Isla wasn’t tired either. She had danced without pause, oblivious of her sister’s sudden disappearance as she had swung from partner to partner, aware that she was one of the most enchanting girls in the room and relishing the admiration she received. She followed her sister into her room and flung herself down on her bed. ‘Oh, Audrey, I have had the most heavenly night.’ She sighed melodramatically, flicking off her shoes. ‘I wish it hadn’t ended.’
‘Me too,’ Audrey replied truthfully, hiding her secret behind a knowing smile.
‘I saw you dancing with Cecil.’
‘Yes.’
‘And you sat next to him at dinner.’
‘Yes.’
‘You must be very happy. He’s got love written all over his alarmingly handsome face,’ she giggled.
‘It is handsome, isn’t it?’ Audrey agreed, unzipping her dress and slipping into her dressing gown. ‘But there’s something very sweet about him too. He has a vulnerability I hadn’t noticed before,’ she added, reflecting on the conversation they had shared that afternoon.
‘If you say so.’ Isla laughed. ‘He’s not my type.’
‘Who is then?’
‘No one,’ she answered nonchalantly. ‘I’m not interested in romance.’
‘But of course you are, Isla,’ her sister insisted. ‘You’re attractive and spirited, there must be someone you admire.’
Isla sighed and raised her eyes to the ceiling in thought. ‘No, I’ve tried, really I have, but no one has the power to move me,’ she stated with arrogance.
‘Yet,’ Audrey said, sitting down at her dressing table and brushing her long, brandy-coloured hair.
‘I’d rather a dog,’ she said. ‘I’d love a big, shaggy dog. You see, dogs don’t demand too much, they don’t get jealous and they don’t want to be kissed other than chaste kisses on their muzzles. Yes, I’d much prefer a dog.’
‘Isla, you are ridiculous sometimes.’ Audrey laughed.
‘Mummy’s really excited about Cecil. She thinks he’d make the perfect husband for you.’
‘Well, I think her excitement is a bit premature,’ said Audrey. ‘After all, we haven’t even held hands.’
‘But you’ve danced.’
‘Yes, but . . .’
‘Dancing can be like making love,’ Isla said provocatively, watching her sister through narrowed eyes.
Audrey’s brush hesitated on her hair and she stared into the face in the mirror, barely recognizing the woman who now returned her stare with self-awareness. With the right man, a dance could be a physical act of love. Two bodies moving together. Two souls separated only by skin. Two hearts calling to each other through the bars of their ribcages. Isla didn’t know just how right she was.
‘Can I share your bed tonight?’ Isla asked, snuggling deeper into the pillow. Audrey frowned at her.
‘We haven’t shared a bed since we were children.’
‘I know. But I want to. You’re my sister and I feel you’re growing away,’ Isla explained. ‘Soon you’ll be married and we won’t be on our own any more. You and me against the world. It’ll be me against the world and you and Cecil somewhere else, in the blissful land of marriage.’
Audrey laughed. ‘All right. If you want to.’
‘Hardly seems worth going to bed,’ Isla said and yawned. ‘If Albert wakes us up I’ll be furious.’
‘He’ll find your bed empty and think you’re still dancing.’
‘I will be, in my dreams.’
Audrey slipped beneath the sheets and closed her eyes. She too was still dancing, dancing with Louis down the leafy passages of her imagination. When Isla’s hot body wrapped itself around her sister’s, Audrey was almost asleep. As she hovered on the brink of slumber she felt the reassuring sensation of another being next to her, heard the gentle rise and fall of breath and the occasional movement as her sister arranged herself into a comfortable position. She wondered what it would feel like to lie in Louis’ arms. She wondered so intensely that she closed her mind to reality and opened it to the random world of dreams.
She was lying in Louis’ arms in a small attic at the top of a house, oddly familiar to her in the illusory realm of her subconscious. Louis’ face was staring tenderly into hers, caressing her features with his eyes and with his fingers. Loving her with kisses and unspoken words expressed in a language forged over many lifetimes. She heard the distant music of the tango as if the musicians were settled beneath the window, playing only for them. She basked in the warm reassurance of his embrace and in the certainty that she belonged to him and he to her in an eternal bond that no one could break. Then the music seemed to fade into the distance, replaced by the cold, methodical drumbeat of a march. Suddenly Louis’ face became Cecil’s and his caresses were at once unwelcome. She squirmed and yet she didn’t try to get away because she knew it was what she had chosen.