Martine The Beginning (Cruising to Love, The Prequel) (24 page)

  Penny went into the back and changed into the soft blue bridesmaid
’s dress and came out to twirl around and get Martine’s approval.

  The approval in Bertie
’s eyes was obvious. He liked Penny in blue. Especially in blue bikinis he remembered. Blue silk that skimmed her curves was quite acceptable, too.  

  Liz smiled.  Her brother was smitten, that was apparent.

  “The dress looks lovely, Penny.  You’ll be outshining me,” laughed Martine.

  Penny laughed. 
“I don’t think so, Martine.  I don’t think so.”

  Bertie coughed, he looked a little ill at ease. 
“Uh…is that John Brown chap taking you to the wedding, Penny? The chap you were at that Cancer Benefit with, when we met?”

 
“John will be there, as a guest,” Martine told Bertie.  “As our friend, not as Penny’s date.”

 
“Oh.  Do you have someone else taking you, Penny?”

 
“No, Bertie, I don’t.”

 
“Ah…”

  Liz grinned.  Martine grinned.  Penny and Bertie just looked at each other.

  “Bertie, I know Lucas has already asked you to the wedding, why don’t you come to my wedding as Penny’s escort?” asked Martine. 

  Penny smiled at Bertie.  Bertie smiled at Penny.

  “I’d like that, Martine, to come to your wedding as Penny’s escort.”

 
“If you’re sure, Bertie. Only if you’re sure…” Penny smiled at Bertie.

 
“I’m very sure, Penny, I’d like to be your escort at Martine’s wedding.”

  Liz looked at her watch. 
“Is it four already?  Bertie you know we promised Mother we would drop over today by half past.  She wants to show us Father’s birthday present.”

 
“Drat it, yes, I remember…”  Bertie turned back to Penny.  “Would you like to go to dinner tonight, Penny?”

 
“Yes, Bertie, I’d like that.”

 
“Good, I’ll pick you up at half past seven, shall I?”

 
“I’ll give you my address, Bertie.”

 
“No, need, Penny.  I know where you live…”

  Penny took her bridesmaid
’s dress off, and perched on the stool at the counter while Martine made fresh tea.

 
“He knows where I live, Martine.”

 
“I imagine Bertie finds out anything he wants to know, Penny.”

 
“He is nice, isn’t he?  And Liz. She’s nice, too.”

 
“Very nice, Penny.  They’re both very nice.”  Martine smiled.

  Penny drank some tea. 
“He’s not my usual sort of man.”

 
“Oh, I don’t know about that.  You seem to gravitate to the business types rather than the arty types…remember Howard?”

 
“Ah, yes.  But Bertie’s no Howard.  Bertie is much older, he’s thirty-three you know.  And he isn’t a junior accountant.  He has a senior position with an investment firm, he said.”

 
“How senior, Penny?”

 
“I don’t know, he just said senior.”

 
“So not much danger of him being transferred to Australia, then?”

 
“No, I think he’s pretty grounded in England.”

 
“Ah…”

 
“Thanks for inviting him to the wedding, Martine.  Thanks very much for inviting him to the wedding.”

 
“What are friends for, Penny?  What are you wearing tonight for dinner?

  The two girls fell to the very serious topic of what Penny should wear to dinner.  They were

still talking when Lucas came in at ten to six.

 
“Hello, Penny, hello, my love,” Lucas bent his

head and kissed Martine.

  “Had a good day, darling?” asked Martine.

 
“As good as I could expect,” was the reply.  “Thank heaven for Gloria.  I have to go to Glasgow in the morning until Friday, as you know, and she got me well organized. She’s going to be at the office from 9 until 3 every day while I‘m away, unless you need her?”

 
“I can do without her this week, Lucas.  I’ve got a showroom full of sold paintings, remember?  But next week, I need her Monday to help me set up the new display.  Which will only be up for two weeks before we have to hang Tom’s One Man Show.”

 
“And you need her all day on Friday the 30
th
, darling.  We’re getting married that day, remember?”

 
“Yes,” added Penny, “and we’re going to be at the hairdresser, and getting our nails done…”

  Martine laughed. 
“Gloria’s closing the Gallery at two, so she can get ready for our wedding.”

  That night, as they lay in bed, Martine related the details of Bertie
’s visit to the Gallery.

 
“He seemed so casual about owning Domino Records, Lucas.  As if it was nothing to him.”

  Lucas smiled in the darkness.  Maybe it was as well that Martine didn
’t realize the extent of Bertie’s wealth.  “Well, darling, perhaps he just owns shares in it, and you misunderstood him.  And if he isn’t involved in the day to day

operations of the company, then it would just be like owning shares in Shell Oil, wouldn
’t it?”

 
“Lucas, his words were “I own Domino Records”.  I didn’t misunderstand him at all. And then, Lucas, he asked me if you would be in hot water if he told me that you organized the purchase for him…”

 
“Oh.  Did he explain why I didn’t tell you, Martine?”

 
“He did, Lucas.”

 
“And am I in hot water, Martine?”

 
“Perhaps…unless you give me a very special good night kiss.”

 
“That I can certainly do, darling…”

  The next four days dragged for Martine.  Just dragged.  She cleaned the Gallery, she cleaned the flat, she did all the laundry, she baked a meat pie and put in the fridge, to heat up for dinner Friday night when Lucas came home.  Hardly anyone came into the Gallery.

  So she called Belinda, and invited her to dinner Thursday night at the flat.  She knew

Belinda was dying to see the nudes hung on the bedroom wall.

  Belinda loved the nudes against the pewter painted wall.  “You were right to want charcoal sketches, Martine.”

 
“I know.  It’s nice to wake up to that sight when Lucas is out of town, like he is now.”

 
“He’ll be back tomorrow night. I bet you can hardly wait.”

 
“Hmmm….I can hardly wait for next Friday when we get married.”

 
“I’d be counting the minutes, if it was me marrying Lucas.”

 
“Belinda, I am.”

  They went back to the living room.  Martine handed Belinda a cheque.

  Belinda looked at it and then looked again.  “Surely you’ve made a mistake, Martine?”

 
“A mistake, how?”

 
“I thought it would be about half of this.”

  Martine smiled. 
“Get used to it, Belinda.  I’m putting your prices up again next month.  And I need some more nudes.  Lucy’s got several girlfriends who want nudes, she says.  At a grand each.  That’s six hundred to you, Belinda, for a two by three charcoal sketch.  Unless you want to do a larger nude in oil?  Maybe four by six?  I’d ask at least twenty-five hundred for that.  That would give you fifteen hundred.

 
“Hmm.  John Brown.  The sketch I’ve done is quite appealing. I’m not going to sell it. It’s actually on my bedroom wall now. 

 
“And I enjoyed posing him very much. It took

me several days to get him posed the way I wanted to paint him.  Every time I got out of bed to start, he just looked so good, I had to climb straight back in beside him.

  “Yes, I’ve enjoyed posing John more than anyone else.  Very much more. And an oil would require him to spend quite some time in my bed, weeks maybe…yes, Martine, I’ll do an oil of John.”

 
“Hadn’t you better ask him if he’d mind?  After all, he’s not just a student, Belinda.”

 
“He won’t mind, Martine.  He’s wrapped around my little finger.”

 
“Oh.”

 
“If you want to, Martine, you could close my show tomorrow.  I mean, all the pieces are sold.  I do have two or three charcoal nudes I can give you, and two abstracts.  I’ve been a busy girl…in the studio I mean.”

 
“Belinda, do you sleep with all your male nudes?”

 
“Of course, how do you think I get them so aroused?”

  Martine shook her head. 
“One day, Belinda, you’re going to fall in love and wish you hadn’t…”

  Belinda laughed. 
“Martine, you really are quite old-fashioned sometimes!”

  So, Friday morning, Martine routed round the store room and piece by piece, she replaced the sold paintings with new stock.  She wrapped everything, labeled it, and called her delivery boy to start taking Belinda
’s paintings to their

new homes.  Except of course for Lucy
’s. Dan came and got Lucy’s paintings.

 
“Hi, Martine.  I’ve come for Lucy’s paintings.”

 
“Nice to see you, Dan.  How is Lucy?”

 
“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.”

 
“Glad to hear it.  You two seem to get on very well.”

 
“Yes, we do.  I keep reminding her that Richard Burton’s wife has been very happy with her much younger husband for over twenty years now.”

 
“I think Christopher Jordan is about twenty-two years younger than Sybil Burton, isn’t he?”

 
“That’s right. And I’m just ten years younger than Lucy.  She’s a lot younger than her two sisters.”

 
“Oh.  Only ten years.”

 
“We aren’t talking marriage, Martine.  Don’t worry. I understand the situation.  Lucy is very rich.  I’m very poor.  I’m her toy boy.  But I am falling hard for the lady.  So I hope that she plays with this toy for a long time, a long, long time.”

 
“Ah, I wish you well, Dan.”  Martine smiled. 

 
“To change the subject, Dan, how are your paintings coming for your show in March?”

 
“I’ve got about twenty oils, and sixteen watercolours.  Ten sketches.  I’ve done a series of female nudes, all Lucy.  Six of them.  Watercolours.  I’m hoping she’ll let me show them, because she is so very, very luscious in them.  But in a way, I don’t want to show them,

in case some older, rich, single dude sees them and wants to take her away from me.
”

 
“Your charity is the group that supports the restoration of ancient buildings.  I don’t suppose you could go and paint a ruin or two, could you?”

 
“Just for you, Martine.  Actually, Lucy has a country house, quite near to a falling down abbey, so I could do a few studies there next weekend.”

 
“I’d love to have a great stockpile of your work, Dan.  We sold out of Belinda’s the first night and I’ve done nothing since.  That’s why I’ve closed her show early.  It’s not good business to sit for ten days with nothing on the walls to sell.”

 
“Don’t worry, Martine.  My mother and sisters have pictures of mine stuck in their attics.  I’ll just collect them all up and if they sell, I’ll give them the money.  They could all use it.”

 
“You’re a nice man, Dan.  I’m glad you’ve moved on from Belinda to Lucy.”

 
“Me too, Martine.  Me too.  Belinda is a brilliant talent, but she has no heart when it comes to men.  We’re all just sex objects to her.

 
“You know, even though I’m just Lucy’s toy boy, I feel she has more respect and caring for me than Belinda ever had.”

  Dan left with Lucy
’s paintings. Martine watched him leave.  She sighed.  She thought that Dan was falling in love with Lucy, and didn’t know it himself yet. A love doomed to failure,

because of the wealth and age differences, Martine thought. She sincerely hoped the same wasn
’t true of Penny and Bertie.

  Martine finished changing over the window display.  She glanced at her watch.  Three o
’clock.  Time for a cup of tea.

  She
’d just poured herself a cup when Sir Charles and Bertie walked in.

 
“Oh, you’ve changed the display, Martine,” exclaimed Bertie.