Page 50 of The Wedding Proposal
Lucas flashed Carmelo a grin. ‘I’ve got Seven Up. That OK?’
Carmelo grinned back. ‘It’s good.’
‘If you sit down here, then Lucas can bring you out the drink.’ Elle ushered the little boy to the cockpit seat.
Lucas took the steps down to the galley in one long stride and opened the fridge. In moments he was out in the velvet night air, a tall glass of fizzing clear liquid for Carmelo, another beer for himself and a small bottle of water for Elle.
‘Thank you,’ Carmelo whispered. Then he lifted the glass in both hands and set about the liquid sweetness greedily.
‘Hey.’ Lucas raised his eyebrows. ‘You’re supposed to drink it, not dive in it.’
It took Carmelo a moment to interpret the joke, and laugh, but then he replaced guzzling with drinking.
While Lucas chatted to him in his deep, calm voice, Elle picked up her phone and, making sure to stay in Carmelo’s sight, stepped off onto the quayside to call Joseph, trusting that he and Maria wouldn’t mind being disturbed so late.
In her ear, the phone sounded the Maltese single ringtone several times and she was just beginning to feel a skip of dismay, when, ‘Allo?’ Joseph answered, sounding dazed and gruff.
Elle winced. ‘Joseph, it’s Elle. I’m really sorry if I woke you up. But it’s Carmelo. I found him in Gzira Gardens on his own in the dark. He’s not very happy about something but he doesn’t seem to feel comfortable talking to me about it. He says his mum and grandfather are at home but he obviously sees some barrier to going back there himself. I offered to go with him but he was pretty positive that he didn’t want that.’
‘I understand.’ Joseph sounded as if he was waking up fast. He cleared his throat. ‘I presume Carmelo is safe? Is he still with you? Where are you? What’s his emotional state? How does he seem physically?’
Elle was able to reassure him but added, ‘I just don’t know what to do next.’
‘I’ll come down to the marina. Do you think Carmelo will stay until I arrive?’
‘I think so. He’s drinking Seven Up and talking to Lucas. Lucas is pretty laid-back and perhaps Carmelo finds him reassuring.’ She didn’t add that she found Lucas pretty reassuring herself. He hadn’t bombarded her with questions and objections when she’d turned up with Carmelo. He’d just handled the situation.
She explained whereabouts the Shady Lady was moored and ended the call, turning back to the boat. In the blueish cockpit lights she could see that Carmelo was having a burping competition with Lucas, and giggling.
She stepped back on board with an exaggerated sigh. ‘Pity the water Lucas got me isn’t fizzy. It puts me at a disadvantage in the burp department.’
Carmelo giggled harder.
* * *
Joseph turned up at nearly half past midnight. He strolled through the gardens and stepped on board, hands in pockets, with an easy smile. ‘Good evening.’
He showed polite interest in the boat for a minute before he turned to Carmelo. ‘You’ve had a nice drink. I think we’ll talk; then I’ll have to take you home, won’t I?’
Carmelo’s face fell, but he nodded resignedly.
‘We’ll go in,’ said Elle, immediately, picking up her water and taking it into the saloon. Lucas followed.
Joseph sat down beside Carmelo. Elle could see them and hear snatches of Maltese. Initially, it seemed as if Joseph would bear all the conversational burden while Carmelo looked down at his fingers and shrugged.
But then he began talking, voice low, his eyes still cast down.
Joseph nodded and listened.
Carmelo explained, gesticulated.
Joseph nodded and listened.
Elle sighed. She smothered a yawn and looked at her watch, then at Lucas. ‘Sorry if this has kept you up.’
‘Doesn’t matter.’ Lucas was gazing meditatively at her. ‘You’re quite different to the girl I used to know. Not just that you’ve lost the suits and the need to be at the front of the rat race. It’s that I don’t think I even saw you look at a child when we were together, let alone take a particularly needy one under your wing.’
She was too tired and sad to dissemble. ‘Being made redundant showed me how superficial my life was. It made me want to get involved with something more significant. I didn’t expect one of the children to become attached to me.’ Slowly, she twisted the cap from her bottle of water and sipped. ‘And what about you? In the past you wouldn’t have had the patience for Carmelo. You’d probably have given him a few euros to go away and have forgotten about him in five seconds.’
