Chapter 9 Wednesday
I woke up alone in bed, looking around I again saw Anna on the balcony putting out some washing including a couple of pairs of pants of mine. As I watched her from the bed, she looked up he head lifting slowly as if she knew I was looking at her, then she smiled and finished what she was doing. Coming back into the room, she came to the side of the bed she looked at me. "Hello, my darling, did you sleep well". I looked at my watch it was 07-30. "How long have you been awake". I asked. "I don't know". she said. "And I don't really care, I am a very happy woman, and I am totally in love with this fantastic guy who treats me like a lady likes to be treated, he is kind and gentle, and I believe he loves me, as much as I love him". "Oh yes". I said. "And who might that be". she leaned towards me, but before she had the chance to answer I had grabbed her up into my arms and laid her beside me on the bed. As she fell alongside me I gently held her by her hair and pulled her face to my own. "I demand to know who this fellow is". I said. "I can get very jealous you know and when I do". Anna stopped me with a kiss. "Don't be my darling, the guy I am talking about is you, your the one I love, and only you". I released her hair and holding her head, closed the gap. The kiss was a kiss of true love, and as I held her in my arms we enjoyed the closeness of what we had. I heard the tap on the connecting door and went to open it after hearing the password, Henry was again in the other room with a trolly on which was our breakfast, he had a huge smile on his face. "Good morning sir, madam, I will put your breakfast on the balcony, it's a beautiful day". Then from inside his jacket pocket, he produced a copy of the Malta Times, putting it on the table next to one of the covered plates he said. "Page three might interest you both, have a nice breakfast". As Henry made to leave with the trolly I put a £5 note into his top pocket, he tried to stop me, but I said. "Henry, you have been a good man over these last few days, Anna and I appreciate all you have done for us, so please take the money and thank you". Henry thanked us again and with the trolly left by the connecting door. Anna and I sat on the balcony eating our breakfast. "So future husband of mine, what plans have you for us today". "Well", I said. "First we have to nip into Valletta and get the tape sorted out, then the rest of the day is ours". I picked up the paper and read page three, it was a full page spread all about Anna's five years of hell, the reasons why she came to Malta to get away from a violent husband, there was a full column of the killing of the baby, most was true, the rest as I explained to Anna was poetic licence, something that for newspapers made the horrific more horrific, this sells papers and makes you look good. There was a picture of Anna and myself with the headline Slave wife Anna with close friend.
"Well". I said. "Looks like we came out of this very well". "We did, didn't we, and without you my love, I would now be stuck in an English prison. Had I been on my own, I would have cracked, I know I would". "Well, you didn't". I said. "We worked together as a couple and won bigtime.
We made our way into Valletta and headed for the police station, inside we met up with the woman police officer who was at the interview, she took us into a room with all this electronic equipment in it and taking the tape from Anna, placed it into this machine. A few minutes later Anna was handed the tape back, job done we shook hands with the police officer and she escorted us to the main door saying. "Get out of here you two go and have some fun, you both need it". As we walked back to the main street we met up with the police chief, we told him we had sorted out the tape, and the woman police officer had a copy as asked. He thanked us both, we shook hands and then headed towards Victoria Square for a coffee and cheesecake. Sat at a table with coffee in front of us. "Well". I said. "It's Wednesday, we have until next Tuesday to see as much of this Island as we can, are we still planning on going to Gozo on Friday". "Yes please". Anna said. "I feel, we can really enjoy the rest of this holiday, plus, I want to show you, the sort of wife I can be given the chance".
With lunch over, I walked Anna up a small side street then turned right and walked with her up a long side street, at the top in the square we made our way through a gateway into the Barrakka Gardens, I showed Anna across the harbour, the three cities, Senglea, Cospicua and Paula, I tried to explain what this whole area was like during the war years with the Army and Navy in charge, the R.A.F had three air stations on the Island including Luqa where we landed, but they have all gone now, the only one left now is the craft village, the rest are only remembered by those who remember the war years. We were stood at the railings, so I asked Anna to close her eyes, then to imagine how things were, I then asked Anna to open her eyes just a little and try to see the Ohio slowly coming through the breakwater, her hull blackened with fire, her upper deck a mass of holes from the German bombs, and as she passes us you can see the destroyer lashed to her side, the two tugs one at each end trying to steer her into the harbour. "Anna, listen to my voice, can you see it, listen, all the people on the harbour wall, they are cheering, can you hear them, the other ships in the harbour are all tooting their whistles as this blackened hulk is bought into the safety of Valletta harbour". All the time I was talking I had my hands on Anna's shoulders and had slowly moved her body from left to right. "Ok love, you can open your eyes now". I looked at her face and removed a hanky from my trouser pocket, the tears were streaming down her face. Anna took the hanky and whipped her eyes. "You tell a very good story love, as I was listening to you, I could almost feel I was part of the crowd, at one point I wanted to cheer as well, scary, very scary". Anna placed her arms around my neck and kissed me. "You are a really good storyteller, if we are lucky to have children when we are married, you will be able to tell them stories all day long, they will love it". "Anna". I said. "What you have witnessed in your mind's eye, is history, it is not a fairy tale, it is what this Island went through in the 40s, Malta has a very long history, some good, some bad, but they always came out of it intact, yes people died, buildings got demolished, but the Island came away unscathed". As I was talking we were making our way back to the car, it was fast approaching 4 pm, and we planned to have dinner in the dining room, and if anyone tried to interrupt, I said." I will chuck them through one of the picture windows".
Back in our hotel room, Anna stripped down to her bra and panties then laid on the bed, I opened the door to allow the last heat of the suns rays to warm up the room, then stripping down to my underpants I joined Anna on the bed. We lay alongside each other holding hands, we didn't say much, just lay enjoying the nearness of the other person, but through the joining of our fingers, we felt the love of the other person. "Michael". Anna whispered. "The bank is open if you would like to make a deposit". I squeezed Anna's hand. "Save it for later". I said, Anna, lay on her side facing me, and placed her arm over my chest. "Are you alright love". she said. " You have never not wanted to make love to me, is everything ok". "Of coarse sweetheart, everything is good, I am well sort of deep in thought at the moment, tell you what, let's have a nice long shower and then get ready for dinner". The shower was wonderful, we did mess around under the water, but not to the extent where we were actually making love, yes we played with each other, fingers everywhere, but once the water was turned off we dried ourselves off and made to get dressed. "Anna". I said." Instead of going to the bar tonight, how do you fancy taking a nice quiet walk". Anna looked at me a twinkle in her eye. "You wouldn't be thinking of a walk over to the boathouse by any chance, well, in that case, I will dress for the occasion".
Anna was stood in front of me in a lemon coloured button down dress with a wide silver belt around the waist, she looked fantastic, as I walked towards her, she stopped me. "Michael I will give you a kiss, but for now that's all you get, so please be nice". I gave Anna a kiss and we then made our way up to the dining area. Henry was there to show us to our table and as he did so her took Tuesday's copy of the Daily Mirror from his pocket saying. "Page 2 may be of some interest to you both, as we waited for the soup to arrive, we read page 2, like the Times it was a full page spread, only this time it said that Mrs Battly was at a secret location abroad with friends, there was a picture, but apart from Anna, the rest of the group, myself, the hotel manager, the police chief and policewoman were all blanked out face wise, which I wasn't worried about if the story was shown at home, and where my ex lived, it would only be more ammo for her case in the divorce courts, and I didn't need that at this time. Near the bottom of the page was written what I said about the hotel and the staff, and the fact the Crown was highly recommended.
Anna put her hand to her mouth, she had read the last paragraph of the story before I had. "he's dead". she said. "Look". I read the last paragraph which said that Mr Battly had taken his own life while in police custody. Anna looked at me. "That miserable bleeder didn't even have the guts to stand trial". Anna said. "he made my life hell for 5 years, he killed our next door neighbour and tried to kill a police officer, now he has hung himself", Then Anna looks at me a huge smile comes to her face. "Michael my love, that means I am free, I am free to marry you, all we need is for your ex to let you go and we can truly be happy.
We finished our coffee and together left the dining room, in the lobby we walked arm in arm towards the main door then across the car park and onto the road. We were strolling along the road and I asked Anna if she was truly happy now. "No regrets". "Not really". Anna said. "Had he gone to prison, I know we would have had to wait at least 7 years before we could tie the knot, he would never let me go, that's the sort of man he was. So in all honesty, I suppose this is the best thing for everyone, no court case, the government save a small fortune, and I can carry on with my new life". She tightened her grip on my hand. "And I, have you love". By now we had walked halfway along the main road and Anna asked if we could turn back. We turned round and as we slowly walked along the waterfront, at the corner we turned left and made our way into the boathouse, at the same pillar as last time we stopped, with Anna stood with her back to the pillar we held each other and kissed, Then I stood and watched, as Anna, starting from the bottom of her dress undid the buttons as far as the belt, then parting the two sides of the dress she placed her arms around my neck, as I looked down, I realised what she meant by dressing appropriately. We must have been standing in the same spot for some time, because all I can remember, was when we eventually separated, my legs felt like jelly, and standing properly took a lot of effort. We got back to our hotel room at around 12-45 am, stripping down to our birthday suits we climbed into bed, as I snuggled into Anna my hand in its usual place, I kissed her neck and said. "Good night, love you". but all I heard from Anna's side of the bed was the slow steady breathing of a woman asleep.
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