Sign of the Times (43 page)

“This is Ben,” said Jennifer.
 
Holly appraised Jennifer’s boyfriend and liked him instantly. Dressed in a pale blue shirt, navy chinos, no tie and with his top button undone, he seemed very down to earth.
 
Her friend had chosen well.
 
Enthusiastically Holly hugged him and kissed him on both cheeks.

“Nice to meet you, Ben,” she said genuinely.
 
She led them into the hall and after they had put their masks on, she signalled for drinks to be brought.
  
No sooner had she found them a place to stand and admire the décor, when she saw movement at the door again and excused herself to greet her latest guests.

“Wow, would you look at this place,” said Jennifer.
  
She focussed on a backdrop of the Grand Canal, with all the houses simply disappearing into the water, one or two steps being all that separated the canal from the residences.
  
She giggled when she saw the gondolas.
  
“Let’s try one of those out,” she said.
 
Ben smiled at her.
  
Maggie rolled her eyes.

“C’mon then,” she said.
 
Some guests would prefer to stand at the bar or at the many high bar tables dotted around the room.
 
But Jennifer wanted to fully experience the launch the way she thought Holly had intended.
 
She snorted as she almost fell into the gondola, even with Ben’s assistance.
 
Maggie wasn’t convinced.

“Come on Mags. Don’t be a spoilsport.” That clinched it then. In she went.
  
The three of them sat in their four person gondola, sipping their champagne.
  
A gondolier passed by with canapés; bruschetta with a choice of sun-dried tomato, parma ham and gorgonzola, which they readily accepted.

Shortly afterwards, Holly returned.
 

“Some writer friends,” she confided.
 
“They’re nice, but I’d rather hang out with you guys. Where‘s the canapé man. I’m starving!” She edged her way into the gondola, careful not to catch her dress and waved encouragingly to a waiter circulating with canapés.
 
Tom and Carl arrived just then and took the gondola next to them.

“I’d sit with you guys, but that would involve clambering back out of the gondola and I’ve only just managed to get in,” Holly explained.

“No problem Hols,” Carl told her not to worry. “No offence taken,” he grinned.

“Love the décor.”

“Me too.
 
The girls have done a great job.”

“So, you lot,” she said, turning to Jennifer and co, “What’s the goss? I haven’t seen you in ages,” and she settled back to listen.

“Well, we’ve been house-hunting, as you know.
 
We’ve another few places to look at the day after tomorrow. Originally it was meant to be tomorrow, but then I thought we’d probably be pretty hungover after tonight,” smiled Jennifer.

“Too right,” said Holly.
 
“So have you seen anything you like so far?”

“It’s hard to say. Obviously we need something that’s big enough for us and Mum.
 
We’ve been showing her schedules.”

“Where have you been looking?” Holly asked.

“Mainly in Ayrshire, but we’ve looked at places in Johnstone, Kilbarchan and Kilmacolm too.”

Turning to Maggie, Holly enquired politely if she was still staying in the West End.
 

“Actually I’m just about to move.”

“Oh yes, where to?”

“I’ve taken a post with the VSO, so I’m doing a year’s placement in St Vincent.”

“St Vincent!” Holly was agog.
 
“Lucky bugger. What are you going to be doing there?”
 
As Maggie launched into how she would be teaching the locals about AIDS and its long-reaching effects and about how she would be educating them to be more sexually aware, the occupants of both gondolas listened intently.
   
She was just getting into her stride, when Maria arrived to tell Holly a journalist from
The Guardian
was on his way up.
 
Telling Maggie once again how lucky she was, but how admirable too, she left to greet the first of the Media.
  
I hope she holds onto him,
thought Holly, looking back over her shoulder at Jennifer.
He looks like a keeper.

Jennifer had given Holly the low down on their relationship so far.
 
They’d almost broken up, due to Ben’s soon to be ex-wife causing a scene. It hadn’t helped that Ben hadn’t seen fit to tell Jennifer he was in the middle of divorce proceedings or that he was still technically married.
 
But Jennifer had decided not to hold a grudge.
 
Life was too short and she’d had very
few
chances of happiness in the last few years, so she wasn’t about to let this one get away from her. Holly could only think her friend was right.

As the correspondent from The Guardian strode through the entrance hall of the City Chambers, he spoke into his Dictaphone, commenting on the exquisite mosaic of the Glasgow Coat of Arms on the hall’s floor and the Japanese style tapestry depicting the city’s past and present which hung on one wall.
  
Climbing the marble and alabaster staircase leading to the Banqueting Hall, he admired the granite and marble pillars.
 
A gondolier greeted him as he entered the Banqueting Hall.
 
Accepting the mask offered him, he was just admiring his reflection in a handily positioned mirror, when Holly descended upon him.
  

“Marcus, how are you?” Holly greeted him warmly.
 

“Great. You look magnificent.”

“Thank you. You don’t brush up too badly yourself,” she smiled at him.
 
“Well, you’re the first of the Press to arrive, so you get extra marks for punctuality. Would you like an exclusive preview?”

“Definitely,” and linking his arm in hers, he let himself be led away to the other end of the hall, where Holly told him all about her latest trip to Tuscany.
 

Maria had settled into the vacant spot Holly’s absence had created in her gondola and was graciously trying to find out all she could about Holly’s friends.
  
She had arrived just as Maggie had been telling Holly she was going to do some voluntary work in St Vincent. How exciting.
 
It wasn’t even like going to work in Africa, where missionaries had been posted for years and certainly since she was a little girl attending Mass every Sunday and they were asked to pray for them. It was the Caribbean. Lucky sod.
 
Holly hadn’t mentioned too much about Maggie to Maria, as she was really Jennifer’s friend, but apparently she’d had a bit of a tough time of it in the past.
 
Things certainly appeared to be looking up for her now.

Maggie filled them all in on her new life and said she couldn’t wait to fly out next week. She had done most of her packing. It was a bit sad that she could actually fit most of what mattered in her life to her into two suitcases, she said.
 

“Jennifer’s taking more than that on the cruise,” Ben piped up good-naturedly, ducking to avoid a blow from his girlfriend.

“That’s not true,” she protested. Ben grinned and Maggie simply said, “I know what you’re like. I bet your poor mum gets about ten percent space in the cases.”

“Rubbish,” Jennifer said dismissively.
 
“Mum’s even asked me to buy her some new outfits.”
 
This was big news.
 
Due to her mother’s bedridden state and their woeful financial status, she hadn’t bothered to renew her wardrobe in the last few years.
 

“Is she looking forward to the trip?” Maggie asked.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.
 
She’s worse than a child, but I don’t grudge her a bit of it.
 
She deserves it with everything she’s been through. So do I,” she said as an afterthought.
 
It was manna from heaven, being given the lifeline from the travel company who arranged the competition she’d won.
 
She was so ecstatic when she received the letter informing her she’d won the top prize.
 
Concerned it might be a scam, she read it carefully and checked that there was no, ‘calls to this number will last approximately eight minutes and cost one pound fifty a minute’ small print and then she called the London number.
 
Only when the girl on the other end asked her about the dates and her travelling companion’s name, did it hit her she couldn’t go. Her mother needed round the clock care and couldn’t possibly travel.
  
She explained that she’d need to get back to them and about her mother’s situation and the girl had asked if she could put her on hold for a moment.
 
A few minutes later, her supervisor came on the line and said there were full time carers on board.
 
They were due to leave on the twenty third of December for two weeks, cruising the Caribbean.
 
Maybe next year she’d be able to go on a short break with Ben.
 
Her new employer had been most understanding of her need to take holidays so soon and she was convinced she had done the right thing in going to work for him.

A waiter brought more canapés and the gondolas soon filled up with guests. As she accepted a goat’s cheese crostini, Jennifer took in the waiter’s black and white striped top, black trousers, red neckerchief and straw boater with red ribbon and suppressed a giggle.
 
Holly had outdone herself this time. She really knew how to throw a party. Maria gave her a conspiratorial smile, as if she had guessed what was filling Jennifer with mirth. Once the gondolier had passed to the next boat, Jennifer leaned over and said, “You’ve done a fantastic job.
 
It’s so decadent. So over the top.”

“I know,” grinned Maria. “I love it. It’s been one of the most fun events I’ve ever done.”

Czeslawa and Anastazy sidled up just then.
 
“Have you seen Holly?” Czeslawa asked.

Maria shook her head.

“Last I saw she was with some journalist,” Tom said.
 
“I’ve barely exchanged two words with her all night,” he said mournfully

“Oh right. Antonia and Jack are here,” she said.

“We’ll let her know if we see her,” said Ben.

“I’ll go and say hi,” said Tom, getting up.

“Hi Antonia, Jack, Oscar,” Tom said, shaking their hands in turn.
 
“Holly’s otherwise engaged, somewhere,” he said.

“How are things? I take it the kids aren’t coming?” Tom guessed.

“Yes, that’s right. Things are fine. Jack and I popped in to see Lucy before we came over.
 
She’s OK, gutted to be missing this though,” Antonia said.

“Yes, she likes a good party. She would have loved this.
 
Are the kids looking forward to the holiday?”

“They can’t wait. I think it’s all that’s been keeping Felix going.
 
Something to look forward to,” said Jack.

“Well, that’s to be expected, with all that’s happened.”
 

It was the understatement of the century.
 
It had been a trying year for their family.
 
Felix in particular needed a proper break, after defending the accusations of rape made against him.
 
Formally charged, he’d had to go through the indignity of DNA and other tests, even though any real forensic evidence would be long gone and still wouldn’t prove if sex had been consensual.
 
Compounded with the Chinese whispers that spread around their middle-class neighbourhood regarding him, it was no wonder it had been such a low time for him. He’d lost so much weight he looked emaciated. If you didn’t know better, you would think he was a junkie, but that’s what stress could do to you, when you were accused of a crime you didn’t commit.
 

In the end he’d been lucky. The girl’s story didn’t add up.
 
She was more pregnant than she’d let on.
 
It came out in the forensic evidence that she’d already had at least one previous sexual partner.
 
She’d finally broken down in court, in front of a disbelieving father and sobbed that Felix hadn’t raped her.
 
They’d had sex, but it was she who had foisted herself on him.
 
She thought her father would kill her if she told him she was pregnant, never mind pregnant to a thug whom her father knew well and had always professed a dislike for. So, she’d set her sights on a nice, middle-class boy. One her father could approve of.

The relief of Felix’s family was palpable.
  
However, the damage to Felix’s reputation was already done. The tabloids hadn’t waited to find out if he was guilty or not.
 
No, a middle-class, Prosecutor’s son, of course they were going to chase that story.
 
Jack had demanded they print a retraction, but it didn’t make much difference.
  
The seed was sown.
 
Jack had arranged for Felix to be tutored at home for the time being.
 
He was too raw to return to school.
  
His hopes of going to university next year were fading fast, but ultimately it depended how well his mind recovered from the ordeal he’d been through. So far he wasn’t coping well.
 
The holiday could be the turning point.