‘Don’t embarrass your sister,’ Rose chided gently, silencing her sons with a reproachful glare, though she longed to ask her daughter with whom she was in love. Audrey lowered her eyes and wished for a miracle to magic her away, but Isla’s ebullience was by now totally out of control.
‘She’s in love with Cecil Forrester,’ Isla blurted, her thick curls swinging about her face as she bounced in her chair with delight. ‘But she doesn’t think her feelings are reciprocated. Only Audrey could be so modest.’
‘Let’s change the subject,’ said Henry firmly. Rose caught her sister’s eye and without even moving her eyelids she communicated her pleasure with the utmost discretion. Aunt Edna responded in the same code. After a lifetime of mute messages the two sisters understood one another perfectly. Cecil would indeed make a good match for Audrey.
Chapter 4
Audrey sat alone in the shade of a eucalyptus tree, gazing out across the grounds of the Club with weary resignation. She knew she should never have trusted Isla, but like a fool she had once again been lured into confiding in her sister. Now her parents thought she had lost her heart to Cecil. If they knew the truth, they’d be mortified.
Her mind drifted then to Emma Letton. She wondered how very different Emma’s life would have been had she married the Argentine. Happier, or had it been no more than an infatuation that would have died in time? Perhaps she had been expressing a subconscious yearning to break the rules. To experience what life was like outside the sheltered confines of their insular community.
She knew Cecil was the right man to fall in love with. Not only because she instinctively understood what was expected of her but because she had heard what people were saying about the brothers. Cecil was the sensible, responsible one with good looks and charm and a solid, prosperous future. Louis was the wayward and impulsive one. The one who had failed to fight for his country.
‘Are you all right?’ came a deep voice from behind her. She turned around to see Cecil standing over her, his face in the sun, squinting at her through his dark glasses.
‘I’m fine,’ she replied, then sighed apologetically. ‘I’m sorry I rushed out like that this morning. It was the heat, it suddenly made me nauseous.’
‘Well, I hope you’ve recovered. It’s cool here in the shade.’ He grinned at her so that the lines around his mouth creased into his skin, already tanned from the hot Argentine summer. ‘Do you mind if I join you?’ Audrey shook her head and watched as he sat down beside her. It was then that she noticed he was in his riding clothes. Shiny brown leather boots over white jodhpurs and polo shirt.
‘You play polo?’ she exclaimed in surprise.
‘I played a little in England,’ he replied, then chuckled. ‘I’m not very good, though.’
‘You’ll improve here. This is the land of polo.’
‘I know. I play racket sports well, I’ve got a good eye for the ball, so polo should come naturally. Practice makes perfect.’
‘Yes, it does,’ she agreed, gazing out into the distance. ‘Don’t you just love it here?’
‘It feels like home already. Charming people and an idyllic way of life. No grey skies in this part of the world and no post-war gloom.’
‘I hear you came back a hero,’ she said, wondering how she could steer the conversation around to Louis. ‘You must be very brave.’
‘One never knows how one is going to react in a war. I worried I might discover I was a secret coward. But it made a man out of me.’
‘Everyone’s talking about your heroism, especially Colonel Blythe, you have a true admirer in him.’
Cecil chuckled, ‘I like the Colonel very much.’
‘Louis didn’t fight in the war, did he?’ she asked, knowing the answer but wanting an excuse to mention his name. Cecil’s face turned grey and his mouth twitched at the corner.
‘He’s not like others, I’m afraid.’
‘That’s part of his charm,’ she said, turning her face away in an attempt to hide the light that burned through her cheeks.
‘You’re unique if you think he’s charming,’ he said, amazed and grateful that she looked for the good in Louis and found it. This sympathy encouraged him to confide in her. ‘Oh, Audrey, I despair sometimes,’ he groaned. ‘I worry for him, for his future.’
‘But, he’s doing all right in Daddy’s company, isn’t he?’
He shook his head and laughed. ‘You’re so sweet, Audrey. He earns a salary because your father is a very generous man. Louis just wants to dream and play the piano. If it wasn’t for his music I’d think he was a lost cause, but he’s very gifted. It’s a shame he can’t channel that talent into other things. But he doesn’t want to work. He could be a concert pianist, one of the very best. He could teach music, compose, but he lacks the will and the discipline. Instead he sits in a stuffy office in the city behind a desk sketching everyone’s faces in caricature. He’s in a world of his own where no one else can reach him. Not even me.’