The Forget-Me-Not Sonata(115)

‘Did you get all my letters?’ she asked, wrapping her arms around Mercedes’ thick waist.

‘Of course, at least they teach you how to write over there in England.’

‘That’s not all they teach us. I can speak French, you know.’

‘What good will that do you?’

‘I’ll talk to Frenchmen.’

‘You want to avoid those at all costs,’ she said in her lazy drawl, recalling the French sailor she once tussled with in the port. It had been a short but fruitful union   because nine months later Tomas had arrived with his dark skin and languid eyes and hadn’t suffered from the childhood illnesses that plagued her other children. Obviously from all that garlic careering through his veins, she had deduced.

Oscar carried Loro on his shoulder, feeding him sunflower seeds to keep him quiet in case he revealed the torrid affair he was now enjoying with Mercedes at the back of the kitchen between cups of coffee. Cecil heard the commotion and stepped outside. In his hand he held a tumbler of whisky and his smile, once so dazzling and straight, was now loose and unhappy. He kissed Alicia on the forehead and then Leonora, patting them both like Aunt Cicely had done the first time she had met them at the station.

Rose and Aunt Edna were aware of Cecil’s drinking problem but didn’t feel it was their place to get involved. Rose couldn’t understand what had driven him to seek consolation in the bottle, whereas Aunt Edna knew. If Louis was going to remain in Hurlingham then she would have to have quiet words with her niece. It had been weeks since he had arrived and he was still living with them. It was most unhealthy, she thought anxiously, pitying Cecil who had loved Audrey from the day he had met her. She knew her niece was angry with him for sending their daughters away to boarding school but adultery was not a suitable punishment. It would only bring unhappiness and her children would be the ones who suffered most in the long run. She watched Audrey, so obviously happy. She was a mother first and a wife second. She wondered where Louis fit in and what their plans were. Surely they couldn’t go on like this indefinitely. Perhaps, she thought hopefully, now the twins are back, she’ll see sense and finish the affair. Audrey is a sensible girl, she’s bound to do the right thing in the end.

Alicia disappeared into the kitchen with Mercedes while Leonora followed her mother onto the terrace with her father, aunt and grandmother. ‘So tell me, Leonora, how is it going at Colehurst House?’ Cecil asked. Audrey poured the iced lemon that Mercedes had left on the table and handed one to her daughter, who drained the glass thirstily.

‘I like it,’ she said.

‘Good,’ he replied. ‘And Aunt Cicely?’

‘I like her a lot.’

‘I am pleased.’

‘She has a family of gypsies living in one of her fields. They help about the garden and in the harvest time and I help them too.’

‘Good.’

‘They have the strangest names,’ she said and her eyes shone cheerfully. ‘Panazel, Masha, Florien and Ravena . . .’ she began and then she told them all about her new friends and how much she wanted to be a gypsy when she grew up. Cecil half listened to his daughter while he focused his full attention on his wife. She looked beautiful. Aglow with happiness. He now regretted having sent the girls away. His intentions had been good and he was giving them the best education money could buy but it hadn’t been worth sacrificing his wife. Ever since he declared he wanted to send them to England their relationship had deteriorated. He barely had a relationship at all any more. There was no doubt that she preferred the company of his brother. How far it went he could only guess at. He wasn’t a fool but he was realistic. He hoped she’d come back to him in time. He’d give her all the time she wanted the same as he always had. Meanwhile he felt better with a bit of drink inside him. It dulled the pain and raised his expectations. He would have confronted his enemy in his army days, but this enemy had the one thing in his possession that he couldn’t risk losing. Audrey’s heart. So he’d put his head in the sand like the neighbouring ostrich and hoped it would resolve itself.

Louis, who had spent the day with Gaitano in order to give Audrey time alone to enjoy her children, arrived in time for supper. The twins barely noticed him until he played the piano. ‘Teach me, teach me!’ Alicia demanded when her mother told her that he had taught music in Mexico. Leonora, who had started taking lessons at school, showed him what she had learnt, her nervous little fingers stumbling through the music. But Louis was enchanted. ‘You’ll make a very good player, Leonora. Now try this,’ he said, sitting down next to her and playing a chord. ‘Then this,’ he added, playing another and soon they were both side by side on the stool, playing in tandem.