Interrupted Romance (23 page)

The car slowed to a crawl as Dafna manoeuvred it under the carport beside Adam's house.

"We're home, Adam.
 
We just have to brave the wind for a few paces and we'll be out of it," Dafna said quietly.

He couldn't tell if her thoughtful tone was as a result of misgivings about their future, or regret at having shown so much raw passion… he cursed not being able to see her face, her expression.
 
This uncertainty was driving him crazy, not knowing what people were thinking when they looked at him, not knowing how they truly felt.
 
If he could only see, it would be easier to read people's thoughts!
 
He wouldn't be putting so much pressure on himself, thinking that all they could see in him was his blindness.
 
He felt inadequate, as a result.

Both of them slammed the car doors and headed for the house.
 
Dafna stood and waited for Adam to move quickly around the car, his hand running along the bonnet to guide him, and together they walked to the front door.
 
Adam found his keys and Dafna opened the door.
 
Normally, she would have let him fumble for, and find, the keyhole, but the elements made it necessary for her to do the honours so they could get inside faster.
 
The wind was singing along the power lines as they closed the door behind them.

Adam brushed grit from his clothes and face, walking towards the living room.
 
He called out to his parents… "
Ima, Aba
, we're home."
 
There was no answer.

CHAPTER 23

Adam turned back towards Dafna, who was standing in the corridor, watching him.
 
He had moved swiftly through the rooms, calling his parents to make sure they weren't home.
 
She knew that.

He came close to her, smelling her perfume, knowing where she was, and reached out his arms for her.
 
She moved into the warm circle of strength, leaning against him, sighing, as Adam slid his hands across her back and under her blouse.
 
Warm hands pressed her to him, fingers moving over her skin… caressing… seducing.
 
With eyes closed and head thrown back, she invited him to kiss her.
 
Adam cuddled his cheek next to hers, feeling the soft skin of Dafna's face against his own.
 
He moved around to find her lips, which parted under his own.

For long moments, they clung together, oblivious to any outside sounds.
 
Gradually, they were rocking and stepping towards Adam's room, stopping now and again to embrace passionately, more passionately than before.
 
He began to unbutton her blouse, pressing her against the wall as he did it.
 
She, in turn, pulled at his shirt, lifting it out of the confines of his trouser belt.
 
In between undressing each other, they would stop to shower kisses on each other.
 
Their breath came in hot gasps; Dafna moaned in pleasure.

"
Shalom
, we're home," Adam's mother's voice called from the front door, as she and her husband came into the house.
 
"Adam, where are you?"

Adam and Dafna sprang apart in utter frustration and shock.
 
Hurriedly, they tucked clothes back where they should be.
 
Dafna pushed Adam through the doorway into his room and quickly and quietly pulled the door shut behind him, with a whispered, "Dress yourself."

She rushed to do up the buttons of her blouse, hoping Adam's parents wouldn't find her before she finished.
 
Her fingers felt like wooden pegs - they wouldn't work fast enough or well enough!
 
However, she succeeded in doing up all but the last one, when the older couple came through from the living room.
 
Her face was flushed with embarrassment.
 
She knew that, but couldn’t do anything about it.

"
Shalom
," she said to them, and they took turns to hug her.
 
"Adam is in his room.
 
He should be out in a moment.
 
We got awfully windblown going out today."
 
Dafna stammered slightly in her embarrassment and was talking rapidly, hoping to cover it up.

Mr Lavan asked, "Where did you have lunch today, dear?
 
Did you enjoy it?
 
I hope you and Adam have been able to resolve the differences you had… "

"We had a lovely lunch and we even had an opportunity to dance.
 
You know how he likes to dance, don't you?
 
There was a band there, practising for the evening show, and we got to make use of it.
 
It was wonderful.
 
And yes, we are on very good terms now," Dafna finished.

"I can see that," the old man said, inclining his head towards the front of her blouse.

Dafna looked down.
 
She had missed a buttonhole and buttoned her blouse up crooked!
 
Swiftly, she put a hand over the gaping blouse, as the blood rushed into her cheeks.

Mrs Lavan glanced as her husband and they went off toward the kitchen with a knowing smile on their faces.
 
Dafna was left to recover from the shock of their discovery.
 
She knew, that they knew, what had been going on.

"Oh, shit!" she murmured softly, head in hands.
 
"I thought it was too good to be true."
 
She redid the buttoning.

Following the old couple to the kitchen, she started to make an explanation, but they waved it away.
 
"Don't fret yourself.
 
We were young once, too, you know."

The jug was boiling on the bench, the cups and coffee were out on the table, and Adam finally came to join the rest of the household in the kitchen.
 
He, too, looked a bit worse for wear, with lipstick (which he didn't realise was there) all over his face and neck.
 
His parents looked astonished, then burst into loud laughter.
 
Dafna, taken aback, joined in, seeing the funny side of it.
 
Adam stood there with his hands turned out and an enquiring expression on his face.

"What's so funny?
 
What is it?" he asked.

Dafna ran to the bathroom, wet a handtowel and came back to Adam.
 
"Stand still.
 
I have to clean you up.
 
You're covered in lipstick, darling."

While Dafna wiped the evidence from Adam's face, his father turned on the answering machine to hear the message blinking it's warning to the room in general.

The call came from Yael, at the shop.
 
She had been unable to reach Dafna at home, and wanted to track her down at Adam's place.

"Dafna, this is Yael, please call me as soon as you can.
 
There is a message from Sydney for you."

Dafna drew in her breath suddenly, hand to mouth, immediately concerned for her mother, whom she'd been calling several times a week since coming back to Israel.

"Use this phone, dear, if you wish," Mrs Lavan said, pulling her husband out of the room to give Dafna some privacy.
 
Adam stepped close to Dafna, for a different reason this time to the one he had in mind half an hour earlier.
 
He felt her trembling.

"Come on, darling, I'm with you.
 
It may be nothing at all.
 
You have to find out what it is about."

She made the call and listened to what Yael had to say.
 

Dafna sobbed uncontrollably, putting the phone down without having spoken to Yael.
 
Never again to see her mother, never again to touch her or speak to her.
 
She had been feeling so well lately, she had told Dafna during their last conversation.

Dafna's knees bent and she slid to the floor, lying crumpled at Adam's feet.
 
He quickly bent to her, holding her against him, feeling the deep sobs racking her body, hearing her grief.

"
Ima, Aba
, come quickly, please.
 
Help me," he called.

They weren't far away as they'd been listening from the hallway.
 
Dafna hadn't spoken, but they heard her sudden sobbing and saw her fall to the floor.
 
They were beside Adam almost as soon as he called them.

Between them, they lifted Dafna to her feet.
 
Adam bent and lifted her into his arms, walking through to his room, where he laid her gently on his bed, pulling a blanket over her.
 
She was shivering savagely with shock.
 
He waited while his mother brought a glass of water into the room and held it to Dafna's mouth, but she was unable to take any fluid into her mouth.

"Dafna," Mrs Lavan said.
 
"Is it your mother, sweetheart?
 
Has she had another stroke?"

Dafna could only nod her head.
 
The tears rolled down her cheeks, her nose was running and she was gasping and sobbing all at once.

Adam asked, "How bad, Dafna?
 
How bad is it?
 
Can you go to her?
 
Is she alive?"

She shook her head.
 
They concluded that the stroke had been fatal.
 
Mrs Lavan brought a clean handtowel into the room and softly wiped Dafna's face.
 
Mr Lavan stood by with a box of tissues, which Adam was handing to Dafna, one after the other.

"Tell me Dafna.
 
What has happened?" Adam pleaded.
 
"Is it too late?
 
Is that what you are trying to tell us?"

Dafna nodded.
 
Her sobbing had subsided a little, not much, and she had rolled over onto her front, face in the pillow.
 
She was shuddering and drawing her breath in like a child who is deeply upset, unable to control her body.
 
Adam half lay beside her, holding her, waiting patiently until she would be able to speak again.
 
His parents left them and went to the phone to call the airlines.
 
Another trip would have to be taken.

They were both thinking the same thing… 'Poor Dafna, just when things were starting to go well again.
 
These two young people were star-crossed.
 
Always, something has to happen to upset them.'

It took a long time for Dafna to be able to regain her composure, but finally she was able to sit up.
 
Wiping her face and nose yet again, with Adam's arms around her, she said, "Mum has had another massive stroke, in her sleep.
 
She didn't wake up from this one.
 
Oh, Adam, she's dead.
 
My mother is dead.
 
I thought she was doing so well.
 
She said she was doing well last time we spoke.
 
I'll have to go back again.
 
I'll have to arrange the funeral."

Adam rocked her in his arms.
 
He was saddened by Mrs Zoreff's death.
 
He had liked her a lot, having spent quite some time with her when they were both recovering.
 
His thoughts went back to the days spent sitting in the garden, her pride and joy, when he was her legs, and she was his eyes, helping each other.

Adam stayed with Dafna until her eyes closed, and, exhausted from crying so hard, she slept against him.
 
He carefully laid her back on the pillow and covered her with the blanket again, then left to find his parents.
 
It didn't take long to fill them in on the news and its impact.
 
Dafna would have to go, which they knew, and he would have to stay, as his operation was scheduled for the following week.
 
Dr Feldman had already made it clear there was to be no last minute change of heart, for any reason.

The old couple had already guessed the news, of course, and had left a message for the airline staff to call back with the earliest possible booking for Dafna.
 
There were always a few seats available for emergencies, so they knew Dafna would be able to fly back to Australia very soon.

CHAPTER 24

Dafna was sitting hunched down in the aircraft seat, looking out of the window at the clouds as they seemed to crawl by.
 
With the help of Adam and his parents she had been put on this flight.
 
It was hard to believe that it was less than twenty-four hours since that phone call had come to Adam's house.
 
Today, they had brought her to the airport, escorted her as far as the departure gate, where they handed her over to a waiting airport staff member who would see that she got on the plane alright.
 
The airline had been alerted to her grief, and a sympathetic, but business-like woman had taken charge of Dafna, walking her to her seat and making sure she was settled comfortably.

Through the fog of grief surrounding her, Dafna realised that she was getting special treatment, being a frequent user of the airline.
 
Nevertheless, she was grateful for the lack of fuss, and the smooth manner in which everyone had combined to bring her to this point.

Her thoughts were all of her mother.
 
She remembered back as far as she could, and her very first memory of her mother was of her in a garden somewhere, probably in Israel.
 
A tear rolled down her cheek and Dafna wiped it away before anyone could see it.
 
Fortunately, the seat next to her was vacant.
 
The flight attendant had told her that it would be vacant until they reached Singapore.
 
After that, she would have company as far as Sydney.
 
Dafna had spread herself out along the two seats so that no one else would be encouraged to sit beside her.
 
This time alone was her chance to recover from the shock of her mother's death.
 
She didn't have to make conversation with anyone; she didn't have to look at anyone.
 
Her eyes were behind very dark glasses which masked the very swollen, red eyes.
 
Anyone looking at her would have assumed that the glasses were there as protection against the sun's brightness shining in the window.
 
She wore the headset supplied by the airline, but barely listened to the classical music channel as she reminisced about her mother's life.