The trip to the big supermarket was fun. We packed three trolley’s full of groceries and toiletries. It was more than we could fit into Clyde’s boot. The back seat of the car carried the excess and we took two trips in the lift to get it all upstairs.
Most of it was meat, some TV dinners, pastas, frozen veggies and a variety of snacks we’d never been able to afford before. We had salami, smoked mussels in cans, some fancy cheeses with names we’d never heard before, boxes of biscuits and crackers, potato chips, sauces, fresh vegetables and of course a healthy provision of baked beans for Jessie’s special.
Packing away all the food was a chore that Jessie had delegated to me because of my tendency to be anal about how stuff should be arranged in cupboards. I didn’t mind. I actually enjoyed doing it. She made us some sandwiches for lunch that we ate at the dining table, while I went about the business of organising cupboards full of foodstuffs. After the sandwiches were eaten she went up to the bedroom level to have a nap.
I walked around the penthouse while she napped, marvelling at how lucky we were. It was a ridiculously extravagant place for a couple of young people to live in. We were right in the heart of the best of what the city frontline offered. We could see the surf all along the north and south beaches and we were really close to the good night life spots. Jessie had bought a telescope and set it up in the dining area. I trained it on our old neighbourhood and could only manage to see my own eyebrows in the reflection of the view finder. There must be some trick to this, I thought before giving up and heading back into the lounge to listen to a few new records I had bought. I also put on the TV and muted the afternoon rugby match that was being broadcast from somewhere else in the country. I fell asleep in the giant bean bag.
When I woke up Jessie was lying next to me, stroking my hair.
“Hey lover.” she whispered softly as my eyes opened. “You hungry?” She was wearing nothing. We made love on the beanbag. It was a little awkward at first, but we got the hang of it, the beans making a crunching sound in time to our rhythm. Afterwards we lay there, smoking a shared cigarette, staring out the huge double volume window that faced the ocean on the eastern side.
“I’m loving our new home.” she said as she exhaled the smoke from a mouth that had never seemed quite as sensual to me before as it was now. “You can just walk around here naked and nobody can see in. I mean, even on the rooftop garden. It’s just so private.”
We lay there for what felt like ages. Then she said, “I feel like some wine. Can I bring you a beer, love?”
“Sure, that would be great.’ I said.
She got up from the bean bag, her skin peeling itself off the leather, like a thousand little mouths were all puckered up to her. We both laughed at the sound it made. She sauntered off to the downstairs powder room to clean up and then went around the corner to the kitchen. A few moments later she came back holding a can of beer and a glass of white wine for herself. Neither of us were interested in putting our clothes back on, so we sat naked on our expensive furniture. We might have been living in a sophisticated penthouse but at heart we were still a couple of uncultured lovers from the dirty south end.
“So what are we going to do tonight?” she asked. I watched her sip the white wine, her body stretched out sideways on the leather sofa like a painting of a goddess from some bygone age. All she needed to complete the picture was somebody feeding her grapes and another to fan her with a palm frond.
“I thought we could stay in and maybe have something to eat el fresco up on the rooftop. I’ll cook us some steaks on the fire and we can watch the stars come out from the hot tub. Sound good?”
“Amazing!” she said. “Isn’t it going to be a bit chilly up there when the sun goes down?”
“Well, we don’t have to be naked all the time, you know. Although I will never get tired of looking at you like that.”
“Oh, Mr Peterson… you’re such a charmer.” she came across from the sofa and snuggled up to me. We continued to caress each other as the sun began dipping behind the hills in the west.
Eventually we roused ourselves, got dressed and armed with the food we were going to eat headed up to our private rooftop garden. Jessie had made a green salad and I wrapped up some potatoes in tin foil to roast in their jackets on the fire I had started in the cook out space. We ate our first simple meal on the secluded penthouse rooftop outdoor dining spot, marvelling at just how lucky we were. The sun eventually went down on our first day in the penthouse and the subdued outdoor lighting kicked in.
“It looks so nice up here at night.” Jessie said. She and Diane had planted a small jungle in the various built in planters with lighting to illuminate them from below. The shadows they threw across the deck were wild.
“You girls did an amazing job throughout this place, Jess. I really love it.”
She smiled.
“We’re going to have to figure out some kind of outdoor refrigeration for when we entertain guests.” I said.
“What about we just use steel tubs with ice cubes? Like they do at outdoor functions?”
“That would work, but you’re going to be carrying a lot of bags of ice up here from two floors down. Could get tiresome.”
“Mmmmm… you have a point. Where would we even put a fridge up here?”
The middle of the rooftop contained an area that had been left undeveloped by the architect, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to construct a covered outdoor bar there with built in under counter fridges. There was plenty of space for that. Jessie thought that would be a good idea too. She would get on it as a new project with Diane on Monday.
All around the perimeter of the rooftop deck were half moon shaped observation arches set into the walls at about mid chest height. You could look out in all directions without getting that sickening feeling of vertigo because the walls curved in slightly above you. I wasn’t terribly afraid of heights, but I did get the heebie jeebies whenever I saw Simon leaning back on his balcony which only had a waist heigh wall separating you from a sticky end. Standing near the edge here I felt quite safe, even 21 floors up.
Our hot tub was in the back corner on the southern side so it was in the sun for most of the winter days. It was large enough to fit at least ten adults, almost like a small plunge pool, but with bubbles. We undressed again and sat in the heated water, letting the millions of bubbles soothe our bodies. Jessie had a look of total contentedness in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before. She was leaning back in the moulded edge of the hot tub, arms resting on the edge, wine glass in hand, eyes closed with a Mona Lisa smile on her lips. She opened her eyes, looked at me on the opposite side of the hot tub and raised her wine glass in my direction.
“Here’s to the King & Queen of the frontline.” she said.
“Cheers to that.” I clinked my beer can against her glass and we drank a toast to our good fortune. She closed her eyes again.
I had brought up some towels earlier and just under the one closest to me lay the little black box that I had secretly stashed in the record cabinet earlier. While Jessie had her eyes closed I reached my hand under the towel and fished out the ring I had bought at the hotel on that first morning after we had become millionaires. It was a flat white gold band with a single 1 carat diamond set in the centre, surrounded by 10 smaller diamonds, each weighing 1/10th of a carat. 2 carats in total. On the inside of the band I had engraved something I was unsure of at first, but now two months later I thought it seemed entirely appropriate. It said, You Are My Fortune.
I palmed the ring . Jessie was now looking up at the stars as I moved into the space next to her, putting one arm around her bare shoulders.
“Do you know what that star is?” I asked, pointing up at the brightest part of Aquarius with my left hand, hiding the ring in my palm.
“No idea, but I have a feeling you do, smarty pants.”
“I left me pants outside the tub.” I joked. She laughed. “It’s called Beta Aquarii, brightest star in the constellation of Aquarius. Originally it was named Sadalsuud, which is Arabic for ‘luck of lucks’.”
“Really?” she said, snuggling closer to me. “It’s a lucky star?”
“Yeah. But it’s not the luckiest star.” I put the ring between my index finger and thumb, holding it up slightly next to the star I had just pointed out. The main diamond shone perfectly in the light coming out of the hot tub. “This one is called Jessica Jackpoticus. It’s named after you.” I moved around directly in front of her, sinking down to my neck in bubbling water. “Will you marry me, Jess? I am on one knee here. In the tub.”
She stood up so fast that she splashed my face and I dropped the ring into the bubbling water.
“Oh no!” I said. “I’ve dropped it!” She had a look of shock and dismay on her face. I felt around with my foot and then found it. I ducked under the water and came up with it clenched between my teeth, standing up to embrace her. Now she was smiling even wider than she had been that morning when I got into the car with her and Tony to move into our new home.
“YES! You bet I will marry you!” she shouted, her arms reaching out for my dripping wet face, circling my neck and pulling me under the water again for a kiss that may have drowned us had we made made any more of it.
Eventually we settled down enough for me to show her the ring properly in the light of the hot tub. I put it on her finger and it was a perfect fit.
We were officially engaged.
“Did you ask my Dad?” she said as we were getting into bed that night. It seemed that she was as old fashioned as I was in that sense.
“I did, love. He is very happy for us.”
“When did you ask him? What did he say? Tell me exactly what he said.”
“You were here working with Diane so I went over to your old place two weekends ago. We watched the FA Cup final together.”
“So how did you ask him? Please give me all the details, I need to know.” she was being a pedant. I just smiled.
“I said to him, Tony – that daughter of yours… can I have her? And then he said, ‘my boy, that would be super, but there’s the small matter of lobola. How much can you offer?’ so I made him the offer of ten bucks which he gladly accepted.”
“Nooo! Tell me the real way you asked, you plonker.” she punched me on the arm. Hard.
“Okay-okay. Simmer down, Queen Jessie. I’ll tell you what I remember, because I was very nervous.”
“You? Nervous? Now you’re asking for it.” she grinned and laid into me with a mock left-right combo, before jumping on top of me and pinning my arms on the bed. “Tell me everything, Peterson, or you’re gonna get beaten up.”
I’d never loved her more than in that moment as I told her how I had really asked Tony for her hand in marriage. We’d watched the game and Wimbledon had somehow beaten Liverpool 1-0, which really pleased Tony because like many people he despised the red shirted Merseyside team. I took advantage of his good mood and as we sat having a beer and a smoke afterwards I said that I would like to ask his blessing for me to ask Jessie if she would marry me. He stood up, walked over to me and put out his hand to shake mine, telling me that I was the best thing that had ever happened to his Jessie, regardless of our great good fortune in winning all that money. He’d never seen her as happy as she was when she was with me.
Jessie lay down next to me after I told her the story, snuggling close. I could tell that she had tears in her eyes. I just lay there, enjoying my fiancé being close by my side.
We slept like a proper king and queen in our enormous bed that night, but we had forgotten to close the curtains before going to sleep so when the sun rose in the morning it bathed us in glorious autumn sunlight. I was totally disoriented when I woke up and had no idea where I was. Jessie was under the duvet, just a tuft of her dark hair visible on the window side of the room. I got up and went downstairs to make coffee. It took me a while to remember where I had packed everything. Eventually I found the coffee, the mugs and the milk. I made my morning coffee and took a seat in the dining section of the penthouse. I looked south along the frontline and saw early morning surfers paddling frenetically for waves that were not huge, but well formed. Ships were anchored out at sea, gulls were flying below my position in the sky. All was right in the world.
I’d half finished my coffee when Jessie came down, walking into the kitchen barefoot, wearing only a large white tee shirt as pyjamas.
“Morning gorgeous.” I said.
“We didn’t close the frikking curtains last night. I thought I had been airlifted into heaven. It’s so bright in our room.” she was still rubbing her eyes. “I think I had too much wine last night. My head hurts. Ow…”
“Aw, poor thing. You want me to make you some coffee?” I asked.
“Yes please. And sorry, good morning, my fiancé.” she mustered a smile and came over to give me a kiss before sitting at the dining table. I got up and made her a cup. I also brought her a couple of aspirin with a glass of water. She happily took them and then smiled at me in her special way. “Sorry I was a bit cranky just now. I don’t think I should drink wine anymore.” She rubbed her temples. “Bloody hell, this headache sucks.”
I laughed and said, “Maybe don’t buy the cheap plonk again? We’re rich now, we can get the good stuff.”
“You’re right. Hell’s bells, that plonk went down well, but I feel like there’s a brass band playing in my head right now.”
Her engagement ring was sparkling in the bright morning sunlight as she looked at her hand, the furrows on her brow relaxing as she did.
“I’m so happy. I love this design, Danny. When did you buy it?”
“At the casino, the morning after.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
“Awwww, you’re such a romantic. I adore you.” she said, blowing a kiss across the table in my direction. “This couldn’t have been cheap, that’s for sure.”
“Nope. But it was worth every cent.”
“I’m going to get you something nice that you can wear too.”
“Nah, don’t. I’m not into jewellery.” I said, shaking my head.
“Oh, but you need something also, love. What about a nice watch or necklace?”
“Pass on the necklace, but I do like a nice watch. Funny, I haven’t even thought of getting something like that since we got the money. As long as it’s not gold, I give you permission to buy me a watch.” I said. She chuckled and slowly nodded her head. I could almost see the gears working as she thought about how she was going to pick out a watch for me.
“Now, onto more pertinent matters,” I said “We need to break the news to our friends and family, so I was thinking of having a small soiree here next weekend. What do you think? Maybe your Dad, my folks, Simon, some of your friends. Actually, who are you friends with?”
She shrugged. “I don’t really have any girl friends. They were never that nice to me down at the beach. I’ll bet their tune will be different now though.” I’d forgotten how everybody used to shun her when she was involved with Micky.
“What about Diane and her husband? You guys seem to get along well.”
“I suppose we do. Ya, let’s invite them. Does Simon have a girlfriend?”
“Not that I know of. I actually feel a bit guilty – I have hardly seen him since we came back from the casino. He probably thinks I am avoiding him because I have money now.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Why not just give him a call and you guys go out one night this week, do a little catching up? Don’t go to Harlequins though!” she laughed as she said the last bit.
That sounded like a good plan.
We had a second cup of coffee and pulled out a pen and paper from one of the cabinets in the lounge, making a list of people we wanted to share our big news with. It would only be about a dozen people in all, including ourselves. I also wanted to invite Dennis, our attorney and Rhonda the agent. I suppose being the only children of only children meant we were always going to be small family groups. Jessie said that she wanted to have a whole bunch of children so that they would never be as lonely as she was growing up. That seemed like a good idea to me, but I asked if we could get to see a bit of the world before we made any babies. She agreed.
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