by S M Mala
‘As I die of thirst and starvation?’ Hatty folded her arms across her chest then looked down. ‘Louisa, see how the bra makes by bosoms large?’
‘You can’t embarrass me,’ said Frederick unimpressed. Louisa sniggered into her drink. ‘And you, Louisa, should be setting a good example as you are a journalist on the island’s leading newspaper.’
‘Daddy, it’s New Year’s Eve and Hatty and I don’t have dates, so we’re going to have fun!’ smiled his daughter sweetly.
‘So here are the rules.’
‘What rules!’ the pair of them said in unison.
‘No getting drunk, being rude, causing a scene and jumping or throwing people into the pool, do ya hear?’ Frederick cleared his throat as the pair smiled at each other knowing what happened last year. ‘You are both to behave like young ladies.’
‘Then, can we have sex with men?’ smiled Hatty as Louisa kicked her under the table making her laugh.
‘Fine,’ said Frederick, standing up, going a little red. ‘I’ll be watching the pair of you.’
‘Uncle Freddie can I ask you a question?’ Hatty said, knowing the man might know the answer.
‘Try me,’ he said, sitting back down.
‘Was my father cremated or buried?’ she asked and watched his smile fade.
‘Why ya wanna know?’ said Louisa, letting out a massive sigh.
‘It was just something that came into my head when I was thinking about my own funeral,’ she lied. ‘You see I’m thinking of making my own coffin so it saves on time and cost.’
‘Hatty, ya sick,’ scowled Louisa, taking a slug of her drink.
‘What do you know ex-cop?’ Hatty smiled as Frederick gently stroked her shoulder. ‘It’s nice to know.’
‘He was cremated.’
‘And someone said he died up in the house not in the police station which I thought-.’
‘Who’ve you been speaking to?’ he said sharply, his face turning to stone.
‘Gossip,’ Hatty said, waving her hand in the air. ‘It don’t matter cos he was a waster, ignore me. Just the drink.’
Frederick stood up.
‘Bye daddy,’ smiled Louisa, glaring at Hatty, who was too busy getting the spare chair, shoving it under the table and putting her feet up. ‘Why did you mention your father?’
‘Someone was saying today he died in the house so I was only asking,’ shrugged Hatty. ‘It’s not important.’
‘And sex? Why did you go and mention sex? Daddy funny about things like that.’
‘I’m surprised he hasn’t got your ex-lover boy arrested, being married,’ said Hatty, calling a waiter over. ‘Can we have two more mojitos but could you put it in a teapot with two cups and saucers?’
‘Aye?’ the handsome young waiter said.
‘Ya ‘eard,’ smiled Louisa flirtatiously. ‘Me give ya sumtin nice if ya do.’
‘Sure,’ the guy said enthusiastically, walking away.
‘Good call,’ said Louisa, watching the guy’s backside disappear into the distance. ‘Food’s up soon.’
‘Great!’ she said unenthusiastically.
Everyone got served, except for Hatty who sat there wondering if it was a good or bad thing.
Then she thought of Jake.
Sadly she looked around and people were happily eating as she drank her cup of tea loaded with cocktail. Suddenly a plate with a silver lid appeared in front of her.
‘What’s this?’ she said as Louisa suddenly looked up and smiled before the lid was lifted.
In front of her were salt fish fritters and a small bowl of pepper sauce.
‘I thought you’d prefer this?’ she heard and turned to see Jake leaning over her, smiling brightly as Philip sat back down in his seat.
Hatty couldn’t speak, her heart leapt into her throat. She stared hard at him and smiled, wanting to fling her arms around him, smothering him with kisses but knowing she couldn’t.
It was Jake who embraced her.
‘Hello Ha Ha.’
‘You’re back,’ she said, wanting to laugh out loudly as he pulled the chair from beneath her legs and sat down next to her.
‘Certainly am,’ he smiled and stared at her for a moment.
‘Hatty,’ Louisa said quickly. ‘Move over and let Jake squeeze in. Delores is looking over.’
‘Sure,’ said Hatty, snapping out of her trance as Jake moved closer, resting his chin in his hand and smiled. ‘Where’s Mister Murray? Surely he should be here while making me suffer?’
‘He’s coming in a moment. We thought it would be nice to fly home early to see our family and friends,’ he said, staring at her cup. ‘Tea?’
‘Jake, ya want some food?’ said Philip, looking at his empty place.
‘That’d be great. I’m starving,’ Jake replied and she couldn’t stop staring at him, taking it all in should she never see him again. He looked more beautiful than she remembered. He picked up her tea cup and glanced at her. ‘Eat up.’
Hatty looked at Louisa who was smiling brightly at Jake. She let out a sigh.
‘Congratulations on your new job,’ Hatty said. ‘It’s amazing but I thought you’d get it. How did you celebrate?’
‘You know?’ he replied and blushed. ‘I wanted to tell you face to face.’
‘When do you start?’
‘We’ll talk about it later,’ came the nervous reply. ‘In the meantime, I have a lot of catching up to do.’
They sat next to each other and hardly spoke. Jake was the centre of attention. Hatty ate her fritters then followed by grilled chicken and rice where the other’s had some fancy food covered in sauce. She watched the man she deeply loved work the table and felt heartbroken at the thought he’d only come back early to say goodbye. Hatty looked up and saw Murray staring at her. She smiled then noticed the decidedly grumpy face of Delores.
‘I see aunt isn’t happy to see you back,’ Hatty whispered into Jake’s ear as he demolished a baked Alaska in seconds, leaning over and picking at her vanilla ice cream.
She looked into his eyes for a second and felt a massive bolt of electricity in her chest.
‘Are you happy?’ he said quietly.
‘I missed you so much,’ she said, turning her head to look across his shoulder.
‘And I want to make love to you so badly.’
‘Then you have to.’ She watched him smile. ‘But we’re going to have to sneak off. I’ve got a room and-.’
‘I know,’ he smiled brightly. ‘Dad told me and you’ll find I have my own key.’
‘Delores is watching so we have to-.’
‘I know,’ he said, finishing off her ice cream.
Jake looked at her long black hair in loose curls fall over her breasts and the cleavage of her dress. Her breasts looked larger but he would have thrown her to the ground and made love to her, regardless of who was watching. He discreetly rested his left hand on her thigh as he pushed her ice cream bowl away and glanced over at Delores, who was talking to someone sitting near her as his father sat on a different table.
Seeing Delores, after what his aunt had said made him wonder about her even more. Their eyes met and he couldn’t fathom out what was going through her head. She smiled and he returned the gesture as he squeezed Hatty’s thigh.
‘The dancing will start soon and it’s very entertaining to see drunken people strut their stuff,’ she said and he noticed she wasn’t exactly sober.
‘Can you get me a job in New York?’ Louisa asked her eyes equally glazed.
‘No!’ snapped Hatty. ‘You’re not going there too, it’s bad enough he’s going.’ Then she put her hand over her mouth and looked at him. He could see she was momentarily upset. ‘I mean, I need his rent to pay off my debt.’
‘I’ll send you money to secure my room,’ he replied as she turned to look at him and he felt the immediate urge to kiss her. ‘I’ll have to fly over to see the old man and I’d probably need a place to stay.’
‘I see,’ Hatty repli
ed and bit her lip as he knew he’d have to tell her about the change of plan. ‘What if I find a better lodger?’
‘You won’t,’ he smiled and heard music from another room. ‘A band?’
‘Yeah, well they try and be sophisticated then they’ll put on the calypso for the countdown to midnight and by one, we have a DJ,’ sighed Louisa. ‘That’s when the oldies go off home and the fun starts.’
‘No way are you being let loose,’ said Philip, shaking his head from the other side of the table. ‘These two caused so many problems last year I’m surprised they weren’t barred.’
‘That was the plan,’ mumbled Hatty as Louisa laughed.
‘What did you do?’ Jake asked, leaning closer to Hatty. ‘Something bad?’
‘Not as bad as what I intend to do to you later.’
‘Bring it on.’
Hatty discreetly left the party, running to her room ten minutes after Jake left. Frantically looking for her key card in her small bag, she opened the door and heard the shower being turned off.
‘Who’s there?’ she said and saw his case on the floor.
‘Who’d you think?’ he said, walking into the bedroom naked, and dripping wet.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she flung herself at him and covered her mouth with his, feeling his tongue slip in between her lips. He bent down and his hands searched for her straps, pulling them down and letting her dress half hang of her as he placed a hand on each breast and glanced at them. ‘Nice bra.’
‘Take it off,’ she said hurriedly, feeling his wet skin and wanting him inside her quickly.
Hatty pushed down her knickers and kissed him back, pulling him down towards her so they can kiss.
‘Why the rush?’ he said, laughing in between kisses while tugging at her bra strap. Hatty stepped back and undid it throwing it against his face as she ran to the bed and lay down. ‘I see.’
‘Let’s cut out the foreplay,’ she said, as he ran to the bed, jumping next to her.
Hatty wrapped her arms around him and felt his hands run up and down her body as she spread her legs. She let her hand quickly glide between his legs, pulling at him, feeling it stiffen. Jake reached over and she noticed the very large packet of condoms by the side and laughed.
‘I can buy them in bulk back home,’ he smiled, sitting up on his knees, biting open the packet and putting one on. ‘And I expect to get through a few of these tonight.’
‘Fuck me now,’ she said, surprised what came out her mouth as he started to smile. ‘Please?’
‘Whatever you want I’ll do,’ Jake grinned and pushed open her legs as he thrust himself inside her so hard, she buckled under the sensation before he lay on top of her and kissed her at the same time, moving with such speed and force.
Hatty looked into his eyes and felt lost for a moment. She examined his face and knew she would have to burn that image into her head to remind her they had been together. Jake kissed her and she wondered if he knew how much she really loved him. Then he slowed down and she touched his face as he moved again, kissing her so softly.
‘I love you,’ she whispered.
‘You know I feel the same.’
Gently, he pushed her legs back, making them go higher, banging her with long thrusts as she started to groan.
‘Harder,’ she said, wanting to take more of the pain inside, the fire building up in her then grabbed his buttocks helping him to move. Jake stared at her before they kissed frantically. She knew he was close. ‘I love you, I love you so much.’
‘God!’ he screamed out. She felt his body shake in her arms as she hugged him fiercely and knew she’d have to make sure they made love so much between now and when he went. Jake gently flopped onto her, putting his head into the crook of her neck. ‘Fuck that was good.’
‘I missed you,’ she whispered, stroking his hair as she heard music from outside coming into the room, her legs protectively wrapped around his bottom. ‘I’m so pleased you came back as I was worried you wouldn’t.’
He lifted his body, pulling out and laying back down on the bed, trying to catch his breath.
‘I missed you Hatty, there was no reason for you to worry on that count,’ he sighed as she looked across at him with his hand on his chest. Hatty sat up and frowned as he focussed on her. ‘I love sex with you.’
‘When are you starting your new job?’ she said, preparing herself for the words ‘tomorrow’ and ‘next week’.
‘How long have you got the room for?’
‘Until they chuck me out because Murray’s paying for it,’ she said, pushing her hand thorough his hair before stroking his chest. ‘Tell me.’
‘I prefer making love in your four poster bed,’ he grinned.
‘Please Jake tell me how long you’ve got so I can countdown to-.’
‘I told you, I hate it when you count.’ Jake stared at her for a moment and she shrugged. ‘If you don’t mind, but I don’t care if you do, I don’t start the new job until the end of May so I can stick around.’
‘What!’ she said, jumping out of the bed and looking at him as she threw her hair behind her back. ‘You’re staying for longer?’ Hatty jumped up and down with joy before rushing over to him and kissing his face frantically. ‘Thank you, thank you!’
‘Now listen to me,’ he said, holding her face and she could see he looked equally happy. ‘This doesn’t change anything. I’ll be going back to New York for good so don’t expect me to extend my stay.’
‘You’ve made me so happy,’ she gulped and wanted to kiss him again but his hands were firmly fixed on her face. ‘An extra twelve weeks makes it now seventeen and-.’ She noticed he raised his eyebrows at her. ‘No counting just loving.’
‘Actually it’s about twenty two weeks.’
‘Really!’ Her heart was thundering so fast she thought she was going to be sick from happiness. ‘That’s wonderful!’
‘And I got you a present.’
‘For me?’ Hatty pulled away as he got up, pulled off the condom and opened his suitcase. There was a box and Hatty immediately pulled a face as he laughed. ‘Another dress?’
‘You looked absolutely beautiful tonight and we might have to go back downstairs for a bit.’
‘Oh great,’ she said, sitting miserably on the edge of the bed. He handed her the box as she tried to act pleased and forced a smile as he laughed. ‘Thank you.’
‘Open it now. I want to see your face.’
Jake went on his knees as she undid the bow.
‘Too much fancy wrapping,’ she said and kissed him gently on the lips.
Hatty pulled off the lid and roughly pushed back the paper before gasping.
‘You like?’ smiled Jake as Hatty pulled it out.
‘For me?’ she said. ‘You bought me new dungarees!’
‘Three pairs to be exact.’
‘You are the most perfect man in the world, do you know that?’
Jake laughed when he saw Hatty and Louisa on the dance floor, purposely causing as much mayhem as possible. Hatty turned and smiled at him before Louisa grabbed her to go into the middle, as calypso music pumped through the air. He was counting down until midnight before they could go back to bed.
‘She seems happy,’ whispered Murray. Jake quickly turned to see his father. ‘And this was a good idea to come back early. I’ve never celebrated New Year on the island and it’s pretty wild. And talking about wild, how drunk is Harriet?’
‘She’s not that drunk and she’s happy with her dungarees,’ smiled Jake, eyeing her up and down.
He noticed a few guys do the same thing as she danced merrily away.
‘And she knows about the job and you going back later?’
‘She does and Hatty’s fine. I told her not to expect anything from me so we are all in the open.’
‘But you’re still going to break her heart,’ his father gently said. ‘Then there’s your heart to consider because I expect it’s going to kill you too.’
‘Edw
ard said I could stay on until the middle of May then I’ll take a few weeks off before I go back and it’ll be fine.’
‘Are you sure?’ Murray stepped in front of his son and looked into his eyes. Jake knew it would be far from fine but he didn’t want to think about the end just yet, he wanted to enjoy being with Hatty as much as possible. ‘You still need to keep it quiet between you two, you promise?’
‘Why? I want the world to know.’ Jake stepped to the side of his father and smiled again at the beautiful sight of her bottom going from side to side. Then he saw her slap a young man’s hand as he tried to touch her. Jake laughed. ‘This is an ideal spot for romance and she’s wonderful. Everything about her is wonderful except her cooking but I don’t mind.’ Murray started to laugh. ‘There’s something about Hatty that makes you worry about her, isn’t there?’
‘She has the habit of making everyone worry without even giving any hint as to why. You know what? I’m going to dance with that strange girl. That’s bound to annoy her.’
‘Really?’
Jake watched his father walk up to Hatty, pull her towards him and dance with her as she laughed.
Murray put his hand on the small of her back and leaned down while holding her other hand. Hatty rested her head against his chest. For a moment there was no sound for Jake. He saw the pair of them, his father smiling happily while Hatty closed her eyes.
Something told him to look to his side and as he did, he saw Delores watching them, completely absorbed in the sight.
Jake knew there and then the woman was jealous of Hatty and Murray’s relationship.
Delores flicked Jake a glance and this time she didn’t smile, she looked annoyed before she walked out of the room.
‘Five, four, three, two, one!’ they said, twenty minutes later, and fireworks were set off. ‘Happy New Year!’
Jake turned and kissed Hatty full on the lips as everyone embraced.
‘Happy New Year,’ he said, whispering into her ear. ‘I love you Ha Ha.’
She grinned and nodded, giving him a massive hug then he was pulled away from her. There was an onslaught from women looking for a kiss. He saw Hatty being taken away in a sea of people, balloons falling from the ceiling obstructing his view.
