His Vampyrrhic Bride (13 page)

And do I really want to marry Nicola? I’ve not mentioned anything of the sort to her. Was it something I said in the heat of the moment to draw Dad’s attention away from the rest of the world for once? And to make him notice me properly?

What had been done in the last ninety seconds couldn’t be undone. He sensed his life would change in ways he couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Tom started to run. Because he needed to have an important conversation with Nicola Bekk – the kind of conversation which just couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

W
ater fell from the trees in great splotches. The leaves must have collected the raindrops until there was enough to tip out around a cupful in one go. Tom Westonby ran through the forest. Every so often a dollop of water burst on his head. He didn’t even notice. All he wanted was to catch up with Nicola Bekk.

She’d stormed away from the car believing he preferred time in France to her. Now Tom had gone and opened a Pandora’s Box. He’d released all kinds of terrible and exciting things that couldn’t be put back. Tom had just told his father (who was a kind and loving man) that he’d felt neglected as a child. Tom sensed the man’s shock. The words must have hurt so much. The truth was that the young Tom Westonby
had
felt neglected while his parents had devoted their lives to finding fresh drinking water for those people in Africa who were forced to drink, let’s face it, filthy slops from the bottom of a muddy hole.

Tom felt terrible at making the confession. Yet he felt relieved, too. The guilt at wanting at least a little of his parents’ attention had festered inside him for years. But then how could it be wrong for a young child to want to spend happy times with Mum and Dad?

Then he’d sprung the big surprise on his father. He’d told him he was going to marry Nicola Bekk. And his father had sprung an even bigger surprise. He’d promised to fight the marriage as hard as he possibly could. The man was determined to prevent Nicola becoming Tom’s wife.
So has Dad been listening to gossip about Nicola in the village?

Tom’s mind was in turmoil. The last ten minutes had seemed life-changing. He’d always got on well with his father; now he wondered if they’d end up hating each other.

He ran faster along the forest trail. Storm winds clawed at the trees. Leaves were falling even though it was midsummer. Briefly, a flash of lightning pierced the branches. Immediately, there was a savage thump of thunder.
This storm wants blood
, he thought grimly.
People are going to die today.

When he barrelled around the next bend in the path he nearly collided with Nicola. She stood with her chin raised in defiance. Her blonde hair dripped water down the skin of her bare throat.

‘This is how we first met,’ she told him in a hard voice. ‘Are you going to use your fists this time?’

‘No.’

‘It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve been attacked. The month before you moved into Mull-Rigg Hall I was waiting for the post office to open – I get there early to avoid trouble – only, this time I wasn’t early enough. One of the men from the village hit me in the mouth. I could taste blood for a week.’

The shock of her confession made his heart lurch. ‘Did you report it?’

‘To the police? It was the policeman’s son that hit me.’

‘I’m not here to attack you. I’m here—’

‘For what? To say goodbye, because you’re going to France?’

‘I’m not going anywhere.’

‘What do you want from me, then?’

Thunder rolled across the forest as he spoke. ‘To tell you that I love you.’ Damn it, the thunder had drowned out what he said once more. Was he doomed never to be able to reveal his true feelings?

‘I said,’ he began again. ‘I said—’

‘I know what you said.’ Her eyes filled with tears. For a long time she said nothing then rested her hand on his chest. ‘You know it’s impossible, don’t you?’

‘Everything’s possible.’

‘You don’t know what people are like here. They’ll stop you getting close to me. They’ll break us up.’

He kissed her. She didn’t resist, but there was sadness there: a fatalism that this couldn’t last.

Tom whispered, ‘Sometimes I’m arrogant. I can do stupid things, too.’

‘So you’re just playing stupid now, when you say that you love me?’

He shook his head and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘What I’m trying to say is that although I can behave like an idiot I’m also determined when I want something. You might say:
unstoppable
. When I was fifteen I decided I’d swim to the bottom of a lake, which everyone said was a hundred feet deep. For some reason it became so hugely important for me to make that dive. I didn’t have an aqualung back then. So it would be just me, an old rubber mask, and as much air as I could cram into my lungs. One day, I went for it. I swam out to where it was deepest, took a deep breath, then kicked my way down to the bottom. The lake bed was covered with white stones. I grabbed hold of a pebble – my prize. And when I swam back to the surface I felt so . . . I don’t know . . . The feeling was more than being ecstatic. It felt as if I’d achieved something important. Hugely important. A rite of passage. That adventure made me into someone who could do the impossible.’

‘Do you see me as a white pebble at the bottom of a lake? If you win me over, will you feel as if you’ve won a prize?’

‘I’ll know I’ve won the most important prize of my life. Does that sound too slushy?’

‘It does without a physical action to reinforce the sentiment. Does that sound too highfalutin?’

Tom held her tight, kissed her . . . Her blonde hair cascaded over his arm. He felt the rain-wet strands on his skin. Before he could kiss her again, she caught hold of his face and gently pushed his head back.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ she said.

‘I want to. After all –’ he smiled – ‘I . . . love . . . you.’

‘It won’t be an easy relationship. My mother will be against us.’

‘My father will be, too.’ Half-jokingly, he added, ‘So what have we got to lose?’

‘If we’re not careful, we’ll lose everything.’ Her eyes were deadly serious. ‘Absolutely everything.’

A
fter Tom and Nicola had reluctantly gone their separate ways, he returned home. He approached the house with the distinct feeling that the time had come to face the music. He’d disappointed his father by backing out of the job in France. Russell Westonby had gone to a lot of trouble to get Tom that work.

Tom knew that plenty of frosty silences lay ahead. His parents would make polite small talk. They’d go out of their way to show that they didn’t hold a grudge. Even so, you might as well paint ‘THIS IS A GRUDGE-FILLED HOUSE’ over the front door.

That particular door, however, didn’t open. He tried the handle again.

Locked.

Hell, they’ve kicked me out. So much for saintly parents. They’ve turned me out on to the street.

As he fished the keys from his pocket he saw himself sleeping in his car tonight. But a quick turn of the key proved him wrong. They’d not bolted the door to keep out their suddenly troublesome son.

‘I’m home.’ His voice echoed back coldly. ‘Hello? Anybody?’

That echo possessed a sense of emptiness. Even abandonment.

When he saw the note on the hallway table he realized that his parents had left. They’d taken Owen with them, of course.

‘Owen, the dutiful son they never had.’ Tom bit his lip. That line seemed just too snide.
Owen’s a good kid. Don’t bring him into the Son v Parents war.

The message proved that his parents were diplomatic to an unusual degree. They didn’t want a repeat of today’s upsetting confrontation between father and son. Instead of waiting to talk to him, or even phoning, his mother had written:

Dear Tom
,

We’re both so sorry that
‘
words’ were said this morning. We love you. Neither of us want to fall out with you over a girl. Dad asks if you will talk to Chester about Nicola Bekk. He thinks you need to hear from a good friend about some of the problems Nicola’s had. Nicola might seem a lovely girl. As you get older, however, you’ll realize that people aren’t always what they first appear.

A couple of lines were thickly crossed out, so he couldn’t read what had been written. No doubt some vile rumour concerning Nicola had been recorded there before being self-censored by his mother’s diplomatic heart. Perhaps it was common knowledge locally that Mrs Bekk suffered from the lunatic delusion that her daughter had been fathered by the Viking god, Thor. No doubt that caused the regulars at the George and Dragon pub to collapse into thigh-slapping bouts of laughter. Mrs Bekk’s madness must be a source of boundless hilarity.

Villagers clearly didn’t care how much Nicola had suffered because of her mother’s mental condition.

Tom’s fist tightened in anger until he was scrunching the paper. He took a deep, steadying breath and read the rest of the letter. After the crossed-out lines, his mother had added in a matter-of-fact way that they were returning home for a while to pack up the rest of their things, that the fridge was stocked with plenty of food. They’d even left his wages, which they paid by the week, for his work on the house.

You’ll find the money under the blue elephant in the lounge. Love, Mum, Dad and Owen xxx

Guilt money,
he thought
. Just who’s the guilty party, though?

His phone announced a call by hollering, ‘Your air tank’s run out! You’re gonna die!’

He answered. ‘Hello, Chris. How’s life in Greece?’

‘Hot, sunny and totally short of cash.’

‘I’m doing what I can to raise the money.’

‘So you’ve enough for the rent? Because I was thinking I could get the dive school signs ready for—’

Tom knew this would be a bad day for letting people down. ‘Chris, I’m sorry, I haven’t been able to get the money.’

‘What! You told me that you’d got a welding job in France? I promised the landlord I’d be handing over a cash deposit in a couple of days.’

‘I’m not taking the job. Something came up.’

‘Some
thing
came up? What’s her name, Tom?’

‘It’s not that easy to explain over the phone.’

‘Yeah, I bet.’ Chris sounded so disappointed in Tom he could barely speak. ‘Didn’t we always promise each other that neither of us would get involved with a girl until the dive school was up and running?’

‘You’re there with your ex.’

‘Yeah, as a prospective business partner! An investor! Not some screw-buddy!’

‘Hey—’

‘You know what, Tom? Piss off!’ Chris broke the connection.

Tom headed upstairs. He towelled his hair dry, changed his rain-sodden clothes, looked in the mirror, then clenched a fist.

I’m not letting this beat me
. He was determined to keep the dive school on track. This was his dream since he was a teenager. He and Chris had been planning it for years.

And he was going to fight to keep Nicola, too
. I’m not letting Danby-Mask, Chester Kenyon, Mrs Bekk, or even Dad get in the way.

In the mirror, he saw a flame burning in his eyes. ‘You don’t beat down a Westonby. I’m going to come out on top.’ He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and called up his friend. ‘Chris . . . shut up. Listen.’ He took the pause as acceptance of his demand. ‘You’re letting the landlord push you around. No, listen to me, Chris. This is what you’re going to do. Offer him cash payments, OK? I can transfer the money to your bank account right now.’

‘But he wants twelve months rent in advance.’

‘That’s too much. Tell him he can have three months’ rent upfront.’

‘We still haven’t got enough money.’

‘I’ll raid the boat fund.’

‘We
need
a boat.’

‘We’ll rent one. Greece is full of boats. Boats aren’t a problem.’

‘The landlord wants a year’s rent,’ Chris insisted. ‘He won’t back down.’

‘Persuade him, Chris – use guile, cunning, skulduggery. Make him realize that we’ll rent somewhere else if he doesn’t see sense.’

‘Well . . .’

‘I trust you, Chris . . . You can make this happen.’ Tom’s voice became more forceful.
Damn it, I even sound inspirational.
‘Listen, I’ll go online now and transfer the money for the bond and three months’ rent.’ In a flash of inspiration, he added with triumph, ‘And tell him that we’ll bloody well teach him how to scuba-dive for free. Even if he doesn’t use the lessons himself he can give ’em away as a present or sell them. What do you think?’

‘I think you’re a genius.’

Tom knew they were friends again. ‘Close the deal, Chris.’

After he’d finished the call, he switched on the laptop, accessed his bank account and transferred the cash. Within seconds he’d ripped out their savings to zero. At least the money should be appearing in Chris’s account in the next few moments. Everything was up to Chris now. They’d be living on bread and water in Greece when they opened up the school, but so what? They’d be ready for business. The students would come . . . so would the money.

What’s more, Nicola will be with me.
The thought made him grin . . . and it was a huge, excited grin. What a crazy idea! But he knew to the depths of his heart this was what he wanted: a new business. A new bride. Did it get any better than that?

Tom felt so happy he sang at the top of his voice.

Great God in heaven! He’d turned everything round in a matter of minutes. From disaster to victory. He felt so incredibly exhilarated. Right now, he wanted to share the brilliant news with Nicola.

But what’s she going to say when I ask her to marry me?
This all seemed so crazy! Like a runaway train – like he’d taken off the brakes of his life. Everything was coming good. He felt good. He felt wonderful!

He bounded downstairs.

The door yawned open. A cool breeze carried leaves across the hallway floor.

Did I leave it open?

He turned to see three figures strolling out of the lounge.

‘Remember us?’

Tom remembered all right. These were the three thugs that had chased Nicola.