by Kelly, Marie
That night Max had been tired having spent so long out at the pool and not taking his usual nap. Therefore, by 6 after having his bath and tea he had cuddled into Kelly’s neck and wrapping his small chubby hands around her, his eyes had softly fluttered closed as his head had grown heavy against her shoulder falling fast asleep. She and Beth had laughed gently at him before she had taken him up to his bed, softly tucking the little boy into his cot with a kiss on his precious forehead
Returning down the stairs she had answered the ringing phone
“Kelly”
Kelly had instantly recognised the sensual voice of Alfredo Risollo
“Oh hello Alfredo” she had answered with a slight sigh
“Did you receive my flowers” he had asked softly
“Yes.. thank you they were lovely” she replied, her voice disinterested
“But you really shouldn’t have”
He had laughed huskily on the other end of the phone
“Well I thought that I might persuade you to let me take you out for a meal…I worry that you would not believe me that you were truly the most beautiful woman there because I was not successful”
Kelly had frowned
“I don’t think so Alfredo” she had said firmly, hearing as he had sighed
“How about cheering up the loser then” he said with great charm making Kelly laugh softly despite herself, before the memory of what he had done to Marc making her voice more serious
“The flowers were very kind Alfredo and it is very nice of you to ask…..but I have no intention of going out with you” she had said
“There really was only one date up for auction so thank you but no…….take care”
And with that she had hung up the phone going back into the kitchen to enjoy a cup of tea with Beth.
From the top of the hallway Marc had smiled softly to himself. Having arrived a few minutes earlier he had deposited his briefcase in his room freezing when hearing who she was talking to on the phone, her response had seen him smiling, a strange feeling coursing through him, before he had slowly moved down the stairs. As he had entered the kitchen Kelly had felt relief that he had not arrived a few moments earlier when she had been on the phone.
“Good day?” she asked, surprised as he had thrown her one of his most dazzling smiles making her catch her breath
“Great day” he said “What’s for eating…I’m famished”
As Beth had served up his and Kelly’s dinner she had excused herself stopping to give Kelly a quick hug, much to the younger woman’s surprise. Marc’s mood had been playful as he had spent the evening joking with Kelly who had enjoyed his good spirits. At 11 she had finally with a soft yawn gone to her bed, admitting defeat as her eyes had began slowly closing. That night her dreams were full of his laughing face, with his fringe falling temptingly over his eye, making her smile gently as she slept.
She remembered the way he had held her on the beach, remembering how ardently he had kissed and touched her. He had wanted her as much as she had wanted him, but she had already told herself that this was only because she had been there when he was reliving such a hurtful time. Losing someone like Louise must have been devastating. He had let her go too quickly for it to have been anything else, and making any more of it would be a mistake. To him she would have been just one more in a long line of casual affairs, and where would that have left her and Max.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The party for Marc had quickly come about, and the whole estate had buzzed with plans for the occasion that Saturday. The villa and its staff were busy with the many preparations required, and although she had told Kelly that she got the day off, Beth was busier than ever making sure that all was running smoothly on the lead up to the event. Kelly’s offer of help had been kindly turned down and she therefore had felt it best to keep out of the way of the many people bustling around, finding herself spending more and more time at her painting.
Sitting at her easel, with Max lying asleep in his buggy by her side, she had sighed in contentment, smiling softly at the determined line of his lovely mouth. She had often seen the same look in his daddy’s face when he was determined to get his own way. He had, however, found Kelly not to be a pushover in those stakes, and when she won he would scowl and look at her with the same look on his face. When Kelly would laugh he was never able to stay mad for any length of time usually giving in to her with a sigh and a soft chuckle
“Damn you Kelly Brown, you are the most pig headed woman I have ever met”
He would say to her with real feeling in his voice. She had smiled at these thoughts before noticing the large sports car moving up the long drive. She had recognised it immediately as Philip’s, briefly wondered what he was doing there.
Over the weeks he had become a regular visitor to the villa, once arriving with a beautiful woman whom Kelly had taken an instant liking to. Theresa was stunning, with dark hair and large brown eyes which looked at Philip with such devotion, Kelly clearly seeing that he felt the same way; however, in his usual way Phil had constantly laughed and joked about the two of them. At one time he had made a comment which Kelly noticed caused Theresa to visibly flinch
“We have a great relationship – no ties, no tears”
At the time she had wondered about the two of them.
After several minutes, Phil had appeared where she and Max sat.
“Hi Kelly” he had said softly, kneeling down and peering into the buggy to look at Max
“He really does look like his daddy” he had said in wonder, before adding
“A bit like his mum too though” causing Kelly’s head to snap to him in surprise
“You knew Trudy”
“A little” he replied, and Kelly had warmed even more to Philip for his acknowledgement of Trudy with Max.
“Wow” he exclaimed having moved around behind her so that he could see the painting she was working on
“You really caught the look of the place”
Kelly who was usually very secretive about work she was doing until complete had smiled gently
“Thank you……it’s nearly finished…. you looking for Marc?” she had asked softly seeing as Philip had pulled up a seat to sit closer to her
“No..actually, I came to talk to you”
Kelly had raised an eyebrow in surprise. Looking at him more closely she was surprised to see that he was pale. His hair looked as though he had not combed it or had been running his fingers through it, and his eyes which the other night had seemed to sparkle with such life seemed dull and haunted
“Are you OK Phil” she asked a note of worry in her voice, before wringing his hands he had blurted out
“She dumped me… Theresa finished it all. God Kelly I don’t know what to do. I love her and she says she never wants to see me again”
He had sunk his head into his hands moaning pitifully.
“What happened” she had asked softly moving to sit beside him her hand stroking his arm in comfort
For a second there was silence as he seemed to pull himself together.
“Last night we went out for a meal. Everything seemed fine” he said looking up at her his eyes full of such sorrow
“She was talking about her cousin who is getting married and we were joking about how marriage was for losers when she went kinda quiet. I didn’t even see it coming Kelly. She just stood up and told me that we had a good couple of years and that it was over. She said that she thought it would be better if we didn’t see each other again and left. I tried to go after her but she wouldn’t talk to me” he had moaned the sound like that of a small wounded animal
“What am I going to do?”
Kelly had sighed with exasperation
“Phil….. think, this is really important. You said that you were joking about marriage. Was Theresa joking too or was it just you”
Philip had scowled in puzzlement
“What difference….” He began
“It’s important”
she stated, as he had furrowed his brow
“Well…” he said thoughtfully “I guess I was doing the joking, but…”
“You idiot” she had rounded on him
“Why are men so stupid sometimes?”
He was looking at her with shocked hurt in his eyes
“She doesn’t ever want to see me again Kelly” he had moaned
“Oh, she doesn’t mean that.” She had said with an exasperated sigh “She’s fed up Phil. How long have you two been dating?”
“Two years” he had replied
“That is a long time. Have you ever asked her to marry you?”
“No… it never seemed important”
Kelly had softened her tone seeing how truly upset Philip was
“Do you love her Phil” She asked gently as he had nodded
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life with her?”
He had given a strangled “yes”
“Do you want to have children with this woman?”
Looking at Max a soft smile had lit his face as he had once more nodded
“Do you want to marry her?”
“Yes….but now I’ll never get the chance to tell her” he said his voice full of such sadness
“Yes you will, but you have to really do it right” Kelly said “You have to make her see that you mean it, because if you don’t you will lose her”
“Do you think she’ll see me” he asked a pitiful note of hope in his voice as she had sighed
“Philip, you are now in the phase we women like to call the last chance. She’ll see you but you had better make the very best of it”
He had looked at her softly
“I knew you would help” he said a small tremulous smile coming to his face
“So what’s our next step?”
“Our...” she had exclaimed in astonishment
“You have to help me” he pleaded his large eyes looking forlornly into hers “please”
Kelly had groaned
“What do you want to do?” she sighed seeing the determined look on his face
“Go down there and demand that she take me back and marry me”
With another groan she had looked at him impatiently
“OK which part of last chance did you not get? If you are going to do it then you have to do it right”
Philip had gone silent, his mind thinking before turning to her his eyes full of confusion
“How?” he had asked
“Phone her up and organise to meet her in a nice restaurant. Then get down on one knee and ask her to marry you….preferably with a ring”
“OK I can do that” he had smiled “but I need help with the ring. You’ve got great taste with that kind of thing ….. and you’re a woman so you know what women like…. Will you help me pick a ring?”
Looking at his sad sorrow filled eyes Kelly had with a sigh agreed to help him
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow afternoon about 1” He said with relief before looking at her his expression serious
“Don’t tell anybody about this Kelly… not even Marc. I want it to be a surprise for Theresa”, seeing as she had nodded in agreement, as quickly he had rushed away, his stride a little more Phil like.
That evening at dinner Marc had looked over at her his face unreadable
“Beth said that Phil was around”
Kelly had nodded
“Yes he needed a shoulder to cry on” she had responded carefully, mindful of her promise
Marc frowned in surprise
“Why?”
“He and Theresa broke up” she had told him gently, seeing as Marc had become very quiet, his eyes watching her carefully
“Why did he come here?”
Kelly had shrugged
“Just needed somebody to talk to”
Marc had dropped his gaze to his plate a strange mood coming over him. For the rest of the meal Kelly found it hard to pull him into a conversation, as he had seemed lost in deep thought.
The next day at precisely 1 Philip had appeared at the villa as they had organised. As his sports car did not have enough space for Max and his baggage they had parked his away from the flotilla of cars and vans and taken her car instead.
Philip was great company, much brightened by the fact that when he had called Theresa she had agreed to meet him. However, she had only been able to make it at lunch time on the Saturday as she was working out of town until then and would be leaving that night for a business trip which had seen her phoning Marc to apologise for missing his party.
They had travelled into the main city itself where Philip had arranged for several jewellers to meet with them to show them their finest stock.
Kelly had enjoyed trying on the many beautiful rings which were brought out for her to wear and she had been dumb-founded by the size and price of them. However, she knew that he could more than afford it.
After several different stores she had elected a 2 carat solitaire platinum ring, with 2 half carat accent diamonds on the shank, delighting Philip.
“Is this the kind you would have” he had asked her, seeing as she had shaken her head, a sad poignant look entering her lovely face
“No mine was more of a cluster”
Phil had looked at her in surprise.
“I’m sorry, you were engaged…married?” he had asked
“Engaged” she had replied her thoughts once more turning to Danny
“He died before our wedding”
There was a stunned look on Phil’s face as he stammered
“I’m sorry…. I didn’t know”
Kelly instantly wished she had said nothing, as she had put her hand up to stop him and with a small smile said
“It was a long time ago”
“No I chose this because when I met Theresa her jewellery was simple. I got the impression she liked simple classic styles”
Phil had smiled back at her
“Good job I brought you along” he grinned.
After paying for the ring he had then treated the three of them to a meal at a local family pub, with a child friendly play area in which Max crawled around happily. Kelly had to keep a close eye on him, as since his birthday, he was starting to pull himself up on furniture and toys and she was sure that he was ready to walk at any time.
When they had returned to the villa it was after 6, and Philip had declined the offer of tea looking around at the many people still hooking up lights and setting up equipment.
“Think not” he had said, flashing her a warm smile, before jumping into his sports car and blowing her a kiss, was gone. As she had waved goodbye a voice behind her had made her jump suddenly
“Where have you been?”
Kelly had spun around to come face to face with Marc
“Marc your home early” she had smiled. However, the dark look on his face quickly wiping it from her face as he had scowled at her.
“Was that Phil?” Kelly had nodded
“Is there anything wrong” she had asked in surprise at his mood “Your not normally home this early”
He had once more frowned at her
“I can leave early if I want Miss Brown” he had said stiffly “I wanted to spend some time with my son”
Kelly didn’t understand what the problem was, unsure as to how she had upset him. Had she known then she would have left Max
“I..I didn’t know” she replied “If you had told me I would have left Max with Beth”
This response however, had seemed to somehow make things worse, as his mouth had tightened further as Marc had lifted Max from her arms and strode back into the house.
The rest of the night Marc seemed to totally avoid her, cutting her off when she tried to talk, and Beth had on several occasions flashed her a “what’s wrong with him” look, as she just returned a blank shrug. The only one who seemed to bring out any of his usual good humour was Max with whom he played with happily.
When Max was put to bed, Kelly had made her apolog
ies as she was still full from the meal Philip had treated them to. However, she admitted to herself it had much more to do with not wanting to be with Marc, not understanding what she had done so wrong.
Downstairs Beth had hung back until Kelly had left, before rounding on Marc
“You are totally out of order Marc”
“Keep out of it Beth” he had stated flatly as she had ignored him
“She is a nice girl, not like those others you bring home.” before she went silent; suddenly realising that for the past month there hadn’t been any other women
Looking at him closely she had continued
“You’ll drive her away if you keep behaving like this”
Marc had looked up at that
“Maybe that would be for the best” he said as Beth Green had scowled at him
“I don’t think you mean that” she had said, as he had interrupted her, his voice angry
“And I think that she should stay away from Phil, he’s hurting right now, doesn’t need some little gold digger to confuse him”
Beth had gasped in shock
“She isn’t….”
But before she could finish he had jumped up from the table, pushing aside the untouched meal she had prepared and angrily marching out to the gardens.
“Keep out of it Beth”
Beth Green had cleared up the table a solemn look on her face.
The next day Phil had phoned to let her know that all of the arrangements were in order. He had organised flowers and for the ring to be poured into her wine glass with champagne as he got down on one knee to propose.
Kelly was surprised at the level of detail he had gone to, and told him that if it had been her she would have married him on the spot. Pleased at this he had wrung off happy with himself.
She had just hung up the receiver as Beth had appeared by her side
“Was that Phil” she asked as Kelly had nodded smiling at her
“Yes…Beth would you mind watching Max for a couple of hours. I need to do something in the village”
Beth had smiled in return
“No problem honey, everything here is pretty much organised”
The errands Kelly had, included picking up the picture she had put in the framers the previous day with a request for a quick framing job. She had also taken her digital camera to the drugstore where she had finally had copies printed of the contents, amongst those the pictures of Max’s birthday. After completing all her tasks she had sat at one of the local coffee shops and ordered a cake and latte. Enjoying these and the feel of the sun beating down on her she had looked through the pictures, smiling at the memory of that wonderful day. She had frowned once more remembering the previous night and the way Marc had behaved, for the life of her not able to think what she had done to annoy him so much. With a little doubt growing in her she had remembered Trudy’s diaries describing how Marc De Santo was well known for his boredom level where women were concerned. But surely this was a different situation.
