Kay gasped in surprise as Captain Pender reclined the car seats and pushed her gently down until she was lying almost flat on the floor. From somewhere near at hand a soft cushion was gathered and placed under her head before he lowered himself down beside her.
It was two weeks later and this was Kay’s third meeting with Graham in that time. ‘Darling... darling,’ he whispered, his eyes on a level with hers, the smiling tenderness in them just visible in the dim lights. His hand lightly traced the contours of her face, caressed the skin of her cheeks and paused in the soft hollow of her neck before dropping further still to cup her breast.
‘Graham,’ Kay whispered back huskily and her arms crept round his neck to hold him close to her. Their mouths came passionately together again and tiredness and languor met in her to produce a feeling of extraordinary well-being and relaxation.
Without being quite aware how he had arrived at it, she was conscious that her blouse was open. Then the roving caressing hand slipped round behind to tug at the catch on her bra and she had just time to register a shameful desire to help him shuck off the confining garment, when all at once there was a wonderful sense of release. His fingers closed on her nipples, worrying and teasing them until she felt her breath becoming very short and heard herself moan against his lips.
She shivered as his hair brushed her bare shoulder, and then there was a wetness on her breast as he took the nipple in his mouth and tongued it sensuously. Frantically she pressed closer to him wanting this exquisite feeling to go on and on forever. A deep shudder broke over her body and she clamped down on the cry that burst from her throat.
Later as she lay quietly in Graham’s arms, Kay watched the starry sky through the car window. She felt no inclination to move and neither she sensed did he. Never before had she gone so far with any man and the new experience was both delightful and very exciting. It was funny how after so many set-backs, she reflected, everything had suddenly gone so marvellously right. And it all dated from the night she had returned with Florrie to find him waiting for her on Carrick Road.
Kay smiled to herself as she remembered what Graham had said to her that first night when they had driven fast and furiously to park on the mountainside. ‘Well, my lovely Kitty, I’ve tried but it seems I can’t stay away from you.’
His words had disturbed her for the worrying implication (as on their last meeting before Spain) that he was resisting this magical something between them. ‘Why fight it?’ she might have asked, if in flippant mood, but flippancy had never entered into their brief relationship. Instead, she had boldly taken the initiative and reached her mouth to kiss his. No more analysis, she silently begged, no more chipping into this lovely precarious thing between us, just hold me and make me believe there’s some future we can share. At least let me hope. In her tiredness and longing all this went into the kiss she gave him whereupon, with a little exultant sound, he caught her close and hungrily kissed her back.
When she had sat into the car, having off-loaded her kitbag on Florrie, Captain Pender had seemed angry and tense, speaking tersely of ‘that clown Tully’ and more obscurely of some photograph which seemed to madden him even more than the proximity in the pool of Desperate Dan.
Kay said nothing, just sat watching his slightly hooked profile shyly, intoxicated by his nearness and the glorious knowledge that he was jealous of Dan Tully, of nameless Spaniards for their luck (and temerity) in being allowed near her, of all the men who ever shared photographs with her (what on earth could be mean?) and were understandably smitten by her.
Parked on the same spot as now, and with the city romantically spread out below them, they had begun frantically kissing, not able to get enough of each other. But when Graham began loosening her clothing, Kay had stopped him, prompted by some inner caution.
‘Forgive me,’ he murmured against her throat. ‘I’m driven half crazy for you. I can think of nothing else these days, whatever bewitchment you’ve cast on me.’
When she got home that night, Kay had found that Molly had had an accident and had been taken to hospital. It appeared that Dave was visiting at the time and helped get an ambulance. To Kay’s surprise, despite the lateness of the hour, he was sitting with Florrie when she got in, obviously waiting for her.
‘But what happened?’ she asked in dismay. Molly was such a hardy soul. It never occurred to her she might come in some day and find her gone.
‘She fell on the stairs,’ Florrie said, ‘The lights were out. She must have tripped on the carpet.’
Kay bit her lip. Of late her aunt had become obsessed with saving electricity. Half-way up the stairs lights had a habit of going out, switched from below by an unseen hand. ‘It’s like a lighthouse,’ had become Molly’s constant cry. ‘The whole house is like a beacon.’ Now it seemed she had fallen first victim to her own parsimony.
‘Where was Bill?’ Kay wondered.
‘He rang me when it happened,’ Dave told her, ‘He’s in bed now,’ he added, as behind them Florrie discreetly followed suit. ‘He was very upset. Naturally the whole thing was a bit of a shock.’ He frowned. ‘Pity you weren’t here. She kept asking for you, Kay. She seemed to think you’d be home early.
‘I had to meet someone.’ Kay blushed at the glance he shot her, suddenly conscious of her rumpled appearance, her breasts flopping loosely under her blouse.
His lips tightened. ‘I’d better go,’ he said shortly. ‘I was just waiting until you got in.’ ‘Thanks for all the help, Dave,’ Kay accompanied him to the door.
‘That’s okay,’ he said curtly. ‘You can let me know if you want me to bring you to the hospital. I’m fairly free tomorrow.’
‘Poor old Molly,’ Kay sighed.
‘Oh she’ll rise above it,’ he retorted.
Kay was struck by Dave’s admiring tone. Clearly it revealed his deep regard for her aunt.
It also seemed to say, ‘Don’t think it’s for you I’m doing all this.’
At the door he took an envelope from his inside pocket, ‘You might like to have this,’ he suggested offhandedly, and walked away down the path without a backward glance.
Feeling unaccountably low, Kay went back inside. Just because Dave Mason had unofficially elected himself family guardian, she told herself, it didn’t mean he had to be so irritatingly aloof, did it! Inside the envelope, she found the press photograph of herself and Dave taken at the Hunt Ball, and understood the meaning of all Captain Pender’s obscure references to photographs.
At Dave predicted, Molly made a good recovery. Looking rather bruised but in strong voice she had returned from hospital a few days later. Luckily, her ankle wasn’t broken, merely twisted in the fall.
Kay managed to get rostering to agree to her taking her two days stand-off together and so was there to help her aunt settle back home. Winifred and her family came down that same day from Kilshaughlin. From the moment she set foot in the house, Winifred was at her most obnoxious, demanding to know where Kay had been at the time of the accident, and acting as thought she were some kind of unpaid companion who had deserted her change. When Dave’s part was mentioned she sniffed, ‘He seems to be around a lot,’ as though suspecting him of some ulterior motive.
Kay was glad when her aunt said heartily, ‘God bless, Dave. Only for him I don’t know where we’d have been.’
The children were more than usually unruly after the car journey and raced around getting in everyone’s way. ‘Is this the spot where Gran fell?’ they shouted from the hall, and bumped their way down the stairs on their bottoms. Beyond wearing a pained expression as though they weren’t her children, Winifred made no attempt to stop them. It was left to Cahal to go out and remonstrate with them.
‘Now, now, surely that’s not the way to behave in someone else’s house,’ he admonished, but he soon gave it up as a bad job and returned to his corner to sip the pale concoction he called tea and brood over a newspaper.
They drove away at last with Winifred issuing instructions to Kay to ‘Mind mother and not be going off all the time enjoying yourself.’
Two days later, Kay returned to the airport to find that the lists were posted and all their group, excepting Cecily and Sandy, were offered permanent employment with Celtic Airways. How the feckless Orla had escaped the axe was a mystery to all.
‘Oh Orla is in cahoots with Lucy and Eva and all that crowd,’ Sally declared, ‘And she has oceans of charm.’
It was true that Orla O’Neill had been granted more than her fair share. She would have won hands down any day over poor awkward Cecily. She also had the luck of the devil and a sense of timing which came to her rescue on many an occasion. Although she had had nothing yet to do with Captain Simon Cooney, it was on the cards she would before long.
While Kay was sorry for the two hostesses who were being let go, she was thrilled for herself and Sally. It was a great relief knowing they would be able to stay in the job they loved. Besides which they had got their uniform money back in a lump sum and were now eligible for a pension. Not that either of them ever imagined for a moment they would be claiming it!
Rejoicing with Sally, Kay gave thanks for the lucky break that had come her way a few weeks earlier. A passenger who had been aboard the London/Shannon she and Florrie shared had written in a warm letter of commendation, lavishly praising the pair of them. Phrases life ‘unfailing good humour’ and ‘prompt life-saving action (obviously referring to the epileptic) sprang at her off the page. Across the bottom, the Hostess Administrator had scrawled, ‘Good work, girls!’
If Kay had wanted to give herself a boost in those impermanent, uncertain times (and in the preceding weeks she and Florrie had seriously considered it), she couldn’t have penned a better letter herself or timed it more opportunely. When the others had read it she brought it back herself to Miss Kane’s office. A good career move as Dave would say.
‘Well done, Miss Martin,’ the Chief Hostess praised her with a smile. ‘That sort of letter is worth its weight in gold.’
Kay smiled back and gave thanks that Captain Cooney’s chemistry, irresistible though it seemed to some, had found no corresponding reaction in hers. She was very conscious of the fact that if Captain Pender had been the property of the Queen Bee and the ruling was, ‘Hands off, Pender’ there might be a very different ending to the story.
Remembering, Kay grinned and stirred in Graham’s arms.
‘Happy?’ he asked, lifting his face from her shoulder. It was the first word between them in a long space of time.
‘Oh yes,’ she sighed contentedly.
He placed a kiss on her belly-button and drew her skirt modestly over it. While he brought their seats upright, Kay put her hands behind her to fasten her bra but couldn’t quite match the hooks. She let them go as he glanced at her, feeling suddenly shy to be so engaged.
‘What lovely hair you have.’ He watched with a faint smile as instinctively she took out her comb and did a brief tidy-job.
‘No, I haven’t. I think I’ll get it all cut off,’ she protested in disgust, seeing what a heavy petting session had done to her unruly mop.
‘Don’t do that.’ He took the comb from her and gently raked back the dark tendrils from her forehead. ‘You look like a Botticelli angel... a tired angel.’ he said in some amusement as she began yawning uncontrollably.
‘I’m sorry,’ Kay said through jaw-splitting yawns. ‘I was on a Frankfurt today and it was... it was...’ She gave up the struggle and let the yawn take over.
‘Time to bring you home.’ He pinched her chin lightly and turned to switch on the engine.
This time as they sped down the mountain road, Kay was untroubled by worries as to how Graham would take his leave of her. Although achingly tired, her spirits were light for unless she were mistaken tonight had marked the beginning of a new phase in their relationship, and despite their slow start, the romance was now most definitely on!