Love, Island Style

This one is for you Solitaire! I know you’ve been asking me about this for a couple of years…

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The sky was already dark when Winston pulled up to Beverly’s parents’ home. He turned off the ignition and got out of the car and she instantly remembered how she felt the first time they meet.

“How yuh doin’, Bev?” he asked. She was sitting on the front porch in a t-shirt and shorts.

“I’m alright. I heard from Pablo this afternoon. He emailed me – he’s coming back next week.” Winston cringed slightly when Beverly mentioned his brother’s name.

“Next week, huh?” He sat beside her. “Boy, you, I’se surprised he remembered to say anything to you—“

“He just gave me his flight information,” she said sadly. Pablo and Beverly’s relationship had changed so drastically from when he proposed to when he got on the plane and headed off to New York last month for business. He used to buy her gifts, take her on day trips to St. Lucia or just go to the movies.

Now, if he wasn’t too busy with his job at the bank, they may go out for dinner.

“Winston, I don’t know if this is right,” Beverly said gently. She caressed his hand. “I don’t know what Pablo would say if he knew I was with you.”

“Let’s tell him, then!” Winston said. “Beverly, we can’t go on like this. I want to be with you, but we’re here running around and hiding. Man, Pablo ain’t even minding us!”

He got up and walked to the front gate. Flowers climbed the trellis that decorated the wrought fence. A soft breeze blew his white linen shirt, exposing his hard stomach. She could tell that he was frustrated with the situation. He knew the lies that Pablo had told -- all the young women he had picked up at the Boatyard and After Dark. But he couldn't bring himself to use that to get Beverly to commit to him. He wanted to tell her, but he knew that would hurt her too badly.

“We have to talk about this, but this is not the place.” Beverly joined him, her dark hair swirling seductively around her face. Winston grabbed her hand.

“I love you. That’s all I know… that’s all I care about.” He kissed her under the starry Bajan sky.

“Winston!” Beverly exclaimed, her breath coming in short pants. “I can’t believe you would do that! Suppose Hyacinth or my mother was nearby? My mother would cut my tail!”

“I know, I know.” He grinned and caressed her cheek. “So, when can we talk?”

“Tomorrow at two. I’ve got ta go into town tomorrow, so meet me in front of Cave Shepherd.”

“OK.”

“I’m sorry I dragged you all the way into St. Philip,” she said.

"Man, don't worry about da' dey." He kissed her forehead. "I'm goin' by Ricky to watch some cricket. He's just down the gap from you. I'll talk to you tomorrow." He opened the gate, jumped into his Mitsubishi, honked the horn and left.

"Beverly! Who was dat?" Her mother asked through the window.

"Just Winston. I told him that Pablo was coming back," she said, returning to her seat on the verandah.

"OK. You doan stay out dere too long. The centipedes out and biting hard."

"Yes, Mummy." Beverly didn't know how to handle this situation. While she loved Pablo, she tired with his foolishness -- she knew about the women at the clubs near town. Pamela had seen a lot and reported a lot back to Beverly. He thought she was some silly, naive country girl because she was out in St. Philip, but that was certainly not the case.

Beverly was not silly at all -- just too trusting at times. She had recently finished her studies in England and landed a job as an accountant at a top financial company in St. Michael. She had bought a piece of land and was planning to build her own home – until Pablo proposed last year.

Her mother, Ms. Brathwaite, was so excited that her daughter was marrying the Forde’s oldest son that she practically pushed them together.

Then Winston came back from Florida. He had been a quarterback during his studies at the University of Florida. He came back to Barbados, muscular and more handsome with an Engineering degree.

She reminisced about the night they first met. Just before Christmas, Pablo's mother, Ms. Forde, had decided to have a holiday get together at the house. The food and drinks were flowing and Beverly had just finished helping in the kitchen when Winston walked into the room. She stopped in her tracks and ran her hand through the drop curls she had painstakingly created in her hot bathroom.

“Ooh goosh!” her Trinidadian friend, Pamela, said. “Is that Pablo?”

“No, girl, dat’s not him.” Winston looked in her direction and smiled, revealing perfectly white teeth.

“Well, move aside, ‘cause he’s liking what he sees and I’m a single girl.” Beverly smiled back at the good-looking man in the red dress shirt and black pants and wondered who he was.

Winston immediately needed to know who the woman with the ringlets was. She looked like an angel in the white dress she was wearing.

“Man, you mudda know some good-looking women, man,” said his buddy, Ricky.

“Fuh troot, looka dat one in de white dress. Boy, you!” Winston said. “American girls look good, but nobody doan fill out a dress like a Bajan woman.”

“Fuh troot.”

The evening went on with Winston and Beverly checking each other out, but not speaking. Beverly looked at her watch – it was minutes to ten and Pablo still hadn’t arrived. Why did the blasted man invite me to this ting to not even show up? she thought. This was happening more and more and Beverly was getting more frustrated and annoyed by it. She picked up a piece of sweetbread and began to nibble at it.

“Beverly, sweetheart, I want ta introduce you to Pablo’s little brother,” Ms. Forde said. Beverly turned around to see the same young man in the red shirt. “Bev, this is Winston.”

“Hi Winston.” She extended her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking her hand.

“Millicent! Dem boys out front drinking Banks and carrying on foolish!” An older woman yelled from the front.
“You two get to know each other and I’ll be right back. These blasted thrilden does make me sick, I tell you.” She sucked her teeth and went outside to chastise her two youngest children.

“So, you’re the girl my brother’s been telling me about,” he said. Boy, Pablo does know how to pick ‘em, he thought.

“I guess so,” Beverly said shyly. “Why haven’t I met you before?”

“I was away at school, but now I’ve finished and I’m back home. At least for the summer – I don’t know what my plans are just yet,” he said.

“What did you study?”

“I’m an electrical engineer, so, man, the sky’s the limit. I can stay here and work for the government or I can go back to Florida. What about you? I know my brother isn't dating a sweet woman!" They laughed.

"I'm an accountant for Ernst & Young. I just started a couple of months ago."

"Do you like it?"

"I do." She began to describe her job and Winston seemed interested. He asked her questions and wanted to find out more. Beverly was in shock -- Pablo never seemed to care too much about what she was doing. As long as she looked nice for his company events and got along with his parents he was happy.

"Man! So, yuh finally meet de wife!" Pablo bellowed walking towards them with Pamela.

"Wife? Bosie, I don't see neither a ring, so she 'pon de market!" Winston said, hugging his brother. "And iffen you doan hurry up and marry ta she, I gwine tek she off yuh hands." Both were very attractive men, but total opposites. Winston took after his mother with skin that looked like it was covered in chocolate, while Pablo was his father's child -- a golden complection with light brown eyes.

"How you, sweetie?" Pablo kissed Beverly on the cheek. "Sorry I'm late. Tings at the office ran late."

Beverly smiled. "No problem." The group chatted for a while as the party started to thin out. Pamela yawned and stretch out of the chesterfield.

"Pam! Sleep catchin' up to yuh?" asked Pablo.

"I'm tired. You Bajans can fete--" she began.

"I know you, a Trini, ein sayin' nuffin' about Bajans and feteing," said Winston, laughing.

"Come, Pam, I'll take you home." Beverly checked her watch, 1:03 am. The men walked Beverly and Pam out to Beverly's small red hatchback. They were saying goodbye when Pablo's cellphone started ringing. He looked at the screen.

"Business calls. I'll talk to you later, Bev." And he headed back into the house.

"Business, my ass," said Pamela getting into the passenger's seat.

"So, Ms. Brathwaite," said Winston leaning into the car window. "I know I'll be seeing you again real soon."

"It was nice meeting you," she said as she turned on the car's ignition.

"Nice meeting you too. You take care, alright? Bye, bye, bye!"

Pamela was grumbling as they shot down the road. "You know dat was no business call, right?"

"I know. I know." But Beverly didn't want to talk. She had Winston on the mind. Beverly Brathwaite! You are a disgusted woman for thinking about your boyfriend's brother! But Winston was all the things Pablo certainly wasn't. She sighed and drove quietly through the roads of Barbados.

Today, though, Beverly was not chastising herself about Winston. She went inside the house and heard her parents bickering over some trivial thing. That's what she wanted in 30 years -- just to squabble over painting the cabinets. She didn't want to worry about whose bed Pablo's shoes were under.

What was she going to do? Pablo was coming back next week. She looked at the one-carat diamond engagement ring on her finger and she began to weep.

What will happen next? Will Beverly declare her love for Winston? Will she stay with Pablo? Look for the next installment of Love, Island Style.