Читать книгу The Beaufort Sisters - Jon Cleary, Jon Cleary - Страница 17

Lucas and Edith took the news as Nina had expected: as if she had turned a gun on them. Lucas did not speak to her for two days, going out of his way to avoid her. But Edith, after her initial shock, did not surrender her daughter without a fight.

‘If we’ve made mistakes, Nina, then all I can ask is that you forgive us. It won’t happen again.’

‘It will, Mother. Daddy will never change. He thinks he owns us. Not just all of us, but Tim, too.’

‘You’re mistaking love for ownership. Maybe he shows it the wrong way, but it is love. I know him better than you.’

‘That’s why you can make excuses for him. But I can’t, Mother – not any longer.’

Then she tried to explain her departure to her sisters. She got them together in what had been the old nursery and was now a games and television room. But all the artefacts of their childhood were still there: dolls, toys, finger-paintings. It was a museum now for the older girls, but it was Prue’s retreat and domain. She was delighted to have her sisters as her guests. She sat playing with her dolls, only occasionally cocking an ear to the conversation. But Margaret and Sally were in tears.

‘Oh God!’ wailed Sally. ‘We’ll miss you terribly!’

Margaret wiped her eyes. ‘I suppose I knew marriage was going to break us up some day. But not like this. Daddy is like a zombie.’

‘I think I’d like a zombie doll,’ said Prue.

‘Oh God,’ said Sally; then wiped her eyes. ‘If you go, Nina, can I have your MG?’

‘How mercenary can you get?’ said Margaret. ‘Nina, how does Tim feel? We’re going to miss him as much as you. He’s part of the family.’

‘That’s just what he’s not. Daddy doesn’t think so. Will you come and see us when we’re in England?’

‘Of course,’ said all three; then all four of them had another big weep. ‘God, it’s just awful!’

Later Margaret walked back with Nina to the Davoren house. Purple clouds boiled above then and a wind whipped the trees to life. There were tornadoes further south, but so far no warnings had been issued for this area. It was a good day for being miserable.

‘If there’s anything I can do to help – ’

‘Better not take sides,’ said Nina, linking her arm in her sister’s. She had never been as close to Margaret as to Sally and Prue, but now she was grateful for Meg’s comfort and presence. She wanted someone to talk to, and her mother had failed her. ‘Just watch out when it comes time for you to fall in love. Please yourself, not Daddy. Is there anyone you’re serious about right now?’

‘No.’ But Margaret seemed to close up; Nina felt her arm stiffen slightly within her own. ‘Well, maybe. But we haven’t talked about it. I could be crazy about someone else this time next year. Did you fall in and out of love once a month when you were my age?’

‘I was crazy for half a dozen boys. It was a wonder I didn’t have half a dozen babies.’

‘You mean you went all the way with all of them?’

Nina laughed, beginning to feel a little better. Her sisters were indeed a comfort, she really was going to miss them. ‘I always said No at the last moment. I must have been a terrible tease. But I was afraid of losing them. I’m – I don’t know, I used to fall in love too easily. I did with Tim, all in a weekend.’

‘You’re not sorry about that, for God’s sake?’ Margaret pulled up, her arm jerking Nina to a halt.

‘Of course not. But I break out in a cold sweat sometimes. I mean I might have missed him, never met him, if I’d married one of the others.’

Margaret nodded. ‘I know what you mean. I’m trying to teach myself to be patient. But it’s hard, isn’t it? Oh, there’s Tim! I didn’t know he was up.’

‘He’s not supposed to be.’

But Tim was sitting in an armchair on the wide rear porch, a book open on his knees, a pitcher of lemonade on the cane table beside him. Inger, the maid, hovered over him, a Swedish angel who would gladly have fallen if the master had tempted her. Nina had already decided that, if she and Tim had not been leaving, then Inger would have had to go.

The maid went back into the house and Nina and Margaret sat down on either side of Tim. ‘Who helped you out of bed? Inger Nightingale?’

‘Only after she’d given me some Swedish massage. They have some marvellous ways with their hands – ’ He grinned at her, then at Margaret. ‘When you marry, Meg, don’t be jealous of your maids. No husband in his right mind would ever dally so close to home. What do you think of our news?’

‘I’m heart-broken. But I think you’re doing the right thing. I just wish you didn’t have to go all that way, to England.’

Nina picked up the book from his lap. ‘All the King’s Men.’

‘I thought it was about your father.’ Then he pressed her hand. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t make snide remarks like that.’

She kissed him and went inside to supervise Michael’s lunch. Tim watched her go. ‘I hope she knows what she’s doing, Meg. It’s going to be a bigger wrench for her than she realizes.’

Tears suddenly sprang into Margaret’s eyes, surprising him: she had always struck him as the least emotional of the sisters. ‘Oh Tim, why did it have to happen?’

‘I don’t really know. The fault isn’t all your father’s. Just learn from our mistakes. Be sure the man you marry will be one your father approves of. You may have to wait till the right one comes along, I mean a chap you love who also meets your father’s approval, but it’ll be worth it. Don’t let some chap bugger up things for you the way I have for Nina.’

‘You haven’t – buggered up things for her. She loves you – isn’t that all that matters? I just hope I’m as lucky as she is.’

‘You’re sweet.’ He put a finger against her cheek. ‘Just take care. You Beaufort girls have got everything in the world but a guarantee of happiness. And nobody has that.’