Reluctant Date

by Sheila Claydon

“Is due in a couple of weeks, I know.”

  Yes. And…well you know how it is with my parents. The twins wouldn’t be much help either…so do you think… that is, would you mind just keeping an eye on her while we’re away?”

  “If she’ll let me.” Claire frowned as she thought of Beth. Although her pregnancy was now obvious, her bump was still small and neat and she didn’t seem to have made any adjustments to her life. She still walked at top speed, she still worked the same hours for Daniel, she still helped Carl in the print shop, and when she wasn’t doing any of that, she still spent all her spare time painting.

  She had already given Claire a watercolor, a view of the wooden remnants of the old pier with brown pelicans roosting on every spar. It was beautifully executed and there was humor in it too. Claire had been delighted but she had also protested when Beth gave it to her, saying she should sell it in the local gallery where it would be snapped up by one of the many visitors who mooched amongst the artifacts and paintings looking for a memento of their holiday. But Beth had been adamant.

  “I painted it for you because I know how much you love watching the pelicans,” she said. “Besides, I don’t want to paint for the gallery. I want to open my own studio and sell stuff straight from there…you know, the ‘come and see a working artist and buy her pictures’ sort if thing. And I’ll do it too, just as soon as we’ve made a go of the print shop.”

  “I thought you already had,” Claire was surprised.

  Beth pulled a face. “It brings in enough for us to live on, but there’s nothing left over. No matter! We’re getting there.”

  And that had been the end of the conversation. Claire had thanked her and taken the painting home, hung it on the wall, and derived a great deal of pleasure from looking at it without giving any more thought to Beth’s situation.

  Now, however, seeing the concern on Daniel’s face, she felt a twinge of dismay. Why did Carl have to go away with Daniel? Was he in trouble again or was it just a business trip? Was his and Beth’s print business okay?

  Unable to ask Daniel any of the numerous questions that popped into her head, she started to think about something else that was equally confusing. Was he worried about Beth being on her own for Carl’s sake, or was it because he still loved her himself? She guessed she would never know.

  “I’ll do my best,” she conceded. “Although I can’t promise I’ll be successful because she’s the most independent person I know.”

  He gave a relieved smile. “Thank you. I’ll tell Carl. If we could avoid leaving her, believe me we would. And if there are any problems at all, then please just call me, any time, day or night, because one thing is for sure, Beth won’t! She’ll try to cope on her own.”

  Something inside Claire wouldn’t let her return his smile. She didn’t know whether she was jealous because he was so worried about Beth, or whether it was pique because he hadn’t chosen to join her during the afternoon. Whatever it was, her lips refused to curve upwards. Instead, she just nodded, and then turned away so that he wouldn’t see the frustration in her eyes.

  In a month or so she was going to have to decide whether she was going to stay in Dolphin Key, or whether she was going to return to England at the end of her six-month contract, because although she loved her job, and thoroughly enjoyed her new life, she wasn’t sure she could continue working with Daniel. She had tried to accept that he wasn’t interested in her. She had made other friends and developed a social life, but none of it had made a jot of difference. Her mouth still grew dry whenever she saw him and her pulse became erratic as soon as she heard his voice. It seemed as if her first thought about moving to Florida to work with him had been the right one after all. Her heart sank. Whether she liked it or not, soon it would be time to go home.

  * * *

  Daniel watched her walk away with a frown. Had he been presumptuous in asking her to keep an eye on Beth? He knew they were good friends, so he had been sure Claire would want to know Beth was on her own so near to the end of her pregnancy. Not that he and Carl intended to be away for a moment longer than necessary, but this trip was something they had to make together.

  He sighed as he started to clean up the barbecue. If only it didn’t have to be this way but despite many warnings, his father had brought it on himself. It was no longer possible to run the company the way he wanted it. Times had moved on. Finances were difficult. Clients wanted different experiences. Yet whenever Daniel or the other directors suggested changes, Gordon Marchant always managed to thwart them, and because he was still Chairman of the company there was little they could do about it unless they ousted him from the Board.

  For months it had been clear that unless drastic action was taken, and soon, the company would fold, and they would all go down with it. Not wanting to destroy what was left of his father’s pride, Daniel had managed to avoid making a final decision until the fire in Mexico. That had been the final straw, however, and, even worse, so had his father’s reaction. Instead of recognising that in the wake of such a disaster the company needed to rebuild its reputation with further investment and with special promotional deals, he had spent all his time trying to apportion blame. This had resulted in the very public resignation of one of the company’s best resort managers. A particularly unpleasant meeting with him had left Daniel feeling emotionally bruised and beyond weary, and ready, finally, to accept that the time had come to do the one thing he had been trying to avoid. He had nowhere else to go. His only solution was to call a special Board Meeting and ask for a vote of no confidence in his own father, the person who had originally set up the company. To do this he had to present the directors with a solution to their present dilemma and this was where Carl came in. It was the reason why they needed to attend the Board Meeting together.

  He stopped scraping the barbecue and stared into space as he thought about his brother. Carl had proved to be a source of unexpected wisdom and support over the past couple of years. Back on track thanks to Beth, he had found the strength to leave his past behind and make a new life. In the process he had discovered that he not only had a good business brain, and a flair for negotiation, but that he was a natural salesman too. And if Beth was added to the mix, with her eye for color and décor, and her enormous energy, then the new leaders of Marchant Enterprises were standing in the wings ready to take over. All Daniel had to do was persuade the Board that this was the way forward.

  He looked over to where his father was sitting alone on the deck waiting for his wife to come to his aid, and his heart shriveled inside him. He didn’t want to do this to him and yet he knew he had to, for everyone’s sake. If he didn’t, then his parents would have to sell the house they had lived in and cherished for so long, and move to somewhere much smaller. Taylor-Ann and Melanie would have to finish college too, and find some sort of employment, and he would have to think long and hard about whether he could afford to keep his own company going or whether he should abandon it and look for another job. One that would bring in the sort of rewards the family needed to survive. He tried not to think about what would happen if he abandoned his own dreams because he knew it would break his heart. He also knew it would mean saying goodbye to Claire as well.

  He looked around the garden wondering if she was still around or whether she had already left. He wished he could take her into his confidence, but there was no way he could possibly burden her with such a secret, especially as she visited his parents so frequently. Eventually he spotted her. She was standing on the far side of the lawn talking to Melanie. Scott was standing beside her and the three of them seemed to be having a serious discussion about something. Then, as he watched, Claire and Scott turned away with a brief smile and a wave. Within moments they had gone, leaving him feeling more miserable than he had ever felt in his life.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Over the next few days Claire felt increasingly despondent. Gone was any hope Daniel might suddenly see her in a new light and decide he really did want to have a d
ate with her after all. Gone, too, was the carefree friendship she had had with Scott. He was far too busy spending time with Melanie, and worrying about what would happen when she told her parents about her relationship with him, to give any thought to Claire. Nor was Beth her usual cheerful self. She seemed to have something on her mind but whatever it was, she didn’t share it. Instead she just kept her head down when she was in the office, and left with little more than a brief farewell on the dot of five o’clock.

  To add to her misery, the weather was so hot and humid she found it difficult to concentrate. Even the air conditioning in her apartment was a mixed blessing because it kept her awake at night with its constant humming and yet if she turned it off the growing heat was unbearable, so when Daniel called her on his first day away, to check if Beth was okay, her reply was brusque to the point of rudeness, something she regretted the moment she cut the connection.

  Angry with herself, as well as with everyone else, her state of mind began to affect how she felt about her job as well, and she took to leaving on time like Beth, instead of staying to chat about work with Scott. Consequently she had been home for several hours on the day Beth telephoned her.

  “Claire…would you like to come over for a couple of hours?”

  When Claire heard the uncharacteristic quaver in her friend’s voice she was instantly alert. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing…it’s just that Carl’s away…and I think there’s a hurricane brewing.”

  By now Claire had been well briefed about hurricanes, and about their history in the Dolphin Key area. She knew it was very unlikely they would have a direct hit but she also knew it was possible, so Beth’s words made her feel doubly nervous.

  “Would you like me to stay over?” she asked, fighting to make the question sound casual and to keep her voice calm.

  “Um…yes, I…that would be great! Better to be together than both on our own if the weather does blow up.”

  It was obvious Beth was trying to hide her relief, but she didn’t fool Claire. Something was wrong, so the sooner she set off for the apartment over the print shop, the better.

  “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be with you,” she said.

  In less than ten minutes she had thrown overnight necessities and a change of clothes into a backpack, checked the contents of her fridge, and added a handful of herbal teabags to her luggage. Her packing complete, she brought the furniture in from the balcony, and locked and shuttered all the doors and windows. Then, with a final look around, she picked up the backpack, slung her camera case across her shoulder, stuffed her cell phone into her pocket, and made her way downstairs into the street.

  The strength of the wind startled her, as did the size of the waves curling up through the bay. She had never seen the sea behave like that before. Ever since she’d arrived in Dolphin Key the water had been so calm the fisherman considered even a mild swell to be a bad day. Pushing down a rising panic she battled her way across to Main Street and then turned left and hurried towards the print shop as fast as she could.

  Beth was waiting for her. She opened the door as soon as Claire tugged on the rope of the ship’s bell that hung over the doorway, and pulled her inside.

  “According to the guys at the National Hurricane Centre it’s going to give us a wide berth. We’ll just have high winds for a couple of days, and some rain. It might disrupt travel though…” her voice trailed off as she stared dejectedly at Claire.

  “So you’re worried about Carl and Daniel,” Claire finished the sentence for her.

  “I’m not worried about them. I know they won’t travel if there’s any danger…it’s more that I’m worried they won’t be able to get home in time.”

  “In time for what?” Claire looked puzzled until the penny dropped, and then she started to worry. “You mean the baby. Are you in labour Beth?”

  “I…I don’t know…that is, I’m not sure. I’ve still got two weeks to go and because I’ve never had a baby before I don’t really know what to expect. It might just be normal, this slight discomfort.”

  Exhibiting a calm exterior when she was actually cold with panic inside was something that came naturally to Claire. It was a skill she had developed as a child whenever she was faced with something new and scary, and now it kicked in automatically. She smiled encouragingly at Beth as she directed her back up the stairs to her homely and comfortable sitting room and settled her onto the couch before she went into the kitchen to make herbal tea for both of them. While she was waiting for the kettle to boil she checked all the windows, securing the shutters, lowering the blinds and pulling the curtains until she had turned the apartment into a cozy cocoon.

  “Drink this,” she told Beth, handing her a mug of chamomile tea. “My mother swears by it. She says there’s nothing better for soothing nerves and keeping panic at bay.”

  “Well let’s hope your mother is right because panic is quite close,” Beth gave her a watery smile as she raised the mug to her lips. “My mother died when I was small so I don’t have any maternal wisdom to fall back on. I never really bonded with my stepmother either. It’s my own fault. I never gave her a chance. I left home when she moved in although not for any particular reason. It just seemed the right thing to do at the time. And now my father is dead too, so…well it’s just me…and Carl…and I really, really wish he was here.”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize,” Claire sank down onto one of the large cushions that furnished most of the room and put her mug on the floor.

  “Usually it’s OK,” Beth told her with a sigh. “After all it happened a very long time ago and my life has moved on. In fact I rarely think about my mother at all, or I didn’t until I found out I was pregnant. Since then...well, it’s as if there’s a hole in my life that can’t be filled. If there was a time when she needed to stay around for me, then it’s right now…instead of which I’ve got to do this on my own. She’ll never see my baby either, nor will its other grandparents, given how Carl’s parents feel about him…us.”

  Claire’s heart went out to her. How could Mr and Mrs Marchant do this to her, to Carl, to their own flesh and blood? Did they even know about Beth’s fractured family and, if they did, then where was their compassion? She didn’t let her thoughts show, however. Instead she took another leaf out of her mother’s book and became practical.

  “Do you have everything ready in case you need to go to the hospital?”

  Mutely, Beth shook her head.

  “In that case, tell me what I need to pack and where it is. We may as well be prepared.”

  * * *

  Much later, having insisted that a weary looking Beth should go to bed, Claire lay dozing on the couch, listening to the wind. She had changed into her pajamas but it was too hot for covers. She wished she could open the windows but she knew it was impossible. She wished Carl and Daniel were here too. Having seen how scared Beth was, she didn’t care any longer if Daniel was still in love with her. If Carl could accept it and remain his brother’s best friend, then she was going to accept it as well.

  It was her last thought as she drifted into a restless sleep. She was woken in the early hours of the morning by the sound of movement in the bathroom.

  She returned to full consciousness with a start and knocked on the bathroom door. “Are you okay Beth?”

  The door opened and Beth’s frightened face looked up at her. “The baby is coming Claire. I know that now.”

  Claire took one look at her and saw the difference. A few hours ago she had just looked worried and confused, whereas now, despite being scared, she had an inward focus. Reaching for her cell phone Claire scrolled down to the number she had keyed in earlier, the one she had found at the top of Beth’s maternity notes. When her call was answered she explained the situation, listened to a whole list of instructions, and then ended the call with a brief murmur of thanks.

  Beth, meantime, had slipped down from the couch and was curled across one of the large cushions that furnished
the room, breathing hard. After a minute or so she surprised Claire by looking up at her with an unexpected grin.

  “If this is it, then I think I’ll pass,” she said.

  Claire smiled at her. “Too late for that now, and you’ve got to be brave too because the person I spoke to at the maternity center says we need to stay here. She says it’s too wild outside for us to tackle a fifty-minute journey with you in labor. But don’t worry,” she added swiftly, seeing the growing panic on Beth’s face. “A couple of midwives are on their way and they have told me what to do until they get here.”

  * * *

  For what seemed an eternity Claire used every skill she had to keep Beth calm and focused, gladder than she had ever thought she would be about the year her parents had decided to decamp to Southern Ireland to live the rural idyll. They had ended up renting a cottage next door to a pregnant woman who already had seven children under ten years old. When she went into labour her husband was working a hundred miles away, so it was Claire’s mother who took charge, acting as temporary midwife while Claire’s father went for medical help, and while Claire looked after the rest of the children.

  Although she hadn’t actually been present at the birth, the experience had taught Claire a great deal about children, about babies and, more especially, about women in labour. She remembered how her mother had rubbed the woman’s back. She remembered, too, her mother encouraging the woman to pant through her contractions. Hiding her own growing panic as the minutes ticked by and no help arrived, she encouraged Beth to do the same, breathing and panting with her to help her through each labor pain.

  And in the gaps between she did what her mother had done, she rubbed Beth’s back. She talked to her, too, promising everything would be all right, and telling her that help would soon arrive; although by the time Beth’s contractions were barely a minute apart she was beginning to have her doubts. Pushing such thoughts to the back of her mind she began to prepare for the worst. In the brief moments when Beth didn’t need her, she boiled water, collected towels, spread a clean sheet on the bed and added more pillows to the pile already there. Then she resumed her position beside the cushion in the sitting room where Beth said she felt most comfortable.