They went into the house. The house was superb and oozed of wealth.
The floor was plain polished marble. The architecture was spacious and graceful. Upstairs, Concepcion there open a door and gestured them inside.' I hope you will be comfortable here. I will send Ana up with coffee. Dinner in two hours?'
Sharon smiled gratefully, 'Thank you'.
Their room was actually a flat within the house. There were two rooms, a large one and an adjourning one. They may have made the arrangement all last minute because of Deborah. Deborah was given the smaller room while the bigger one was left to them.
At Sharon's thanks, Concepcion said, 'No, thank you, we are happy to have you here with us' she said graciously, her liquid dark eyes on Bryan, as she added teasingly, 'We were beginning to think that Bryan would never find the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. I have been dying to meet you'.
She left them as Joaquin appeared with their luggage. He was a middle aged man with a dried up face. He smiled at Sharon and little Deborah, flashing gold teeth as he retreated from the room. Sharon glanced round as the door closed. It was a beautiful room, decorated luxuriously with the antiques of Fernando's trade.
A carved bed with a canopy of midnight blue velvet, dominated the room. The windows on opposite walls were open, delicate fretwork shutters pulled a Ross to keep out insects. Two doors revealed a dressing room and an en suite bathroom with a huge marble bath and blue and gold tiles.
The coffee arrived before Sharon had finished looking around. She sipped it gratefully, realising that she was very thirsty. She pulled open the shutters to stare at the balmy night.
Deborah was also taking her coffee but with milk and sugar and the biscuits promised her.
'It's like going back in time', she said turning back her head to find Bryan watching her unsmilingly. The sudden realization that they were alone in this exquisite room, rubbed her of further speech and she could hear her own heart beating in the silence.
Bryan had roved his jacket, his shirt was open at the neck, revealing fine black hair against tanned skin.
She stared at his wife muscular shoulders and her mouth dried, her throat aching with sudden tension. The cup she was holding, rattled in its saucer. She set it down very carefully.
'There's only one bed', she realised shakily.
'You've noticed'. There was amusement in his deep voice.
'But....', she tried to find the right words, angry that he was laughing at her. 'You tricked me'.
'On the contrary, I suppose Cochi and Fernando assumed that our marriage was a normal one', Bryan said Sardonically.' One room, one bed'.
'I won't sleep with you, I told you that. I can't'.
Panic made her unwittingly rude and Bryan's mouth hardened.
'I suggest you go and tell Cochi that. Ask her for another room.
It was clear that he wasn't going to help her and the thought of explaining to Cochi that she couldn't share a room with her husband was too embarrassing to contemplate. Her mind worked fast.
'I could spend the night with Deborah's, she said and Bryan's lips hardened further.
'No mum, When I stay at my friends' their parents sleep in the same room. You will sleep in dad's room, not in my room tonight'.
Sharon looked at her daughter. When had Deborah grown this wise? They both were always sleeping together in the same room before she got to know Bryan and live in his house for less than three weeks now and she was already dictating where her mother should sleep a d where she shouldn't. She felt that she had to be careful because it seemed that she was gradually losing her influence over her daughter to Bryan. What kind of love and connection was that?
Before she could say anything to convince Deborah however, Bryan intervened. 'That's right Deborah. Your room is yours and should not be shared by anyone. That's the way it should be'. She looked at her dad and smiled happily that her father approved of her decision.
Sharon consoled herself with the thought that tomorrow, the house would be theirs and she could sleep where she wanted then. But until then, she would have to manage somehow.
'I think I will take a shower before dinner', she said coolly, shooting him a poisonous glance.
'Running away?' Bryan asked mockingly.
'No. I feel hot and sticky after the flight.I don't really enjoy flying'. She hated her own transparency.
Bryan looked at her and she could hide nothing and she had to stop herself from running into the bathroom to get away from those penetrating and all seeing eyes.
In the shower, she let the water sluice over her, Deborah had gone downstairs to be with Cochi. She soaped her body and shampooed her hair, letting her mind drift over the events of the past one week.
She was glad that Bryan finally knew the truth about Gerhard and about his daughter Deborah. Telling him about Gerhard and he finally finding out about his daughter had lifted a great weight from her shoulders. Why had he been so furious though after learning about Gerhard? She would have expected his reaction to the confession to be different. Amusement or triumph but not anger. Her admission hadn't changed anything between them though. Last night after he had found and brought them home, she had tossed and turned on Bryan's wide bed, not wanting to be alone, aching for him. He had slept elsewhere because she had woken alone as well. Even now, she felt that deep ache at the centre of her body. She recognized her desire with reluctant dismay. Why had he lied about Devon? Her eye had not deceived her
How could he deny it so coolly and so implacably?
She sighed heavily. So many questions and not one satisfactory answer. It seemed that they had reached a tense stalemate and she could see no way out of it. Even loving him so desperately, she could never forgive him. She couldn't trust him. She had been hurt too much by a man who obviously didn't live her. Her mouth straightened, there was no point in going over it again and again. It got her no where. As she reluctantly reached out to turn off the tap, the lights flickered and failed. Plunging her into complete darkness.
She cried out, alarmed, not realising that she was calling out Bryan's name.