The Thousand Smiles of Nicholas Goring (3 page)

But finally someone snorted, and someone else spluttered into laughter, and the embarrassment was lost in the general hubbub, or maybe just transformed into something else, something better. "Someone's overdone it with the coffee this morning," was one comment. – "That's why I never bring my missus along," another observed. – "Jeez, there's a decent hour and a private place for that kind of thing …"

Dave and Nicholas leant there on the barrier together, pressed shoulder to shoulder, letting the jibes wash over them. And eventually Dave dared to glance at his husband, and he saw Nicholas's lips curling in infinite amusement … and Dave could hardly even begin to measure his own happiness. He hadn't seen the edges of it for
years
.

"Nicholas!"

Finally Robin appeared, dressed in pale blue jeans, a pale pink polo shirt and a white jumper, pushing a trolley loaded with bags. A moment later Robin and Nicholas were dashing down either side of the barrier to at last meet in a massive hug, and Robin was babbling on at a million miles an hour, and only lifting his head from where it had been tucked against Nicholas's for the sake of gazing at his beloved uncle with tears in his eyes. He was as tall as Nicholas now, which was astonishing, though it seemed that his face hadn't kept pace with the rest of him, and Robin still looked rather younger than his years. It was kind of adorable to watch him drop a kiss on the tip of Nicholas's nose and then share a giggle.

"So," someone pondered, "are they
all
gay, then?" – "Couldn't be," someone else replied. "They'd have died out centuries ago."

Dave chuckled as he stood. "Just these two, in this family, I think."

"And yourself, mate."

"And myself," he agreed with a nod.

The first thing Robin did when they reached the car was to shuck off his jumper. "I thought it was meant to be winter here," he commented, lifting a quizzical hand to take in the warm bright sunny day.

"It
is
winter here," Dave confirmed.

Robin guffawed – and then he hardly quit talking the entire drive home, pausing only every now and then to allow Nicholas to get a response in or a question of his own. First the long flight and the stopover in Singapore were gone over in great detail. Nicholas interrupted at some point to ask, "Have you texted Simon to say you're here safely?"

"Oh, no. I'll do that now." And Robin proceeded to tap out a text on his smartphone while still talking away. He meandered his way into commentary on the family news, most of which Nicholas and Dave had already heard via one source or another.

Nicholas managed to restrain himself until they were turning in to their own road before asking, "And Frank? How's Frank doing?"

"Oh my God, he's a granddad now! Gemma had a baby girl."

"Yes, Simon emailed me. They're all well?"

"Absolutely. And Frank is like …
besotted
. I never got that before, about a parent or whatever falling in love with their child. Until I saw Frank, and it's like … his heart is no longer his own."

"I'm glad," Nicholas said, turning to look out the side window – but not before Dave glimpsed Nicholas's achingly poignant smile.

Robin quietened at last as Nicholas took him to the bedroom that would be his for the next three months – the one that used to be Dave's when he was growing up. Later on, while Dave's dad was still alive, Denise had moved in and shared the room with Dave, so it contained a double bed and wasn't filled with as much childish clutter as Robin might have expected.

Once Robin had shed his gear, Nicholas showed him around the rest of the house. "This is really nice!" was Robin's verdict as they joined Dave in the kitchen.

Dave handed him a cup of tea. "You sound surprised. Did you think I'd have Nicholas living in a corrugated iron shack?"

"No! No, of course not." Robin looked around him again, at the kitchen and family room, and the backyard full of greenery. "I've seen photos, of course, and everyone who's visited said it's great – but I didn't get to
feel
it until now. And it feels like home."

"It does, doesn't it?" Nicholas quietly agreed. "I felt that right away, too."

"Huh," said Dave, handing his husband a cup of coffee. "How I remember it is, the first time I brought you here, you promptly changed your plane tickets and went back to England six weeks early."

Nicholas took the coffee, put it down, and grabbed Dave's hand. "I
wanted
to stay – forever."

Dave coloured a little under Nicholas's earnest gaze – all too aware of Robin's wistful yearning. "And now you can," Dave replied a little too brusquely. "Now you are." Then he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Are you hungry, Robin? I thought I'd cook us a proper breakfast this morning. Eggs, bacon, sausages, toast …"

Robin brightened immediately. "Marmalade and extra toast for after … ?"

"And marmalade for after," Dave confirmed.

"See?" Nicholas commented to Robin. "He makes all our wishes come true."

The perils of having a house guest were soon made evident. Dave had done a load of washing on the morning of that first day, and had hung the bulk of it on the Hills Hoist in the backyard. A few items, however, the hand-washed silk items, he hung on the clothes airer and tucked it away out of sight in the main bedroom. He left the door open, as usual during the day, but assumed Robin would know better than to walk in uninvited …

Dave discovered he'd been wrong about that when Robin wandered into the family room with the toe of one of the silk stockings pinched between thumb and forefinger and held at arm's length, his expression squeamish. Dave abruptly turned waratah red, and sat down on the nearest available chair.

"Unc-le Nich-o-laaas …" Robin drawled.

Nicholas looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading, and promptly turned coldly unimpressed.

"You don't really
wear
these, do you?" Robin sounded more creeped out than disgusted, but still. It wasn't pleasant. "I never knew you were into
drag
…"

"
Not
that it's any of your business," Nicholas tartly replied, turning a page of the newspaper, "but so what if I do?"

"Seriously? I always thought you were … a man. A man who liked men."

"Things are generally a little more complicated than that," Nicholas replied in somewhat softer tones. He'd had the mercy to not even glance at Dave through all this. "I think you'll find … there are infinite varieties of men and women and those in between."

"But
you're
not complicated," Robin insisted, letting his hand drop now. "You've always been completely straightforward! Completely honest!"

"My darling, I'd rather be complicated than narrow-minded. Now, you go and put that back where you found it –
respectfully
, thank you – and then you can have a bit of a think about your reactions. I would have expected rather more acceptance, coming from
you
."

There was a brief struggling silence, and then at last Robin said in a humbled voice, "Yes, Uncle Nicholas. Sorry." And he turned and headed back down the hallway. A couple of moments later, the door to the guest bedroom could be heard to firmly close in what was, in context, a chagrined slam.

Nicholas continued reading the newspaper, letting Dave process all of that in whatever ways he needed to.

Eventually, after Nicholas turned another page, Dave asked quietly, "D'you mind him thinking that? I mean, that you're the one who wears them?"

Nicholas looked up at Dave, his gaze direct and relaxed, his smile gentle. "No, I don't mind. Don't worry about it."

Dave had to admire the man's insouciance. He shuddered in a belated reaction, and went to put the kettle on. And then he said, "You know, we still all have a lot to learn from you."

Nicholas shone a crinkly smile in his direction that did away with the last of Dave's anxieties.

Two days later Dave drove the Toyota Land Cruiser down the Warrego Highway, with Nicholas beside him in the passenger seat – and Robin in the back, paying far more attention to his smartphone than to the passing countryside. Nicholas caught Dave's glance, and twisted around for a moment to watch Robin sitting there with his head down … Dave wondered if Nicholas was remembering, as Dave himself was, so very strongly, the first time he'd driven Nicholas down this road.
That
visiting Englishman had stared out the window, not wanting to miss a single detail of the scenery.
This
one seemed more concerned about not missing his friends' updated Facebook statuses.

Nicholas snorted. "Well – if you must – enjoy it while you can," he advised. "There's coverage in Charleville, but once we get near the waterhole, you won't get any signal at all."

Robin looked up at him with a woebegone face. "Not even a single bar?"

"No."

"Oh my God!
How
long are we staying there … ?"

"Five or six days, I think." Nicholas glanced at Dave to confirm this.

"We're leaving a day earlier than I'd planned," said Dave, "so we can spend six at the waterhole – as long as Charlie's okay with that."

"
God
…" Robin grumbled.

Nicholas turned around in his seat so he was facing the front again. "This is a privilege, you know. I hope you appreciate it! David hasn't taken anyone but me and Charlie to the waterhole in all these years."

"Oh." That had caught Robin's attention. "Why not?" he asked Dave.

Oddly enough, Dave found that he didn't have a ready answer. A beat of silence passed.

"It's a very special place," Nicholas supplied. "You've heard David and Charlie talk about the Dreaming … ? The waterhole is a sacred site."

"So, like … Aboriginal people go there?"

Another beat of silence.

"Well," said Nicholas. "It's quite difficult to find. Only David really knows the way."

"Not even you, Nicholas?"

"I don't drive, remember? Well, David taught me, but only for emergencies. And it's too far from anywhere to walk there. I've never even tried to get there on my own. I've never had to!"

"Oh." And Robin gazed out the side window rather pensively, his phone lying forgotten in his cupped hands.

If Dave had thought Robin looked afraid of being so far distant from civilisation, he would have offered reassurance. As it was, he let the peaceful silence grow. Nicholas quietly reached to rest a hand on Dave's thigh … and they drove on into the Outback.

They took their time with the journey, and reached Charleville on the second day. Once they'd checked in with Marge at the hotel, Robin started bouncing around insisting they go meet Charlie – "
Now
. Right now. Come
on
, guys."

Nicholas exchanged an indulgent smile-and-shrug with Dave, and obviously they had no objections to the plan, so they all headed down to the pub.

Charlie was sitting at their usual table, as if he'd known when they'd show up. He stood to greet them, and returned Robin's enthusiastic hug in kind. "Look at you!" he marvelled once they'd parted, looking over Robin from top to toe. "You're a man now."

Robin snorted. "I was, like,
eleven
last time we met!"

"So you were …" Charlie equably agreed.

"Charlie, I'll get us a beer," said Dave. "Nicholas?"

"Yes, please," said Nicholas, with a smile happily anticipating a treat. He didn't drink very often at all, but Dave knew well enough there was something about being in the Outback that called for a cool pour of amber.

"Robin? What d'you want to drink?"

"I'll have a beer, too, please. May I?"

Dave nodded, though he asked, "Have you got ID?"

"I have my driving licence. English, though."

"That's fine. Come to the bar with me, all right? Rosie will want to check it."

They drew a few stares, of course. Dave still attracted a bit of benign bemusement, and had done ever since he'd taken up with Nicholas; he'd long been used to letting that be. Robin, though, was a new face to ponder, and almost everything about him declared he was a visitor – not least the fact that he refused to wear his new Akubra indoors. This was despite Robin thinking he looked pretty cool in it, with which Dave had to agree. The young fella had insisted on the Graphite Grey, which Dave felt was too dark for practical purposes – but then Robin lived in England, so it wasn't as if he needed it all year round.

"You right, Dave?" asked Rosie when she reached them.

"Yeah, thanks. This is Robin." He nudged Robin with an elbow, prompting him to hand over his ID. "He's legal."

Rosie considered the card for a long moment, and then lifted her chin in acknowledgement as she handed it back. "What'll it be, Dave?"

"Four Cascades, thanks, mate."

The bloke sitting near them on a barstool had been gazing sideways at Dave this whole time. Dave offered him a brief nod, wondering if the guy was simply curious about the ocker who'd married the son of an English earl. Maybe that wasn't it, though, as eventually the guy asked, "New client, Mr Taylor?"

Dave's brow rose in surprise, as he was pretty sure they'd never met before – but he readily answered, "No, Robin's family. Not a business trip, this time."

Rosie came back with the beers, so Dave left it at that. He paid, exchanged polite nods all round, then he and Robin took the beers back to their table and settled in.

After they'd all taken their first appreciative mouthful, Charlie asked Robin, "You're here for the winter?"

"Yes, it's our summer holidays back home. The ‘long vacation'. Dad said he'd pay for me to come here, if I got three A levels at grade A. And I did." Robin added with cheeky pride, "Actually, I got four!"

"Good for you," said Charlie, apparently understanding more about what that meant than Dave did.

"I had, like, a conditional offer from Oxford, so of course I was always gonna totally blitz it … Dad didn't need to bribe me," he added with a beaming grin, "but I wasn't complaining!"