A Taste of Honey (14 page)

“We’re getting married.”

The liquid spurted from Will’s mouth. “Wha — What?” Charli handed him a napkin and he dabbed at the offending splashes. He swallowed noticeably. “What did you say, Steve?”

“I said your mum and me are tying the knot.”

Charli was stunned into immobility. “Married,” she murmured. He could have said murdered for the shock that was trundling through her. Dating, yes. Having a bit of fun together, why not. But marriage? That was the last thing she’d thought, no, wait, she hadn’t thought of that at all.

“Now don’t go on, children,” Ester said. “You heard correctly. Steven and I are going to be married, and we want you both to be happy for us.”

“My God, Mum, I didn’t know you knew Steve — um, you know — ” He ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Intimately.”

“Your mum and me haven’t been parted since the wedding,” Steve said. “We were attracted on first sight; and we went along with it.” He turned and kissed Ester on the mouth. “Didn’t we, ole girl?”

“We got to talking about the wedding and the arrangements, when we suddenly went off the track,” Ester was saying.

Oh, my God, please don’t let her go into the intimate details.
Charli took a long swallow of juice.

“Too right,” Steve said. “And the next thing we knew we were talking about our lives, how lonely we were and then — I mean it wasn’t planned or anything, but then — ”

“I get the picture,” Will said. “You both fell in love.”

Her dad and Will’s mum? Charli tried to come to terms with the suddenness of it. The mental pictures that were floating through her head of her dad and Ester coming down the aisle. She didn’t know how she truly felt. Pleased or disturbed? It was just so bizarre, that’s all.

She glanced at the happy couple, at the way her dad was holding Ester’s hand, and it came to her how wonderful it was for both of them. They had found each other and they’d never be lonely or afraid again.

Joy bubbled through her. She jumped from her seat and squashed herself between her dad and Ester. She threaded an arm around both their shoulders. “This is the most wonderful news ever.” She kissed Ester on the cheek. “You love my dad, and he loves you.” She sent Will the look.

He immediately stood and came over to the settee, forcing himself next to Ester. He kissed his mother on the cheek and said, “I couldn’t be happier for you, Mum.”

“Are you, dear? Are you truly happy for me?”

He nodded and reaching across took Steve’s hand. “Congratulations, Steve. Got anyone planned for best man?”

“Yeah, you, you little bugger.”

“And me for Matron of Honor,” Charli said.

“I wouldn’t have anyone else,” Ester said squeezing her hand.

“Do you want me to call you dad?” Will said.

Steve laughed. “We talked about this, me and Ester, and yes, we’d like very much for you kids to call us mum and dad.”

Ester took Charli’s hand. “Does it sit well with you, dear?”

Charli smiled. “Yes, Mum, it surely does.”

Will stood. “Calls for a celebration. I’ll get champagne.”

“Mum?” Charli said.

“Yes, dear?”

“Do you want me to arrange your wedding? I know a great wedding planner. She planned mine to perfection.”

Women are expected to love one man, however it is accepted for men to have multiple partners in their life. If women do have sexual contact with another man, they are seen as ruined or fallen.

Charli was ten minutes late when she arrived at Belgini’s, one of the most fashionable restaurants in Melbourne. Anyone who was anyone wanted to be seen here.

Near the front entrance on a hallstand sat a beautiful ceramic vase filled with tall-stemmed irises. The exterior gave little indication of what to expect. When you entered and moved downstairs via a narrow staircase the restaurant dramatically opened out.

Two beautiful high-ceilinged rooms flowing into one another had a quality of Oriental calm and simplicity. The background details were soft, not intrusive, unadorned windows and double French doors allowed for interesting natural light effects and lead to a delightful eating-out garden.

Ester was already seated at the table. Charli waved as she weaved her way through the tables. She sat opposite Ester who smiled brightly at her. “Charli, I do declare you look more ravishing every time I see you. How do you do it?”

Charli smiled back and gave a slight shrug to her shoulders. “It’s Mrs. Plunkett’s cooking. Before her I lived on take-outs, now she fills me full of greens.”

“Well, whatever she’s doing is right.” She tapped the menu with a brightly colored fingernail. “I ordered watercress soup, followed by a light Scallop and Prawn with Avocado salad.” Ester patted her ample thighs and sighed. “Why I bother to diet I can’t imagine. The weight seems to stick to my hips like glue. Do you have to go back to work?”

Charli hesitated. She had a lot of work in front of her. She glanced at Ester. “Not really,” she replied.

Ester eyes lit up and it pleased Charli. “Feel like some shopping after lunch?”

Charli nodded and took a sip of water.

“I saw this most divine dress in Eliot’s as I whizzed past. It’s you, I know it’s you, and I insist we go and try it on.”

Charli had the absurd image of Ester and her both squeezing into one dress and she smiled.

“How’s my son? Don’t tell me, I know. As grouchy as always I suppose? Exactly like his father, believe me the trouble I had with that man is beyond telling.”

The waiter placed the soup in front of them. As he moved away Ester caught his sleeve. “Where are the rolls, Andre?”

“Coming Madam,” he assured her.

Charli made a pretense of eating her watercress soup. She wasn’t the least bit hungry and eventually gave up trying.

They chatted about generalities while they waited for their salad. The conversation was pleasant and the atmosphere warm. The waiter placed their salads in front of them.

Charli had a nice feeling toward her soon-to-be mother. “Mum, I’m pregnant.” Not Mum, pass the salt, or Mum, can I have one of those rolls. Straight out. Go for the jugular.

Ester had just taken a bite of buttered roll, and crumbs crumbled from the corners of her open mouth. Charli couldn’t work out who was the more shocked, Ester for the learning or Charli for the telling.

Ester dropped the bread roll. “Pregnant,” she echoed. “Oh, my dear girl, this is too divine. A baby.” She patted her hair. “Although I’m far too young to be a grandmother.”

“You can develop along with the baby,” Charli said drolly.

“Your father will be beside himself. He was just saying the other night how much he was looking forward to being a grandfather.” She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, twisted off a piece of bread roll and placed it in her mouth. “How did William take the news of becoming a daddy? He’ll be shouting and hooting to the moon, he’ll be so excited and proud.”

“He’s very excited. We both are.”

A warm look passed across the older woman’s face. She reached across the table and pressed her hand on top of Charli’s “I know we haven’t really had time to get to know each other, but I want you to know how much I like you. Oh, I can see by the look on your face that statement surprises you. I admit that I was a little skeptical at first, but only because you were so different from the usual type of woman William took out.”

“That’s because you love my dad; it’s made you mellow toward me.”

“No, dear, that’s not it at all.” Ester picked up her fork and stabbed at a slice of ripe tomato. “I’m so glad you married my son and became my daughter,” she said sincerely and a gush of affection raced through Charli.

“Then I take it that you’re pleased about the baby?”

“Where is that waiter?” Ester signaled for the dessert menu and Charli waited while Ester studied the menu.

Charli half-rose in her seat. Ester spoke and she settled down. “Do you want mousse?”

“No thanks, Mum.”

“Oh dear, neither should I but I’m a weak woman for anything I like.” She smiled at the waiter. “Chocolate mousse, Andre, with just a dollop of cream.”

“Yes, Mrs. Knight.”

“Just a dollop, mind you,” she stressed. Then as the waiter turned to leave she tugged his coat. “Andre.”

“Yes, Madam?”

“And a dollop of ice-cream as well and some of those divine chocolate sprinkles.” She turned back to Charli. “What were we talking about?” she said vaguely. “Oh, yes, the baby. I know this delightful seamstress who makes the most wonderful baby layettes — ”

Charli looked around the restaurant. A back of a head. So familiar. She knew who it was; it was Will. Sitting in a corner far out of sight, with a beautiful blonde.

A sick sensation washed through her. She couldn’t handle this. She’d never thought him a cheat and a liar.

Then, when Will rose in his chair, leant over the table, and kissed this beautiful woman full on the mouth, Charli’s heart died.

Liar. Liar.

He was having an affair. She wasn’t enough for him. He’d never be satisfied. Never have enough women to ease his ego.

Of all the things she knew him to be, this wasn’t one of them. It dismayed her that Will was such a rat fink. That he cared for nothing in his life but women and sex. How could she have thought she loved him? Slobbering over his discarded dirty clothes as if they were a shrine to his male beauty. Curling up close to him each night breathing him in as if he were her life’s elixir.

He’d betrayed her.

She’d start a new life with her baby. Oh, she knew the velvet cords that tied them could never now be severed, that the baby held them together. Will would want to see his child, but as far as their marriage went, that was definitely over.

She stared helplessly at his mother scooping mousse into her mouth, still speaking between mouthfuls. Charli could see Ester’s bright red lips moving. Her fingers splaying in the air as she accentuated a point, but she didn’t hear a word Ester said. All she heard was the pounding of her heart.

Gullible and in love. A perfect combination for such a beast as William Knight.

How could she still love him?

She looked over at the table just as Will stood and took the woman’s hand. Arm in arm they left the restaurant.

During the era symbolized by the reign of Queen Victoria, women did not have suffrage rights, the right to sue, or the right to own property.

Charli threw clothes into a suitcase. She had to get away. She couldn’t face Will again. Tears burned; she blinked and they fell in torrents. A pain not unlike a knife pierced her heart.

When she’d first met Will she hadn’t wanted to share her life with him. Now she didn’t want to think of what her life would be like without him. He’d awakened a passion so strong it scared her. He was the only man she would love. She’d given him a part of herself she could never take back. The essential intangible part of her that was vital to her very existence, now it belonged to him. Without him, she was an empty shell. He owned her, body and soul.

She rummaged through her lingerie drawers, grabbing underwear at random and tossing them unceremoniously into the suitcase. She knew the man she had married. He was stubborn, yes, and he was determined to have his own way, but he was also sweet, kind, and generous and this was the part of Will she’d fallen in love with. She was wrong. Tragically wrong.

Pull yourself together. You’re falling to pieces and it’s not a pretty sight. You’re not the first woman to fall in love with the wrong man, and you won’t be the last.

She sat on her bed and twisted a tissue around her trembling fingers. She didn’t care. She would make herself not care. She had her child to think of.

Maybe she’d buy property not far from her father. She would raise her child where the air was fresh and clean, away from his father’s empire. Away from the fast lane his father always traveled in.

Ester and her dad had planned to spend six months at each other’s homes, that way pleasing both of them.

She’d go to Rich River for a few weeks, until she was feeling better inside herself and could make sane decisions about their future.

She knew Ester and her dad would be stressed and unhappy about her decision to leave Will and most probably wouldn’t understand her reasons behind her actions, but they would have to accept her decision.

It wouldn’t concern Will unduly. He’d run Knight Books alone, what he’d always wanted, not to work hand-in-glove with any woman. Why, he’d pick up his old life like it had never stopped. Women, dance, and song. The life he craved. The life he so deserved.

Will would be relieved that she’d let him off the hook so easily. Glad he was rid of the encumbrance of an unwanted wife. He only married her for the baby. To give their baby his name and protection.

She covered her face with her hands and sobbed as if her heart was broken, as she truly thought it was.

After a long, sad while, she controlled her sobbing and removing a tissue from the box on her dressing table, she wiped her eyes and blew her nose. She picked up the long black box lying next to the tissues. The pearls he’d given her lay snug and beautiful nestled in their black velvet. They gleamed and shimmered at her. She ran her fingertips lovingly across the perfect beads. If only life could be so perfect. She removed the earrings and twisted off the ring he’d placed on her finger on their wedding day alongside her engagement ring, placing it, with the earrings, on top of the black box where he was sure to notice it.

She grabbed her suitcase and took one long, last look around their bedroom.

She struggled to the garage lugging her suitcase. Opening the boot of her Ford Capri, she silently thanked God she’d insisted on keeping her own car even though Will had wanted to sell it. Something had prevented her from doing so and now she was glad. She wouldn’t use one of his vehicles. She’d rather crawl on her hands and knees to Rich River.

Will’s car pulled up. Transfixed, she watched him emerge from the car. “Will, what are you doing here?”

“My mother telephoned and told me she thought you weren’t well and that you’d acted strangely at lunch. Is anything wrong?”