7

The new Mr and Mrs Boyd left for their honeymoon ten days after the wedding, which thankfully gave my nose a little more time to heal and the bruising to fade. Neither of us spoke again about our wedding night, preferring to remember two days later when our next act of love-making as husband and wife ended with untroubled sleep. We lay in each other’s arms afterwards and spoke late into the night, our words punctuated with caresses, sentences hyphenated with laughter and paragraphs bridged with slow, deep thrusting and soft orgasms.

I was like an addict, I couldn’t get enough of Anna and she never once turned me down whenever she noticed that spark in my eyes.

Before leaving for holiday, I made sure I spoke with Pat to explain why Anna and I were going away on our own. Prior to this, the longest periods I had been away from him were two nights on a rugby trip, and then the stag weekend. Now I had not only presented him with a new mother, but I was taking her away from him for a week.

‘Anna and I will be back soon, buddy. We just need to go away for a few days. And before you know it we’ll be back and you’ll be the most important person in the world for both of us.’

His green eyes looked deep into mine.

‘Is Anna my family now?’ he asked.

‘Yes, son.’

‘Are you still my family, Daddy?’

‘Of course I am, son.’ I hugged him tight. ‘Of course I am. I’ll always be your family. You’re the most precious thing in the world to me.’ I had spent a lot of time with Anna that week; he must have noticed my distraction. I kissed his forehead while searching for the right words. Words that a child might understand.

‘All of your friends at nursery have daddies and mummies don’t they?’

He moved his small head back and forward in an earnest nod.

‘Well, I needed to find a mummy for you to help me to show you how to grow up and become a good man. And I need someone to talk to late at night when you’re tucked up in bed.’

He nodded again as if he understood every word. My chest tightened with the pressure of my feelings for him and I wondered if I could ever love another human being as I loved this child.

 

Life aboard the cruise ship settled quickly into a pattern of lovemaking, sleeping, eating and sight-seeing. We were waited on by an army of diligent waiters who seemed to anticipate our every whim. The food was dangerously abundant.

‘Did you know that the average person on a cruise puts on two pounds a day?’ Anna asked me as I piled my plate high at the midnight buffet. Her own plate was a sea of white china with a solitary strawberry, dipped in a chocolate fondue, in the centre.

‘I need my strength,’ I winked, ‘for later.’

 

The cruise itinerary was an architectural heaven, allowing us to sample some of Europe’s finest moments. The place names glided off the guide’s tongue like a series of honeyed sunsets: Florence, Pisa, Rome, Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo and Barcelona. A new port every day and each city worthy of every word of praise heaped upon them. We strolled through the living art museum that is Florence hardly daring to speak above a whisper, so awed were we by the churches, paintings and sculptures. We revelled in the contrasts of Rome: the modern apartment blocks right next to an excavation that reached back into a time before Christ; the roar of the traffic and the hush in St Peter’s Basilica.

Anna’s favourite was the Trevi Fountain. We approached this through a maze of tall apartments and narrow streets barely wide enough to let a car pass through. The sheer scale and beauty of the fountain hit you by complete surprise as you turned yet another corner, expecting another street. I held Anna close by my side as I immersed myself in the glory of the site. We stood like this for minutes, doing nothing but holding each other and staring. Then we snapped photograph after photograph.

Surveying the crowd, I watched a Roman teenager nuzzle into his girlfriend’s neck and then turn his back on the fountain. He threw a coin over his shoulder and then kissed her. Do our teenagers in Scotland have such a romantic view of their heritage, I wondered, or is the romance of this city so strong, even its inhabitants cannot escape it?

In Nice we ambled along the Baie Des Anges and then found an explosion of colour and blooms in the flower market. Anna looked as if she had stumbled on heaven as she wandered along the stalls soaking up the scents and tracing petals with a light touch. And so the week went on, view after glorious view massaging out the kinks in our souls, soaking our spirit in calm.

The cruise ship provided a counterpoint to this grandeur with its on board entertainment. By day we had all the sights that our eyes could manage, by night, back on the boat, it was time to exercise our taste buds in the restaurant and our ears in the theatre as we listened to the ship’s cabaret.

Seats were quickly taken in the lounge that hosted the main show and on one occasion we were lucky to get a seat at all. A middle-aged woman and her teenage daughter squeezed together to allow us some room. The daughter almost shone with youth and wore the flush of early womanhood with an acceptance that would have every middle-aged woman on the ship give a quiet groan of envy. Her mother was an older version; the firm line of her jaw and her trim physique evidence of how she took care of herself. The line, you could be sisters almost tripped from my mouth, but I successfully edited it before I looked a fool.

The mother began speaking to us about the cruise, telling us how much she and her daughter were enjoying it. Her daughter meanwhile, sat side on to us and rolled her eyes as her mother spoke, probably wishing that she was back home in a nightclub in England.

As the woman talked, clearly pleased to have someone listen to her, she addressed most of her comments at me, only occasionally looking at Anna. Sensing Anna’s boredom, I attempted to draw her into the conversation but each time Anna simply smiled and deferred to me. Not a moment too soon the curtain rose and the young crew, as eager as a litter of pups, set about entertaining us.

Their energy was amazing, their talent impressive, and after what seemed only moments, the show was over. Anna stood up straight away, before we could get drawn into another conversation, and walked briskly to the door. I followed her, aiming a smile at my new friend over my shoulder.

‘God, who does that woman think she is?’ Anna turned to me as soon as we were out of the door.

‘She was just lonely,’ I answered, surprised by the irritation that flared in Anna’s eyes. ‘She probably just wants someone to talk to.’

‘Well, she needn’t think she can have you,’ she emphasised this last word by stabbing a finger into my chest. She paused as if she regretted her response. ‘Sorry, honey. Think I’m just a wee bit tired. I’m going to bed,’ she said and with a wave walked towards the stairs. When she got there she turned and offered me a wicked grin. ‘Coming? Or do you want to go and chat up your new best pal?’

 

This was the first night of the holiday that we went to bed on anything like a disagreement. Once we were inside our narrow cabin, Anna stripped wordlessly, jumped under the covers and turned to face the wall.

‘We’re ok?’ I asked, surprised not to be welcomed into the bed by her open arms.

She turned, gave me a small smile. ‘Just worn-out, honey.’

‘That woman’s just lonely, babe. And I’m probably the only male on board with all his own teeth.’

She snorted. ‘Aye, you’re a catch, right enough.’ She yawned. ‘Stop worrying, Andy. It’s nothing. She’s nothing.’ She lifted a hand out from under the covers, found mine and gave it a squeeze. ‘Now sleep.’

But I lay awake for what seemed like hours, going over Anna’s reaction to the woman in the ship’s theatre. She didn’t think for a moment I was interested, did she? This was as close as we’d come so far to a cross word during a holiday that I’d determined would be perfect. Sleep eventually won me over and I knew nothing till I was woken by a pressing need to pee. Eyes still closed, I moved from my side of the bed and walked towards the toilet, which was only four steps away.

After two steps I fell over something large. My elbow hit a seat and the side of my head the dressing table. Holding my forehead, I righted myself and sent a silent prayer skyward in thanks for not bashing my nose again. Anna’s tousled head rose from the pillow and she reached for the light.

‘What the…’ she murmured, wiping sleep from her eyes.

‘Bloody cabin boy. Left a bloody suitcase right where I could trip over it.’