She watched as every electronic item was carefully dismantled and boxed, and then signed the relevant sheet with an unsteady hand.
Then she sat at the now-empty dining table with her chin propped up in the palm of her hand and allowed her mind to drift away on its own unhappy course.
Only the sound of the telephone ringing brought her back to life, and when she heard Anna’s voice down the line she almost wept at the vague contact with the man she loved.
‘I’m phoning to say how sorry I am for ...not minding my own business,’ Anna said anxiously. ‘I had no idea how deep in you both were. And I certainly never expected that Gabriel would sneak up on us the way he did.’
‘I’m not in deep,’ Laura denied weakly. So we slept together, but we’re adults. It’s not unheard of, you know, sex between two consenting adults who are attracted to one another, even though there’s no emotional commitment. It doesn’t mean ...it doesn’t mean that...’ She couldn’t complete the rest of her empty protest.
‘Oh, but it does. I could see for myself, Laura.’
I... Oh, why am I lying? What’s the use? I was always in love with him, but everything comes to an end and there’s no need to apologise, Anna. You did what you thought was the right thing to do and ...both? We weren’t both deep in anything. / was deep in, but you heard Gabriel yourself and I can’t even say that he strung me along because he didn’t. I think a part of me was just always waiting for him to come back, so that I could pick up where we left off, unconditionally.’
‘So now you are back at the riding stables and he has remained at that gruesome mausoleum of his in Berkshire, am I correct?’
‘You’re correct.’
‘And presumably the fool has had all his things removed from the house?’
‘They’ve just taken away his fax machine, his computer, all the office equipment...’
‘And you let them?’
‘Of course I let them!’ Laura said robustly. ‘What else was I supposed to do? Fling my arms across the door and refuse them entry to a house that doesn’t even belong to me? Two strapping men?’
‘And you have not considered lighting for Gabriel?’
‘Fighting how?’ Laura wailed. ‘He doesn’t want me!’
‘If Gabriel did not want you, he would never have returned in the first place. He would have read about the stables, had a chuckle and moved on to the next page. If he did not want you, his eyes would not have burned with anger when he realised that you wanted to leave his house with me. Gabriel is a blind idiot and one day, when all this is over, I am going to get him to grovel at my feet in gratitude for being the interfering old bag that I am!’ And she sounded so spirited and so convincing that foolish thoughts began to multiply in Laura’s head and she seized the thread of hope they promised with both hands, rushing to get her diary when Anna suggested that they meet up and chat.#p#分页标题#e#
She flicked through the pages, then flicked back through them and a little cold film of perspiration broke out all over her at what she was seeing for the first time.
Her period. Where was it? For years she had adhered to her mother’s guidelines about always writing the commencement of her period in her diary because a woman could not afford not to be tuned into her reproductive system. But they had been very careful. From the very first, he had taken the necessary precautions. Well ...not from the very first, Laura thought slowly. No, that first time had been when they had gone riding and she had surrendered. Which had been ...a few weeks ago.
But she had had no symptoms. No sickness, no tiredness, no increased appetite. Nothing.
‘Hello? Are you still there?’
‘Yes,’ Laura said faintly. ‘Look, someone has just banged at the front door. Can I get back to you with a date? I’d love to meet up.’
Her heart was pounding when she replaced the receiver, although when she told the foreman that she was just stepping out for half an hour or so her voice sounded perfectly normal.
Stepping out to go to the nearest pharmacy, even though she knew in her gut that the trip was unnecessary. Unless her reproductive system had decided to go on a short holiday to cope with all the recent emotional turmoil, she was pregnant.
Nevertheless when, a little over an hour later, she saw two clear blue lines appear in the two windows of the device that boasted a ninety-nine per-cent accuracy rate, Laura gave a little moan of shock. So what happened next?
What happens, a little voice in her head said, is you pick up that telephone and you arrange to meet Gabriel. No point waiting for him to call at some point in time, because that point in time was never going to arrive. Gabriel’s pride was as big as a mountain. He would never come back to her, and, despite what Anna had said, she really didn’t know what his feelings towards her were. Yes, he wanted her, or at least he had done. And he was not as indifferent emotionally to her as he pretended to be. That, at any rate, was what she was going to have to believe when she picked that phone up in five minutes’ time.