The Woman from Paris(130)
Rosamunde drove up a little later, having persuaded Marjorie to look after the beagles for the weekend, agreeing in return to sign up to the WI and join the cookery course that was commencing the following week. Rosamunde couldn’t think of anything worse than joining the WI, but Marjorie was too shy to go on her own and had long wanted to learn how to cook. It was a small price to pay for the pleasure of another weekend at Fairfield. Rosamunde would have agreed to anything.
It was a warm evening, but Harris had lit a fire because the room was large and prone to feeling chilly, even in summer. David and Phaedra drove over for dinner, and the party atmosphere that had prevailed the weekend before now continued in the same spirit. Roberta had arranged for a DNA test to be conducted on Phaedra’s hair, comparing it with a strand of Joshua’s. The results were due the following week. She smiled genially, like a wily crocodile, but neither Phaedra nor David was taken in by her saccharine sweetness. Margaret was unable to come, which surprised everyone. “I think she’s being courted by the vicar,” said David, grinning mischievously.
“Or rather, she’s courting the vicar,” Tom added with a guffaw.
“Really, boys, you’re so bad,” Antoinette chided, but she laughed, too. A romance between Margaret and the vicar had crossed her mind as well.
“I’m afraid to disappoint you all,” Phaedra cut in. “She’s being courted by God.”
They all stared at her in astonishment. “God?” Joshua repeated. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t think Margaret had much time for Him,” said Rosamunde.
“She’s been seeing a lot of Reverend Morley—not because she’s in love with him, but because she’s in love with God. She’s just discovered Him, and He’s making her happy,” Phaedra explained.
“Ah,” said Antoinette. “That makes sense.”
David looked disappointed. “So when I saw her alone with Reverend Morley in her sitting room, holding his hand and listening to him talking about love, it was God’s love and not his that he was speaking of?”
“I’m sorry,” Phaedra replied. “I know you were hoping for a big love story.” She looked away, embarrassed, for those words were too close to the truth.
“I don’t think Margaret would ever allow herself to fall for a vicar,” said Roberta. “I mean, you know how snobbish she is.”
David would once have commented, Takes one to know one, but he didn’t feel like provoking her as he once had. “I don’t think anyone would ever be good enough for Grandma,” he said instead.
“She’s typical of her generation,” said Antoinette. “Personally, I don’t think it matters where a person comes from so long as they’re kind. Kindness is the most important quality, I think.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Rosamunde agreed, settling down with her sherry as if she had never left. “You see, in Margaret’s day it was all about class, and one could never be courted by a man who wasn’t on the same social level or, even better, above. Thankfully, life has changed. Besides, one is never too old to fall in love, surely.”
Antoinette looked at her sister sympathetically and thought of Dr. Heyworth. She wondered whether Rosamunde was destined to be alone forever, or whether there was someone out there for her.
They ate in the dining room, and the chatter was loud and vibrant. David sat at the head of the table with Phaedra on his right. Antoinette observed how seamlessly life goes on. Now her eldest was Lord Frampton and seated in her husband’s old chair. The family was still there; they had simply moved around a place. One day their children would sit in their seats, and life would go on in the same way. She never thought that the hole George left could be filled, but it had, and they were now building upon it as upon the ruins of an old civilization. And so the generations would continue to come and go as they always had. George was simply one small brick in the ever-expanding metropolis of life, as were they.
She noticed the frisson between David and Phaedra as they laughed and whispered to each other—their heads inclining, almost touching; their gazes heavy and full of significance. She recognized love when she saw it, and now there was no doubt in her mind that Phaedra and David had strong feelings for each other. She knew it was an impossible relationship and wished that Phaedra was not George’s daughter but a girl David had met and brought home for the weekend. As it was, there was no way the two of them could ever love each other freely. They were imprisoned forever by George’s DNA. What a waste, she thought, and glanced around the room at the rest of her family. She wondered whether she was the only one to notice.