Page 25 of My Lord
“Okay, well noteverything. How are you feeling?” she asked.
I scrunched my brow and sighed. “I actually feel partly responsible. I come and stay every month but my visits have gotten shorter and shorter because I didn’t want to be around my mother. Her depression and grief made her bitter…or maybe it was me, I just wasn’t tolerant to her pain. Anyway, I walked past that painting in the hall. I’ve told her to put it in the safe. I could have put it away for her. But as you said, why have art hidden?” I thought back to my initial reaction to Duncan. “There was something about that man that made my hackles rise when I first met him, I should have acted on that.”
“That’s a lot ofshould havesthere,” she said, gently.
We sat in silence for a while reflecting, or at least I was. Not just on my relationship with my mother that had so drastically changed but the speed at which I had developed one with Gabriella.
I had no issues with sex on a first date. If I wanted sex without even knowing names, it wasn’t hard to find. But it was different with Gabriella and I was sad that I had fucked her against a wall. I wanted to woo, to court her. I wanted it the old-fashioned way no matter how sexually frustrated that would leave us. I just didn’t know if I had the strength to keep that up for any length of time. She could leave in a month, a few months, a year. I could spend all the time slowly building a relationship to have it ripped away. Confusion on how to proceed littered my mind. I wasn’t aware of how long I’d stewed in my thoughts but when I turned to look at her, she was asleep. Her head lolled to one side and rested on the wing of the sofa. She looked so peaceful and content. Her lips were very slightly parted. I shifted away and reached for a blanket and placed it over her lap, then headed for the kitchen. I was thirsty.
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and leaned against the counter. An hour had passed, and I was tempted to call the police station again. I wasn’t going to be fobbed off that a poor old woman had been conned by a lover, something they’d seen time after time and would deal with when they had a spare moment. I wasn’t sure they believed me when I said a Van Gogh had gone missing.
Eventually Mother joined me. “I’m sorry, I needed to rest a while.”
“Don’t apologise, I’m sure you’ve had quite the shock. I checked out his apartment, it didn’t look like he was staying around for long and there was a bag in his outdoor cabinet that looked like tools for picking locks.”
I saw her shoulders slump. “What a silly fool I’ve been. It was just company, darling, that’s all. I miss having company, someone to dine out with, or see a show. The old fuddies here aren’t up for outings anymore.” She waved her arm upwards to indicate her neighbours upstairs. “Let’s talk happy things. I very much like yourfriend,” she said with a smile.
“Thank you, so do I.”
“Is it a long-term thing?”
I retrieved a glass of water for Mother who only insisted on tap water despite having numerous bottles of spring in the fridge. “I’d like to think so but I’m hesitant. She could move back to the States anytime soon and that worries me.”
“In what way?” she asked.
“I don’t want to fall too deep and then she leaves.” I turned to hand Mother the glass to see Gabriella by the door. She smiled, albeit a sad one.
“I didn’t mean…” I started but there wasn’t much to follow up on really. Gabriella waved her hand as if to dismiss my words.
She smiled and walked over, kissed my lips and took my hand. “Henrietta, I think we need to teach your boy to live for the moment, don’t we?” she said, giving my hand a squeeze.
Maybe that’s what I needed to do. Perhaps I needed to forget the wooing and just live one day at a time.
Eventually, the police arrived, and although it was early hours of the morning by that point, they did perk up when they realised they were dealing with areallady of the realm, particularly when my mother informed them she had been one of the Queen’s Ladies in Waiting. Moreso when they realised it was a real Van Gogh that had gone missing. I had all the insurance documents to hand, all the registration and authentication papers, as well as some copies of Mother’s bank statements. I was sure the first suspect would be her. Once everything was documented, they left promising to call.
Gabriella and I left on Mother’s insistence. I had offered to stay but she shooed us out citing a headache from the stress.
Chapter Seven
“Shall we get the elephant out of the room?” Gabriella asked, and I frowned at her. We were driving along the motorway heading back to London. Seeing my evident confusion she continued, “I have no plans to leave the UK unless something happens to my momma, Alex. Especially now.”
“What do you mean, especially now?”
“You, business,” was all she said.
“I’m happy to hear I came before the business,” I said, smirking at her.
“You’re not only jealous but insecure, aren’t you?” she asked, gently.
“I didn’t think so before now,” I replied. Was I insecure? I hadn’t thought my jealousy could be that.
“You have a choice to make, Alex. You either live for the moment, and that needs to include me, or you dither and woo or whatever it is you want to do.”
“So you don’t want me towooyou?” I asked.
“It’s called dating where I come from, it’s simple. You invite me out, or I invite you out. We do fun things, and we either head off to one or the other’s house for sex, or not sex but sleep, or sex and sleep, or we go home to our own houses until the next date. It’s quite a modern concept, I’m sure you’ve heard of it,” she teased.
“Anymore teasing and I shall spank you, Gabriella,” I said.
