‘Pa, you remember Helena Trebeka, don’t you?’ said Ingrid.
‘Why, of course, Helen of Troy was not more fair. “Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!” It is a pleasure to see you,’ he said, bowing again. Ingrid
frowned. ‘Marlowe,’ he added, raising his feathery eyebrow at her in disapproval. ‘Young Samuel would know that one.’
‘Helena’s left Chile to live here again,’ said Ingrid, ignoring him.
‘Far too chilly in Chile I should imagine.’
‘Where the heart is concerned, at least,’ Ingrid laughed. ‘Would you like some tea, Pa?’
‘I’d like something much stronger than tea, cam. Ignore me, I’m not really here,’ he said, shuffling behind the sofa towards the drinks cabinet.
‘You’re not easy to ignore, Pa.'
‘I hear young Samuel is to be knighted for bravery. He is now Sir Samuel Appleby and I shall bestow on him the Order of the Skate to remind us all of his coraggio.'
‘I’m so grateful to him,’ said Helena, wishing Toby were there to laugh with her at the Polperro eccentric.
‘I think he has won the fair maiden’s heart, like in tales of yore,’ said Nuno, raising his bushy eyebrows suggestively.
‘Well, that wouldn’t surprise me,’ said Helena. ‘I’m in love with him too.’
‘Hearts have been won by lesser feats that that,’ he said, picking up his glass and wandering out of the room.
‘He came, he drank, he commented, he left,’ Ingrid sighed, flicking her ash into a Herend dish.
‘And he’s married off my daughter, I’d say that’s a good day’s work done, wouldn’t you?’ They both laughed and poured more tea.
When the time came for Federica to leave with her mother and Hal, she wished she could stay for ever. Molly and Hester had introduced her to Marmaduke who gave off such a vicious smell it sent the three of them running down the corridor holding their noses, giggling profusely. She had met the fox cub who lived in the airing cupboard and the jackdaw who perched on Ingrid’s kitchen chair and drank tea like the rest of the family. A strange pig, which Federica thought looked more like a miniature brown cow, snuffled about the house as if he were the family dog and answered to the name of Pebbles. He even ate from a dog bowl in the scullery along with Pushkin, the Bernese mountain dog, who managed to clear a whole tabletop with one swish of his white-tipped tail. Federica was enchanted.
But at six years of age Federica was now in love with the gallant hero who
had saved her from an icy grave at the bottom of the lake. When he appeared in the hallway to find out whether she was okay she was suddenly overcome with shyness and her words came out as mere husks with no substance. ‘You look better,’ he smirked, running his eyes over the awkward child who blushed up at him gratefully. ‘Your lips were blue. Mine go blue sometimes because I put the wrong end of my fountain pen in my mouth.’ He laughed.
‘I cannot thank you enough, Sam,’ said Helena. Sam was tall, almost six foot, and looked down his nose at her loftily.
‘My pleasure, I would say any time, but to be honest it was a bit cold, so I’d rather not plunge in again, at least not for a while,’ he replied and laughed again.
Helena ushered Federica and Hal to the car. Federica climbed into the back seat and watched as Sam waved goodbye on the steps with his sisters who broke into a run and chased the car down the drive.
‘Charming people, aren’t they?’ said Helena.
‘I really like them,’ Federica agreed. ‘Can we come back soon?’
‘You’ll be going to school with the girls, Fede, so you’ll see them all the time.’
‘Good.' she replied and gazed dreamily out of the window.
Chapter 12
Cachagua
It had been four months, four days and four hours since Estella had last kissed Ramon Campione in her small, breezy room in Cachagua. She had waited for him to return as he had promised, but she hadn’t heard anything, she hadn’t even received a letter. Yet she waited as he had asked her to, as she had reassured him she would. She now sat on the beach, the soft autumn light receding into evening, flooding the horizon with an amber luminosity that poured melancholy into her heart. She placed her hand on her belly and felt the growing child within: Ramon’s child. She smiled sadly to herself as she remembered those tender moments when they had been one, free from the social distinctions that separated them. Love has no boundaries, she thought optimistically, then wondered whether he had changed his mind. Whether he had realized their affair had been nothing more than a summer romance by the sea, as unreal as the fantasies he wrote about. She had found his books in his parents’ bookshelves and taken them to her room where she had read every one. They were magical, surreal and compelling. Poetic stories of love, friendship and adventure set against the exotic landscapes of countries she had never even heard of. She had recognized his voice in each word as if he were some place near, whispering to her, loving her. She longed for him to come back. She longed to tell him about the life they had created together. God had given them a child and God didn’t make mistakes.