remembered that he’d definitely not been the little boy last night. She giggled as she recalled how he’d woken her in the middle of the night and made love to her again, this time with a tender gentleness and at an agonisingly slow pace which had had her crying out in relief when he’d finally entered her.
She’d been right about him she thought with yet another giggle; he was a man of hearty appetites. He shifted slightly and gave a little snuffle. Julia got out of bed, loathe to leave him but desperate for some heat and a shower.
He was awake when she returned and greeted her with a huge grin on his face.
“You look very smug,” she said but softened the comment with a smile and got back onto the bed.
“And you look gorgeous,” he replied and tugged at the towel wrapped around her hair.
“Oh yes, I’m sure I do,” she said as her hair fell down and flapped damply against her face. “I’m sure I’d win the public vote if I went on tonight looking like this.”
“You get my vote every time.”
“Corny.”
“But true.” Harri’s eyebrows quirked wickedly in that expressive way they had. “Come here, I’ve got something to show you.”
“We’ll be late for training, Harri!”
He pulled at her dressing gown belt and the robe fell apart, revealing her breasts. He grinned at the sight. “For once, I’ve got something worth being late for. Come and see what I’ve got for you.”
As the duvet was tented up dramatically around the area of his groin, Julia had a pretty good idea what he had in mind to show her but she played along. “What is it?”
He grinned again and flipped back the duvet. “Dyma un a nes i’n gynharach!”
“What?” she said as he tumbled her into bed and covered her with his warm body.
“It’s one I made earlier!” he said and he kissed her through their laughter.
“God Harri,” she moaned a little later. “I think you’ve finally found your hip action!”
Step Nine.
In the car on the way to the studio, Julia snuggled up to Harri and whispered, “So, are you finally going to tell me what you said to me in Welsh?”
He rolled his eyes heavenwards and tutted in mock despair. “I told you, it means it’s one I made earlier. It’s a sort of a pun you know on … but honestly, if I have to explain my jokes all the time, this relationship is doomed.” He stopped as she hit him.
“Not that! What you said last night, you know, as you erm –”
“Oh that!” He looked at her with amusement lighting his dark eyes. “You’re not brilliant with languages, are you, cariad? Have you forgotten? I’ve told you what it means, already!”
Julia shook her head and grinned. “I’m about as good at languages as I am at dancing!”
“That bad, eh?”
She gave him another playful punch.
“And another thing, you’ve got to stop hitting me!”
“Tell me!”
“I will – but another time.” He glanced at the driver who was obviously intrigued as to why he was picking up both Harri and Julia from the same address that morning. “Another time when we’re alone, see.”
And for the moment Julia had to be content with that.
Jan had been furious with her for being late but it hadn’t broken into the bubble of happiness that she existed in throughout the day. She came across Harri often as he rehearsed with Eva and they made stupid little signs and gestures to one another.
“Me, I am to be sick!” announced Eva at the final dress rehearsal later that afternoon, as a comment on their behaviour.
“Tsk. Unprofessional,” agreed Jan but he was secretly delighted that Julia, finally, was showing signs that she could actually dance.
The atmosphere in the quarter-final show was electric. The judges went wild over Harri’s newfound confidence and, to Julia’s amusement, declared that he had finally found his hip action. She’d caught his eye at that point and they’d had hysterics. Julia sobered up quickly when she found herself in the dance off, competing against Callum. Despite being the bookies’ favourite, he’d performed abysmally in his quickstep; it just hadn’t been a dance suited to big man like him.
The four of them stood breathlessly in front of the judges after the exertion of dancing yet again. Julia tried to console herself with the thought that getting as far as this was as good as it could get, to get to the semi-final would be a miracle too far.
As Charlie announced that the judges were about to declare the result, based on the best performance in the dance off, there seemed to be a buzzing in her ears and it was proving hard to concentrate. An ominous silence fell on the studio and after a wait of what seemed like three days the announcement was made.
A resounding cheer sounded around the studio and the entire crowd rose to their feet. In contrast, Jan fell to his knees beside her and appeared to be praying. Even for a Russian this seemed a bit of an over emotional response thought Julia and then Callum, gripping her in a bear hug, squeezed all rational thought out of her.
“Good on you,” he yelled in his gruff Scottish accent and then took advantage of her confusion to give her a disgustingly sloppy kiss.
“Wha-what?”
He put her back on the floor and peered down at her. “Did you not hear? You’ve got through. You’re in the semi-final!”
To Julia, it seemed as if everything exploded in a deafening riot of noise and colour. The other competitors, who hugged and kissed them with lavish excess, surrounded her and Jan. Then the crowd parted and Julia saw the person she really wanted: Harri, standing slightly apart, as he always did. She shot into his arms like an arrow finding its target and hung on.
“Da iawn, cariad bach,” he whispered into her ear. “Well done!”
Step Ten.
Julia opened her front door at the first knock. She knew it would be Harri. After the celebrations in the studio, he’d gone home to get some fresh clothes with the promise to come back with the papers and to enjoy a lazy Sunday with her. She had coffee perking, croissants warming in the oven and was looking forward to spending some time with him. But as soon as she saw his face, she knew something was very wrong.
Harri stared around him cautiously, shut the door and grabbed Julia by the arm. He took her into her kitchen at the back of the flat, pulled the blind shut and threw his collection of papers onto the table. He sank into a chair.
“Harri, what’s wrong?”
He looked up at Julia’s worried face, she already knew him so well, he thought and there was little point hiding the news, she’d find out soon enough. He flipped open a red
