The Perfect Happiness(111)

Angelica was still in her bathrobe when Candace rang the bell. Sunny let her in, and Angelica called to her from the landing. The moment she saw Candace’s concerned face she began to cry all over again.

“Honey, it’s going to be all right,” said Candace, opening her arms. “Hearts get broken, but they mend.” Candace was so tall, she hugged Angelica as if she were a child, then walked with her into the bedroom.

Angelica curled up against the pillows. Candace took off her Ralph Lauren tweed jacket and laid it carefully on the upholstered armchair in the corner. The room smelled of figs from the Dyptique candle Angelica had lit in the bathroom. The television was switched on to the Top 40 music videos. Candace took the control and turned it down, then kicked off her shoes and joined Angelica on the bed.

“Okay, so what happened out there?”

“I lied to you, Candace. I went out to South Africa with the intention of having an affair. I encouraged the row with Olivier to justify it. We met the moment I set foot in my hotel.” Angelica picked up the cord of her dressing gown and began to play with it like a cat’s tail.

“Well, I know all that.” She laughed gently. “I know you, silly. But you know what? You can teach a person knowledge, but you can’t teach her wisdom. That can only come from experience.”

“Now I have the wisdom of an old woman.”

“You look like an old woman with all that crying.”

“I daren’t look!”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll sort you out before the girls get here.”

“I’m glad they’re coming.”

“I thought you would be.”

She sighed. “I just want things to go back to the way they were.”

“They can never do that, but you can learn to live with the experience.”

“I was so frightened.”

“Wait, you’re getting ahead of yourself. So you met him in Johannesburg?”

“He was staying in the same hotel. We made love. It was perfect and heavenly, and I forgot about Olivier and the children . . .” She raised her eyes, ashamed. “You’d be surprised how easy it is to forget yourself.”

“Go on.”

“He went back to his farm; I continued my events. We met again in Cape Town when he drove me to Rosenbosch.”

“His farm?”

“Yes, the most beautiful vineyard you have ever seen. Oh my God, Candace, it’s like paradise.”

“I can imagine.”

“But first he took me up to this pass to watch the sunset. He’d brought wine, and we drank and laughed and watched the sky turn red and gold. It was amazing. Then we went to his house, and I met Anna, his wife, and she asked me about the sunset. She had told Jack to take me up there.”

“A little odd, didn’t you think?”

“It gets even stranger. I got the feeling that she was purposely leaving Jack and me on our own, as if she knew we were having an affair and condoned it.”

“What’s she like?”

“She’s incredible. I liked her the moment I saw her. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help myself. She has an extraordinary charisma, as if she’s a glowing lightbulb and I’m a fly.”

“Honey, you’d never be a fly!”

“A moth.”

“A butterfly.”

Angelica smiled and sniffed. “A very small creature. There’s no side to her. She is wholly good and kind and generous, and there’s nothing she doesn’t know about.”

“Where’s the catch?”

“There is a catch.” Angelica tried to control her tears by blinking. “But wait. We spent two magical days together, and Anna left us alone all the time. Then, on Saturday evening, we drove back from a neighboring vineyard. Jack sensed something was wrong. But we were so determined to spend our last evening alone together that we marched in. Anxious wasn’t there . . .”

“Anxious?”

“The maid.”

“She’s really called that?”

“She really is.”

“I love it!”

“Poor Anxious. She was tied up and dumped in the dining room. They had slaughtered all the dogs. They were piled up there in the kitchen like skins. It was horrible. This gang of blacks descended on us. I thought we were dead. I was so scared. But Jack was very calm. They wanted to know where the safe was, and Jack kept telling them there wasn’t one, but they didn’t believe him. You know, one of them was called Somebody.”

“Wow! That’s a cool name, too! Shame I’ve finished breeding.”

“He didn’t really want to be there, you could tell. Anyway, the leader shot Jack on his way out, for no reason. Jack was bound and helpless, and he just shot him.”