Chapter 4

25 minutes later we were in the heart of Chelsea, even here, well away from her usual haunts, Poppy nervously looked around before stepping off the train and heading down the corridor towards the exit.

Outside the station she once again scanned the area before she took my hand as she stepped outside into the busy street.

“I’m so sorry, still a little nervous I guess. I’ll be better when I get my hair dyed. Ooohh, look, Tiffany’s, can we go in there please?”

“Of course we can, I’ll buy you something if you like.”

“Noooo, it’s too dear.”

“It’s been so long since I had someone to treat, so I’m going to treat you, come on let’s go shopping.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, you’ll suit a nice silver necklace, maybe I’ll get you a watch as well.”

“Oooh, I’ve never had a watch, I guess I’ll need to know the time now so I know when to go to lessons.”

At the front doors Poppy pulled up short.

“What’s the matter, you said you’d never been to Chelsea before, you’ll be fine.”

“But I just don’t fit in, they’ll see I’m fake.”

“Oh wow, that’s so untrue. If you want fake just look around you, everyone is acting around here, everyone is playing a part in the drama that is upper-class life. You, my dear, are 100% natural, and you look fine. Those clothes you’re wearing were almost certainly bought from shops around here, Helen only shops in Chelsea. Stop worrying, you fit in perfectly, you speak well, and you wear those clothes like they were made for you.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. In fact, I’m so confident you fit in, I want you to take the lead in here. I want you to persuade me to buy you a necklace for your 16th birthday.”

“But it’s not my birthday for months.”

“I know that, but they won’t, we’re role playing. I’m your stepdad, and you’re going to persuade me to buy whatever necklace you want. We’ll get you a watch from Peter Jones, they’ll have a better selection there.”

So we approached the doors and they were opened by a uniformed guard, Poppy said hello to the guard and dragged her reluctant dad into the world famous jewellers.

Inside we were greeted by a tall, slim assistant whose smile was as fake as her breasts.

“Hello, I’m Poppy, it’s my birthday soon and I absolutely need a necklace.”

“Well, you’ve come to the right place, I’m Elsa and I’ll be serving you today. Do you have anything in mind.”

“Mmm, well, I’ve not really worn much jewellery, this is my step-dad and he’s brought the money to the family, before I had cheap stuff, you know Claire’s Accessories stuff. So I need your help.”

“Ok, so how about you take a look in these cabinets here, find something you like, then we’ll look at the options in that area. I’ll let you browse in peace and pop back in a few minutes.”

“Oooh, come here dad, you can help.”

I moved closer to the cabinet and Poppy held my hand as she examined each necklace carefully.

“Oh my Alex, these are all so expensive.”

“There’s nothing in here I object to buying, remember, I’ve not had anyone to buy presents for for 5 years.”

“Don’t you buy Helen presents?”

“She’s probably got more money than me, we just buy each other nice simple gifts and go out for a meal.”

“Ok, so do you think I’d suit gold or silver?”

“I think silver, or you could go for white gold.”

“No, no, they’re way too dear, silver will be nice.”

“I don’t mind, if you’d prefer the white gold I’m happy to pay for it.”

“No Alex, thank you for the offer, but I can’t take the piss like that, I’d like to try that silver one with the heart, it looks really nice, can you call the lady back so I can try it on please.”

There was no need to call her over, Elsa was clearly taking notice, “so, is there anything you like?” she asked as she returned.

“I really like the silver curb chain, Elsa, the one with the hollow pink heart, can I try that please?”

“Of course,” Elsa replied as she unlocked the case and carefully lifted the pendant off the velvet pad, “I think this is so pretty,” she added as she fastened it around Poppy’s neck.

Poppy looked at herself in the mirror, she smiled, fingering the heart as she admired it sitting just above her cleavage.

“Do you want it to sit a bit higher?” Elsa asked.

“No, this is perfect,” Poppy said quietly, “thank you.”

“Do you mind if I try something, I’ll be back in a second,” Elsa said as she dashed over to a different cabinet.

“Here we go, let’s try this, some people don’t like close fitting things around their necks, but if you do this will look great layered with the other chain.”

Elsa fastened a short choker around Poppy’s neck, it had a little heart shaped padlock on the front, I have to admit it looked good.

Poppy touched the chains, she smiled broadly as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“Can I have them both dad?”

“With that smile, how could I refuse.”

“She’s such a pretty girl isn’t she,” Elsa said as she boxed up both necklaces, “she chose well with the pink heart, it highlights her lovely neckline. I love it when a dad is happy to spoil his daughter.”

“She’s very special to me,” I replied as I passed my credit card across the counter.

“I can tell, and I see how she looks at you, it’s not often we get girls in here who really do love their dads, most of them can barely stand to be with their parents long enough to finish the sale.”

“Thank you, we’re a happy family,” I said as I tapped my pin into the card reader.

“Have a blessed day,” Elsa said as she gave Poppy her pretty blue bag.

“Thank you for being so kind, have a blessed day yourself Elsa,” Poppy replied, blowing her a kiss as we left the shop.

“I didn’t like her at first Alex, but she was really nice,” she said as the door closed behind us.

“She was, and she managed to get me to spend twice as much money.”

“Oh, was she being fake then.”

“I don’t think so, she did seem to like you, and she said nice things about you as I was paying the bill.”

“Oh, what did she say?”

“She said you were very pretty, and it was nice to have a girl in the shop who genuinely loved her father.”

“I do love you Alex, and it’s so weird, because we haven’t known each other for very long have we. You hear about love at first sight, but people are so cynical and dismiss it as lust or something, but you really clicked with me, I can feel it in my heart.”

Poppy kissed me tenderly on my cheek then she took my hand as we walked across the square to Peter Jones.

Once again, Poppy was very nervous as we approached the front doors, but this time she didn’t hesitate, she held my hand a little tighter as we stepped through the doorway and past the security guards, letting out a sigh as it became clear the guards had completely ignored us.

I’d not been in this store before, so we fought our way through the crowds to the escalators and the adjacent store directory.

“First floor for watches, fourth floor for a laptop, which do you want first?”

“I guess we may as well work our way up, so a watch please.”

So a quick trip up one floor on the escalator and we were in the jewellery department, with a couple of cases of ladies watches to choose from.

“Do you want a traditional watch, or one of the fancy smartwatches that works with your phone.”

“Not sure why I’d want a smartwatch to be honest, I’d like something simple and elegant,” she cast her eyes over the range of watches available then shocked me by choosing not a petite ladies watch or something fashionable, but one with a plain white face, fine blue hands and a black leather strap, “that one, I love it.”

As the assistant pulled it from the case I noticed it was more a boy’s size, but Poppy wasn’t a frail girl, she had pretty sturdy arms, so it didn’t look too big on her at all.

“This is a new brand to us,” the assistant explained, “they’re German, from the watchmaking town of Glashütte, many people consider them to be on a par with the finest Swiss watches at a fraction of the price.”

Poppy looked at the price and gave it back to the assistant, “shit I can’t have this, it’s almost £3,000, how much are Swiss watches?”

I showed her my Patek Philippe, it was almost as minimalist as the NOMOS she liked, just an additional date indicator complication, “this was probably three times the price of that one, if you like that watch I’m happy to get it for you. A good watch will last you a lifetime.”

The assistant, who now introduced himself as Keith, asked to look at my watch, “ahh yes, a Patek Philippe Calatrava, how long have you had this, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“My sister bought it for me as a wedding present five years ago, the wedding never happened, she let me keep the watch.”

“Well sir, you have a very generous sister, because this is a very special watch. I used to work on Bond Street, and let me tell you, this watch is more than ten times the price of the watch the young lady likes.”

“Fuck,” Poppy said under her breath, “oh shit, sorry for swearing.”

“Exactly,” Kevin agreed with Poppy, “and this is what one might call their ‘budget’ range.”

Kevin gave my watch a quick polish before he handed it back reverently.

“Would you like another look at that watch, miss, or would you like to look at something else?”

“I really like that watch, so simple, but so elegant, but it’s far too much money.”

“It really isn’t, it’s a lot of money, but it’s not too much. If you like it, and you’ll wear it every day, then I’m happy to buy it for you.”

“Amazing, I’d like that watch please.”

I handed my mildly abused credit card over and tapped in my PIN as Poppy checked herself in the mirror.

As we headed to the lift to go up to the fourth floor Poppy saw a sign for the shoe department.

“Oh, I’m going to need some school shoes, I can’t wear these trainers, and all Helen’s shoes are a bit much for school.”

“Ok, we’ll go there next, then up to the computer department, and we’ll do stationery last, get that calculator you need, and some pens.”

There was a bewildering array of shoes, most of them looked exactly the same to me, Poppy tried to explain all the slight differences. In the end we settled on two pairs of Dr Martens, one a traditional shoe, one a Mary Jane shoe apparently.

In the electrical department I was more comfortable. Poppy spent a while looking at the various laptops and settled for a rose gold MacBook Air, which we paired with the matching rose gold iPhone, the assistant added it to my phone contract as I handed over my card.

On the way out we stopped in the stationery department, I dug the school paperwork out of Poppy’s backpack and I showed the assistant the calculator model we needed while Poppy browsed the pens, she selected a handful in different colours, along with pencils, erasers in several different designs and a pencil case, which the assistant bagged with the calculator and we left the store laden down with bags.

There was a Costa nearby, we called in for a coffee and cake, Poppy had decided a flat white and millionaire’s shortbread was her preferred order, I had my usual large Americano and added a piece of chocolate fudge cake, which I knew full well would be stolen from me before I’d even eaten half.

“Alex, I feel really bad about this, you’ve spent so much money on me these last few days. How am I ever going to pay you back for everything.”

“Why would you even think I expect you to pay me back? You are my girlfriend, my partner, my companion, and to the outside world, my daughter. In short, you’re family, and so you will never owe me anything, ever.”

“Family, I’ve never really had a family.”

“You have now, no matter what happens from here on in, you’re my family now. You’ve bonded with me, my heart is yours, so if you find a boy your own age, and don’t want to be my lover anymore, you’ll still be my daughter as far as I’m concerned.”

“Oh my, I can’t see how I would ever want a boy my own age, without fail they’re all dickheads, or at least all the ones I’ve met.”

After she finished my cake she looked up at me, “I’ve been thinking about what Elsa said, she said I’m pretty.”

“Well you are, I’d go so far as to say beautiful.”

“Thank you, it’s just I never thought of myself as pretty, I guess I was always filthy and smelly, the men would shag anything, it didn’t matter what you looked like, they just wanted to use one of my holes.”

I put my hand on top of Poppy’s, she smiled faintly at my touch, “I know I shouldn’t keep thinking about this, but I feel if I tell someone this stuff then it’s off my mind.”

“Tell me anything you need to, but never feel you have to explain yourself to me. To my mind you are the victim in this.”

“That’s why I like you so much Alex, you don’t judge me. So right, yeah, pretty, that was never me. Now Belle and Flower, they’re gorgeous, I love them so much, and if I did want to turn gay or bi, it would be for them. I so hate that we never, ever kissed, I bet I’d have cum just by kissing Belle. Max too, I don’t know how old she is, fuck, until yesterday I didn’t know how old I was, and sorry for swearing then, I’m really trying to behave, yeah Max, if I was to guess, I’d say she was your age, and gosh she looked fine. Upright, confident, mature, and when we went swimming, and we did stuff to each other whilst we were clean, she looked so damn good, she has these really nice small boobs, like a nice handful for me, I loved them. When it was cold we’d all sleep together under the big blankets, it was nice, sharing body warmth like that. I guess they were like family, you know, we looked out for each other, and we’d get gifts for each other, you know, if we were out shoplifting or whatever, or sometimes spending money we’d earned, and I’d see something Belle would like, she loves Hello Kitty, so if I saw something, I’d get it for her, and she’d get me something nice, like a Mars bar, or some fruit. We loved each other like family.”

She looked around, no-one was taking notice of us, so she leaned forward and kissed me across the table. I returned the kiss quickly before anyone had chance to see.

“That will be us, won’t it, we’ll be family, and if I’m out on my own, when I get brave enough to shop by myself, and if I see something I think you’ll like, I can buy it for you, as a little gift. I’d like that.”

She drank her coffee, then she spoke again, “so, back to where I started, before, in the shop, I looked at myself in the mirror, and I looked at the other ladies around, and I think Elsa is right, I do look quite pretty now, with my hair down like this, and all clean, and a bit of make-up on. Mostly though, I feel happy, and I can smile properly now, and just smiling makes me even happier.”

“Your smile makes me happy, it’s these last couple of days that have made me realise how lonely I was, how quiet my house is when I’m on my own.”

I checked my watch, “I can’t believe anything that small could be worth £30 grand,” Poppy said.

I took it off and turned it over showing her the clear back.

“Oh wow, that’s amazing, look at all those pretty purple jewels, what are they for?”

“They’re very finely crafted rubies used as bearings on the watch movement, this is one of the reasons these watches are so expensive. Another is that every single part of the watch has been cut, ground, polished and assembled by hand, the craftsmen and women who make these watches train for decades to learn the skills to hand craft a watch.”

“Wow, that’s amazing, will my watch be like that inside?”

“Very similar, my watch is made in Geneva, which is home to centuries of watchmaking, yours is made in Saxony, right next to the Polish border in a town called Glashütte, which has also been home to centuries of watchmaking.”

“I love talking with you Alex, I’d never have guessed just talking like this to someone would be so nice.”

“Didn’t you chat with Belle and Flower like this?”

“I guess, but we didn’t really have much to talk about, we’d normally be warning each other about guys to avoid, or where the police were watching that night. Sometimes if one of us had a book, we’d read to the others, that was nice, I enjoy being read to. I also like reading to people. I can read to you one day if you like, I can do different voices and stuff, make it like a play.”

“That would be really nice, thank you.”

Poppy suddenly changed the subject, “Tomorrow, if Nita gives permission, I’ll give you the fuck of your life, that should pay you back.”

“Oh no, no, please, never say that. I’d rather we never had sex ever than you think you would be paying me back with your body.”

“But you said before you had no problem with sex work.”

“I don’t, and I have no problem with what you did in the past. I have a problem with the fact you had to, but not with the actual act of selling sex. What I DO have a problem with is you thinking you somehow need to pay me back for my kindness, and that you can pay me back with sex. You don’t owe me, you’ll never owe me, anything, ever.”

“I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s no matter, I’m not offended, just so you know, we can have sex, or you can sleep in your own room. Obviously, I’d enjoy the sex, enjoy it very much. I’m desperate to feel myself inside you, to have you writhing under my body with passion, but if you ever don’t want sex, you want your own space, you’re free to live your own life under my roof. I love you for your heart and mind Poppy, not for your body. Although don’t get me wrong, that body is pretty damn spectacular.”

Poppy pulled the napkin off her plate, she dried her eyes, “I’m not used to such kindness, I still think people only tolerate each other for what they can get out of them, this is all going to take some getting used to.”

“It’s alright, I’m here to help you with that too. Every step of the way, like I said.”

“Thank you so much.”

She took a long drink, finishing her coffee, wiping her mouth she said, “oh, and I’m still going to give you the fuck of your life tomorrow.”

“I’m sure you will, and in return I’ll do my best to match your efforts.”

I checked my watch, again, “there’s a train in a couple of minutes, let’s grab it, it’ll give us longer to get ready for tonight.”

“What’s tonight?”

“Tonight, we’re going for a posh dinner with my editor, during which I will give her my excuses why my final manuscript is late.”

“Oh, really. Will I be ok in a posh restaurant?”

“You’ll be fine, absolutely fine sweetheart. If you get confused just watch what other people do.”

“Who am I tonight?”

“Tonight you’re my girlfriend.”

“Great, can we kiss and stuff.”

“Only polite kisses, this is a nice place, so public displays of affection are frowned upon.”

“Ahh, I see, but we can hold hands.”

“Oh yes, we can hold hands, we can call each other love and sweetheart, and if anyone asks, you’re 19.”

We dashed out of the Costa and towards the station, we just managed to hop on the train as the doors closed, we were pushed tightly together, Poppy’s breasts pressed against my chest.

“Oh, this is nice,” she said, “you can kiss me and no-one will know.”

So we did.

“Where are we going for dinner?” she asked after a few people left the train so we could separate slightly.

“It’s a Greek restaurant, fairly close to home, so we can walk.”

“Can I wear my necklace tonight?”

“Of course you can. How are your bruises feeling?”

“The one’s down below?”

“Those as well, but I meant the ones on your back, you’ve been standing most of the day, I wasn’t sure if they’d have started aching at all.”

“Oh they feel ok, that ointment and the regular massages have done wonders, as for the other place, when I went to the toilet earlier it felt much better than yesterday, I think I should pass Nita’s inspection. I hope I do, because I’m desperate Alex.”

“So am I, but there’s other things we can do if we have to wait a couple more days. The last thing we want is to make things worse.’

“I guess, but a girl has needs you know.”

“And so does a man, but if we have to, we can wait.”

“How about if we use a toy or two, but do it gently, could you do that?”

“Well yes, but I have no toys for girls, I’m sure Helen could lend you some if you asked.”

“Ahh, you’ve not looked in my shopping bags from yesterday have you, there’s a few nice surprises in there, we’ll save them for tomorrow, just in case, but if we can have sex tomorrow I want to do that, then we can use the toys another time.”

“What about tonight?”

“Tonight I’m going to give you the best blowjob you’ve ever had.”

Back home we quickly showered then Poppy spent a long time going through the wardrobe, like Helen she’s quite tall, about 5’ 8” so she suits the more elegant dresses in Helen’s collection.

After 20 minutes she emerged in a black, knee-length Armani dress with a plunging neckline that showed a touch of spectacular cleavage, she used a broad black leather belt to bring her waist in for the full hourglass effect. Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.

“I chose this because it shows my new necklaces off perfectly without showing too much boob, because I don’t want your friends thinking I’m a slut or anything.”

“It’s perfect Poppy.”

“And it matches my new Mary Janes,” she pointed down with both hands, “look.”

I stepped back to get the full effect of the black dress, black knee-length socks and Mary Jane shoes.

Got to repeat my first assessment.

Gorgeous.

“Helen wore that dress to my last book launch, I’ve got to say it suits you much better. In fact, come to my office, I have a photo.”

I opened a drawer and pulled out a copy of The Bookseller and flipped to that week’s book launch gallery, where Poppy instantly saw the photo of Helen and I.

“Oh my, she’s so much curvier than I am.”

“She is, and that’s why she pulls in the big bucks as a glamour model, but that dress is for someone with a more, shall we say, slender figure, it’s meant to be knee length, and Helen’s wearing it mid thigh almost, because of her figure.”

“Am I allowed to say your sister is gorgeous, because she is.”

“You’re allowed to say it, and I agree. Am I allowed to say you’re gorgeous.”