Loving Alex (6 page)

“Hello Alex, are you okay?” Her Italian accent not
completely lost, unlike Roberto.

“I’m fine. Would you like to come shopping Gia, I need to
get a new handbag and some other bits and pieces and generally have a mooch
around, we can have some lunch as well, if you’d like?” I set out my plan for a
shopping trip.

“I would love to. What time?” She sounds delighted at the
prospect of a girly hour or two, I can hear her smiling.

“James is going back to the hotel now, he’s going to get
Archie to come and pick me up, then we can come to yours, I suppose about
11.30. Is that okay?”

“Fine, absolutely fine. I’ll be ready for then.” Her tone is
just so happy, she’s a lovely lady my
new
aunt.

“Before I go Gia, James asked me if you would reserve us a
table for tonight about…” I look at James for his preference for time,
seven
thirty
he mouths, “for seven thirty Gia, is that okay?”

“It’s fine Alex. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, bye.” I end the call.

James kisses my cheek gently as he leaves, his big hand on
the top of my arm, “I’ll see you later – give me a ring when you’ve finished.”
I hug him back as he leaves watching him exit through the shiny front door and
down the steps to his Audi and pulls away from the kerb.

Closing the door I go through to my kitchen and tidy up in
Muriel’s absence.

I only have to wait for around forty minutes before Archie
arrives in the Mercedes. I’m waiting by the living room window for him and
leave the house before he’s had chance to exit the car. I walk down the few
steps and meet Archie, who insists on opening the back door for me, I choose
not to argue today because, well honestly I don’t think I’ll win.

“Morning Archie.” I say brightly.

“Mrs. Drake.” He nods. I don’t bother about reminding him to
call me Alex either, as clearly it’s another battle that I’ve lost before I’ve
even started!

“Did James tell you that we need to go and pick Gia up?” I
ask as I settle myself into the back seat.

“He did, I have the address.” He says as we pull away.

“Are you busy today?” I ask.

“I’ve one or two jobs on, but not too much. Would you like
picking up later on?” He asks.

“Please, I thought we’d go to Harrods, for a change.”

“Very well Mrs. Drake.”

Archie drives to Gia and Roberto’s home without stress,
unlike me who would be a blubbering wreck by now, and once we’re parked outside
their modest home I open my door and exit the Mercedes, receiving a stern look
from Archie as I do. He’s got to realise, learn that where I come from, my
background, I did things for myself. I don’t expect to be waited on hand and
foot, it’s not me.

Gia must have seen us arrive as she’s half out of her front
door as I approach, opening her arms wide she greets me with a big Gia hug and
a broad smile, “Alex, you look so well,” she says, “the time with James, on
your own, must have done you good. I’m so pleased.” She smiles and places her
palm on my cheek, “You’ve even got a little colour, it suits you.”

“Thank you,” I smile, “shall we go?”

“Yes, yes of course.” She follows me to the Mercedes; Archie
is now out of the car and determined that he
will
open the door for us
both. I smile sweetly at him as I slide into the back seat, Gia climbs in after
me.

We pull away as Gia looks at me grinning broadly. “This is
nice,” she says “going shopping with my
niece!”
I grip her hand and give
it a little squeeze, I think I’m going to like shopping with her to, something
I never did at lot of with my mum, certainly not once I got older. I haven’t
quite got used to my new aunt and uncle yet, it’s difficult for me having only
discovered them a few weeks ago, they knew I existed and knew that my birth
mother, Maggie, had me adopted by her sister but I didn’t even know about them
or my birth father, Ramiro, until sometime after I found out that Maggie had
left me, the multi-million pound estate consisting of cash in the bank, Reid’s
hotel, which she owned outright, a fifty percent stake in a profitable night
club, Henry’s and silent partnerships and investments in many other businesses
and properties in some of the most lucrative areas of London.

“I thought we’d go to Harrods, unless you’d rather go
somewhere else?”

“No that’s fine; I’m just pleased to be having a few hours
out. I haven’t been shopping, properly, for years.” She beams.

We’re soon pulling up outside the side entrance of the huge
sand coloured store with the green canopies, Archie leaves the driver’s seat
and steps out to allow me and Gia to exit, I resist the temptation to let
myself out of the car and allow him to open the doors for us, I don’t want to
upset him.

“What time would you like me to collect you?” He asks as I
wait for Gia to climb out of the car.

“Can I call you when we’re done?”

“Of course.” He offers Gia a helping hand as she slides her
cuddly self from the back seat. She’s positively radiant and takes my arm as
soon as she’s standing next to me.

“Very well Mrs. Drake, I’ll pick you up from here when you
call.” Archie confirms our arrangements, our meeting point, for him to collect
us.

“We’ll see you later Archie.” I say as Gia and I walk
towards one of the doors of the world famous store.

We’re greeted by a doorman dressed in his Harrod’s green uniform.
He opens the door for us and smiles an acknowledgment as we walk in. Gia is
still holding my arm and I have the distinct impression that she’s going to be
stuck there all day, not that it bothers me. She’s casually dressed in a plum
self coloured pattern skirt and a pale pink short sleeved crew neck sweater
which she’s teamed up with low heel black court shoes; she looks very
sophisticated in a Grandma’ish sort of way.

I know what I want, what I’ve come shopping for and make a
bee-line for the handbags in the ground floor accessories department. I like
the bag I use every day, the tan leather, it’s lovely and so soft but boy,
everything goes straight to the very bottom of the damn thing, particularly my
phone which I can never find. I’ve decided that I need to replace it. I want
another tan leather bag but one that’s perhaps a little more structured, not so
soft and plenty of pockets to put my phone and other bits and pieces in. Gia
sticks to my arm as we wander around the beautiful designer bags. My eye’s
drawn to a Marc Jacobs, its beautiful soft Italian leather. It’s tan, as I
wanted with contrasting black handles. The style is exactly as I was looking
for.

As I stand pawing the bag Gia looses my arm and wanders over
towards a black bag that she’s spotted. At first I’m unsure of the brand but
she seems to like whatever she’s picked up. I glance at her looking at it
inside and out, feeling the soft leather, she’s smiling to herself. She checks
the tag, frowns and puts the bag down before walking back to me.

“It’s a lovely bag Alex.” She says as she feels the leather
of the Marc Jacobs that I’ve decided to buy.

“It is. That one’s nice too.” I point at the bag that she’s
just put down.

“Umm, but too much for me. My God, Roberto would have a fit
if I bought that!” She laughs as she wanders off again.

I approach one of the staff with my new bag and she leads me
to a glass counter to pay. “Can I have that one as well?” I point to the bag
that Gia has been looking at.

“The Mulberry?” The assistant questions as she walks over to
the bag that Gia was so in love with.

“Yes, but please be discrete, it’s for my…..my friend, I
don’t want her to know that I’m buying it for her.” I whisper.

The assistant smiles and quickly walks over to collect the
bag whilst I keep my eye on Gia as she mooches around the department.

The two bags are wrapped beautifully in their dust bags
before being placed in a large green paper carrier. The bill, well that’s at
lot for two handbags and certainly something I would never have entertained
before receiving Maggie’s legacy, hell Lewis would have expected me to keep
house for four months with this much cash! The assistant makes the comment that
my friend is very lucky as I hand over my Coutt’s card.

“Thank you Mrs. Drake.” She processes my payment and hands
the card and receipts back to me. I glance at Gia who is still meandering. I
catch her up and grab her arm tightly, smiling at her, she has no idea what
I’ve done, well I hope not! “Come on, perfume next!” I announce as I propel her
towards the perfumery.

I don’t have to browse here I know exactly what I want, but
on the way I notice some Paul Smith Union Jack cufflinks that appear to have
been abandoned on one of the counters, I think of James. I pick them up and
after asking for a bottle of my absolute favourite Signorina, something that I
used to have to save for from my housekeeping budget. I ask the assistant if I
may have the cufflinks as well, she looks around; nobody appears to be
purchasing them so I buy them for The Bossman.

Gia keeps hold of my arm as we take the Egyptian escalator
to the first floor.

“What do you want from here?” She asks as she looks at the
array of beautiful dresses.

“I need a new party dress, something that I can wear when we
go back to Henry’s - the nightclub.”

“Oh, James told me about Henry’s. He used to go there a lot
when he was younger!” He smiles, I can see that she’s thinking about James as a
younger man, she’s thinking about it with fondness, it’s so clear on her face,
so very readable.

This is news. Maybe Gia might tell me a bit more about
James. “Did he? He said he’d been before, when we went a couple of weeks ago,
the night before, well…you remember.”

She’s still holding my arm and squeezes it gently as she too
remembers the day we told her that I had miscarried. I tell her a little of our
visit to Henry’s, leaving out the details of our, our
argument
.

“There were lots of people there who seemed to know him.” I
add.

“It was his favourite place when he first came home from
America, he stayed with us for a few months until he got himself settled,
Roberto used to run him to Henry’s on Friday’s and Saturday’s when he wasn’t
working,” she smiles, “sometime’s we’d get call at three and four in the
morning to pick him up. Oh those were the days.” She reminisces; clearly she
enjoyed having James stay with them, despite the early morning runs to pick him
up, I have no doubt drunk!

“So that’s not long ago, he’s only been at Reid’s five
years.” I think aloud.

“That’s right. We never minded though, he’s a good boy is
James.” She smiles as she talks about him affectionately, I can tell that
although James is not part of their family he’s held in high regard and clearly
loved by Gia.

Once on the first floor I wander around the collections and
pick out a few mid length and short black dresses. Taking them through to a
dressing rooms I am assisted by a lovely young lady who offers advice and
points out one or two other black dresses, unfortunately the dresses she’s
pointing to mostly have very fine straps or cut away backs, no good for me with
my
back, of course I don’t tell her this and just brush the suggestions
aside.

Gia follows me to the dressing rooms where she takes a seat
and waits whilst I retreat into privacy and try the first of the dresses on.

As I slip into each one I check my back in the mirror
carefully before wandering out to show Gia. She likes each and every one but
eventually I opt for a Saint Laurent sleeveless, its relatively plain apart
from a bead and sequin embellished sort of cowl neck.

I’m just changing when I hear Gia at the curtain.

“Alex?” She says so very quietly.

“Yes.” I quickly pull my shirt on.

“I know it’s very cheeky of me Alex,” she pauses, “but your
back. Roberto told me. Can anything be done?”

Of course I know what she wants, she wants to see. I take a
few moments to process what she’s just said and what I know she wants to do,
she doesn’t want to look because I’m some sort of freak, I know that, I think
she wants to help – or at least I hope. I feel cold inside, there’s no reason
why she should see, why she needs to see but Gia is family, although not family
that I have known all of my life, her husband knows and I believe they all want
to help. I take a deep breath and compose myself.

I open the dressing area to her, “Is there anyone around?” I
must sound like a shoplifter checking the coast is clear before I stuff the
three grand dress in a bag!

She shakes her head.

I turn into the dressing room, Gia is stood behind me as I
carefully and slowly pull my shirt down around my shoulders. There, she can see
it all now, well not the L.D brand, that’s covered by my bra strap.

“The monster.” She takes a deep breath, “he’s no man. He’s
an excuse, a miserable excuse for a man!” She hisses, “Ramiro knows….Roberto
told him, he knows Alex.” She frowns, looking concerned. Heaven knows what
would happen in Ramiro was younger, fitter and over here.

I pull my shirt back around my shoulder holding my head
down, ashamed. I collect my things together, including the dress I’m going to
buy.

As I step out of the dressing room Gia grabs me and gives me
one of her special hugs, her eyes are watery. “We will sort this for you Alex,
if you want us to, we’ll sort it.” She says quietly.

“Thank you Gia. James has the name of a surgeon in Harley
Street. I just need to pluck up the courage to go and see him, maybe in a
couple of months, when things have settled down, you know when I’m divorced
maybe I’ll see to it then.” I mumble, my head down so embarrassed. It should
have happened, I should have left him before it got to this stage, I was
stupid, so very, very stupid. I take a deep breath and compose myself.

“Good girl.” Gia looks at me, squeezing my arm. “We’re here
for you, you know that?” She smiles. The words, the look she gives me could
make me crumble here and now. The fact that I’m so wanted within this, my new
family, they don’t really know me but still they seem so full of love. I take
several deep breaths, before paying for the dress, which is beautifully
wrapped. Gia retains her grip on my arm as we head out of the store.