Now Adam was here in front of her, and she was in the midst of shedding the skin of her previous uptight self. She decided to embrace some of the very maxims by which her mother led her life. What was the harm in a light-hearted palm-reading session?
Everyone relocated to the lounge, and gathered around as Adam took Opal’s palm in his, a little sheepishly at first.
Johan seemed the keenest member of the audience. ‘So whatdoes it say then, Adam? Don’t leave us all in suspense.’ His tone was more than a little mocking.
Adam turned her hand gently, and despite herself, Opal felt a strange sense of calm descend over her, and a shiver prick the back of her neck.
‘This is your life line,’ Adam explained in soft tones, tracing over the longest crease of her palm, ‘and then you have your head line, your sun line, your heart line and your fate line.’
‘Tell me about my fate line …’ Opal chuckled nervously; maybe she’d rushed into this. If there was any truth to this stuff, it was probably unwise to bare her soul to her guests like this.
‘Are you sure, Opal?’ Adam seemed to sense a shift in her mood and tried to pull his hands away, but Opal grasped on. In that moment she suddenly felt distinctly brave, and overwhelmed by a visceral tug of affection, maybe even love, for everyone around her.
Adam looked a little hesitant but he continued to examine her hand. ‘There are others too; there’s a line for babies and marriage …’ Adam trailed off. Realising a second too late perhaps that he’d hit a nerve, although Opal assumed that he didn’t know which of the two topics was the sorest spot.
‘I’m sorry – maybe this is a bad idea …’ Adam tried to retreat for a second time, and again Opal clung to him. Tears welled in her eyes inexplicably. She wasn’t sure if they had sprung from joy or sorrow.
‘What do they say?’ Opal’s voice was almost a whisper.
‘There’s two lines and they’re both … broken …’ Adam held Opal’s gaze as he spoke, watching for her reaction. She nodded ever so slightly. Giving him permission to go on.
‘The marriage line tapers off, and it’s …’ Adam shifted in his seat. ‘It’s quite short.’
‘And the baby line?’ Opal felt distinctly aware of most of the group around her backing away ever so slightly, all apart from Johan, who inched closer.
‘I feel a presence when I run my thumb over it like this,’ Adam whispered, studying her palm as a silent teardrop rolled down Opal’s face. ‘But she’s not of this world anymore. Again … the line is short.’
Adam looked up then and into Opal’s eyes. ‘But it’s deep. She’s certainly left her mark.’
Opal reached her breaking point then. She pulled her hands away, hoping in vain to catch the sob before it escaped her throat. On the back of her closed eyelids, she was sure she could make out a childlike dancing figure. Her heart ached in her chest and it felt impossible to know how much time she sat there, rocking through those alternating waves of joy and sorrow.
When she finally opened her eyes, the first thing her kaleidoscoping mind registered was the camera, framed by Johan’s hands, trained on her. It took a few more moments for the blast of the flash to fade from her vision.
Only then did it fleetingly cross her mind that she felt something rather different than drunk.
Chapter 38
Noah wouldn’t quite be able to recall his precise movements the next morning. But somehow, after more than a few glasses of champagne, they all made it out of the dining room. Afterwards Johan had rushed off, eager to develop the night’s photos and the rest of them had stayed, first huddled in the small sitting room, and then fanning out and away from Opal.
At some point someone had turned on the small TV set. No one seemed to be able to sit still for very long, and for a while at least they had found themselves swaying joyfully to that night’sTop of the Popsbroadcast. It took some time before one by one they sank into the two plush deep green velvet sofas that were cornered around a log burner still piled with last winter’s supplies.
He and Opal had shared one, and Adam sandwiched himself between Heather and Ruby on the other. There was laughter, and storytelling. Whatever icy tensions had been born out of the party were melting away. Noah remembered how Adam started smiling at him again, although he wasn’t sure what he had done to invite Adam’s recent coolness. Noah was glad, maybe even more than glad, to see it vanish.
People dispersed. Perhaps Adam left first, and then Rubyand Heather drifted away, hand in hand. Whatever animosity had festered between them had also gone.
Noah must have moved over to be closer to Opal, or maybe it was her who shuffled nearer. But eventually they were wrapped up limbs and her head of pink-gold hair was splayed across his lap. Mostly her eyes were closed, but intermittently they would open and look up at him, accompanied by a lazy smile.
‘Noah.’ She breathed his name like a wish. ‘Do you know that you’re the most beautiful boy in the world?’
‘You don’t think of me as a man then?’ Noah was teasing, but Opal’s brow furrowed with concern.
‘I don’t, no …’ she said finally, ‘but that’s no bad thing in my book. Men are usually … disappointing.’ She lifted her hand up to Noah’s face and ran her thumb over the ridge of his cheekbone. ‘Do you think I’m beautiful?’
‘Yes, of course.’ He didn’t need to think about it. There was no question that Opal Fairfax was a beautiful woman.
‘Will you kiss me again?’ Opal’s voice was quiet. There was something plaintive about her request. She sat up and knelt beside him on the sofa, framing his face with both her hands. The warm amber of her eyes was mesmerising, and they stayed like that, locked in a moment of maybe, for a long moment.
‘Do you want me to kiss you again?’ Their lips were so close that the question was barely audible, asked instead by the movement of the air between them.
