him every day.”
Julia looked up at Tim. “So, you said something about soon you will marry Izzy?”
“Yes, very soon, it will be the Registry Office or with a Celebrant.”
Ruth piped up,
“Not a formal wedding, in a church?”
“No Mum, it is not Izzy and I, and we will work on writing our own vows. In fact, we have already.”
“Your own vows, is that important?”
Tim nodded. “We both have things that have happened in the past that make it very important to declare our love and promise to each other.”
“My son, you have grown up.”
“Mum?” said Tim, “Do you need another hug because I thought I gave you one last night?” Ruth just nodded. Releasing his sister, he hugged his mother.
David strolled in and said so, “Everything good today, you seem to be hugging all the women in your life?”
“Just two of the most important four which includes Gran Rosa, the other one is….”
David said, “Let me guess, she’s about 5’8”, honey blonde hair, blue eyes that just melt you, sensational slender body. Very scatter-brained, you wouldn’t think she could organize her way out of a paper bag and yet she does amazing business deals.
Looking laughingly at his brother, then glancing at his watch, Tim said, “Running very late now, got to go.”
Ruth said, “David what are you doing here?”
“Was going to pass on an apology from Ronnie to Tim, but I guess he’s busy.”
Julia looked at her older brother, “He was with Izzy last night, and he seems really happy today.”
“How did that happen?”
“We dropped her off at about one and there was no sign of his bike.”
“What about the Porsche?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Oh well not for us to worry about the logistics I guess.”
Julia looked at her mother and her brother and said, “You know I have a feeling he and Izzy are up to something. I wouldn’t put it past them to just up and get married and tell everyone later.”
“Tim would do something like that because then he would have total control and it would be just ‘perfect’ like he wants without input from anyone else other than Izzy,” said his mother.
Startled, they looked up to see Tim draped in a towel, dripping wet from the shower, “Julia can you find out exactly where Izzy is today and text me because I need to send flowers, a lot of flowers?”
“Dave, I want the Porsche, so can you think about it and let me know?” He was gone back upstairs as quickly as he had appeared.
David looked at his mother and sister and said, “Do you think he’ll ever get to work today; his mind is all over the place?”
Ruth said, “For once it is a happy mind, and he is probably going to end up pottering around here today, he is very relaxed. He’ll have one of his very creative days. He has been working on some carpentry for one of his clients I am guessing he’ll make himself busy with that after some phone calls.”
David looked at his mother, “He only needs to do the designs and plans; he doesn’t need to build the houses too.”
Ruth laughed, “I believe this is a one off, the clients, Russell and Margaret, saw all the carpentry at the gallery and wanted a similar finish for their kitchen and dining area, paying lots of money apparently for the bespoke work. I have met them, they’re lovely people.”
The three of them were further startled when Izzy called out, “It’s only me, can I come in, the doors open.”
“We’re in the kitchen,” called out Julia.
“Oh my,” was the collective sigh as she came into the room.
Dressed in a slim fitting knitted dress in a mid-blue that accentuated her eyes and fair hair, she looked almost goddess like, her slim petite curves revealed as she moved with elegance and grace into the room. Her hair done so that it fell over just one shoulder, two long necklaces, one of pearls, one gold tucked under the rolled cowl neckline. Stockings, nude pumps, and handbag to match. She apologized for intruding and explained it was a business matter as she had come to see Ruth with some employment documents for her position at the Gallery. She clarified that Rebecca wasn’t well and she didn’t want Ruth travelling into the gallery and unnecessarily waiting around. Izzy described her very busy day with a number of appointments in various offices throughout the city once she had finished the few things to do with the gallery. They offered Izzy a cup of tea, she produced a chamomile teabag.
Motioning to the family dining table, “I don’t mean to rush Ruth, but I am very stretched for time, can we sit and deal with these documents. I wanted to discuss the gradual introduction of some painting works, but I am afraid we will have to do that possibly on Friday, would that be alright?” Izzy was so organized, so calm and so in control and ordered it threw both Julia and David.
As Julia made the requested chamomile tea, she texted Tim with ‘Izzy travelling around Melbourne today, many places but she is here now with Mum re-gallery employment, probably one hour.’ ‘Ta, I am going to florist, try to stall her please if I am not back.’
Izzy looked up when she heard the bike roar off, “Tim’s very late going off today, I thought he had a lot on too, I know he will be working until late.” She bent her head down again and concentrated on the papers with Ruth. David who was propped on a kitchen stool looking through his emails, whispered to his sister, “What would Izzy have under that, it is so tight fitting, it is hugging every curve.”
She looked directly into his eyes and said, “Should you be wondering that?” His honest reply, “probably not but I am very curious,” made her smile. Julia put her finger to her lips in a ‘let me think’ pose, “she probably has a very expensive lace bodysuit in a pale colour with a g-string so there is no pantie-line and stockings obviously but not with a garter belt in case its buckles show a little bulky under the knit.” To his credit, his curiosity and her reply made him blush.
Forty minutes later, Izzy had almost finished dealing with the paperwork for Ruth’s employment at the gallery. David and Julia had both taken up residence on kitchen stools going through emails and making calls. They all heard the noise of the bike as it roared into the drive. Their brother strolled in with an extravagant bouquet of flowers, roses, lilies, ribbons. He looked incongruous as he was dressed in crumpled double denim, shirt out and barely buttoned-up, scuffed work-boots and quite a quantity of saw-dust had showered his ruffled hair, clothes and shoes. “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt, but these are for you Izzy, there is a card with a question. Let me know the answer when you can. Excuse me again, got get back to the workshop, I want to do a bit more before I head out to appointments.” He looked sheepish at having the family audience. Izzy had stood up to accept the flowers and was standing looking mesmerized.
He turned to go back downstairs via the front door and as he got to the door, Izzy spoke, she had read the card and was holding it to her chest, slightly teary, “Yes of course, it is more than okay.” The smiles exchanged between Izzy and Tim electric and intense.
“Good,” his soft reply as he went through the door. She looked down at the card, re-reading, dreamily smiling and running her fingers over the beautiful flowers before sliding it into her handbag and sitting down graciously to finish her tea, tidy the papers and put the file into her briefcase.
Quietly she spoke to Ruth, “Would you mind putting them in water in a vase in Tim’s room. I can enjoy them; we can both enjoy them when we see each other later tonight?”
She smiled slightly and said, “I wish we weren’t so busy this week. I’ll be here about nine this evening. Tim has a client to meet this evening he won’t be back until about ten.”
Ruth reached over and held Izzy’s hand, “Are you moving in together?”
“Oh no not yet, it’s just we agreed we’d see each other tonight as I am away again tomorrow and most of Friday.” She smiled again, but it was very controlled. “Sorry I must be going.”
David, Julia and Ruth all stood around looking after her as she glided out in much the manner she had come, although briefly Izzy charmingly returned to admire the flowers once more and took a photo quickly on her phone. Julia spoke, “I want t
o know what that card said, it was very important. She needed to make a decision.”
David said, "No don’t think it was too important, probably just an apology about ‘Lainey’.
Ruth said, “I think it was very important, like Julia said, ‘a decision’ but unfortunately we’ll never know.”
Ruth stood waiting for the kettle to boil, she spoke to no one in particular, “I think my young son has already married Izzy in his mind, he just needs to formalize it; she is his life partner in every sense of the word.”
She looked over to her older children. “Who would have thought he’d be the first to marry?”
“He’s chalking up a few firsts, first grandchild, first to marry,” said David. “Jules, we had better catch-up.”
Julia looked thoughtful, “I think he has a hurdle or two to jump with regard to Lainey.”
“Hmm true, apparently it was early on Saturday when Veronica said to Lainey that she and Stefan should come out with us last night. She’d forgotten about it until last night and Lainey turned up.”
Ruth looked over at David, “So that’s what she was doing here, she was taking a chance on romance.”
Julia looked at her mother, “Pfft romance, she wouldn’t know the meaning.”
“Hmm she does my darling daughter, and it wasn’t until your Gran Rosa pointed it out to me that I realized. Lainey has been absolutely pining after Tim since Zot happened. He thought he was just being supportive and close and intimate because of Zot. She never put her whole heart into that marriage with Stefan either, and now he is going to re-unite with his ex-wife. So, I feel a little sorry for her even though I detest the girl. Don’t you worry Izzy has worked out the Tim and Lainey relationship too, just like Gran Rosa. Izzy watched us during the family photo session at the farm on Saturday. She just sat on her hay bale in the barn and observed before taking herself off to ride her beautiful horse. Maybe, we can all learn something from Gran Rosa, sit quietly, less talk and more observation of people.”
