© Copyright 2006 by Rachel Waspe

Part I

“Billy!” Karen Hamilton threaded through the large crowd in the Church foyer to where she could see William Blackburn standing slightly off to one side. “Billy, I need to ask for a favour.”

Billy turned and smiled at her. “You know that I’ll do anything that you ask, Kari. What is it that you need?”

Karen grinned back at him. It was true. Billy would do anything for her, and for their mutual best friend, Sharon-Rose Stapleton-Wood. “The side of Tate’s cot fell off during the night and I wondered if you would fix it for me.”

Hope House, the orphanage in which Karen had spent the whole of her life, was a little short on funds at present and she hadn’t been able to get clearance to buy a desperately needed new cot for the baby.

“Sure. I’ll be over this afternoon with my tool kit.”

Karen squealed in delight and threw her arms around his neck, planting a quick peck on his cheek. “Thanks Billy, you’re the best.”

He gave her a squeeze and returned the kiss. “I’m glad you think so.” He released her and stepped back. “I’ll see you later but now I need to run. If I don’t get home soon, Fiona will have her nap before dinner instead of after and I won’t be able to get away.”

“You’d better go then.” She gave him a slight push towards the door and then waltzed over to join Sharon-Rose where she stood watching the two of them. “Hi Rosie.”

“I saw that.” Rosie’s tone was curiously accusatory.

Karen paused and gave her friend a puzzled look. “What did you see?”

“You gave Billy a kiss, and he gave you one too.” Rosie explained. She looked down at the floor. “Have you been holding out on me? Are you interested in Billy?”

Karen couldn’t have been less prepared for such a question. Wasn’t it obvious that it had just been a token of friendship? Why was Rosie so bothered about it anyway? It wasn’t like her to blow things out of proportion like that.

Then the truth hit. “No Rosie, I’m not interested in Billy. But you are, aren’t you?”

Rosie flushed and then slowly nodded. “I guess that it would be useless to deny it.”

How had she managed not to pick up that piece of interesting information? She must be losing her touch. “And you accused me of holding out on you!” Karen said indignantly.

“I wasn’t holding out exactly…” Rosie paused. “I don’t think that I realised until I got this kind of pain when I was watching you. I guess you would call it a stab of jealousy. I’m sorry. You won’t tell him, will you?”

“Of course not, if that’s what you want.”

“Definitely. I would simply die of embarrassment if he ever found out.”

Karen smiled softly. Rosie had always been a bit of a drama queen. “Well we wouldn’t want that, would we? But how is anything supposed to progress if he is never allowed to find out how you feel?”

“Oh,” Rosie waved her hand in an airy gesture. “I wouldn’t mind him knowing if he were interested in me.”

“Well, shy as he is, I doubt that he would let you know if he were interested in you unless he thought that he had a pretty good chance with you. So it seems to me that you are at a stalemate.”

Silence reigned for a moment or two before Rosie answered. “Of course, you could always do a little digging for me. You could find out whether or not he is interested in me. Then, if he is, you could drop a hint to him about my feelings.”

Karen wasn’t completely sure that she liked the sound of that assignment. “Are you sure that you would want me to do that?” she asked dubiously.

“Yes!” Rosie sounded eager and excited. “Knowing the worst would be better than not knowing at all. Thanks Kari, you are the best!”

“I’m glad you think so.” She muttered, watching her friend dance her way through the crowd. The fact that Karen hadn’t actually agreed to the job she had been given didn’t seem to bother Rosie at all

Rosie suddenly stopped and looked back at her. She raised her voice to be heard over the crowd between them. “You would tell me if you were interested in someone, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course.” Karen smiled. As independent as she was, she doubted that that was ever going to happen.

* * *

“You have something on your mind.” Fiona Edwards watched her twin from across the dinner table and laid her fork on the side of her plate.

Billy looked up guiltily, knowing that he had missed a good deal of what she had been saying throughout the meal. His nods and grunts obviously hadn’t been correctly placed. They hadn’t fooled her one wit.

“It’s Karen Hamilton, isn’t it?”

Billy just sat there in silence for a minute, trying to ascertain whether Fiona had really worked out how he felt for his friend or whether she just wanted him to be interested in someone. Since getting married, Fiona had been hoping the state was contagious.

“Yes.” Even if it was only a guess on her part, he couldn’t lie to her. “She wants me to go over to the orphanage this afternoon to fix one of the cots. Would you mind me going while you’re having your nap?”

Fiona grinned at him. “Of course not. We wouldn’t want a baby falling out of bed tonight, would we? Were you really thinking about a cot?”

He flushed. “No.”

“I didn’t think you were.”

“She kissed me on the cheek,” his colour deepened. “A friendly kiss but a kiss all the same. I don’t think she realised that the one I gave in return was a bit more than that.”

“It’s about time you found yourself a girl. I want Ginger to have a cousin around her age.”

Billy looked dubiously at his sister’s rounded stomach. “You’re not really going to call her Ginger are you?”

She laughed. “No. I just call the bump that because Jordan insists on calling it Fred. Seriously, I hope everything works out for you.”

So did he. “I wish that I could just out with my feelings the way that Jordan can,” He hadn’t realised before how envious he was of his brother-in-law’s outgoing nature. “It would be a lot easier if I could just tell her how I feel.”

“You might scare her off if you tell her just like that,” Fiona carried her plate through to the kitchen. “If I were you I would find ways to spend more and more time with her. That way I could find out if the feelings were mutual.”

Billy smiled. “That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.”

* * *

Karen held a gurgling Tate against her shoulder while Billy did what he could with the broken cot. “I really appreciate you doing this for us.” She commented, watching the top of his dark head as he worked.

“It’s my pleasure,” Billy spoke around a mouthful of screwdriver. “I don’t mind doing extra work if it means more of your company.”

“Aren’t you the flatterer?” Karen laughed brightly, jiggling the happy baby in her arms. “You would have done it even if Mr Leroy had been the one asking.”

“True,” Billy stood up and stretched. “But I wouldn’t have enjoyed it so much.”

She gave him a playful slug on the arm. “Well, I owe you one anyway.”

His face instantly went serious. “There is one way that you can repay me.”

“How?” Karen was surprised. Billy had always before brushed off her declarations of indebtedness. It was a bit odd to hear him agreeing with her.

“Come skating with me on Saturday. It is your day off, isn’t it?”

Karen raised one eyebrow. Since when did Billy know her timetable? “Yes, I am off on Saturday. Of course I’ll go skating with you. I’ll ask Rosie if she’s free too.”

Billy shifted from one foot to the other. “Kari…I kind of wanted to talk to you…alone.”

That sounded ominous. What could he want to talk to her about that he didn’t want Rosie to hear? Unless, of course, he wanted to talk to her about Rosie, maybe she had really lost her touch and Billy liked Rosie just as she liked him.

“Well, why don’t you talk to me now?” She suggested. “Rosie isn’t here at present.”

“But eleven other pairs of ears are.” He pointed out, swinging his arm to include all the children in the orphanage nursery.

She laughed. “Billy, they are all five and under, they won’t understand.”

“I’d rather not take the risk. Just come on Saturday, without Rosie.” He stuck out his chin, showing his stubborn Scottish side.

“Ok, ok, I’ll come on Saturday.”

“Great!” Billy lightly touched her cheek, picked up his tool kit and headed for the door. “I’ll pick you up at about ten o’clock.”

He was gone before Karen could even register surprise at his words. The skating rink was a five-minute walk away from the orphanage. He never, as in never, picked her up to go skating. Exactly what was going on?

* * *

Billy was extraordinarily pleased with himself. He had gotten Karen to the skating rink and he had her all to himself. Ok so there were a lot of other people there but no one that they knew.

Karen finished tying her skating boot and he held out his hand to help her to her feet. When she was up, he kept hold of her hand, ignoring her puzzled look. Let her wonder. While he was trying to work out her feelings, he might as well give her a few hints as to what his own were.

“Come on.” He tugged her towards the rink and led her onto the ice, making sure he didn’t move too fast.

They were both good skaters, both having grown up within walking distance of the rink, so, after the first circle of the rink, they were perfectly at home on the ice. Karen definitely didn’t need his help but he held tight to her hand anyway.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” she yelled over the noise of the other skaters.

Billy had almost forgotten that he had got her here under the ruse of needing to talk to her privately. “It can wait until lunchtime, I don’t want the whole of the town knowing my business.” And perhaps by lunchtime he would have figured out something to ask her that he wouldn’t have wanted Rosie to hear.

A small boy suddenly shot out in front of them, totally out of control. Karen wobbled violently as she tried to avoid hitting the tyke. Her left skate shot out from underneath her and she started to fall.

Billy caught her as she went down, taking the opportunity to clasp his arms around her waist. He held her against him until she had properly regained her footing and then a bit longer too.

“Are you ok?” he breathed against her hair, slowly releasing her.

“Yeah,” she stared up at him in total confusion. “Thanks for catching me.”

“My pleasure!” Billy had never meant the words more. Holding Karen close like that had been wonderful. Too bad it wasn’t an entirely consenting embrace. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

* * *

Karen let herself into her small block of rooms at the orphanage, dumped her bag in the living room and carried on to the bedroom. Flopping back on the bed, she closed her eyes and replayed the events of the day.

Something didn’t seem to be quite right but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Perhaps it was the conversation that they had had at lunchtime. Billy had seemed to be not really concentrating on it. And the topic was…odd.

They had adjourned to the ice rink café and were just finishing off their burgers when Karen had remembered that he wanted to talk to her.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh…um…Rosie’s birthday,” Billy leaned forward and wiped a spot of sauce from the side of her mouth. “I don’t know what to get her, I thought that maybe you could help.”

“Billy, Rosie’s birthday isn’t for another three months.” Karen paused with her burger halfway to her mouth.

“What? Oh…yes, I know. But I don’t want to leave it to the day before like I usually do so I’m starting now.” He reached over and covered her free hand. “You will help me, won’t you?”

“Sure.” It suddenly occurred to Karen that there might be a reason why he wanted to start looking so early. “Are you looking for something particularly special?” Perhaps he wanted time to find the perfect gift.

“Huh?” Billy seemed to be struggling to keep up with the conversation. “No, I mean, just the kind of thing that I would normally give her, only something that I haven’t yet given her.”

“Well, when I go shopping for her present, I’ll drag you along with me. That is, if you don’t mind waiting a couple of months.” She was privately amused at his eagerness.

“Thanks Kari,” he stood up, bent over her and kissed her cheek. “I knew that I could count on you.” He held out his hand. “Let’s skate some more.”

She had thought then that he liked Rosie. After all, this was definitely the first time that he had ever thought about anybody’s birthday more than a week before the date itself. But now, looking back, she wasn’t so sure.

If he were interested in Rosie, wouldn’t he have naturally spoken a bit more about her, even if he were trying to hide his interest? Billy hadn’t even mentioned her once since lunchtime. On the way back to the Orphanage, and while sitting in the car outside, he had asked her a lot of questions but not one of them had been about Rosie.

“They were all about me!” Karen opened her eyes and sat up with a start. In retrospect she could see that she had been the main focus of the conversation. Each question had been carefully designed to ferret out little details about her likes and dislikes, her hopes and dreams.

The truth swept over her like a tidal wave. “William Blackburn is interested in me.” She said aloud to the empty room.

This was a set-up for utter and complete disaster! Rosie was interested in Billy, who was interested in Karen, who was interested in absolutely nobody. That hardly seemed very fair on anybody concerned.

And what on earth was she going to say to Rosie? Rosie didn’t know that Karen was going skating with Billy but sooner or later she was going to ask if Karen had found anything out. What would she say then?

There was just one course of action. She would simply have to change the direction of Billy’s interest before Rosie started asking questions. After all, how hard could that be?





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