After the Dreams (Caroline's Company) (2 page)

Caroline switched off the
engine, and swung her leather clad legs out of the car. How did she drive in
those heels, he wondered. Suddenly he missed having the glamorous woman sitting
next to him, with her bare arms and silver bracelet, and some subtle perfume.

He felt sleepy, and as though
in a doze he heard voices, including Caroline’s rich low contralto, some
laughter, and then the clunk of the boot lid being shut.

The driver’s door opened, and Caroline swung herself back
into the car. Her bare arm brushed against him as she plugged in the seat belt.
Her perfume re-assured him.

‘Food next,’ she said as she
started the car.

*********************************

They stopped at a fast-food restaurant outside the town.
Andrew noticed that it bore the same logo as the water bottles and the cereal
bar.  As he consumed a cheeseburger and chips, Caroline, who was eating a light
chicken and bacon salad, looked with some concern at the boy’s meal.

‘Well at least it’s good wholemeal bread, and local organic
beef and cheese. How does it taste?’

‘Very good thank you.’ The ravenous boy hardly wanted to
pause between mouthfuls.

‘You really needed that didn’t you,’ the woman smiled, ‘and
you probably need the protein and the fat,’ she added more quietly.

The boy noticed that the staff
were very respectful towards Caroline, and when they came to leave she signed
something with a quick flourish.

‘Will you last till we get home now?’ she asked him as they
got back into the car. ‘It’s about a two hour drive from here. We’re quite
isolated.’

‘It’s a long way,’ the boy replied.

‘Yes, but it’s a good road, and most of us on the estate can
drive, so we can share the errands. Do you drive?’

She knew of course, but he didn’t know that.

‘No. There hasn’t been time in the year since my seventeenth
birthday. What with everything else.’

‘Well never mind,’ she consoled him. She felt deep sympathy
for the boy who had had a simply terrible time in London over the last few
months.

‘That’s one of the first things we can do. Plenty of space
on the estate for you to learn, and you can come into the town for your tests.’

‘Oh that would be good.’ The boy was grateful; he had always
wanted to drive.

He was still amazed at how the
woman next to him drove the big car so effortlessly in high heels!

He was comfortable now. Perhaps the future wouldn’t be so
bad.

He dozed off, then pulled himself awake.

‘Sorry.’

‘No problem. Do sleep if you want. The seat reclines if you
press that button on your left.’

He did, and the seat sank back.

‘Thank you.’

He could still see the green countryside flashing past, but
he fell asleep anyway.

Caroline glanced at the resting boy, noting again his slim
legs and slightly wide hips and bottom. She looked at the long hair and smooth
face, and smiled to herself.

This would be fun for all of
them she thought.

*************************************

Andrew woke as the car slowed down. They were approaching a
pair of large wrought-iron gates set in a high masonry arch. On each side of
the arch a high wall of old and mellowed stone stretched away along the road.

‘Welcome to the Caraway Estate,’ said Caroline. ’There’s
still about a mile and a half to go along the carriage drive, but you’ll get a
good view of the house soon.’ The gates swung back as the car approached. Andrew,
even in his sleepy state, realised that there must be some kind of remote
control. The drive swung left into a belt of trees, then right and then left
again. They emerged from the trees into a stretch of open grassland, then there
was another automated gate  and a steep many-arched bridge over a wide river.

 ‘The river goes right round the house and into the lake on
the south side. The lake is lovely for boating and swimming in the summer.’

There was more grassland with occasional groups of broadleaf
trees and red deer and sheep grazing; they were completely untroubled by the
car. 

‘We do have some interesting sheep, if you happen to like
sheep. Do you see the Herdwicks over there?’ Andrew could see a group of the russet-brown
animals. As the car swung round another bend the house came into view.

‘It’s not much really,’ said Caroline deprecatingly. ‘It’s
only late nineteenth century, but it’s very comfortable. I hope you’ll like
it.’

To Andrew, accustomed to the busy streets and much smaller
houses of suburban London, it looked enormous. The central block, with handsome
sash windows had a classically proportioned pillared portico.

‘It looks more Georgian, or Regency, than Victorian,’ he
said.

‘It does, doesn’t it!’ Caroline sounded pleased. ‘The owner
and architect had ideas of their own, as you’ll see. They were probably
regarded as being very old fashioned in their time. We’ve got the original
plans, with comments scribbled all over them. I’m glad you know about
architecture.’

‘Well, not so much architecture, it’s really engineering I’m
interested in, but I like good design and good styling.’

‘Then I hope you’ll be happy
with us. We try to keep it a very stylish house.’

There was another little bridge over a wide ditch, and metal
traps in the roadway lay flat as they approached.

‘That’s our ha-ha.’

Andrew had to struggle to remember what a ha-ha was.

‘It keeps the animals away from the house.’ Caroline saw the
frown on his face.

The car swept up the gravelled
driveway, and stopped in front of the portico. ‘We’d normally just drive
straight round to the stable yard, but since it’s your first time here we’ll
arrive in proper style. Here’s Sylvie!’

Another very good looking woman came down the steps to meet
them. She was a bit shorter than Caroline, and although both blonde women had
flawless complexions, (he had yet to learn about makeup!)  Andrew could see
that this new person was a little younger. She was wearing a grey skirt to just
above her knees, although he noted there was quite a high slit up her left
thigh. Her top was a bluish grey, with short sleeves, and a front that was high
enough to be respectable day wear, but low enough to hint at her swelling
breasts. Her feet were clad in light blue court shoes, with no more than a
three-inch heel. Round her neck was a silver chain, made of thin plates, almost
like a collar. She looked a bit like a young p.a, he thought, and didn’t really
expect her employer to greet her with quite such enthusiastic kisses.

‘Andrew this is Sylvie, my ... assistant, and my close
friend, Sylvie this is Andrew who has escaped from London to come to us.’

Sylvie took Andrew’s proffered hand, shook it, pulled him
towards her and kissed him on both cheeks. ‘Welcome to the Estate,’ she said in
a friendly voice which sounded sunny and cheerful and....

Andrew shook his head as though to clear his ears.

‘You must be very tired, you poor thing. Shall I make some
tea Caroline?’

‘I’m sure that Belle has already got the kettle boiling. If
you could show Andrew to his room and let him get comfortable, then we’ll have
tea on the terrace.’

‘Of course. Oh what’s that?’ Sylvie had seen the box on the
back seat.

Andrew released the seat belt and fetched out the travelling
box.

‘You have a little cat! What’s her name?’ Somehow Sylvie
knew the cat was female.

‘Aphrodite, after the Greek goddess of...’

‘Oh yes, we know about Aphrodite in this house, don’t we
little cat? And Aphrodite sounds much nicer than Venus don’t you think?’

‘But aren’t...’

‘We’ll have to be careful when we let her out,’ Sylvie cut
the boy off. ‘In case she gets scared and runs away. Come on.’

Holding the handle of the travelling cat-box in one hand,
she held out the other to the boy, and led him through the open doors into a
cool vaulted hallway.

There was a marble statue of
three naked women in the centre, and Andrew recognised Canova’s Three Graces.
Surely it couldn’t be the original? Wasn’t that in Scotland now? Sylvie glanced
at him, looked as though she was going to say something, but smiled and led him
up the graceful sweeping stairway.

Caroline smiled at their
departing backs, turned to look at the parkland they had just driven though,
basking in the afternoon sun, and then followed them up the wide stone steps
and into the house.

*****************************

Sylvie had shown the boy the way out on to the terrace.

‘Andrew, I’m so sorry about your luggage. It obviously got
mixed up at the charity shop. I’ve rung them, so it should be quite safe.’

‘I’m sorry to be a nuisance.’

‘You’re not the nuisance. It’s
my fault. At least you’ll have no problem with toothbrushes and things, and I’m
glad Sylvie found you some clothes to make do with.’

Andrew had been almost shocked by the luxurious room Sylvie
had taken him to. The bathroom was huge, with a large sunken tub set into the
floor and a separate wet room with several shower heads.

There were thick warm white towels and cupboards full of
soaps and lotions. The king size bed was covered in a white duvet, but the
mound of pillows was red and orange, almost coppery in colour.

From the drawers and the
wardrobe Sylvie had found him a silky shirt that was cut fairly full, and a
pair of stretchy jeans that were very comfortable indeed. She had also found
him something like boxer shorts that he suspected were actually French
knickers. The sandals on his feet had a slightly raised heel, but as Sylvie
said, they would be more comfortable than trainers on this warm evening. She
had shown him drawers full of other clothes, including warm socks and jumpers,
and shown him where there were more shoes if he needed. They all seemed to be
in his size, although most were obviously in women’s styles. In the big mirrors
in the room, when he looked at himself before he followed the girl out onto the
landing, he was worried that he looked a bit girly, but he didn’t really mind.
Secretly inside himself, he could admit that he quite liked it.

‘Yes, they’re quite comfortable really,’ he told Caroline.

‘You look nice in them, and your hair suits you like that.’

After his shower, Sylvie had shown him how to use the very
up-market hair dryer, and had looped his hair back into a very loose pony-tail.
Some of his hair had come loose, and fell down his cheeks.

‘Thank you,’ he almost stuttered. ’Thank you Caroline.’ He
wasn’t used to being complimented on his appearance, and certainly not his
hair, which most people told him was just too long, and which he had avoided
having cut owing to a certain obstinacy, and other... feelings.

‘Let’s have some tea, and would
you like some of this fruit cake, or this iced sponge confection? They are
freshly made. Belle, Mrs Newcombe, our housekeeper is also a marvellous cook.’

As soon as Andrew had entered
the stone flagged hallway, he was struck by the scents of fresh flowers in the stone
vases, and as they had walked to the back of the house, by the warm smells of
baking coming from the kitchen.

Caroline poured him some tea, and he looked out over the
gardens and parkland towards the lake and distant hills.

‘We are fortunate living in this lovely place. I seem to
appreciate that more every day. I do hope you will like it here Andrew.’

Caroline smiled at him gently,
and for the first time in months Andrew felt some of his cares slip away.

Caroline had passed him a slice of fruit cake, and he had
just found that it tasted as good as it smelt, when Sylvie came out of the
house carrying the cat box.

‘I thought she should get to know us a bit,’ she said as she
sat down beside them. She drank some tea, then bent down (and Andrew had to
look away sharply to avoid seeing too far down her top) and opened the grill of
the box.

‘Shouldn’t we wait until....’ Andrew was concerned about his
cat.

Sylvie put a saucer down in front of the box, and poured a
little milk into it.

‘I know they shouldn’t really have milk’ she said, ‘but I’m
sure she’ll need something after all that time in that box.’

‘That’s alright. She drank milk
all the time at home. She doesn’t know she’s not supposed to have it. We always
made sure she had water as well,’ he added a little defensively.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Caroline.
‘Sylvie’s really good with animals.’

The small black head looked out of the open grill, then
emerged a little further, and looked carefully around. The little nose was
raised, and the smell was clearly as important to the cat as the view. Everything
passed her tests however, and she emerged from the box, and stretched herself.

‘Oooh, she is lovely,’ whispered Sylvie.

The little cat was jet black all over, but in the sunlight
her soft coat showed tiger stripes of an almost silvery grey.

‘What a beautiful little
animal,’ said Caroline. ‘I’m so glad you brought her. You couldn’t possibly
have left her behind.’

Andrew was almost in tears; seeing this last part of his old
life in this new, very beautiful,  but strange and unfamiliar setting.

‘Won’t she run away?’ His voice quavered.

‘Shhh.’ Caroline took his hand.

The little cat sniffed at the
milk, ignored it, came over and rubbed her head against Andrew’s ankle. She
stood still, and looked at Caroline for a long time, blinked and went back to
the milk. She lapped up a little, looked round at all of them again, and jumped
up into Sylvie’s lap. She turned round several times, and settled, purring
loudly.

‘Welcome home; Andrew and
Aphrodite,’ said Caroline quietly.

*****************************

He still felt a bit sleepy
after his long journey (at least that is why he thought he was sleepy) and the
glass of sparkling wine which was all he had drunk with the very nice meal made
him feel quite strange.