Veiled Dreams (16 page)

‘No way. Absolutely not.’ But Jan was laughing. He was not as bossy as he used to be. He didn’t need to be as careful any more. Mr and Mrs Grant really thought he was great now. They could see beyond the long hair, the leather clothes and the motorbike. ‘You’ll have ordinary cake and like it.’

‘Oh but I want a piece with the pretty little leaf on it,’ whimpered Christina, pretending to be a spoilt child.

‘Certainly not. Not if you’re riding my bike today,’ replied Jan. ‘Anyway, it’s the first step towards addiction.’

‘Okay then.’ She gave in. He was right, of course. She sighed. Who would have thought six months ago how easily her mother would have given in to the idea of her learning to ride a motorbike at the private track which Jan’s father ran? She patted her new leather trousers and looked at her reflection in the bright shiny black helmet Jan had given her as a late birthday present. Now that she was really fit and well again, and there was no sign of any more seizures, she could use it at last.

As Jan made his way over to the counter to put in their order for two pieces of carrot cake and two glasses of orange juice, the door to the little café opened. A tall girl wearing a full burka came in.

Oh for the days of never having a bad hair day
, thought Christina as she tried to bring some order to her unruly black curls.

The girl seemed to have noticed her looking. Christina smiled. The girl’s eyes lit up and Christina knew that she was smiling as well, even though her mouth was well hidden. It was as if the eyes became more expressive because that’s all you could see.

‘I don’t know how they can do that,’ whispered Jan as he came back to their table with the cakes and drinks.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ replied Christina. ‘Wouldn’t you like to hide me away from other men?’

‘Well, maybe,’ replied Jan. ‘But all that stuff as well about their parents deciding who they should marry.’

‘Well!’ retorted Christina. ‘My folks approve of you don’t they, and your dad thinks I’m okay, doesn’t he?’

Jan stared at her as if she’d gone mad. ‘They didn’t use to though, did they?’ he said.

‘Oh, that’s because they were crazy. My accident brought them to their senses,’ replied Christina. She thought Jan still looked uncomfortable. ‘Oh, I don’t mean they want us to get married. I just mean they like us being together,’ she added quickly and then looked down at her cake.

A dull, little bit of carrot cake, sometimes called passion cake. Passion cake! She suddenly remembered something else from Ixeria and what she intended for today.

‘Okay, so I can’t have any magic cake, but there is something else I am old enough to do now,’ she said. She leant forward and kissed him hard on the lips. It was she who forced his mouth open, and to her delight, he didn’t resist.

He ruffled her hair. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Will you come back to my flat after the bike ride?’

Christina giggled as she thought of the condoms in her bag. She’d visited the family planning clinic the day before. She had planned this down to the last detail. She opened the bag and showed him.

‘You sweetheart,’ he replied. His eyes were shining and he was slightly flushed.

She loved him for how patient and considerate he’d been. But now the time was right and she loved him even more for giving in to it. Just like Philaderan. She really did have the best of both worlds.

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