Picture Perfect (7 page)

Chapter 13.

I decided to wait by the main door to catch Maria as she entered the house. I ran a second check on all of the other doors and windows but found them to be all securely fastened. At least the place hadn’t been left open to invasion like the last time. It was around five o’clock when Maria returned. She quietly opened the door and carefully shut it again, but spun around with a squeal of fright as I tapped her on the shoulder. Her hand automatically flashed towards me with impressive speed but I blocked her karate blow and said quickly, “It’s Kim. Take it
easy
, Maria.”

“Miss Kim,” she breathed. “You
frighten
me. Me think you
burglar
.”

“Yes, sorry about that,” I apologised. “I was just wondering what you were doing out at this hour.”

She hesitated and her eyes narrowed as she looked away. I knew the next thing she was going to tell me would be a lie. “Me go see friend,” she told me.

“I don’t think you did, Maria,” I disagreed. “Why don’t you tell me where you
really
went?”

She flushed. “
None
your business,” she answered curtly. “You not master of me.”

“You’re correct,” I replied quietly, “but I
am
responsible for security, and I want to know
where
you were.”

“Me no
tell
,” she stated determinedly, pushing past me.

I grabbed her arm and swung her around. “I’d advise you to tell me, Maria,” I advised. “Otherwise I’ll get mad and you
wouldn’t
like that.”

She immediately sprang backwards and crouched in a combat stance. “Me no tell you
anything
,” she reiterated.

“Very well,” I murmured, bringing up my hands into defensive positions. “If that’s the way you want it.”

Maria circled around me and I mimicked her movements, watching her carefully. From her attack on me when I surprised her at the door, I knew that somewhere along the line she’d been given extensive training in the martial arts so I had to be wary. She kicked at me but I half turned and intercepted it with my thigh. She stepped forward and began throwing punches at my head with amazing rapidity. I backed away, blocking each punch as it neared, endeavouring to keep my balance on the slippery hardwood floor. I barely survived her attack, receiving a few grazing punches to the side of my face. She was
very
good, but I knew that I was
better
. She momentarily paused to recover from her initial assault and that's when I decided to make a move. I leapt forward and head-butted her in the face. Stunned, she fell backwards and I immediately flung myself on top of her, driving the breath from her body. I sat on her stomach and captured both her hands in one of mine. I placed my other hand around her throat and lightly squeezed.

“Don't do anything foolish, Maria,” I instructed her. “I don't want to hurt you. I just want answers.”

She tried to struggle, but soon submitted to the inevitable.

“That's a good girl,” I said. “Now, are you going to answer my question about where you were?”

“Me tell,” she said in a low voice. “You beat me fair. When shark bite inevitable, relax and enjoy.”

“
What
did you just say?” I exclaimed, astonished.

“You beat me
fair
,” she repeated in a puzzled tone.

“No, no, the
other
thing,” I said urgently.

“When shark bite inevitable,
relax
?” she answered, looking up at me in a strange way.

“
Where
did you hear that?” I asked, tightening my grip on her hands. “
Who
taught you to
say
that?”

“Mother did,” she replied, bewildered. “
Always
she say that.”

“Gods above,” I whispered in disbelief, staring down at her perplexed face. “There's only
one
person I ever knew who used that phrase and she was in a commune.” I took an unsteady breath. “Maria, what was your mother's name?”

“She called Moonbeam,” Maria replied. “Me visit sometimes. Love very much.”

I couldn't believe it. Maria was Moonbeam’s
daughter
! No
wonder
I had felt a connection. My mind was whirling with a myriad of unanswered questions and a whirlpool of emotional longing.

“You're
Moonbeam's
daughter?” I asked, absolutely amazed at the turn of events.

“You
know
Mother?” Maria asked, surprised.

“She was my best friend,” I announced, dreamily.

“
You
best friend?” Maria asked, sceptically. “Me no believe. You
lie
!”

“I loved her more than
anything
in the world,” I declared in a husky voice.

“
Prove
!” she challenged. “She tell me of special person. Like daughter, she say. Blonde hair, like you. Rescue from bad man.”

“That was
me
!” I exclaimed.

“She tell everything what happen,” Maria went on, still doubtful. “Give special name to person.
What
is?”

My mind drifted back to Moonbeam, sitting on her bed, saying that she had to pick a secret name for me. “Something special for a
special
person,” she said with a grin. She chose the name ‘Moonshine’, since I was ‘as fragile and delicate as night light and drove the darkness away.’ Then she grinned even wider. “And because I become
drunk
with love when I’m beside you…….”

“Moonshine,” I whispered, my voice thick with emotion. “She called me
Moonshine
.”

Maria gaped at me. “
Is
you!” she breathed. “All the time talk of you. Miss you bad. Always have tears when mention name. Love you
heaps
.”

“And I loved
her
,” I murmured, moisture springing into my eyes without warning.

“Ah,
now
me believe,” Maria said. “You
cry
for her. Case proven. No more fight. You friend.”

I released her arms and got to my feet, offering my hand to help her up. She grasped it and levered herself erect. “Good fight,” she approved. “Too good for me.”

“Maria,” I asked, “do you know the
whereabouts
of your mother? I went back to find her but no one could tell me where she went.”

Maria’s eyes clouded over. “She
gone
,” she said sadly. “Die years ago in hospital. Me there. Cry for
days
.”

I put my hand over my mouth. “Oh,
no
,” I whispered in anguish. My gentle, loving Moonbeam…….. Grief at her passing forced my tear ducts into overdrive. I sank down on a nearby chair and held my face in my hands as the tears leaked though my closed fingers. Maria knelt beside me and took me in her arms. “She no sad at end,” Maria murmured. “She say she go to explore other worlds; find new people. Say she meet you there. She say if me find you tell you this. She love you much.”

I turned to Maria and clutched her as a drowning man grasps at a floating log. She gently brushed at my hair and rocked me tenderly as I wept out my memories of the wonderful, beautiful woman who had saved me from a lifetime of misery.

Chapter 14.

Finally, I restored enough self control to sit by myself without Maria’s help. I dried my eyes on my sleeve and sighed. Poor Moonbeam. If only I’d been able to see her one more time before the end. I looked across at Maria. But she was here in her child. Smiling timorously, I reached out and softly stroked Maud’s face with my fingertips.
Oh, sweetie
, I thought,
wherever you are, happy voyaging. I promise to look after your daughter for you. I love you
.

Maria smiled with pleasure and held my fingers to her face. “You wonderful person. Anything you want, just ask.”

I focused my attention on the task at hand and took my hand away from Maria’s face.

“Very well,” I announced. “Let’s go back to my original question then. Where were you?”

“No more fibs,” she told me, looking into my eyes. “Me go see Chief of Police. Report every week. See if any change.
Nothing
so far.”

“So you really
are
a policewoman,” I stated. “Is that where you learned to fight?”

“Train for two years,” she replied. “They say
best
in class. No boast.”

I smiled. “Yes, you
are
very good,” I conceded. “Very fast and light on your feet. What did your mother think of you joining the
police
force?”

Maria smiled – a crooked little smile so much like Moonbeam’s that I inhaled sharply. “She say law and order good in violent world. She say me make peace. She want all world to have peace.”

“Yes, she did,” I replied, lost once again in my memories. “She was the most peace loving person I ever met.”

“What we do now?” Maria asked.

“It’s nearly daybreak,” I replied. “Do you have any cooking to do?”

“
Always
is cooking,” she replied with a grin. “Go now. Talk later,” She delicately touched my cheeks where her fists had landed. “Sorry for hurt. Come after eat breakfast. Fix good. Mother train me.”

I kissed her fingers as they left my face. “I wondered how you’d become so good at it. You’ve learned from the very best.”

Maria smiled at me lovingly. “She happy to know me find you.
Always
she talk of you. Now me happy too.”

“Me too,” I whispered, fresh tears spilling down my face. Maria lightly brushed them from my cheeks with the back of her hand. “Mother gone, but
me
here now,” she murmured. “Sure she want it that way.”

We went our separate ways. I went to the bathroom to try and repair the ravages my prolonged weeping bout had inflicted, while Maria headed for the kitchen. After making myself reasonably presentable, I toured the house again, checking for intruders or sabotage, but finding neither. A disturbing thought intruded into my consciousness. If Maria was innocent, and I couldn’t imagine that the daughter of Moonbeam being anything but, then that left
Roger
as the culprit. But somehow, I just couldn’t see
him
as a villain. No, I must be missing something, but for the life of me, I couldn’t see what.

Breakfast was served, with Maria giving me surreptitious little caresses when she thought nobody was watching. Roger said he didn’t want me that morning, so I decided to take Maria up on her massage offer. She practically dragged me into her room as I went looking for her after breakfast.

“You come,” she said. “Good. Massage now. Make relax.”

I took off my clothes and lay down on the table, gleefully anticipating what was to follow. But now there was an added element niggling at me. Should I be transferring my affections to Moonbeam’s
daughter
? Was she too
young
for me? She was an adult, sure enough, and a very self-assured one at that, but was it
morally
right? What would Moonbeam have said in this situation? Then I relaxed. I promised her that I’d look after her daughter and I knew she’d be happy that her child was in a loving relationship with someone that she had loved in turn. No, I was positive that if Moonbeam was here now, she’d give her blessing. I gave myself over to the feel of Maria’s magical fingers as they soothed away knots and brought calmness to tired and aching muscles.

All too soon, Maria advised me to turn over and commenced to glide her hands over my upper body. She broke off now and again to kiss me and I responded with enthusiasm. Her massage became rather more intimate after that and I started to tremble.

“Is hard to rub when you all
jumpy
,” she grumbled, as my muscles twitched under her hands.

“That’s
your
fault,” I complained. “You’re the one making me all hot and bothered. It’s you and your temptress fingers doing it. Of
course
I’m jumping around.”

Maria paused in her work and shook her head. “This no good,” she stated. “Not one thing or other. We fix.” She wiped her hands on a paper towel and began to remove her clothes. I stared at her, partially shocked and partially voyeuristically. She had a marvellous body, toned and trimmed to perfection. When she was finished she took my hand, helped me off the table and led me to her bed. I followed as if in a dream. Images of Moonbeam flittered through my brain and I had to remind myself that this was
Maria
, not Moonbeam, and deserving of the dignity of being recognised as an individual and not merely the shadow of
another
person.

Luckily, the bed was roomy enough for the both of us. Maria pulled me down and ran her hands sensuously over me, from head to toes. From there, it developed into a classical petting session on both sides. We enjoyed each other’s company for over an hour and, at the end, we were both fully satisfied with how things turned out. Smilingly indulgently at one another, we dressed and went about our daily routines. Just before lunch, Roger called us all to the studio to unveil his painting of me. We gathered around expectantly as he took the cover off the easel. And
there
it was. I inhaled brusquely as I stared. I heard Paul’s gasp of wonder beside me. It was a photo-realistic rendition, showing everything in vivid detail.
Well, not quite everything, fortunately
, I thought, blushing internally. But the painting was astonishing. I moved closer involuntarily. I looked back into my own eyes from the canvas.

“Is
masterpiece
,” Maria declared. “Is Kim, no doubt. Total awesome.”

I felt Paul’s hand on my arm. He was staring at the image in stupefaction, seemingly having finally surmounted his reluctance to see me naked.

“Sweetheart,” he breathed, “it’s
breathtaking
! I’ve never seen anything like it.” He turned and smiled at me. “Seeing this makes me realise how beautiful you truly are. I’ll never take you for granted again.”

I took his hand in mine and squeezed it in appreciation. “Thanks, sweetie,” I told him sincerely. “That means a lot to me.”

“It no bother you?” Maria asked. “Sit with no clothes? Me think it bother me.”

“Not really,” I replied, my mind instantly flashing back to the commune where Moonbeam had persuaded me to join a group of sun worshippers in a field. I was reluctant to be there because I was still shy about public nudity at that stage. I didn’t mind with Moonbeam, of course, but that was
private
. But exposing myself to a group of
strangers
…….well, that was a whole
different
story.

Moonbeam insisted that I learn to be accepting of my body. “It’s who you
are
, sweet thing,” she lectured me, “and you’ve nothing to be ashamed of, either physically or spiritually. If you believe in yourself, then
nothing
anybody does or says will worry you.” After saying that, she began to remove her clothes while I dithered beside her. She paused in her undressing and took my hand. “I want you to believe in yourself, Kim. I know you can. I’ll be with you.”

I took a deep breath and followed Moonbeam’s lead. When we were both as nature originally intended, Moonbeam kissed me. “That’s my girl,” she congratulated.

I looked around at the rows of nude figures and realised that nobody was staring at me – something I’d secretly been dreading from the very start. Not a single person was even looking my way, and for the first time since being there, I began to relax and enjoy the feel of the breeze and warm sunlight on my skin. It was nice. And so uplifting. I felt so
free
! Moonbeam laughed at me as I lifted up my hands to embrace the light. I knew then that clothes
didn’t
define my personality. I alone did that.

From then on, I sunbathed with Moonbeam every day the sun appeared, and even when it was raining, but that was more for
fun
. Many of the hippies had discarded clothes altogether and walked around naked everywhere. That ceased to bother me and I often joined them, except when it was cold, of course. There
was
such a thing as carrying your life philosophy to ridiculous lengths, after all.