Faith - Lesley Pearse [48]
But stronger still than the image of Barney was that of Laura. Several times that day he peeped round the door to see if she was awake yet. And each time he looked he was stunned by her beauty. She lay on her side, one arm curled round her head, the other stretched out behind her, a glimpse of white breasts showing above her suntop. Her shorts were so brief he got an erection at the sight of her bottom, and he covered her up with a blanket because it made him feel guilty.
There was no doubt in his mind that he fell in love with her then, for when the others got up and he told them about her arrival, he found he was worried that one of the other five men would snatch her from him.
‘We cannae have a wean in the house!’ Ewan said, looking troubled. ‘We’ve got enough bother with the folks in the village as it is.’
‘You can’t send her packing now,’ Stuart said. ‘I don’t think she’s got anywhere else to go.’
By the time Laura woke up, Barney had charmed everyone, and as Laura had brought not only a box of groceries with her but a lump of best black Kabul, all reservations about them staying vanished.
It was a magical evening in every way, for it was warm enough to sit outside playing guitars and singing. The chilli someone cooked was good, and everyone was relaxed and happy.
Stuart couldn’t remember the names, or even many of the faces, of that bunch of hippies from London any more. Yet he could remember how he sat with his back against the trunk of an old apple tree surrounded by them, Laura beside him. Every now and then she would smile at him and put a hand on his arm, and he knew he was teetering on the edge of something mind-blowing.
He asked her about her husband during the evening, but she just put her finger on his lips as if to silence him. ‘Greg was the biggest mistake in my life,’ she said, and he could see sadness and regret in her eyes. ‘The only good thing to come out of our marriage was Barney. Don’t ask me any more about it, Stuart. I just want to put it behind me.’
Barney came and sat by him as it grew dark, and gradually his head slumped down on to Stuart’s legs as he fell asleep.
‘I should put him to bed now,’ Laura said. ‘Are we to sleep in that same room tonight?’
Stuart managed to lift the child up into his arms and stand up. ‘That’s my room,’ he said. ‘But I suppose I could find somewhere else to crash.’
‘You don’t need to,’ she said, once again touching his arm in that delicious familiar manner which made his pulse race. ‘I’ve got a couple of lilos and sleeping bags in my car – we could share the room. I looked around earlier and everywhere else is pretty rough.’
As he stood up from tucking Barney into the bed, she came right up to him, put her hands on his cheeks and looked straight into his eyes. ‘You are the sweetest man,’ she said softly. ‘You let me sleep, you took care of Barney, and now he’s got your bed. All without asking me anything.’
Then suddenly she was kissing him, her arms going round him tightly, and Stuart felt as though he was shooting off to another planet.
He shook himself out of his reverie as he finally reached Cellardyke, delighted to see it still looked much the same as when he was a child. The pub had been smartened up, with a restaurant above it, and the sweetie shop was now a hairdresser’s, but there were still washing lines on the tiny beach inside the harbour.