A Different Class - 13

Chapter 13

They both headed straight to work the next day, but knew they’d be meeting up as soon as they could that evening. They were going to have a night in, Nate wanted to cook for her. At lunchtime he called Rebecca to say that his friend who was a dress designer had a vacancy that evening and thought she could get a dress made in time for the Ball. It was all a subject that Rebecca wanted to ignore, but with each passing day it was getting closer so she had to confront her demon!

So it was with reluctance that she found herself heading across town to an address in Knightsbridge. She needn’t have worried about the horrors that awaited her. Bella, a middle aged Italian woman greeted her like an old friend as soon as the door opened she was dragged into a warm hug.

“Nathaniel is a good boy; he worked for my husband in his menswear shop when he was in school. He has always bought all his suits from us.” She chuckled, “he has impeccable taste.” She looked lengthily at Bec before adding, “In all aspects of his life! Now what do we need?” She had a strong Italian accent, and her voice was lilting and friendly. 

But Bec lacked so much enthusiasm, “Well a dress for a ball. His father is hosting an annual dinner.”

She muttered under her breath, “that’ll be a very special night of you. Sir Edward is a very difficult man…I do not understand where Nathaniel came from, such a gentle, sensitive boy.” She shook her head, “anyway, back to more important things…I presume from your face that you are not the fan of dresses.”

Bec shrugged, “I enjoy looking nice, but never find things comfortable. It’s going to be a very difficult evening, and whilst I don’t want to look under dressed, if anything I need to look the most elegant I can, I need something that doesn’t suffocate me.”

Bella nodded, eyeing the younger woman up and down, “you are very curvy, which is wonderful, but I think that fitted dress will look less flattering.” She disappeared behind the racks of clothes emerging with some fabric and clips. “What colour do you like?  I think that lilac would be perfect for you, but I expect you are thinking black!”

Bec laughed, “If you think lilac then it’s as good as any!”

She bustled around her with pieces of fabric, pinning them to her clothes. When she stepped back she said “something like this?”

There was a piece of lilac taffeta, ruched around her breasts, Bella had then tucked a few pieces of the same material to lie in gentle folds to the floor. It wasn't a dress, but it gave the hint of something floaty, elegant and...“It’s beautiful!”

Bella nodded knowingly, a wry smile on her lips, “this is a very simplistic version, I will make it asymmetrical, as that is the fashion, shorter top layers here and longer the other side. It must be too the ankle.”

It was such a relief, the decisions taken away from her, “I trust you implicitly!”

Once the measurements were all recorded including her shoe size, Bec had to negotiate the tube at the height of rush hour. She was more than a little fraught by the time she got to Nathaniel’s flat. He answered the door in a pair of jogging bottoms and a tight white vest which should’ve looked camp, but for some reason didn’t, his face as flushed and his hair plastered to his head.

“I went to the gym on my way home, thought I’d cook before I showered!”

She reached around his neck to pull him close for a sweaty kiss. “What are we having?”

He tapped his nose, wrapping his arms around her, “my speciality!”

Leading her back in the kitchen he poured her a glass of wine. She took it and slid onto a stool at the breakfast bar. “So how was it with Bella?”

Bec took a long drink, “she’s amazing! She read me like a book!”

He laughed, “her and Antonio are the same, he used to dress me, I had no clue. I’ve learnt a lot from him.”

She looked him up and down, eyeing the sweats with humour, “do you think?”

Laughing he swatted at her with a wooden spoon, “I wish I’d never bothered!”

As soon as he put the dishes into the oven he excused himself to have a shower. After a few moments she slipped into the cubicle behind him, the first he knew was her hands sliding around him from behind, fingers creeping over his wet skin, her beautiful soft body pressing into his back. Groaning he let her hands spread across his lower abdomen. When he could bear no more, he turned in her arms and devoured her with a kiss that made her knees buckle and her heart race. Lifting her slightly he leaned her into the wall and entered her swiftly, “I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” his mouth was pressed into her exposed neck, rivulets of water cascading over both of them.

Groaning she grabbed for his hair, pulling him closer to her, never wanting this moment to end.  She was insatiable for him, and knew he felt the same way. As he kissed her with a desperation that was addictive, she wondered if this was how it had been for her parents. They had both given up everything for each other, and in the end her mother couldn't live without him. Was this how they felt?

When they eventually pulled apart he turned her around and soaped her from head to foot. His shampoo smelt of sandalwood, and the citrus shower gel wafted into her slumberous senses, and she leaned against him shattered.

Nate was in the kitchen dishing up their meal when she finally emerged from the bathroom, her hair wound up in a towel on her head, a large grey t-shirt of his draped down from her shoulders, and a pair of his gym shorts were folded several times at the waist.

He looked up appreciatively as he poured her a glass of wine. “Those clothes have never looked so good!”

She laughed and perched at the breakfast bar watching him move around the kitchen with ease. Smiling he laid a platter of fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella drizzled with olive oil in front of her, “I thought we could just nibble at this as I finish up the main course?”

She ripped a piece of bread from the crusty baguette and loaded it with some of the salad.  Her taste buds exploded with the variety of well matched tastes.

“This is excellent!” She announced handing him a similarly loaded piece of bread, but instead of taking it, he approached with his mouth open.

When she raised an eyebrow at his laziness, he gestured to his hands, “Raw meat!” Laughing she pushed the whole piece of bread into his mouth.

The salad was gone by the time he turned to her with two full plates of food, “Right go and sit down, dinner is served!”

Rebecca was sat waiting when he set the plate in front of her, a large and perfectly cooked steak, rare in the middle, was accompanied by sauteed potatoes and steamed vegetables.

“This looks absolutely wonderful.” Secretly she was ticking another box, he could cook too!

He smiled as he slid opposite her, placing a jug of peppercorn sauce on the table, “like I say my speciality!”

Ten days later they were on a much deserved flight to Malaga. It had been hard to co ordinate their time off, but eventually they had worked it out. On the way over both of them had work to do, and the flight time was spent tapping away on their laptops, but as they walked out into the midday sun, hands linked they'd signed off from their jobs for the week. 

Nate had hired a car,  and whereas Rebecca would have hired a budget or economy car, Nate had ordered a two-seater convertible sports car, red, sleek and probably fast. Opening the small boot, he stowed their bag, shaking his head.

"I still can't believe I've packed a bigger bag than yours!" Nate had been mortified when he'd arrived at her house to see the small hold on she'd packed.

Sliding into the passenger seat she smiled at him, "I've got a couple of bikinis, four dresses and a couple of beach wraps...what more do I need?"

Nate was in awe, "my sister takes more to town for a day out!"

Bec laughed, "Nate you know me, I'm not exactly high maintenance am I? I thought you'd be used to that by now!"

The smiled that accompanied her retort drove him crazy.

Patrick owned a beautiful villa in the hills overlooking the marina in the town. She fell in love at first sight. They opened the door into a huge lounge that had a panoramic view of the coast, the Master bedroom had the same outlook and both rooms had floor to ceiling windows. The veranda at the back of the house was almost suspended over the steep mountain, and there was a large hot tub sunk into it.

"It's beautiful!" Rebecca rushed down the steel spiral staircase that joined the two floors, "I can't believe it!"

Nate was in the kitchen perusing the fridge when she joined him. Looking over his shoulder she gasped, it was fully stocked with luxury items, champagne, salmon, cold meats, cheese, olives, even some rather juicy steaks. Nat laughed at her surprise, but assured her that whilst Patrick tried to live a normal life back home with his rock band and avoidance of the mundane, he loved luxury in the relaxing life of his holidays. He had a housekeeper and a gardener keeping an eye on his house, and had reassured Nat that if they wanted meals made, any shopping done that Juanita would be more than happy to oblige. 

It was late in the evening by the time they’d unpacked, so they sat on the terrace with champagne and a hastily dragged together meal. They had no need to venture further, and were happy to sit and relax, watching the ships on the horizon negotiating the Straits of Gibraltar.

They spent two days walking around the shops, bars and restaurants of Malaga, it was a bustling city and they loved strolling hand in hand through the streets. One evening though Juanita tipped them off about a very quiet beach a few miles along the coast.

Once they parked the car at the deserted beach they were in love. The sea was shallow, and they could walk in the knee deep water talking and laughing, they had brought a picnic which they shared as they dried in the sun from a swim in the waves further out.

“I don’t know when I’ve been this happy!” She offered as she lounged replete after eating, her head in his lap, eyes closed as he stroked the damp hair from her face.

“This is bliss!” He agreed. “I don’t take holidays, you were right Becca, I’ve spent all my life working....but we are definitely going to do this again.”

She laughed, “if we never do I’ll remember this day forever!”

“You will?” he squinted at her, trying to avoid the bright sun.

She nodded as she opened her eyes, “it's perfect...you're perfect!”

Nate pulled her up into his arms and kissed her fiercely, his tongue sliding between her lips. His hands ran up her body to sit on her ribs, just below her breasts.

“So are you, and I know this is hard for you, I won’t hurt you! Ever.”

She shrugged, “you can’t say that, we don’t know what is around the corner. But for now, I’m happy.”

He pulled her alongside him to stretch out on the blanket, “I know I’ve got family problems, they are not the most conventional. But if there was a choice....it’d be you. I've told you that. Already I want more of what we have, I swear.”

She held a finger to his lips, “don’t ever say that. My dad chose my mother, turned his back on his family....it was the start of all the problems.”

“Will you tell me about it? About them?”

She shrugged, “to tell you is to think about it, unlock that box.”

“But on the other hand, sometimes it helps to share the load. If we are going to spend the rest of our lives together then we need to share these things.”

She rolled on to her back and closed her eyes, throwing an arm across her face.

“My father came from a decent family. My mother was the daughter of the local barmaid. They were seeing each other for a while when my mother who was still only 16 got pregnant. My father’s family went mad, he was in his first year at Oxford. They threw money at my mother, trying to get her to get rid of me. My father wasn’t sure what he wanted, other than he loved my mother. 

“In the end my father was pushed into a corner, and told he had to return to Oxford and never see my mother again. That night they ran away.”

She turned to look at him, “my father’s father, I can’t use the term grandfather, was a powerful man, they were both scared. So they made their way to Brighton, with literally a few hundred pounds. My dad didn’t have any skills, had never worked. He got a few bar jobs, but wasn’t very good. Just after I was born he managed to get a job on a farm. We had a really small house on the farm ground. They were happy, but my father always wanted us to have more. We didn’t have any luxury, no holidays and he'd grown up with every luxury.

“He died when I was six, a wall collapsed on to him, an accident, my mother never really recovered, she grieved him every day until she took her own life, I came home from school to find police outside the door...”

She sat up and wiped furiously at her eyes, “she’d taken too many pills. The farmer and his wife took me in for a few days, but they were elderly. So I went in to care.”

He was sitting now, and pulled her into his arms, “that’s awful. Poor you.”

She was crying now, silent tears flowing in torrents.  “Never joke and say you’ll choose, it's not a solution. No good would ever come.”

“I would never need to choose darling,” he tilted her face to look at him. “I need nothing from my father, I have my own money, my own home, my father has no power over us.”

She shrugged trying to wipe away the tears; he brushed her hands away and used his thumbs to clear her cheeks.

“I love you; I've already told you that, it may have only been a few months, but I already can't imagine live without you. As for my family, we are independent of them, not the teenagers your parents were. Don’t you see the difference? What happened to you was a terrible thing, but it was just that a tragedy. Don’t let it affect us. Ok? If I never spoke to my family again we would do more than survive. And I don't think I'd miss them.”

For all his words Bec was unsettled the rest of the day, she believed that he loved her, believed that he'd choose her, but she knew that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted him with no conditions, no sacrifices, and mostly no blame! The day was far more sombre after their talk, and soon they headed back to the villa.

Nate found her deep in thought on the veranda once he’d unpacked the remainders of the picnic. 

“Let’s go out!” He announced circling her waist from behind. “I think you could do with getting your mind off this. I was hoping that a problem shared would be a problem halved. Instead it's preoccupying you and I'm sorry for that.”

“ I’m just thinking about my parents, I’ve spent so long hating them both for abandoning me, and hating their parents for abandoning them.” She turned to look at him, “Now I realise they were just young, and scared.”

He kissed her forehead, “We are neither of those things. And," he kissed her nose, "when we get home, we’re going to go and visit their graves, adorn them with flowers, and not neglect them ever again.”

She fell against him, “you always say the right things. You are a very wise man!”

He laughed, “no I’m not, I’m just having some luck here!”

She chuckled, “shall we go out and get pissed? I want to see you looking giggling and doing silly things again!”

“Once I've been drunk! So I got emotional! You don't have to rub it in!”

She laughed, “It was...endearing!!”

When it was the two of them just living they got on so well, there was something to be said for being free of family and friends, then there was the endless sun filled days, the wonderful food, and the erotic ends to each day. As they made for the airport, Rebecca wondered if she'd ever feel this happy and carefree again.

Landing on a gloomy day was an instant reality check. As they made for a taxi back into London, Nate's phone started to ring and he was engrossed in work issues, whereas Bec had two hours to get to Bella’s to pick up her dress, the next day they were heading for the country. And she was dreading it.