Miranda Lee - Aunt Lucy's Lover

‘Slim?’ he went on.

‘Yes.’

‘What colour hair?’

‘Black.’

‘Long or short?’

‘Shoulder-length, but I always wear it up.’

‘How old are you? Approximately,’ he added quickly with humour in his voice.

‘Twenty-eight,’ Jessica said, having no reason to hide her age.

‘Really. You sound older.’

She tried not to take offence, and failed. ‘Well, you don’t,’ she snapped.

‘I don’t what?’

‘Sound as old as I thought you’d be. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were no more than thirty.’

His laughter might have been infectious under other circumstances. ‘You’ve no idea how many people say that to me, Jessica,’ he said. ‘But it’s some years since I saw thirty.’

Jessica wasn’t sure if she was mollified by that statement or not. She should have been relieved to find he was respectably middle-aged, but she didn’t feel relieved. She felt decidedly nettled. Mr. Slade was rubbing her the wrong way, for some reason.

‘I look young for my age, too,’ he volunteered. ‘But I try not to worry about it.’

She could hear the smile in his voice and bristled some more.

‘By the way, bring your swimmers and shorts with you,’ he added. ‘It’s pretty warm here at the moment. How long will you be staying?’

‘Just the month.’

‘Ah,’ he said with a long sigh. ‘What a pity. Still, we can talk about that more when you get here. I’m glad you rang, Jessica. I’m really looking forward to meeting you. I’m just sorry I can’t welcome you myself at the airport. I’ll try to get back by the time you arrive at the house. Au revoir for now. Have a good flight.’

He hung up, leaving Jessica not sure what she thought about him now. Clearly, he was middle-aged. He’d been most amused at her saying he sounded thirty.

If she were honest, she had to admit he’d been very nice to her, and not at all resentful of her inheritance. She wondered what he wanted to talk to her about. Did he hope to persuade her to stay and run the guesthouse? If he did, then he’d be wasting his breath. She had no intention of doing any such thing.

But she did want to talk to him. She wanted to find out everything he knew about her aunt. Maybe this Evie would know things, as well, depending on how many years she’d been Aunt Lucy’s cook.

Thinking of cooks reminded Jessica how hungry she was. Levering herself up from the bed, she headed for the door and the kitchen, dressed in nothing but her camisole and pantihose. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirrored wardrobe as she passed and recalled the rather bland details she’d given Mr. Slade. Twenty-eight, tall, slim, black hair, worn up.

Not much of a description. Difficult to form a complete picture. But she could hardly have added she had a face that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the cover of Vogue, and a body one of her lovers had said he’d kill for.

He had certainly lied for it, she thought tartly.

‘And what do you look like, Mr. Slade?’ she mused out loud as she continued on to the kitchen. ‘Tall, I’ll bet. And slim. Men who look young for their age are always slim. And you won’t be bald. No way. You’ll have a full head of hair with only a little grey. And you’ll be handsome, won’t you, Mr. Slade? In a middle-aged sort of way. And just a little bit of a ladies’ man, I’ll warrant.’

Jessica wondered anew if he’d really been her aunt’s lover, or just a good friend. He’d said nothing to indicate either way. Really, she hadn’t handled that call very well. She’d found out absolutely nothing! Mr. Slade’s youthful voice and manner had sent her off on a cynical tangent, and by the time she’d realised her mistake, the call had been over.

Still, it was only three days till Sunday. Not long. In no time she’d be landing at Norfolk Island airport and be right on the doorstep of discovering all she wanted to know.

A nervous wave rippled down Jessica’s spine, and she shivered. It had not escaped her logical mind that something pretty awful must have happened for her mother to lie like she had. Maybe she’d done something wicked and shameful, then run away from home. Or something wicked and shameful had been done to her, with the same result.

Jessica wasn’t sure what that something could have been. Whatever had happened, she meant to find out the truth. Oh, yes, she meant to find out everything!

JESSICA’S flight on Sunday morning took two and a half hours. Two and a half long hours of butterflies in her stomach. Some due to her fear of flying; most to fear of the unknown that awaited her on Norfolk Island.

She stared through her window the whole way, despite high cloud preventing a view of the ocean below. Not that she was really looking. She was thinking, and speculating, and worrying. It was only when they began their descent that the sight of the island itself jolted her back to the physical reality of her destination.

Goodness, but it was picturesque, a dot of deep tropical green within a wide blue expanse of sea. But so small! Jessica knew from the travel brochures that the island only measured five kilometres by eight. This hadn’t bothered her till she saw that the airstrip was even smaller. She hoped the plane could stop in time, that it wouldn’t plunge off the end of the runway into the sea.

The plane began to bank steeply at that moment, a wing blocking Jessica’s view of the island. All she could see was water—deep, deep water. Her insides started to churn. She did so hate flying, especially the landing part.

The plane landed without incident, thank heavens, quickly taxiing over to a collection of small terminal buildings. There was a short delay while everything was sprayed for God knows what and some lady with a foreign accent gave a brief talk over the intercom about the island and its rules and regulations.

Jessica rolled her eyes when she heard the speed limit was only fifty kilometres an hour around the island generally, and a crawling twenty-five kilometres an hour through the town and down on the foreshores at Kingston. Drivers were warned they had to give way to all livestock on the roads.

Lord, she thought with rueful amusement. This was as far removed from Sydney as one could get!

The formalities finally over, she hoisted her roomy tan handbag onto her shoulder and alighted, relieved to find that it wasn’t all that hot outside, despite the sun beginning to peep through the parting clouds. She’d worn a summer-weight pants-suit for travelling, a tailored cream outfit that didn’t crease. But it had a lined jacket and wasn’t the coolest thing she owned.

Her hair was cool, though, slicked back into the tight chic knot she always wore for work. Her makeup was expertly done to highlight her big dark eyes and full mouth. Her jewellery was discreet and expensive. A gold chain around her neck. Gold studs in her lobes. A gold watch around her slender wrist.

She looked sleek and sophisticated, and a lot more composed than she was feeling.

The short walk across the tarmac to the small customs building was enough for Jessica to see that whilst the air temperature felt moderate, the humidity was high. As soon as she arrived at her aunt’s house she’d change into something lighter.

In no time Jessica had secured her suitcase and was through customs. It seemed there was some advantage coming to tiny places like this. She’d barely walked into the terminal building when a funny little barrel-shaped woman with frizzy grey hair touched her on the arm.

‘You’d have to be Jessica,’ she said, smiling up at her.

‘And you must be Evie,’ Jessica responded, smiling back. Impossible not to. Mr. Slade had been right about that. Evie was the sort of person one liked on sight. She had a round face with twinkling grey eyes and a warm smile. She wore a shapeless floral tent dress and might have been sixty.