A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 14

         At the conference, the next day, Norman’s lecture was well-received and hugely applauded.  Martha’s reading session was also highly appreciated.  Only after her session, did the trouble begin.  One of the men in the audience arose to ask her a question about her latest writing.  “Madam, may we know about your latest piece of writing?  Is it an essay or a novel? Can you give us a trailer of what to expect?  We cannot wait to read it!”

        Martha’s hands turned clammy and her heart thudded erratically against her chest as she desperately searched for the comforting presence of Norman in the audience.  She soon spotted him in the fourth row.

        He was gesturing her to keep mum, with a finger on his lip.  Instantly she relaxed and even laughed nervously.  “Well, my Editor here doesn’t want me to spoil the suspense.  Let’s just keep it a secret for the moment, shall we?  You’ll soon get to enjoy the book, once it hits the stands!”  She said confidently and easily.  She knew that she had cleverly stoked the imagination of the audience while keeping her cool and not betrayed her misgivings at all.

        Then another fan arose to question. “But when can we expect to read your latest novel?  May we at least have a tentative date so that we may eagerly count the days to it?”

        Martha looked helplessly at Norman, who shrugged his broad shoulders, amusement writ large on his face; then said “Maybe next month.  Then may be the next to next!  Who knows?  I let my novel’s characters decide the release date.  They haven’t yet told me!”

        The audience guffawed collectively at her wise-crack.  Mercifully, for Martha, no one then bothered to question her any more, sensing her reluctance to divulge any news.  She heaved a huge sigh of relief inwardly.

        Back in the privacy of their suite after dinner, Martha shivered at the memory of how close she had been to having a nervous break-down on the dais and how Norman had saved her by just being there, strong and solid, in the audience.  She told him, “Norman, I admire you and appreciate you for just being there for me.  You are great!”

        “So, now this great man deserves a kiss and even more, don’t you think?”  he asked her, with a laugh, pulling her, unresisting, into his warm embrace.  She reveled in his masculine scent and put her arms around his waist.  They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, Then Norman broke the trance, pulled her back and surveyed her from top to toe, till she squirmed in embarrassment.

        Self-consciously she warned him, softly “Norman, will you stop doing that?”

        “But I’m not doing anything!” he protested, as she blushed, wriggled out of his arms and sat on a couch.

        He followed her, lifted her, sat down on the couch and pulled her on his lap.  Martha felt weird.  She’d never been this close to a guy in her entire life.  This was what she termed as an ‘intimate position!’ She struggled in vain, to stand up.  Norman’s embrace pinned her down firmly. 

        “Stop it Martha!  I’m not going to harm you!  In fact, I’m going to propose to you!  I’m enjoying your presence on my lap.  Will you marry me and allow me this pleasure, for the rest of my life?”

        Martha threw back her head and laughed aloud, till tears rolled down her cheeks.  Then she said “Norman, you funny guy!  In all my life, I’ve never imagined such a scenario for my novel!  Who’d propose to a dame with her on his lap, for Chrissake!  Please put me down immediately and go down on your knees!”

        “I prefer to do things my way, dear!  First, I want an answer.  And it better be a “Yes”!”

        “Um, what if I say “No”?”  she asked him coquettishly, her arms going around his shoulders and her blue eyes looking tenderly into his grey ones; feeling the warmth in his body and gaze; coursing through her being. 

        “I’ll kiss you till you say “Yes”!” Just then Norman’s cell phone rang, spoiling that intimate and exciting moment.

        He spoke to the caller and she watched him with all her love shining in her eyes and then paled when she heard him say urgently, “Just don’t worry, dear.  Everything will be all right.  I’ll be right there; earliest by tomorrow morning.  Please don’t worry.”

        With a tensed look, he told Martha, “My ex-wife Susan has just been diagnosed with cancer of the liver.  I have to rush to her.  She’s distraught!”  Wordlessly, Martha got up from her perch on Norman’s lap and wondered what the future held in store for her.  Would she ever again, get a chance to say that belated “Yes” to Norman’s proposal?

        Sensing her unease, Norman comforted her saying “Darling, this is an emergency, but not the end of the world.  I’m still with you.  But Susan needs me right now.  I have to be near her, in this hour of crisis.  As soon as her condition stabilizes, I’ll be back with you.”

        As a thought struck him, he said brightly “Would you like to accompany me to Scotland, where she stays?”

        Sadly, Martha shook her head and said with tears in her eyes, “Norman, you know that’s not possible.  Do we want to send that lady into further depression?  Imagine her plight, if she sees me with you and thinks that you have moved on in life, while fate has dealt her such a cruel blow!”

        Blown away by her genuine empathy, Norman embraced her tightly, kissed her forehead and started getting ready to sleep.  Obviously, he was pre-occupied.  He would be sleeping for 2 hours then boarding the flight to Wales.  Martha couldn’t sleep at all.  She just sat on that couch, warm with Norman’s heat, looking at him snoring softly and wondering about how she’d ever live without him!  She didn’t realize an hour later that she had curled up there and drifted off into deep sleep.

        Norman woke up, exactly at 2 a.m., left a note for the sleeping Martha, his darling and boarded a taxi for the airport.

To be continued.... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.