Addicted To Greed (22 page)

“Thanks for your reassurance, I feel a lot safer now!”

Anthony gently patted Destiny on the back, making his way to
the upper deck, Spencer and Paul followed. Spencer called
down, “Don’t worry we´re just making some maintenance
checks before we start sailing, come along if you want!”

Destiny slowly made her way up the stairs towards the three of
them, with a renewed interest and enthusiasm asking if there
was anything she could do, expecting them to say no.

Paul asked her to come over and give him a hand with the sails.

“Our destination lies upwind,
from directly astern the sails
propel the boat forward because of “lift” created by wind
blowing across them, not by wind pushing against them.”

“Ok
, I think I get it, so is the wind generating the boats
movement?”
“Of course by trimming the sails in tighter it’ll keep them full
and generate a lift of the sails, here have a go.”

Paul slowly placed
Destiny’s hands where his had been not
letting go and guided her to keep turning through the wind and
soon the sail will fill on the other side of the boat.

“It’s called tacking, it’s hard at first but soon as you get the hang
of it you get to know how to sail the wind, it’s a great feeling!”

Destiny found herself enjoying it, she caught Spencer glancing
over with his pearly white smile, giving her the thumbs up, she
couldn’t help but returning it with one of her best smiles.

“Hey Destiny you’re doing a marvelous job, carry on the good
work!”

Destiny felt
the strong arms of Spencer’s father on her
shoulders, tapping them again gently on her back as though she
was one of the boys, part of their clan. She was glad of all their
approval and gradually her confidence began to pick up, she
could do it, she could feel the boat pick up speed. When she
was no longer needed tacking and Paul came to relief her she
couldn’t help but notice how all three of them worked so well
together, no disagreements, no fuss just a respected quietness for
the boat, she felt glorious to be on board sharing this, nipping
herself on occasion to ensure she was here and it wasn’t another
of her elaborated dreams. She couldn’t wait to tell Ella all the
details, yet she wanted this date to go on forever.
Spencer came under to join her on the lower deck, putting his
arm around her, congratulating her on her first sail. She met his
eyes at the same time and the same electricity that seemed to go
all the way through her body from earlier this morning came
surging back. She was no stranger to how the body worked and
the chemical reactions humans get, but this was far stronger than
anything she had ever felt, even stronger than her first kiss with
a guy called Edwin in junior high before leaving the disco but
she couldn’t possibly compare the two because what she was
feeling now wasn’t puppy love, it was a whole lot stronger and
she somehow felt quite weak by it, she couldn’t resist Spencer
even if she wanted to.

As if reading ever one of her thoughts Spencer began to lead her
down the hall to his room.
“What about your father and brother, surely they’ll notice that
we’ve just disappeared!”
“Don’t worry the big boys will be up there for at least another
two hours, they won’t disturb us!”

Destiny
wasn’t convinced but without further warning Spencer
pulled her onto the bed and whispered, “Shall we finish off what
we started this morning sweetheart?”

She heard herself whispering
yes
.

They slowly undressed each other, admiring
one another’s
naked beauty, their breathing becoming more urgent as they
began to make sweet slow love over and over again, and it was
magical.

“You don’t know how long I have wanted this, since the first
day I saw you at St John’s, with your pink sweater around your
shoulders and you tight white jeans showing off your great
curves and lean stomach. You just stood there like a little girl
lost and I wanted so much to approach you and show you the
way!”

“Then may I ask why you didn’t young man? A lady needs all
the help she can get when she’s lost!”

“I
dunno why, I guess I just couldn’t bring myself to confront
you, besides I thought that maybe you were out of my league
and would just brush me off with one of your perfectly
manicured hands.”

They both broke out in to laughter.

“
Okay I have a confession aswel, I’ve been watching and
admiring you for some time on the football field, so much so,
my psychology professor caught me in the act! You’re a hell of
a distraction in your sexy shorts, but I guess I was just too shy to
approach you, in the event you reject me like you did with my
friend Audrey!”

“Wow! Some confession, I wish I’d have known and maybe we
could have hooked up sooner. No offence to your friend but she
just isn’t my type and besides my best friend has a major crush
on her!”

They both lied there talking and laughing, enjoying each other’s
nakedness agreeing that they should have done this sooner.
“So Destiny Pearson, woman of my dreams would you consider
going steady with me now?”
Destiny started to laugh.
“Why not, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do.”

Chapter 10
“Ella, you’ll never guess what?”
Destiny couldn’t contain her excitement any longer.
“What is it? You know what time it is right?”

“Yeah, I know sorry to call you so late, but it, I couldn’t wait
any longer!”
“What’s happened Destiny? You’re beginning to worry me
now?”

“I have just had my first date with a wonderful guy called
Spencer Pratt, it was amazing Ella the best. I think I’m already
in love!”

“Oh my god, that’s great, I want to hear all about it, shall we
meet at Fargo’s tomorrow on my lunch break?”

“No, not Fargo’s
, please, how about the new Italian restaurant
that just opened over in Gladstone Street, what times your lunch
break?”

“Why not Fargo’s it’s your favorite?”
“It’s a long story sis, I’ll explain tomorrow, besides I fancy a
breaking the habit of a lifetime!”
“Ok, why not! I’ll meet you there around 12.30?”
“Yeah, that’s great, but try not to keep me waiting again. I
really need to share my good news with you and it can’t wait!”
“Don’t hang up yet, is there anything I can get for Broody?”
“Maybe a soother for his new teeth, they’re coming thorough by
the dozen and his old ones ready for the bin!”
“Poor little man, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Good we´re both at our wits end; better hang off now he’s
screaming. See you tomorrow and don’t keep me waiting!”
“No chance of that, hope you manage to get a good night’s
sleep. Sorry to ring so late.”

Destiny waited until she heard Ella hang up, feeling guilty she
had disturbed her sisters precious sleep. She knew Ella didn’t
have an easy time especially after Ian announced he was leaving
her and Broody as he couldn’t handle the thought of being a
father.

Here Destiny was enjoying her late teenage years doing the
opposite of her sister, she couldn’t yet imagine what it would be
like to have a child of her own, giving up all her life to look after
a child, she was far too selfish for this yet, maybe in her late
twenties or early thirties when she figured out what she wanted
to do with her life, she could think about bringing her own child
in to this world. A major deterrent being child labor itself! After
the birth of her beautiful nephew Broody in which she was
present, Ella had been in so much pain and distress due to
complications of Broody´s breach position, he remained
insistent on keeping until the last few remarkable hours of her
labor, where he miraculously turned around. Destiny
remembered her poor sister opting for all the pain relief that was
available, gas and pethidine, the good old gas mask and the
spinal incision epidural. Destiny sat and observed it all while
Ella was screaming and shouting in excruciating pain, taking it
out on everybody or anybody. Destiny couldn’t help wonder
where that elusive boyfriend of Ella’s was, bloody Ian
Dumbridge? Instead of his hand to squeeze, the long duration of
Ella’s stages of labor, the moment both parents are both suppose
to share... Ella only had Destiny and her small hand to take it out
on and by hell she did, Destiny knew her sister had a temper all
her life and she had managed to avoid it until then, so much so
Destiny burst into tears, Ella was calling her all the names under
the sun.

“Bitch, you bitch, you horrible
cow, why is this happening to me
and not you, how can you just sit there all so perfect when I am
in this much fucking agony?”

Destiny was advised by a pretty young nurse, who was going off
shift to ignore her sister’s profanity.

“It’s
normal for the birth mother to take it out on anyone who’s
present, try and understand she doesn’t mean these words you’ll
see all in good time”

Destiny found she was speechless that this young nurse
couldn’t
have been much older than herself, she had been present for the
last eleven hours of Ella’s labor and now it was time for her to
go home, whilst she was making her way out of the ward, she
signaled Destiny over with her index finger.

“Try and be patience with your sister, when the baby comes
along the labor will be long forgotten trust me and all you and
your sister will be able to focus on is the little one!”

“Yeah, right and how can you be so sure of that?”

“I am talking from experience, I was only seventeen when I
gave birth to my son Christopher and my boyfriend left me
before the birth, so I only had my poor mother there when I was
in labor and apparently I gave her pure hell as well as all the
nursing staff. One nurse refused to treat me because I was so
abusive! It’s the pain you see, I was lashing out at everyone, and
I had little recollection of it as soon as I held my beautiful boy in
my arms.”

“Wow
, I guess I’ll just have to take your word for it, thanks for
the advice, to be honest I was ready to walk at any minute, my
sisters never spoken to me like this before and it’s really
upsetting. I guess it’s my inexperience of all this, I have never
seen a baby come into this world and the thought of it terrifies
the life out of me.”

“
Just try and put yourself in your sisters position, this is her first
baby, she’s probably more terrified than any of us here and
there’s nothing comparable to the pain of the contractions, just
try and reassure her that it will soon be over.”
“I will and thanks again.”

“Don’t mention it, I’ll be back on shift at eight in the morning
and I’ll be sure to look in on your sister and the baby.”

With that the nurse took off looking back at Destiny once giving
her a wink. Destiny recalled if it wasn’t for that nurse she
doubted she would have stuck around for much longer, but
luckily she did and within the hour Broody was born via forceps
as Ella had no strength left to push and Destiny was the first
person to hold her nephew. The birth of Broody changed
Destiny in a way she never thought possible, she became the
greatest aunty she could be, over spoiling him, buying him
designer grows and booties, spending all her spare time with
him, nursing him, talking and playing with him. Ella didn’t get
much of a look in when Destiny was around, she seemed to
welcome her company as Ian Dumbridge had done the dirty on
her and left just before little Broody was born. Destiny moved
in with Ella and Broody, their mother didn’t seem to mind as
long as she gave her word that she would help and keep up with
her schoolwork, their father was outraged at the birth of his first
grandchild “Born out of wed lock, with little or no financial help
from the father, If I were you Ella I´d consider adoption!”

Destiny remembered that this is when Ella cut ties with their
father and told him to stay out of her affairs as they no longer
concerned him. It wasn’t long after the birth of Broody that
Destiny noticed that Ella became more and more withdrawn
from the world outside, from morning until bedtime Ella
wouldn’t even bother to get out of her dressing gown, brush her
hair or pay any attention to herself anymore, Ella began to lose
interest in her strict diet she had put herself on after the birth as
she had gained over three stone during her pregnancy and began
to overeat, ordering takeaways every evening, not bothering to
clear the empty cartons of food.

Destiny knew her sister missed Ian as she had confessed that he
was the only guy she had ever really loved and Destiny put it
down to this at first, but as Ella’s behavior deteriorated to the
point that she would only get out of bed when Broody needed
changing or feeding, Destiny began to worry. Destiny looked
into her sister’s lifeless eyes day in day out and decided to
mention Ella’s behaviour to the mid wife on her next visit.
Destiny wasn’t worried for Broody he had everything he needed,
especially as she was there to make sure he also had some fun
and plenty of days out of the house that Ella was beginning to
make into her own prison. Every time Destiny broached the
subject of a day out, the more Ella began to withdraw. After
explaining this all to the midwife, the midwife ran over the
likelihood of Ella having post natal depression, which was quite
common after the birth. Destiny felt like she was betraying her
sister on some level, by talking to the mid wife behind her back,
the mid wife asked Destiny a series of questions, several of
which she didn’t like the sound of “Does Ella respond to
Broody’s needs?”
Destiny recalled looking at the midwife with a mixture of
confusion and shock and replied, “Of course she does, and
Broody gets all the attention he needs.”

“Okay Destiny what I am trying to establish her is if Broody is
in any danger!”
“What do you mean danger?”

“Sometimes with post natal depression the mother becomes
withdrawn from her child and this can result in the child
becoming neglected in some form or another, the child’s needs
can be too demanding and the mother may feel a little
overwhelmed by them. I need to establish if there’s a risk factor
present here with Broody?”