Shut Up And Drive! Ch. 02

"And just what was Ted doing in such an disreputable establishment?" Daphne Warender demanded.

"Ted is a professional artist, mother!" Estelle ranted. "A very good artist and he was supposed to be meeting a prospective client in there on Saturday evening. It's very handy for the railway station. Besides, Ted was unattached, he was perfectly entitled to be in a singles bar, alone!"

Ted was somewhat amused to hear the overt untruth effortlessly flow from Stella's mouth. Designed - he was sure - to divert Estelle's mother's attention from the true reason he had been in the Pig and Whistle on that fateful evening.

"Ted noticed that I wasn't looking very well and took me directly to the hospital. I had my stomach pumped, mother, and I'm rather pleased to be able to report that I cannot remember very much about it. I get flashes now and again, and they are not of an experience that I'd wish to be able to recall in detail.

"Ted sat by my hospital bed watching over me all night long and then he wet-nursed me through Sunday. Even supplying me with clean clothes to wear, my own being somewhat stained with my own vomit. I'm ashamed to have to admit that I vomited inside Teddy's car as well. However Ted behaved like a perfect gentleman and he supported me during a somewhat ugly and distasteful confrontation with Roger."

Stella's gaze moved to her father.

"It was really quite funny, daddy! Roger suddenly lost all of his usual bravado when he was confronted with my guardian angel. Handsome isn't he, mother?"

Then Stella kissed - the slightly blushing - Ted on the cheek again.

To say that Daphne Warender had been shocked by her daughters admission, would be putting in mildly. However her main concern was the family's public standing. She felt that it was extremely unlikely that anyone of consequence would frequent the sort of establishment her daughter had just described, and therefore it was similarly unlikely they would have witnessed her daughter's indiscretion. Well, she could only hope that they hadn't.

What was worrying Daphne Warender, was the fact that Estelle was talking of marrying a man she had apparently met just a couple of days previous. And with whom - as Daphne Warender understood it - Estelle had been apparently having a non-stop liaison - most probably sexual - ever-since she had met him.

Daphne Warender took a long slow breath.

"Estelle..." she said and then immediately moved her attention to Ted. "I mean you no disrespect, young man." Daphne then moved her eye-line back to her daughter again. "But you've only just met this young man, Estelle. You know nothing about..."

"I've known Teddy since we were at college together, mother!" Stella ranted back. "However I made the mistake of not getting to know Teddy as well as I should have done... when I had the chance! This weekend I have fortuitously corrected that grievous error of judgement"

"Daphne..." Norman Warender had decided that it was about time he entered the fray. "that friend of yours, the Toddhunter-Brown woman. You recall that painting of hers that you admired so much? The one with her on that famous dressage horse of hers."

"I'm sorry Norman, I can't see..." Daphne started to reply.

But Stella - even as surprised as she was to discover she that had an unexpected ally in the room - had instantly understood what her father was attempting to achieve. What's more, Stella instinctively knew that she could do better than her father was planning.

"Teddy, give me your car keys, please?" She asked, loud enough to interrupt her mother's diatribe.

Sensing that he also understood what was happening, Ted, not only handed his keys over, but, after assisting Stella to her feet - not as simple operation as it should have been, in those tight jeans - Ted then followed her out to his car. From the boot of which, he and Stella retrieved two travel wrappers that were protecting the canvases Stella had picked out from the many he'd painted of her over the years: they then carried them back into the house.

As they turned to go back inside Topsy smiled and winked at the net curtained window she knew her father was behind.

Once back in the lounge Stella positioned herself strategically, indicating to her father that he should move closer to his wife. Then Stella carefully unzipped the fastener around the bag and asked. "Would that picture you're referring to father, be similar to this one by any chance?"

Then she let the front cover of the wrapper fall to the floor.

Unfortunately the painting itself was upside down, however Daphne Warender found herself looking at an inverted painting of her own daughter, sitting - side-saddle - upon a horse. A painting so similar that it instantly brought to Daphne's mind the work of art to which her husband had obviously been referring.

"Is that a copy of some kind?" Daphne asked, as Estelle turned the painting that right way up.

"No my dear, it's another very similar work of art by the same extremely talented young artist." Her husband informed Daphne. "It would seem that Lady Toddhunter-Brown knows a skilled artist when she sees one."

Both Norman Warender and Stella were fully aware that Lady Toddhunter-Brown's tacit approval of Ted, would carry far more weight in Daphne Warender's mind, than any words from either of them could ever do. Norman Warender had sat through Lady Toddhunter-Brown's enthusiastic praise of the charming, brilliant and talented artist, Theodore, during numerous dinner parties.

Mind you, anyone comparing the painting they had been referring to, with Lady Toddhunter-Brown herself in the flesh, would be forced to concede that the artist had to possess some kind of genius. There was no mistaking the fact that the painting was quite definitely of Lady Toddhunter-Brown, but a markedly different - slimmer and more amiable looking - Lady Toddhunter-Brown than anyone could recall encountering for very many years.

Daphne Warender studied the painting for several minutes without speaking then ventured, "Are you acquainted socially with Nancy, Mr Harper?"

"Yes, you could say that, Todsie, pops into the studio for a cuppa sometimes. She bought some of my work, before she commissioned me to paint her on her horse." Ted replied with a casual smile.

"Todsie!" Daphne repeated in surprise. She'd heard the nickname mentioned before of course; but very few of Nancy Toddhunter-Brown's closest friends - mainly old school chums , amongst whom the nickname had come into being - were permitted to, or dared to use it, even to refer to the woman.

The expression of consternation that came over Daphne Warender's face caused her husband to smile at his daughter, who replied with a grin and double thumbs-up.

"I'm really not sure what to say..." Daphne Warender uttered, her voice fading until it was almost inaudible as she spoke.

"How about another cup of tea, Daphne; I'm sure Teddy would enjoy another one?" Norman suggested.

"That would be nice Mrs Warender, thank you." Ted replied, instinctively understanding what Norman Warender was attempting to achieve.

Norman Warender was giving his wife the opportunity to retreat somewhere private, where she could recompose herself and maybe return with a new or revived attitude.

Almost without comment, Daphne Warender placed the empty cups back on the tray and retreated to the kitchen again.

"Oh dear you've done it now, Topsy! Your poor mother doesn't know which way to turn." Norman said to Stella after his wife had left the room.

"What do mean, I've done it? You set her up for that one, dad!" Stella replied.

"Yes, but you brought Ted in here and announced you're going to marry him, right out of the blue. You must have known how your mother would... react to that!"

"Well, what else could I do? I love Teddy and he loves me?"

"Taken a little more time over it, and eased your mother into the idea slowly, for a start, Topsy!"

Ted sat, looking from Stella to her father as each spoke, trying to understand what they were arguing about. That was assuming that they were actually arguing; both appeared to have silly grins on their faces.

Then still perplexed he watched as Stella went over to her father, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Norman Warender reacted by placing his arms around Stella's waist, clasping his hands together behind her back; he then hoisted her feet from the floor. Taking a couple of paces into the centre of the room, her father energetically twirled Stella around a couple of times while they both laughed like children. Ted, was quite surprised that Stella's feet did not come into contact with any of the expensive looking furniture, and was more than slightly pleased that they missed his face as well. Large as the room was; it wasn't that big!

Strangely (and somewhat surprisingly) Ted felt that could recognise what he was watching; but he failed completely to comprehend it. Ted knew that was watching a proud and happy father, playing with his daughter.

But Ted was also aware that those sort of games between parent and offspring have usually faded to - barely recalled happy - memories by the child's mid-teens. They were classed as unusual behaviour for someone at the present time in Stella and her father's life.

Okay with wife and husband, lover or boyfriend maybe and even possibly with a sibling or parent she hadn't seen for an extended period of time. Ted was well aware that Stella had dined with her parents the previous Wednesday.

If you added-in Stella's... er, recent persona or temperament - the Estelle who had entered the Pig and Whistle just three days before - and her assurance that her father was an officious type (Stella's own description of him, although Ted had seen little of it since the 'commanding stare' he'd received, following that unexpectedly enthusiastic handshake) then the behaviour could only be described as bizarre.

Once her father set Stella back on her feet, she kissed him again, before waddling over to Ted. (It was obvious Ted that those jeans were proving as much a discomfort as Stella had suggested they were.) She kissed Ted on the lips (hard enough to make his toes curl) while at the same relieving him of the second painting he'd been holding.

"Daddy you're not going to believe this picture. I thought it would go well up there over the mantelpiece, instead of that photograph."

Stella unzipped the cover and removed from the painting; which - having first checked that it wasn't inverted - she held up for her father to admire.

Norman Warender stared at the painting for a few seconds, moving closer he put his spectacles on and studied it carefully.

"Ted, my boy," He said, "I knew you were a talented artist... Anyone who could make that Toddhunter-Brown woman look personable... on a horse! Has to have great talent. But you've made me look... well you've taken years off me here, my boy."

While he had been speaking, Norman Warender had been posing himself, as if attempting to duplicate his pose in the painting.

"Ted, did nothing but paint a true image of very handsome man, daddy." Stella commented.

"And very flattering it is too, Topsy, I can assure you. I think I can even understand what you were trying to achieve here Ted. Would a self-portrait have really been pushing it too far do you think?"

"I believe so, yes, Norman." Ted replied.

"Well, it's nice to see you thought me an apt replacement for that numbskull Topsy married. Unfortunately I had little say in that disastrous decision, some people..." Norman Warender threw a quick glance at a sheepish looking Stella. "and her mother assumed too much. His father is none too trustworthy either. I only do business with him, if I've no other choice."

"I know daddy, I was listening to mummy when I should have been listening to the fount of all wisdom! But I'm no longer the fool I used to be, Roger is out of my life forever. Well, he will be very shortly. And I really don't think he's liable to try get smart either. You should have seen his face when he saw that I had Ted with me yesterday, he almost shi..."

"That will do Topsy. I'll have you know that I am well aware of Ted's reputation when he was younger." Norman turned to look at Ted again. "Now Ted, I need to explain something to you. Topsy, go keep your mother otherwise occupied for a while, please."

Stella looked at her father with - what Ted thought - a strange, possibly curious expression, then quietly left to room without comment.

Norman Warender - still grasping the painting of himself and Stella in his hand - sat on the sofa beside Ted and looked him in the eyes.

"Ted, I love my dear wife very much, sometimes a little too much I fear; because love can make one overlook some very serious flaws in a person's personality. I fear that my Daphne was born about a-hundred-and-fifty years too late. Mentally my wife belongs in an era where the estate workers would doff their caps to the lady of the manor as she rode past in her carriage. In my wife's unconscious mind it's she who should be riding in that damned carriage."

"I think I understand what you're saying, Norman."

"Yes well, it's slightly worse than that, Ted. Your obvious talent as an artist and the fact it's been recognised by people whom Daphne looks up to, doesn't mean that my wife... well there's no possible way she'll ever think you are... civilised enough to be Topsy's husband. However I'm sure she will learn to tolerate you, if you can understand that. And it's highly possible that one day she'll even brag about her talented son-in-law to her cohorts... when you fit that title, of course. But please don't ever expect that Daphne's going to give you the easy ride, she gave Roger Cooper."

"Norman, Stella made the situation quite clear to me the other day. So you could say I was fully prepared for anything that might happen here this morning, if you understand me. Also I've had contact with many of your wife's... contemporaries over the years."

"Good, just be aware that I'll be keeping out of the firing line for Topsy's sake. I'm strictly neutral, you understand?"

"What I can't understand, Norman, is... well Stella implied that you might..."

Norman Warender laughed.

"Yes, I probably would have been Ted. And you could still find that I can be extremely... unpleasant should the need ever arise. However the Estelle who left this house after dinner last Wednesday evening, is not the same young woman who got out of your car just now. This young woman is more like my Topsy, the child I doted-on as a youngster. Quite a transformation, Ted! How did you do it?"

"To be brutally honest with you, Norman, I haven't got the faintest idea. I do know that the woman I spotted getting drunk in the Pig and Whistle the other night definitely was the Estelle Warender I remembered from our college days. But slowly during the Sunday she somehow morphed into the Stella I'd always wished she had been in my head. I'll admit that I'm just a little concerned that she might suddenly morph back into Estelle again sometime in the near future. You know what they say, a leopard can't change its spots. But then I think I'm ready for that... well, better that she be the bitch in my hands than she is someone else's bitch."

Ted smiled at Norman and winked.

"Teddy the young woman you escorted in here today is the Topsy I remember so vividly as a child. If leopards can't change their spots, then you're... we're safe. Your Stella has morphed back into the person she was before her mother... and puberty, unintentionally screwed with her mind."

At this point Stella and Daphne Warender re-entered the lounge and conversation turned to other things. Important things in Daphne's mind. Like Estelle's divorce from Roger Cooper and how it was going to be kept from the public's eye.

Daphne did enthuse over the painting of Stella and her husband. But from the tone of her comments, Ted picked-up that a painting of Daphne Warender would have to be a diplomatic addition in the very near future. Daphne was both flattered and surprised when Ted invited her to come to his studio and sit for him. Although Ted had to admit to himself that he wasn't looking forward to the project.

Norman and Stella both pictured in their minds, Daphne Warender bragging to her friends that she was having her portrait painted by the same artist who had created Nancy Toddhunter-Brown's favourite work of art.

They somehow doubted that she would tell anyone that her daughter was intending to marry that artist, just yet. They thought that Daphne would wait until after Stella's divorce and then possibly imply that somehow she - or possibly the painting - had been material in bringing the two lovers together.

Ted and Stella managed to extricate themselves from her parents' house before lunch. Although Stella had extreme difficulty getting back into - and out of - Ted's car in those tight jeans. What's more she had difficulty - and required assistance - in getting out of the things back at Ted's studio. The net result of which, was that they didn't leave the upper floor again until the following morning. That's if you discount Ted nipping downstairs to accept delivery of the meals that they ordered and Stella making several cups of coffee.

End of Chapter two.