The Swallow and the Hummingbird(26)

George dragged on his cigarette. ‘I want to go away for a while,’ he stated finally.

‘Where to?’

‘I don’t know. America, the Argentine.’

‘With Rita?’

He shook his head. ‘Possibly. I don’t know. This place is stifling me. Too many memories, too much nostalgia. I don’t fit in any more.’

‘Why don’t you go and visit my sister and Jose Antonio in the Argentine? You could work on their farm in Córdoba, gain some experience and then, when you’re ready, come home and work with your father. It will do you good to get away for a while. How does that sound?’ His unhappiness lifted like autumn mist when the sun burns through.

‘Good,’ he said, his voice full of relief. He rested his head on his mother’s shoulder. She hugged him to her, this great big son who so easily dwarfed her. ‘You’re the only person who really understands me.’

‘What about Rita?’ Faye asked after a while.

‘I love Rita,’ he said, sitting up. ‘She’s part of all that is home to me. I’m just not ready for home yet. I’ll ask her to wait for me. Then, when I return, we’ll marry. Rita is the only thing I’m sure of.’





Chapter 6





‘Eddie, where have you been?’ Maddie asked as Eddie ran into the house, flushed and giggling. Eddie skidded to a halt and grinned guiltily. She couldn’t tell her sister that she had spent the whole summer holidays spying on Rita and George kissing in the cave. Love fascinated her. Or rather the physical aspect of it did. She had confessed to her best school friend, Amy, that she had seen Maddie making love to her American in the back of his jeep. They had created such heat the windows had steamed up. She couldn’t tell Maddie that, either.

‘Nothing. Just playing with Harvey,’ she replied innocently.

‘Well, where is he then?’

‘Hunting now. A bat’s got to eat, you know.’

Maddie’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’ve been down on the beach.’

‘Haven’t.’

‘Have, I can tell.’

‘So what if I have?’

‘You’ve been spying again. They’ll catch you one of these days.’

Eddie laughed. ‘They’re much too busy for that.’

‘Really?’ Maddie tried not to look too interested.

‘They do it all the time.’

Maddie thought of George making love to Rita. She knew he’d be a good lover. Passionate, masterful but sensitive. She envied Rita. She had it all.

Rita lay in George’s arms, listening to his breathing and the roar of the waves in the distance. It was warm in the cave but the air had changed. Their innocence had gone and so had their playfulness. George had been distracted for weeks. As if he were slowly drifting away from her. Perhaps Maddie was right after all, that he was bored with her because she wouldn’t sleep with him. She hadn’t said anything, preferring to pretend that nothing was wrong. Although he kissed and caressed her with tenderness, she couldn’t help but feel that he did so in order to hide from something. He looked into her eyes but didn’t see her. He talked to her but didn’t listen. They laughed less, or rather, less from the pit of their bellies. There was no doubt about it; the war had changed George in more than just his physique.

‘Rita, we need to talk,’ he said at last.

Rita stiffened. ‘We’re all right, aren’t we, George?’ she asked, feeling unaccountably apprehensive.

‘Of course we are, my love.’ They sat up and he put his arm around her. But she wasn’t reassured.

‘I’m going away.’

‘Where to?’ she asked, shocked that he would want to leave Frognal Point.

‘I’m going to the Argentine and I want you to come with me.’

Rita’s lips began to tremble.

George lit a cigarette and blew the smoke out in rings. ‘I can’t stay here,’ he continued, staring out of the mouth of the cave. ‘The war has changed me, Rita. I need to shake off the last five years and I can’t do that in Frognal Point. I’ll go to the Argentine, work on my uncle’s farm for a year or so and then come back.’

‘Do you really want me to go with you?’

‘Of course,’ he replied, but his voice sounded flat.

‘As your wife?’

In the lengthy pause that followed he dragged on his cigarette, wondering why her question made him feel so uncomfortable.

‘We can get married out there,’ he replied weakly, cringing because he knew he sounded less than enthusiastic. He could feel her disappointment as if it were lead fibres in the air.

‘I have to think about it,’ she said in a small voice.