Page 116 of The Sapphire Child
‘That’s terrible. How did she find out?’
‘He wrote and told her himself,’ Tom said. ‘Full of promises about how he’s going to divorce his wife and marry her. I think hell will freeze over first.’
‘Poor Stella!’ Andrew was shaken by the revelation. ‘Why on earth then did Hugh ask her to marry him in the first place?’
Tom gave him an impatient look. ‘Why do you think?’
Andrew felt the heat rise into his face. ‘I feel awful,’ he admitted. ‘I was the one who put them in touch again.’
‘You weren’t to know what he was like,’ said Tom.
‘Felicity had a hunch he was a womaniser,’ Andrew admitted. ‘We bumped into him at a cinema in Edinburgh and she thought he was with someone else’s wife.’
‘I think he’s probably fabricated a lot about himself,’ Tom said in disdain. ‘I questioned him about his service in Quetta but he seemed to know little about the place.’
‘Oh Lord!’ Andrew grimaced. ‘I remember him telling me great tales of his heroics in Baluchistan. That’s how he got his leg injury – shot by a tribesman. Perhaps he was making it all up?’
Tom grunted. ‘If a Baluch had wanted him dead, they wouldn’t have wasted a bullet on his knee. I doubt Keating’s ever been to Baluchistan.’
Andrew was distressed on Stella’s behalf. She must have felt both betrayed and humiliated. She was such an open-hearted, trusting person.
‘Is that why she stayed with you all winter?’ Andrew guessed. ‘I suppose she didn’t want to face everyone here and admit to Hugh being married.’
Tom didn’t answer immediately. He looked torn. ‘Andrew...’
‘Yes?’
‘Stella’s had a difficult time...’
‘I understand that,’ Andrew said.
‘What I mean is...well, what I’ve told you is in confidence. No one here knows about Keating being married. So, we must leave it up to Stella to decide what she’s prepared to tell anyone.’
‘Of course,’ Andrew agreed. ‘I’d never break her confidence.’
Tom nodded in relief.
‘But I don’t promise not to give Hugh a bloody nose,’ said Andrew, ‘if I ever see him again.’
‘You and me, both.’ Tom looked suddenly contrite. ‘I’m so sorry I hit you. I’m an awful father. All I’ve really wanted to do for all these years is give you a bloody big hug – and within hours of seeing you again I end up attacking you. Can you ever forgive me?’
Andrew felt a wave of pity. ‘Of course I forgive you,’ he said quickly. ‘I was just as much to blame for losing my temper. And I’m sorry for being unkind about Esmie. It’s been difficult over the years, but I suppose I understand now about your marriage, and why you had to pretend.’
Tom clenched his jaw and swallowed, wiping at his glistening eyes. ‘Thank you.’ He cleared his throat and reached for another cigarette. Once he’d lit up again, he squinted at Andrew through a puff of smoke.
‘Now, tell me all about this fiancée of yours. I remember her father, Archie Douglas – he used to have a soft spot for your Auntie Tibby.’
‘Really?’ said Andrew. He felt a jolt of guilt that Felicity had hardly crossed his mind all evening. Quickly he pulled out the photograph that he carried of her and handed it over to his father.
He felt on safer ground chatting about the Douglases and Felicity. He told his father about her work as an ARP warden. For a short while he could conjure up Ebbsmouth and home again – and not have to dwell on disturbing thoughts about Stella and her doomed romance with Hugh.
Chapter 42
Andrew slept badly in his old bedroom, his mind disturbed by the argument with his father over his mother and Esmie, as well as the revelation about Hugh’s betrayal of Stella’s love. The recent telephone call and hearing her voice again had reignited deep feelings. It was unsettling to be staying in the room that had last been used by Stella. He still felt her presence about the place. He was touched to find that the sketch he had sent her years ago of Frisky was displayed in a silver-plated frame by the bedside.
In the middle of the night, as he tossed restlessly, he realised for the first time that he was really disappointed that she hadn’t been there, and acknowledged that he had held out an absurd hope that she might have travelled down specially to see him – as he would have done for her – even after nine years apart. He still kept the dog-eared photograph of her, taken with him and Noel on the beach that fateful summer in Ebbsmouth. It was tucked into his wallet and kept like a guilty secret.
But she wasn’t there, and it was ridiculous of him to hold such childish feelings for Stella after all these years. So he made up his mind, there and then, that he would cut short his stay at the hotel and travel on to Taha in the morning. With the decision made, he fell into fitful sleep.
