The Perfect Happiness(100)
“Hello, Olivier?” She could barely restrain her impatience.
“Hi, darling? How are you?” His casual voice dispelled her anxiety.
“Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine. I tried to call you on your mobile, but it’s always switched off. As you didn’t call me back, I got the Meyers’ number from Scarlet.”
“You had me so worried. I thought something terrible had happened to the children.”
He laughed. “They’re here. They want to say hello.” Angelica’s eyes brimmed with tears. She felt the familiar pull in her chest and swallowed hard. “I’ll pass you over. They’re really missing you.”
Angelica waited tensely as Olivier passed the telephone to Isabel. “Hello, Mummy.”
“Hello, my darling. Are you having a nice time with Daddy?”
“I miss you.” Her voice was small, and Angelica felt the tears spill onto her cheeks.
“I miss you, too, darling. But I’m coming home on Monday. We can have tea together. Shall we buy a cake at Patisserie Valerie on the way home from school?”
“The raspberry ones with cream?” The thought of cake cheered her up as Angelica knew it would.
“Any cake you like.”
“I’ve painted you a picture.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
“Have you seen any animals?”
“Lots.”
“Elephants and lions?”
“Lots of birds.”
“Will you bring me back a bird?”
“There’s a really pretty one called the orange-breasted sun-bird. Sometimes they fly in a flock of thousands.”
“Can I have one for my birthday?”
“I’m not allowed to take them out of South Africa. But I’ve bought you some pretty things.”
“Do you want to speak to Joe?”
“Pass him on. I love you, darling.”
“Love you, too, Mummy.”
She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and waited while Isabel dropped the telephone, picked it up, and handed it to Joe.
“Come home, Mummy.” Joe’s voice was even more pathetic than Isabel’s had been.
“I’m coming home on Monday.”
“Why can’t you come home now?”
“Because I have to take a plane, darling.”
“Will you sleep on the plane?”
“Yes, for a whole night. Has Daddy been looking after you well?”
“He takes us to Patisserie Valerie.”
“That’s nice.”
“But I want you to come home, because you’re my best friend in the whole world.”
“I miss the Full Joe.”
“I’m empty.”
“I’ll be home on Monday to give you a great big cuddle and fill you up. You only have three more segments on your caterpillar, don’t you?”
“We tear one off tonight before we go to bed.”
“Then you’ll only have two left.”
“Yes. One more, then you come home.”
“And give you the Full Mummy.”
“Yes.”
“I love you, darling. Will you pass me back to Daddy now?”
Joe kissed the telephone. His breathing was so close to the receiver that Angelica could almost touch him. “I love you in my heart,” he said, before passing her back to Olivier.
Angelica could barely speak for the ball of emotion lodged in her throat. The longing to hold her children was visceral. For a moment she came to her senses. What was she doing out there with Jack, when her children were in London, needing her?
“So how’s it going out there?” Olivier’s voice reminded her of the old life she wasn’t sure she wanted anymore.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” she croaked.
“I bet the Meyers’ vineyard is really beautiful.”
“It is. It’s the most beautiful place I think I’ve ever been to. The sunsets are just magical.”
“We miss you, Angelica. I miss you.”
Something inside her cramped with fear. The echo of the children in the background made her want to hurry home with her guilty tail tucked between her legs in remorse, like a disgraced dog.
“I miss you, too,” she replied automatically. But she didn’t miss him at all; she was envisaging her children in South Africa where they could run wild like the steenboks of the veld.
She hung up and sat a while on the sofa, the image of Joe and Isabel playing among the vines burning a hole in her imagination. It was there that Jack found her.
“Is everything all right?” he asked, sitting beside her. She looked up, and a shadow of concern darkened his face as he registered her drying tears. “What’s happened, Angelica?”
“Nothing. He just had me worried, that’s all.”