It took an hour to ride to Middlesbrough and when they arrived it was late afternoon. Douglas parked the bike and they walked inside the hotel he had chosen. It was modern – to match her newfound persona, she decided – and as she waited while he booked them in she looked at the pamphlets for things to do in Middlesbrough, which wasn’t much, she had to admit.
‘Ready, Mrs Mackay?’ Douglas asked and she turned and smiled at him.
‘Ready, Mr Mackay,’ she said.
Diana felt nervous when he opened the door with the key. A whole night with Douglas was something new, and she wondered what would happen. He was more experienced than her but she was a willing student.
The room was simple with a double bed, which she hadn’t seen in person before. Her parents had single beds in sperate rooms, and Diana was still sleeping in her childhood bed.
It wasn’t exactly Claridge’s, she thought, but it would allow her to have a whole night with Douglas and she could ask him about their future.
Douglas took off his jacket and sat on the end of the bed. ‘Diana, I have to tell you something.’
Diana sat next to him on the bed. This was it. This was the moment he told her how he felt and revealed all his ideas about their future.
‘This is my last night here,’ he said.
Diana felt her world spinning. ‘What do you mean?’ She felt her hands grasping at the eiderdown, as though hanging on to a lifeline.
‘It’s coming into autumn and it’s getting colder,’ he said as he smoothed away a strand of hair from her face. ‘I don’t want to do the ride through winter. It’s too dangerous,’ he said. ‘And harder to get work.’
Diana couldn’t breathe.
‘But I’m going to come back,’ Douglas said. He reached for her hand and though she could see him holding it she couldn’t feel anything, except her future of adventure and partnership slipping away.
‘I want to come back,’ he said, looking at her closely, as though peering through a window. ‘To you,’ he said. ‘And I want to meet your family, and I want you to stop hiding me from them.’
Diana blinked a few times, willing herself back into the room. ‘You said you wanted a life of adventure,’ she said slowly.
‘I did and I do, but I want to do this first and then come back here and create a life of adventure with you, Diana. I just want this one trip for me and then we can be together.’
‘So you bought me to a hotel for one last night of passion and you’re going to say whatever you need to so I lie there and let you do whatever you want while I dream of lace and orange blossom.’ The words spat out of her mouth like nails.
‘No, we don’t have to do anything – I just want to be with you,’ he said, his blue eyes imploring her.
Diana stood up. ‘Take me home, please.’
‘Diana,’ he pleaded.
She stood against the wall. ‘Now, or I will call the police and tell them you bought me here against my will.’
‘Diana, please,’ Douglas begged. ‘Don’t do this.’
‘Do what?’ She heard herself becoming shrill.
‘Ruin this,’ he said. ‘I want to be with you. I’m going to come back, I promise you.’
Diana could feel the tears coming. She didn’t want him to see her crying but it was too late.
Douglas slid off the bed and got onto one knee. ‘Diana, marry me. Let’s get engaged, and then you will know I’m serious.’
‘And tell people you’re now riding your motorbike around Europe? A proper engagement requires notices in the papers, a party, photos, planning. I haven’t even met your family.’
Douglas shook his head. ‘I don’t have any. I was raised in Dean’s Orphanage. I came here by chance and met some guys that night and went to the club with them. And then I met you.’
Diana was silent.
‘And I stayed. I had one suit that I borrowed from one of the guys I met and some money saved and that was it, but you were such a joy to be around. I’ve never met anyone like you, Diana. You make me laugh and made me want to protect you forever.’
