‘It was the meat I missed in England,’ said Audrey. ‘One doesn’t realize how good it is here until one tastes it somewhere else.’
‘I agree,’ Hilda replied. ‘One spends one’s whole time hankering after England and fails to see the good that is right here, under one’s very nose.’
‘There’s a lot that’s good about Argentina,’ said Louis. ‘I’ve been all over in the last decade so I know what I’m talking about.’
‘I should like to visit England one day,’ Nelly ventured. Having not said a word since she arrived she was startled by the sound of her own voice and blushed a deep crimson.
‘You really should,’ he replied and his gentle gaze made her blush all the more. ‘A woman should see the world.’
‘Absolutely,’ Hilda exclaimed. ‘There is nothing as unattractive as a woman of limited horizon.’ Then she believed she saw a glint of intent in Louis’ eyes and her spirits lifted. Perhaps Louis would take her and show her the world himself. ‘There’s nothing Nelly likes better than adventure,’ she added. There was nothing Nelly hated more than adventure. All in a good cause, Hilda thought, justifying her lie.
At last Rose arrived and after embracing her daughter and eagerly asking after the twins they began to discuss Isla’s memorial service. ‘I think, seeing as Louis has returned, it would be nice to remember her all together,’ she said. ‘Not a day goes by when I’m sure we don’t all think of her. It would be good for the whole community to put into words what we all feel in our hearts.’ Then she looked at Louis with affection and added, ‘Louis dear, all these years I’ve been wanting to ask you about your friendship with my daughter. I thought I knew everything about her but I know now that she didn’t tell me everything as I had imagined. I don’t mean that I should know all the details, but I would like to be told how happy she was before she died. I’m grateful to you for giving her such happiness. She always had a spring in her step but never more so than in those summer months she shared with you. I hope you don’t mind me asking. I’ve waited until now and deliberated long and hard. But I would like to fill in at least some of the gaps.’ Louis swallowed hard and avoided Audrey’s anxious face that now turned towards him in silent panic. Aunt Hilda stiffened, for reminding him of Isla did Nelly’s cause no good at all. The silence invaded like fog until they were all in danger of being swallowed up by it.
Louis took Audrey’s hand in his. Audrey flinched and stared at him in fear. Now wasn’t the moment to speak the truth. Not after all these years. He turned and smiled at her with confidence. Trust me, he seemed to be saying. ‘Audrey was very close to Isla. I know from my brother how long it has taken her to come to terms with her death. I love Audrey like a sister and I don’t want to cause her any more pain.’
‘How very sensitive of you, Louis. But Audrey wants to hear too, don’t you, dear?’ said Rose. Audrey nodded. She felt Louis squeeze her hand and understood from his silent communication that he was holding her because he knew it was no longer appropriate to use Isla as a front and he wanted her support. But Audrey was also aware that by condoning the continuation of the charade she was embroiling herself once again in an affair. This time there was so much more at stake. She was married and she had children to think of. But she squeezed his hand back in agreement. She loved him so she had no choice.
Louis was determined to lie as little as possible so he began by praising the qualities in Isla that he had admired when he had first met her. ‘She always spoke her mind,’ he began and the eager expression on the face of her mother spurred him on. ‘She was impulsive and wilful and always a wonderful source of joy. I never saw her unhappy or afraid. Her life was short but it was happy.’ Rose seemed to want more. ‘When I first met Isla, I was struck by her beauty, both your daughters are beautiful,’ he said carefully. Rose looked at Audrey and smiled appreciatively while Hilda looked at Nelly and wished she could do something with that limp brown hair. ‘What I admired the most, though, was the way she never pretended to be anything that she wasn’t. She was exuberant and vital. She is sorely missed and always will be.’
‘But when did these rendezvous take place?’ Rose asked impatiently.
‘At your house. She was a good backgammon player and had a sharp mind for bridge. It was an innocent friendship, Rose. One that was only beginning to flower.’ Then he sighed and his face drained of awkwardness and shone with a pale translucence. Aunt Edna, who had been more interested in picking at the crumbs of cake that remained on the plate on the table, cocked her head and listened, for his voice had grown suddenly quiet and sad. Audrey felt his hand moisten with sweat. ‘Love kept me here and then love drove me away. Because when it was gone, I found I couldn’t live without it. So I left half a man, because the part of me that contained my heart remained here, with her. I spent years in Mexico living off the memory of love, trying to find it in the eyes of other women, but I failed. Every time I failed, because the eyes that gazed back at me weren’t the deep and languid pools that haunted my every living moment but the shallow eyes of strangers. You see, Rose, there was only one woman who was meant for me. God chose her for me. He led me out here for her. And the moment I met her I knew our souls belonged together. I knew she understood me like no one had ever understood me before. The most miraculous part of it all is that she loved me back. She really loved me.’ He paused and lowered his eyes. Rose wiped a tear from her cheek and Edna was so moved her skin dappled all over. She glanced across at Audrey and knew that he wasn’t speaking about Isla but about her. ‘I tried to stay away because I knew I couldn’t be in Argentina without her. So after Mexico I travelled a while before returning to England. I stayed with my sister, Cicely, and heard that Audrey had married Cecil. It was a shock because I knew it was something that I would never enjoy. Marriage to the woman one loves must be the greatest gift on earth. But it has been denied me. It was then that I decided to come back. I had to face my demons. I had to prove to myself that my dreams weren’t in vain, that they meant something. So I have come back to reclaim my heart that I left here twelve years ago. So, what have I found?’ He raised his eyes and looked into Rose’s.