by Martha Long
‘Yes, they will go great,’ I said, feeling like I have died and come back as the Queen of Sheba. ‘And a box of Belgian chocolates!’ I squealed, and there was more stuff – a pair of black high-heeled shoes and finally two packets of grey-black tights.
I folded the stuff carefully and put it back in the bags. I could hardly open my mouth to tell him how much I appreciated it. Words just wouldn’t come to me. I felt shy and tongue-tied, marvelling at the idea he actually went into shops looking for nice things to surprise me. I just can’t get over it, I thought, staring at him as I folded the stuff. Seeing him watching me as I tried to find the way, the words, to tell him what it means to me. No, not the stuff. The love he put into it doing it for me.
‘Oh, Ralph,’ I suddenly said, flinging my arms around him. ‘The stuff is beautiful, it takes my breath away. But it is you! I feel like crying with the happiness because you are so loving. I am so lucky to have your love, Ralph,’ I said, throwing myself on top of him, landing him flat down on the sofa.
He grabbed me, laughing. ‘Oh! Is that all it takes to please you, my love? Goodness, I am the lucky one,’ he said, swinging me onto the couch then pulling me on top of him. Then he locked his lips on me and I could feel the ripple of excitement starting to fly through me, but something was bothering me.
‘Wait, wait!’ I gasped, trying to push away from him.
‘What! What is it?’ he said, looking startled.
‘My stuff! Get your bloody feet off them!’ I said, crashing his legs to the floor while I tried to rescue my new, good, expensive clothes from under him. ‘You will tear them and dirty them,’ I snorted. ‘Men have no bloody clue! A woman would never do something like that!’ I said, holding up the silk frock to examine it, making sure it hadn’t been damaged.
He shook his head at me, saying, ‘You started this, darling. You pushed me down, intending to have your wicked way, then, like a bloody woman, you changed your mind!’ Then he suddenly dived for me. ‘Well, but not this time,’ he said, grabbing the stuff out of my hands and swinging me around, landing the pair of us on the floor. ‘Now, you can forget the rug, as that is the only thing we can damage,’ he said, rolling me under him, then holding his hands out in front of me, making a face like he was going to eat me alive.
I laughed with the sudden shock, seeing the face he was making. Then he made a roar, going for my neck, saying, ‘I am going to eat you alive here and now, on this bloody floor.’ Then he lunged into my neck, sucking and kissing.
I started screaming with the laugh. ‘Stop, wait! You’re killing me! No, I mean it, hold on! It’s serious!’ I said, trying to make myself stop laughing, and I was puffing and huffing trying to get away from him. ‘No, no, I mean it, Ralph!’
‘What is it now?’ he said, letting me up but still keeping hold of me.
‘These! My new pearls! You will break them!’ I said, putting my hands on my neck to check they were still in one piece.
He looked at the wall, giving a big puff, muttering, ‘There is only one way to fix this!’ Then he whipped his head on me, staring with a glint in his eye.
‘What? What are you looking at?’ I said, getting the idea he was up to something.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Madame put her head in, seeing the two of us sitting on the floor with my hair standing around my head looking like someone had used me as a mop. Her eyes lit up as she took us in.
Ralph rose immediately to his feet, saying something in French. Then he said, taking my hand and lifting me to my feet, ‘Come along, darling, lunch is served.’
‘OK, I will just take these things upstairs. I won’t be long,’ I said, rushing to gather up all my things and make out the door, heading for the stairs.
23
I climbed into the skirt with the wide black band attached and tucked down the linen blouse, fastening up the skirt. Then I sat down in the chair and pulled on my new black boots and eased the jacket on, buttoning it up, leaving only the lace of the high-necked blouse to be seen through the tailor-made cut of the jacket. ‘Hmm, lovely,’ I said, looking down at myself as I walked over to take a look in the long wardrobe mirror. ‘Oh, my God! Is that me? I look so different! Jesus! I look amazing,’ I whispered, smiling at my reflection in the mirror. ‘I look like something out of a much earlier century!’
I had my hair piled on the back of my head, tied in three knots, then sitting in a soft wave, framing each side of face. My diamond earrings glittered. Bloody hell, I never thought I could look so lovely. Jaysus, pity fuck-face the vamp is not here. I’d give her what-for, calling me a peasant! Bleedin cheek! I’m no bog woman! I hardly ever set foot in the country! Ah, never mind her. Jaysus, would you look at the style of me! Oh, I knew it! That ugly cow wouldn’t have looked half as good if it wasn’t for the money. Look at me! This is what you can transform yourself into with just a few bob! Right, get going, grab the bag. Oh, I better not forget to take the cigarillos from the mantelpiece in the sitting room. Jaysus, no, I can’t sit rolling me own cigarettes in this get-up. Yes, great idea! The cigarillos will go with my outfit.
I headed off out the door, making my way down the stairs, seeing the skirt whip out around me. It felt heavy and substantial, making me feel like I was well covered. There was nothing of me to be seen but my hands and face. Great, a woman of mystery.
I stepped into the hall to see Ralph suddenly appear out of the sitting room. He was dressed for the evening and looked like he had been waiting for me.
‘Oh, my! You do look quite lovely,’ he said, looking up and down the length of me, smiling all over his face.
‘Do you like it?’ I said, giving a twirl and letting the skirt fly around me, then stopping on the balls of my feet, holding out my arms.
‘Darling, you look quite elegant. It is as I imagined you would look,’ he said, kissing me gently, with his arm resting lightly on me. ‘Shall we leave?’ he said, putting his hand on my back, starting to head for the front door.
‘Oh, I have to get my cigarillos, they are on the mantelpiece.’
‘No, darling, I have taken them for you,’ he said, taking them out of his coat pocket and making to put them in my bag. ‘Now, shall we go?’
‘Yes,’ I nodded, walking with my head held high, getting into the feel of the new me.
The car suddenly slowed down as we drove in through big gates and headed along a drive with huge trees casting dark shadows, making the place look a bit creepy. Then the car turned into a wide opening and I looked up at an enormous granite mansion. I stared, wondering if this was a house or were we meeting in a big swanky old hotel or something. ‘Where are we, Ralph?’
‘We have arrived, darling,’ he said, switching off the engine and looking at me half-smiling and wondering what I was talking about.
‘Is this Jacques and Soviah’s house?’ I whispered.
‘Yes,’ he said, nodding.
‘But it’s huge! How could they afford something like this? Didn’t you say he was a heart surgeon? How could he afford the like of this on what he would earn?’ I said, looking at the big steps up to it, seeing chandeliers throwing out sparkling light from the downstairs rooms. To the right there was a path heading around the side of the house. I could see a big stone fountain with the statue of a Grecian woman upending a basin of water while a cloth hung off her other arm.
‘I doubt he is dependent financially on his work,’ Ralph said. ‘He is heir, both he and his sister, to a substantial inheritance. His grandfather developed a pharmaceutical industry. Now it is quite vast. It is managed by a board of trustees. So, yes, he is quite comfortable,’ Ralph said.
‘Ahh, no wonder! The philanderer, I called him. So I was right!’ I said, grinning at Ralph.
‘I shall hold my own counsel on that,’ Ralph smiled, looking at me sideways.
I leaned forward, suddenly giving him a big smacking kiss on the lips.
‘Hmm, that was nice,’ he said. ‘I am looking forward to more later,’ he suddenly
whispered.
‘When? We’re here now, Ralph!’
‘Oh, darling, we do have a home to go to,’ he said, looking at me like I was daft as a brush.
‘Ah, now, Ralph, an aul fella of your age needs his beauty sleep,’ I said, shaking my head, looking at him like it’s a very serious matter.
He peeled his head from one side to the other, then landed it back on me, giving a big sigh, saying, ‘You are in very serious trouble, my lady. Later, I shall deal with you most severely. But I shall be fair, you may choose your punishment.’
‘Like what, Ralph?’
‘Later! Now, come along, let us get inside.’
Ralph rang the doorbell while I stood looking around. Jaysus, it looks a bit like the Jardin du Luxembourg, the lovely park I spent many a long day wandering around, right in the centre of Paris.
I whipped around as the door shot open and a voice boomed, ‘Mon ami!’
I found myself looking into the beaming, happy face of Jacques, who held out his arms. ‘Come in, come in, my friends!’ he said, throwing open the big heavy doors and waving us into a huge entrance hall.
My breath caught at the sudden sight of the grandeur. I walked into a vast marble hall with a sweeping staircase standing right in the middle and big mahogany doors on either side. I looked up to a landing with a big window taking up the centre of the wall; that would throw in coloured light from the bevelled glass when it caught the sun. It had a cut-glass picture of a Grecian woman staring out.
‘Madame,’ he said, kissing my cheeks then taking my hand. ‘You are very welcome, a delight to meet you once again,’ he said, bowing to kiss my hand.
I smiled like my face suddenly exploded, with a gush of pleasure rushing its way around me.
‘You make a handsome couple,’ he said, lifting his face and grinning at Ralph as he greeted him, with the pair of them exchanging kisses on both cheeks.
Ralph beamed at me, moving closer to lay his hand on my waist and draw me to him. Then he was handing over his coat to a woman waiting to take it, and he went to take mine. I hesitated, wondering if I should take it off. ‘Allow me, darling,’ Ralph whispered, taking the jacket as I unbuttoned it.
I stared down, seeing I looked just as good if not better. Now I was showing off my linen-and-lace blouse and the long velvet skirt. Yeah, I looked great, I thought, lifting my head and feeling all very much like the quality.
‘Come along, meet our guests,’ he said, waving us to follow him.
We walked to the end of the hall and went in through a door on the left, into a big room. Then through another door into a room the size of half a football field. It had tall, ornate white French windows going down the length of the room onto a long terrace with tables and chairs. That overlooked a huge park laid out in a straight line with trees and statues, and in the centre was a big fountain spurting out water that glittered and sparkled, lit up by lights. More lights lit up the wide paths, leaving areas shaded in dark.
I stared, letting me mouth drop open. No, forget the Jardin du Luxembourg, that’s only the front. This sweep of landscape is more like the Palace of Versailles!
‘Martha!’ Ralph was saying.
I blinked, realising I’d forgotten where I was and that people were being introduced to me.
‘You have met Heinrich and Isolda.’ They waited while I moved in for the kisses, then I was nodding and shaking, kissing and smiling, and forgetting names, as it all went over my head. I need a cigarette, I thought, dying to whip out me cigarillos. A drink was put into my hand by Ralph as he took one off a tray that was being carried around by a man in a dickie bow wearing a black suit. He must be the waiter, I thought. No, not a waiter, this is not a hotel. Right, this is someone’s house! I couldn’t take in the massive style and elegance of the place. Jaysus, Mary and Joseph! The things money can do! My imagination never stretched to anything like this. I always thought ‘rich’ was having a nice house in your own grounds, with the big car sitting outside the door, wearing a fur coat and popping into Brown Thomas for the odd bit of shopping. But this! You could go in and buy up the bloody place. Send the waiter in to collect the stuff! Get it delivered! Brown Thomas? No, forget that! I have seen the places in Paris where Ralph took me. Now that makes B and T look like paupers!
Ralph had gone to sit down beside a very handsome-looking man with a mop of wavy brown hair combed back off his head then curled just above the collar of his white Charvet shirt with the blue silk tie and a diamond tiepin. He was wearing a dark-grey suit and shiny handmade black lace-up shoes. Ralph was in a black suit with a Charvet linen shirt and a dark-wine silk tie with a gold tiepin.
People were spread out along deep leather sofas going around in a U-shape, where they sat facing each other. I moved in beside Isolda, who turned to settle herself, letting her eyes rest on me.
‘Oh, how nice it is to see you again,’ she beamed, laying her hand gently on mine then sitting up straight to look around and point out people to me. ‘Now, some of us here are old friends but I am not sure about some of the others. So I am like you, Martha dear, I too am looking at the strange faces.’
I nodded slowly, keeping my hands sitting demurely on my lap, wondering when I could get them on the smokes. Then I sighed quietly and lifted my drink, taking a sip. There was a roar of laughing from the men as one of them was in the middle of a story. Jacques called over the waiter and quietly whispered something, then the waiter took off and was rapidly back carrying a tray and holding it out to the men. They dipped in one by one, taking a big fat cigar out of a box, then the cutting started and they were all ready to be lit up.
Great, I thought, a smoke at last. I grabbed my bag then it hit me. No, forget that, save your own. If they’re getting them free, then what about us women? I tried to get Ralph’s attention but he was now caught up in conversation with a very excitable-looking woman. She was waving the hands, shrugging the shoulders, then leaning in looking like, So! What was I to do?
He listened, giving her all his attention, then suddenly his face lit up and he roared his head laughing. The woman picked up her drink, taking a sip and looking like whatever the problem had been she had dispatched it very rapidly!
Ah, forget Ralph, I thought, looking around, wondering how I could get my hands on a few cigarillos! Then the waiter flew past and I tipped his arm.
‘Madame!’ he snapped, bowing the head to hear what I wanted.
‘Cigarillos, s’il vous plaît! For moi!’ I said, pointing the finger at meself.
He kept the head down, waiting for more information. I stared, thinking, not knowing any other words. ‘Smoke!’ I said, with the finger at the mouth and the other one pointing at me chest.
‘Pardon?’ he said.
Isolda was listening and she understood. So she told him in rapid French.
‘Ah, oh, oui!’ he said, then went rushing to sort me out. He was back with a smaller box this time. I had a choice of big, long, thin black ones or little brown fat ones, grey-looking ones, and there was a silver cigarette holder sitting brand new in another box.
I took in a sharp intake of breath as my eyes lit on them. ‘Merci,’ I said, taking one, then he went to whip away the box. ‘Non, non, monsieur!’ I said, grabbing hold of his arm. ‘More!’ I said, pointing and dipping my hand in. I took two of each and one cigarette holder. I would have liked two, in case I needed a back-up, but I didn’t want to make a show of myself with Isolda watching.
‘Merci!’ I grinned, whipping the lot into my bag then lighting up the black one after sticking it in the long silver cigarette holder. He lit it up for me and I took in a deep drag and nearly choked. Isolda immediately went into action and started slapping my back.
‘It was too bloody strong,’ I croaked, losing my decorum with the coughing, spluttering and ending up with the red watery eyes and running mascara. It’s probably streaking down my cheeks, I thought. Ah, fuck! Now I could feel my face tighten, knowing it was bright red to match me eyes. People looked aro
und with their smiles still frozen on their faces, waiting to see what all the fuss was about. Ralph looked over, taking in the long black cigar plugged into the long silver cigarette holder, looking a mile long, and grinned.
‘I’m grand!’ I croaked, waving and trying to get my ‘sophisticated quality’ look back. ‘Excuse me,’ I rasped, smiling and standing up, heading for the French windows and the terrace.
‘Oh, that’s better,’ I gasped, breathing in the night air, with the wind blowing the oxygen from the lovely grass and trees. Then I looked down, seeing at the far end a tall blonde girl with her bare arms resting on the balcony. She looked miles away as she sucked hard on a long cigarette in a holder like mine. She pulled the mink jacket sitting on her shoulders, getting it wrapped tighter around her neck, then leaned down, getting herself more comfortable as she stared out into the distance. She was watching the huge spray of water glittering yellow and sparkling white as it soared into the air, where it caught the light and then came crashing down making a thudding sound, like it was determined to beat the marble basin into submission. Showing it who was boss.
There was something lonely about the way she huddled herself, resting on the balcony. Like she wasn’t a part of what was going on here, as if she didn’t belong. It was the way she looked around like she was afraid somehow, like she didn’t know the place and was worried that at any minute someone would tell her to leave. But yet she was waiting for someone, because she had to wait.
I moved down and stopped a few feet away, saying, ‘Bonjour!’
Her head shot around, looking like she got a fright, wondering how I suddenly appeared.
‘Sorry, did I give you a fright?’
She put her hand on her chest and smiled, showing a gorgeous set of white teeth and lovely sky-blue eyes.
‘Bonjour!’ I said again.
‘Bonjour,’ she said softly. ‘Are you English?’
‘No, Ireland! But the same language.’
She nodded then stared at me.
