Master (21 page)

He wiped his hands on his jeans, took a mouthful of coffee,
and opened Anna's email. How he didn't tip the contents of his mug all over
himself he had no idea. Or spit the liquid in his mouth all over the keyboard.
He put the mug back on the shelf away from danger and away from all things
electrical before he enlarged the message. He hadn't read it wrong. There were
considerably more than two words. Oh it started,
'I'm fine.'
But then Anna had continued,
Caden
, I do love you so. Soon, love, I hope we'll be together. There won't
be an email for the next week or so. Sorry, but there's a valid reason. One day
I'll tell you what it is. Please trust me. I hope it won't all be too late.
Cade
scrubbed his cheeks and was surprised to feel
they were damp. How could she think that it could be too late? As he did every
time he received an email from Anna, he sat down to type his chatty—and he
hoped welcome—reply. He never knew if she read it, because Anna never mentioned
it. Well, she'd be hard pressed to when her emails were
I'm fine.

He opened up his manuscript and continued his journey into
the past.

It was hard, harder than
Cade
imagined anything could be, to respect her silence and not bombard her with
emails. Especially after her last one. But he did it—just. Three weeks later as
he refreshed his inbox for the umpteenth time and checked that once again there
was no email from Anna his phone rang. Cussing,
Cade
checked caller display and growled at the
Pavlovian
effect the ringing of his phone had. Why the hell hadn't he switched it and the
Internet off?

Because I'm expecting some
sort of communication from Anna.
It had been a barren three weeks, and
Cade
admitted he was getting anxious.

Daisy.
That was fine, if it had been
yet another "can I ask if you own your own home", or “do you want
double glazing" he'd have likely expanded the caller's repertoire of
epithets.

"
Cade
, love, I need your help
on Tuesday." Daisy's words couldn't have been more unwelcome, but he'd
never have told her so. Just because they made him feel sick was no reason to
let her know.

"Hi, Daisy, what's cooking apart from the bun?"

She laughed. It had been Marco who had christened her bump
Bunny, which they'd soon shortened to bun. Most people thought it came from …
in the oven. It didn't.
Cade
was rather pleased
they'd let him in on the joke.

"Can you demonstrate for us?"

They were the words he'd been dreading to hear.

Chapter
Seventeen

Anna felt more settled than she had in ages. Athol and she
had talked and argued until the pub called last orders and then wandered home
arm in arm. As she tripped over nothing, and sniggered, Anna wasn't sure how much
alcohol she'd had, apart from too much. She'd definitely had one glass of wine
too many. Surely there hadn't been three blue doors on the boathouse when they
went to the pub?

As they got to the front of the house she turned into the
garden and looked across the river to the docks and the couple of boats tied up
there.

"I'm going to sit and watch the water," she said
and turned in a circle with her arms in the air. "Oops! Am I baring my
all?" She giggled. "Don't want to do that. Though you're not interested
and
Caden
wants to share it. I'm not for sharing,
none of me, not one little bit." Athol followed her and pushed her into a
chair.

"You're
squiffy
, love, and I
don't want your head or parrot cage mouth tomorrow. Sit there, commune with
nature, and let me make some coffee. Do
not
move
,
I'll be right back. What do you say?"

"Hmm, you sound all
Dommy
…
But I don't want a Dom unless it's
Cade
and he
doesn't want me unless I'll share. And you know what?" She stood up and
poked Athol in the chest. "This lady
ain't
for
sharing. Oh no, not me. See if he's mine, he's mine." She nodded, pleased
with herself for admitting what she'd known all along. Not one little bit, not
eve." Anna hiccoughed.
"Even with the club thingy
whatsit
.
He's mine, and I'm
gonna
tell him. Where is he?" She looked around and the panorama spun. That was
strange. Anna was sure it shouldn't move. "
Wass
the earth
dooo
…Oh shoot, I'm drunk." She sat
back down into the chair with a thump. "I think I need my bed, even if
it's all alone, eh? Do you feel like that, Athol?
No one to
cuddle, but better than the wrong one?"
She stared. Now there were
two
Athols
. Maybe they'd keep each other company.
With that thought, Anna knew she needed to go to bed. "I've got to lie
down, now."

"I think you do. Come on, drunken-bum, let's get you
into bed and leave a bucket handy."

Oh how she hoped she didn't need the bucket. She didn't, but
when she woke up after a night of weird dreams and thoughts, Anna decided she'd
never again drink more than a single glass of wine in a day.

The knock on her bedroom door sounded more like Big Ben
chiming midnight on New Year's Eve, and Athol's cheery, "Rise and shine,
here's coffee and a
paracetamol
," sounded like
an overloud commentator at the Grand National.

"
Shh
, or go away. You've
corrupted me. I don't drink." She pulled the duvet over her head.
"Let me die in peace."

Athol pulled the cover back with what Anna considered way
too much force. "Anna, love, you had three small glasses of wine, that's
all. You're just a lightweight. And angst and baring your all, including your
soul, has a way of affecting your alcohol intake in an adverse way. You get so
relaxed it goes straight to your bloodstream and woof…" He put the cup on
the table. Even that little noise made Anna wince.

"No woofing, no nothing, like I said, let me die in
peace." He'd been right about the parrot cage mouth. Anna wanted a whole
tube of toothpaste and a mouthwash there and then. Though she guessed coffee
would do until she made it to the bathroom.

"Nope, we're going to have visitors in
ohh
about an hour, so get your butt out of bed and stick it
and the rest of you under the shower. Then I'll fix you
a
nice
bacon
butty
, that'll sort you out."

"Be the last straw, no doubt." However, Anna sat
up gingerly and almost rolled her eyes as he handed her the mug of steaming
coffee and wrapped her hands around it. As she had a feeling if she did roll
her eyes, her stomach would mimic that action, Anna contented herself with a
grimace and a slurp of coffee so hot it nearly took the inside of her mouth
off.

"Bloody hell, you trying to kill me ‘
cause
the booze didn't?"

"Fifty odd minutes and counting.
Move,
woman."
Athol left the room whistling. At least he didn't bang the
door shut.

****

Twenty minutes later, Anna brushed her wet hair back from
her face—she decided the noise of the drier would be one noise too much—and
joined Athol in the kitchen. True to his word the bacon was sizzling and
contrary to what she thought might happen, her tummy rumbled. Athol lifted the
grill pan, made two sandwiches and handed her one.

"Eat."

Anna nodded. The rich flavor of the bacon, and the chunky
homemade bread were as good as any five-star meal.
If she
hadn't been so busy chewing
she'd’ve
said so.
Instead she concentrated on the simple food until all that was left was the
grease on her fingers. She licked them one by one and giggled at Athol's
speculative look.

"Yeah, so sue me, because I love licking stuff off my
fing
… oh fuck."

His laugh echoed round the tiny room.

"You're a shit, Athol. You know what I mean."

"Oh do I ever, love. No, don't wave your knife at me,
we've got visitors due, and I don't want them to find me in a crying heap on
the floor. I don't do blood. In fact," he glanced out of the window.
"I reckon they're early. Stay here, I'll go and let them in." He
disappeared out of the room.

Anna looked out of the window to try to see who was at the
door, but the small porch roof blocked her view. She contented herself with
washing the plates up, refilling the kettle, and switching it on. It was almost
a given that any friends of either of them would be always ready for a caffeine
intake.

She could hear voices outside the room, one feminine and one
male, along with Athol's distinctive voice. Her heart leapt before she realized
the other male voice wasn't
Cade's
.
Well, why should it be?

As the door opened, Anna turned toward it with a false, but
she hoped bright smile on her face. The smile became genuine when she saw who
it was. Who accompanied
Athol.

"Daisy, wow,
look
at
you." Daisy had a small but well-formed pregnancy bump.

She squealed and cuddled Anna. "Hi, godmother-to-be,
stop worrying me like this, okay?"

"Okay, I'll try." Anna returned the hug and looked
at the man who stood silently next to her friend. "Oh, wow, godmother.
Really?"
Anna nodded. "Oh, thank you." She
decided not to ask who the godfather was. "And this must be Marco?"

 
Marco bowed and gave
her an unselfconscious hug. "It's so good to meet the woman who has
Caden
in knots."

Daisy prodded him. He grinned. "Well, she has."

"We weren't going to say that," Daisy said.
"Not yet."

"I was." Marco sounded unrepentant. "And
remember who you're prodding, my love."

 
Anna looked at Marco
in alarm even as Daisy sniggered. Surely he wasn't going to come all over
dominant here and now?

"And remember where we are," Daisy said. Marco
rolled his eyes.

"Of course, but also remember I have a memory like an
elephant, and can happily wait the nine months or so until I can remind
you."

Daisy laughed.
"Promises, promises.
Now, behave. We're upsetting Anna. We've decided no playing properly or
scening
until Bun is born … Bun for bunny, not in the
oven," Daisy added as Anna was sure her face was red. Was she so easy to
read?

"Oh, we, good, bugger," she mumbled and then
giggled. "Oh innuendo away, I need to toughen up. It's nice to see you,
but why are you here? Hold on, is
Cade
okay?"
Surely if he wasn't someone would have made certain she knew. Anna did her best
to slow her thumping heart to a sensible pace.

"As okay as he can be and missing you," Daisy
reassured her. “Look, can we sit down? I'm weary. What with Bun kicking me all
night, and Marco snoring in my ear … yes, you do." She put her finger over
Marco's mouth. Anna did her best not to watch and go weak at the knees as Marco's
tongue snaked out and swirled around the digit.

Damn, even that's making me
wet, and I'm so not into
PDAs
.
She wriggled and tried to rub
her legs together without making her movement obvious.

"
Er
, sure.
Let's sit in the
garden?" The
sun was out and warm
enough to make
the sheltered spot a pleasant place to sit. "Are you still drinking
coffee?"

"Well, duh, though I've cut down to one a day. I think
that one should be now."

”You two ladies go down," Athol said. "Marco and
I'll bring everything we need." Anna stared at him. What was there to need
except the coffee? It wasn't long before she found out.

****

"So," Daisy got straight down to the point as soon
as she was sitting comfortably in a padded garden chair, her feet on a wooden
stool topped with a cushion. "What are you going to do about you and
Cade
?"

Anna stared at the china clay being unloaded from a boat
tied up at the wharf across the river. She sighed and glanced at Daisy. The
compassion in Daisy's eye made her shiver and feel the sting of tears ready to
fall.

"Tell him."

"Tell him what,
hon
?"

Athol and Marco had reached them. She took the mug of coffee
Marco handed her with a nod of thanks.

"That I can't share.
Him or me.
That I'm sorry, but the thought is so awful, it's killing me. If he isn't
satisfied with only me, in private, no club, no
scening
with me, no demonstrating, or anything with anyone else, then it's over. I
can't do it, and really do I have the right to ask him to give up his life for
me?"

"Oh,
lovey
.
I think you need to listen to
this." Daisy turned to Marco, who took out a tiny recorder
rom
his pocket. Daisy leaned forward and held Anna's hand.