Chapter 45
FORTY-FIVE
‘Now this is a surprise,’ Noms uttered as the handsome actor swaggered towards them.
‘Hey, doll. A good one, I hope.’ Leo Grant’s words came in a slow Texan drawl. It was like he hadn’t seen the mother of his child in six days, not six years.
Despite her apparent nonchalance, Gracie could tell that Noms would be feeling slightly sick. The rich actor didn’t do surprises. Gracie had wondered why the offer of the villa had been made in the first place, after all the years of anonymity and separation.
Gracie stood up, pulled her sarong around her, then lay down again and assumed the thin stomach position. She wasn’t sure what she should say to someone she had seen in so many films. She felt like she knew him already.
Leo smiled. ‘I’m sorry. I thought you were leaving this morning. I must have got your dates wrong. Have the crew been looking after you OK?’
Gracie remained mute and nodded.
‘It’s been great. We can’t thank you enough,’ Noms said. ‘This is my sister, Grace. I told you she was coming, right?’
‘How goes it, Grace?’
Gracie smiled and held her hand out to shake his. Oh my God, she had just touched the hand of one of her favourite actors and she couldn’t tell a single soul about it.
Noms gestured to the house. ‘Jack’s inside. But… I really do think he is still too young to know who you are.’
Leo Grant cocked his head to the side. ‘Don’t you think maybe it’s time he did, Naomi?’
‘No!’ Noms fired off, then softened slightly. ‘I’m sorry, I think it’s best we keep things as they are, for all of our sakes. When he’s older he’ll understand better. And he’ll be more able to cope with your fame.’
‘Yeah, yeah. I guess. It would be amazing to meet the little fella, though.’
Gracie was drawn to the actor’s slow, deliberate drawl.
‘Anyway, I’m just off to the beach with him.’ Noms jumped up, itching to get away from the situation. ‘Are you hanging around here for a bit?’
‘Yeah. I’ve got a break in filming, so I’m here for a week. I’ve got guests coming over in the morning.’
Gracie sat up. ‘I’ll come with you, Noms.’
Kingston, the butler, came out of the house and indicated that the actor’s room was ready. The handsome one turned to Gracie. ‘Don’t go just because of me, honey. I need a sleep anyway. It’s been a long day. Catch you alls later.’ And he walked with a sexy strut into the villa.
‘I can see why you did it, dear sister.’ Gracie loosened her sarong.
Noms’s expression was pained. ‘Oh, Grace. I don’t want him even to see Jack. This is awful. I bet he’s set this up.’ She sighed heavily. ‘I should have known.’
‘He sounded pretty genuine, to be honest, and it’ll be fine. Look, why don’t you take Jack now. I’ll get showered then join you for dinner on the beach at Mangos later. It will be perfect, we can all watch the sunset on our last night here. We can stay out late so our boy is sleepy and pop him in his bed. It’s an early flight tomorrow, he won’t even see him.’
‘How romantic, just me, you and Jack,’ Noms laughed.
‘When you could be under the Caribbean stars with a Hollywood star.’ Gracie sprayed suntan lotion on her legs.
Noms screwed up her nose. ‘I don’t see him like that now, it’s so weird.’
‘Extremely weird and sorry, but I could eat him for breakfast, lunch and tea!’
‘Gracie Davies!’
Gracie laughed. ‘In my dreams. Anyway, I don’t do sloppy seconds.’
Naomi screwed up her face. ‘Ew. See you in a while, little sis. And don’t ever say I don’t make your life just that little bit more exciting.’
Gracie read a few chapters of her new book, then slipped it down next to her as she drifted off into a wonderful sun-induced slumber.
She was woken an hour later by the sound of her favourite song, ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams, blasting out of the poolside sound system. As she came to, a glass of champagne was being placed rather clumsily on the table next to her by a freshly showered and edible-smelling Leo Grant.
Sitting up with a start, she grabbed her sunglasses and put them on.
‘I love this tune, man.’ Leo began to dance, and, feeling uncomfortable watching, Gracie stood up, her sarong draped low on her hips, her flowery bikini top showing off her buxom chest. Swimming every day had toned her waist and her tan gave her a radiant glow. Despite having a slight red mark on her cheek from sleeping, she looked naturally beautiful.
She sipped from her glass of champagne and began to move to the music, too.
‘I’m having this track at my funeral,’ Leo shouted over the music. ‘And I want everyone to be wearing bright colours and dancing in the aisles. It’s just one of those songs.’
Kingston came out and topped up their glasses.
Gracie laughed as the handsome actor took her by the hand and swung her round.
‘Forgive me if I’m speaking out of turn, but it’s so refreshing to see a proper womanly body for a change. I get bored of all these long, skinny women.’
Gracie found Leo’s Texan drawl hypnotic. ‘But you’re dating a supermodel, aren’t you, so you can’t say that.’
‘Risella, you mean? She’s OK, but she’s Miss Right Now, that’s all.’ He downed more champagne. ‘Good job my PR’s not here, me saying that out loud, but something tells me I can trust you, Grace, or you wouldn’t be here at all.’
‘I’m like the Bermuda Triangle of secrets, me.’ Gracie grinned as the track ended and Aretha Franklin’s beautiful voice started to sing ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’. ‘Oh wow, I love this song.’
‘Me too. So good. Let’s sit.’ Leo led her by the hand to the covered verandah where a huge citrus candle was burning and rose petals had been sprinkled on the circular wooden table.
She would wake up in a minute, Gracie thought. This was just all so surreal.
‘Are you the sister who was in hospital last year? Naomi mentioned it in an email.’
Bless him for remembering , Gracie thought as she nodded.
‘Nothing serious, I hope?’
She felt she had nothing to lose being truthful with this man. Their worlds were so far apart.
‘It was quite serious, actually. I had to have a hysterectomy.’
‘That’s shit, man. Do you have any children?’
‘No, I was pregnant and lost twins and that led me to losing my womb.’
‘That’s so sad. I’m sorry, Grace. Shit happens to the nicest people.’
Gracie tried to smile but her emotions welled up.
‘Hey,’ Leo said tenderly as a tear escaped from her eyes. He wiped it away with his little finger. ‘You’re so sweet, you make my teeth hurt.’
‘You don’t even know me,’ was all Gracie could muster. And then it happened. Leo Alfredo Grant, handsome Hollywood actor, father to her beautiful nephew, leant forward and kissed her right on the lips.
She broke away. Her tears seemed to have decided to take on a life of their own. ‘I’d better go and shower. Noms and Jack will be waiting for me.’
Leo stood up with her. ‘Never hold back, Grace. Tears are words that have been trapped in your heart. I’m glad I could kiss at least a couple away.’ And with that, he engulfed her in his muscly brown arms, pulled her tightly to his broad chest and gave her the biggest, longest, warmest embrace she had received in a long time. As Gracie melted into him, a feeling of complete peace enveloped her.
Then, suddenly feeling really awkward, she pulled away with a jolt. ‘I really must shower,’ she said, at a million miles an hour.
Leo nodded. ‘ You really are a natural woman, Grace. And I’m so damn sorry for your loss. But I’m not sorry that Jack has you in his life. To be honest, I had my doubts that that free-spirited sister of yours would be a good mom, but she has surprised me. Now I’ve met you I feel even more secure about the whole situation. You’d have made a really good mom, Grace.’
‘Thank you,’ she replied softly, liking the way he called her Grace too.
‘OK, get yourself ready. I’ll get Kingston to drop you at the beach.’ Gracie pushed open the door of the villa. Leo faltered slightly. ‘Will I see you all later?’
Gracie smiled apologetically. ‘Probably not… if you don’t mind.’
He looked really disappointed. ‘I get ya, Grace. And, I respect that.’
Gracie smirked. ‘Oh and the “you’re so sweet, you make my teeth hurt” line. I’m sure I’ve heard that said in a film before.’
Leo laughed. ‘How about me having you at hello, then?’
‘Oi,’ Gracie laughed. ‘How about you thinking of some original lines and I will go and shower.’
With a wry smile, Leo Grant drained his champagne glass.
Gracie smothered herself in fragrant shower gel. She had just been kissed by a Hollywood film star in a luxurious Caribbean setting, drinking champagne and dancing to her favourite song. He had even called her a natural woman!
She would tell Noms, of course. But she was sensible enough to realise that it was no more than a drunken peck on his part. From what she had heard from Noms, he wasn’t a bad man. And the hug had been completely dreamy and was just what she needed.
It was uncanny how much Jack did look like him and it was a shame that Noms didn’t want Leo to see him in the flesh. But she understood why. Leo would fall in love with the little chap, like most people did, and then it would get far too complicated.
As the soothing hot water soaked her body, she began to think about home. And despite what had just happened with Leo Grant, if her big sis were to ask her now which man in her life she would like to walk around the corner, she would have to give a very convoluted answer. Ed, before his rape revelation. Lewis, before he was unfaithful.
The break had done her good, there was no doubt about that, but tomorrow they would be home. Back to normality. Back to reality.
It wasn’t all bad though. Because she felt really excited about the SW19 Club coming to life. It offered a focus. A passion. Something that had been lacking in her life for far too long.
It was late when Noms, Gracie and a sleeping Jack returned to the villa. Somehow darkness seemed so much blacker and the stars so much brighter in the Caribbean. The sound of crickets was noisier than ever in the still of night, too. They had justified staying at Mangos far longer than they should have done by it being their last night. Noms, who was not a big drinker anymore, had driven them back.
‘Ssh.’ Noms put her finger to her lips as Gracie tripped drunkenly off the jeep step. ‘We don’t want to wake Mr Hollywood or his number one son now, do we?’ With a muted groan of effort, she leant in and lifted her sleeping child from the back seat.
‘He’ll keep out of our way,’ Gracie replied knowingly.
‘You know too much, little sister.’
Noms had laughed when Gracie had told her that Leo had kissed her. ‘Unbelievable,’ was all that she could say, but she was clearly relieved that Gracie had stopped him in his tracks. It would be a bit too complicated, having Jack’s dad sleeping with his auntie.
Gracie woke in the middle of the night with a raging thirst. She staggered to the kitchen in her little shorts and vest to find a bleary-eyed Leo doing exactly the same thing. She had been so overcome by his kindness earlier that, seeing him standing there – a man wanting just one thing – she felt that she owed him it.
‘Noms and Jack need never know,’ she whispered. Leo nodded.
She put her finger to her lips to shush him and pushed the bedroom door open very, very quietly.
Her precious nephew was sprawled tummy down in his Bermuda shorts, sound asleep, with his cute little face to the side so that his daddy could see him perfectly.
Leo put his hand to his heart and bit his lip. Gracie left him alone for a second, before taking his hand and leading him back to the kitchen. This time, she wiped his tears with her fingers.
‘I know it’s so hard but in a few years you will be able to say all you want to him.’
Leo kissed her on the forehead. ‘Thank you, amazing Grace. That one minute was the best gift anybody has ever given me.’
She lifted his hand to her lips, kissed it, poured herself a pint of water, and sleepily headed back to bed.