Three Rivers (29 page)

“Yes, I did meet someone.”

“Well, the holiday is over now. This call is costing a great deal of money. I want to hear all about it, darling, but that can wait until I see you. Look, I am going to come for a visit to London. I need a little holiday.”

“When do you think you would like to come?”

“Well, frankly, some dear friends have asked me to join them on a short trip, a holiday, as it so happens, to Egypt. Now that I hear all about it from you, I think I should go and take a look at what you think is a wonderful country. Then I will come directly up to London.”

“When does all this happen?”

“Well, I am waiting to hear about reservations at the moment. I will have to let you know. You have nowhere to go now that you have taken your holiday anyway, have you?”

“I honestly do not know what my plans are at the moment. I have only just come back.”

“Ava sends her love. I’ll call you. Look, I really can’t afford to call, so I will write to you.”

“Never mind. Mother, why not call me collect when you know what is happening?”

Isabel put down the telephone and knew instinctively that there was going to be trouble. She could always tell in her mother’s voice when she was plotting something that was doomed to fail. She put it out of her mind and went on reading. Half an hour went by and the telephone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Hello.”

Her heart stood still. It was Alexis.

“I miss you,” he said.

“And I miss you, Alexis. Your roses are wonderful! So beautiful in my bedroom!”

“I think about you all the time. Was the journey home comfortable?”

“Yes, perfectly.”

“Why did you not have supper on the plane? I had dinner prepared for you.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think you have overwhelmed my appetite.”

He laughed. “Did Alexander call?”

“Yes, he asked me out to dinner this evening.”

“Are you going?”

“No, I am going to stay in. I need to get my thoughts together and catch up on some sleep. How are you, is the conference going well?”

“Very Arab, dear, very Arab. But I think it is going well enough.”

“How long will you be there?”

“Oh, I have no idea, a few days, I think.”

“Then what are your plans?”

“I have no idea at the moment, darling.”

“When will I see you?”

“I do not know that either at this time. Was everything well at your house?”

“Yes. Oh, I have some nice news. I think you will be pleased since you are an admirer of mine. The cinema has just purchased my second Meredith Montague!”

“How wonderful for you, darling! Oh, I am so happy for you.”

After that their conversation became strangely hesitant. Isabel could not bear it and asked, “Is there something wrong, Alexis? What’s wrong?”

“Isabel, I never asked you if you have another man in your life. I am sure you do. A woman like you, you must have men. Darling, before I come to London, I want you to think about us. See all your men.”

“I have no need to see them, Alexis. I am in love with you.”

“And I am in love with you, darling. But, those are words, Isabel. I mean to show you that I love you, and I mean to know that you love me. So, I want you to see those men, go to bed with them, to find out exactly where we stand and where the other men stand in your life.”

“Is that what you are going to do, Alexis? See and sleep with your women?”

“Yes, darling. I am sure about us, but other people must be let down gently.”

“You mean like Hamida?”

“Oh, I thought you might know about Hamida,” he chuckled. “Yes, Hamida is one.”

“What will you tell her?”

“There is nothing to tell her yet, darling. We must see each other again first. Will you see your men?”

“Yes, Alexis.”

“I want you to be very sure. We will know everything when we meet again. Until then I will not call you.”

“Oh, please call, Alexis.”

“No, dear, but we will be together before the week is out. Will that give you time?”

“Alexis, I do not have an
army
to see, you know.” She giggled.

“Isabel, I do not want to know. We will never speak about the past; it will be over. I wanted you very much last night. You do know that I love you? And we will be together, if that is what you want. You do know that? You must have no doubts about it.”

“Yes, I know, Alexis.”

“
Bon
, then,
à tout à l’heure
.”

“
A tout à l’heure, Alexis
.”

After Alexis said good-bye, Isabel sat for a very long time with her manuscript on the table in front of her. Things were moving very fast for Isabel, maybe even too fast. Alexis was a very clever man and knew exactly how to handle Isabel. That was something they both knew.

It was there, an amazing new feeling, one that Isabel had been looking for all her life, of being complete with another person. It suddenly made all the years of searching and loneliness worth it all.

If there were any doubts in Isabel’s mind, they were not about their happiness together; but only that she would carry into a life with this man the years and habits of being alone. She had known for a long time that her aloneness, her quest for survival, had led her to a kind of isolation, a separateness. It had also led her to face the reality that many people insulated themselves against seeing: that all are alone, no matter how complete the relationship.

The very thought of walking through the world with another human being, with Alexis, was glorious. Alexis and
Isabel for all the rest of their days could rejoice in their love.

Isabel felt born again. She thought of the river.

Endo arrived with her cup of tea and a plate of rice cakes. After her refreshment, she went back to her reading.

Later that evening, just before dinner, someone came to the street door. She waited to hear the sound of Max’s footsteps bounding up the stairs to her bedroom, but there was no Max. There was instead a light tap at the door.

“Miss Wells,” Endo called. “Sir Alexis Hyatt’s serving man, Gamal, is down in the hall.”

Isabel left her book and immediately went down to meet him. She was pleased to see him, and thought he looked quite a sight with Arthur prancing over his shoes, back and forth, his tail curling around Gamal’s trouser leg; Winston was barking, and Rita was being held and spoken to in Arabic. She was mesmerized into silence by the voice and the strange language.

There was a box on the floor next to Gamal. He greeted Isabel, put Rita down and gave Isabel the box. It was for her, he said. From Sir Alexis.

The two servants went into Endo’s kitchen, where Gamal was offered a cup of coffee. Isabel carried the package, which was about the size of a small hatbox, into the drawing room. She opened it. Moving the tissue paper around carefully, she found neatly packaged the ruby-colored glass goblets from which they had drunk champagne in the Roda Island palace. There was a card that read: “
Bukra fil mishmish
— Alexis.”

She remembered well what that meant. The literal translation was, “Tomorrow when the apricots blossom,” but its true meaning was, “The special tomorrow stretching to infinity.”

Isabel thought of how much Alexis really did care for her. She was naturally touched and longed for him to be with her right then, to take her and fondle her. She wanted to come, to have him fill and grow hard with desire for her so that she could take him in her mouth and make love to him, give herself to him, show him that she too wanted him.

She squirmed slightly in her chair and suddenly felt very aroused. She contracted her vaginal muscles a few
times, not deliberately, but as a natural reaction to the very thought of coming and making love to him. The contractions were so numerous and strong that she felt her clitoris move along with the action and before she knew it, she came very lightly all by herself.

Endo entered the room to tell her that dinner was ready. Was it permissible for him to ask Gamal to stay and have supper with him in the kitchen?

“Endo, that would be very nice indeed. Are you getting on well enough between his English and your English?”

“Yes, we understand each other very well, and, you know, we both speak as much French as we do English, so it is quite possible to have an interesting conversation. I think he is a nice man and we are talking about our countries and our cultures.”

Isabel was delighted. “Please, Endo, he has been very good to me. You may certainly have him to dinner, and make it very clear to him that he is welcome here any time you would like to have him. Now listen, Endo, these glasses are very special. I want them taken from the box and put on my desk in the library. I will place them myself later.”

Isabel had her dinner in the dining room quietly by herself. Endo had made two of her favorite things: tempura and sukiaki. For dessert he had peeled fresh lychee nuts.

Isabel, feeling exhausted, asked him to bring her tea to the bedroom. She would undress and go directly to bed and watch television. At the kitchen door she stopped to say goodnight to Gamal and was pleased to see that they had set the kitchen table for themselves and were going to have a leisurely supper together. He bowed and thanked her.

Endo followed her towards the bedroom and asked, “Miss Wells, would it be all right for me to show Gamal the studio and the house, since you are in the bedroom?”

Isabel thought it was terribly sweet and told him it was quite all right to make him comfortable and show him anything Endo liked. She was really pleased, not only for Gamal but for Endo as well. He had been with Isabel for over three years and she knew that he did not make friends easily. Obviously he liked Gamal.

In bed she relaxed and watched an old movie. She thought again of her newfound luck. After ten years of
Meredith Montagues, she was now able to sustain herself on them.

The last thing that she thought before she went to sleep was that she must do as Alexis asked. She would get in touch with Max tomorrow. Endo had taken several phone calls from him, and Max had been told that she would return on Sunday evening.

There were other men in Isabel’s life. But Max was the only one that she really had to see. The others were not really that important.

She could not help but wonder how many women Alexis would have until the next time they met. She was not unrealistic; he was a superb lover and would have a woman every night, that was for sure.

The next day, for her luncheon with Cecil, Isabel wore a navy blue silk dress. It looked like an old-fashioned child’s smock, all loose with lovely long sleeves tight at the cuff. The yoke of the dress was elegantly done in smocking, and from there it hung full to the middle of her calf. There was something almost naive about it even if it was by Balmain.

With it she wore beige silk stockings and very high Charles Jourdan shoes in beige calfskin. Over the smock dress she wore a sleeveless sable coat. No jewelry except for earrings and the bumblebee pinned between the elbow and the wrist on the sleeve of her right arm. Over her shoulder she slung her navy leather handbag.

It was only a few minutes from her house to The Connaught. The sky was clear, and there was a cold nip in the air. There was that wonderful smell of autumn. As she skirted Berkeley Square, she could hear the leaves rustling, looked and saw them skipping through the grass.

Just as she crossed the threshold, Cecil caught up with her. They kissed hello, and he told her how elegant she looked as they crossed the lobby and separated, he to the men’s cloakroom, she to the ladies’.

Cecil seemed to be in a flap, but slowly calmed down. They exchanged light talk while the waiter drifted around the table taking orders for food and wine.

When they were alone, he looked across at Isabel and said, “Well, my dear, now tell me everything from the beginning and why you do not have that job, for the moment, that is. There is no …” Then he stopped. “Don’t tell
me, I can see it in your face. You have made a mess of it. You have fallen in love with him.”

Isabel, who could not resist teasing him just a little, smiled and gracefully flung back her long chestnut hair.

“Oh, I say!” Cecil exclaimed. “He is in love with you as well! My dear! Oh, my dear. I am speechless. It is very serious, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You truly love him?”

“Cecil, I am terribly in love with him.”

“Oh, my dear friend,” he applauded. “I am very happy for you. This is wonderful news.”

That was the first highlight of the luncheon with Cecil. They talked about Egypt and Alexis, and he asked if she was going to marry him. She told him frankly that she had no idea what he had in mind. He had asked her nothing, and honestly, she did not even know if he were the marrying kind.

“Are you prepared to be his mistress? Of course you would.”

“I don’t know anything, Cecil. This is all new to me, almost as much as it is to you. I only know that I am in love with him, and I think he loves me.”

“And what of the job, Isabel? You must be sensible about that?”

She laughed. “There never was a job, Cecil.”

Cecil was not a man who could cope with this sort of thing. He could cope with anything that had to do with his work, but with a friend and especially a woman friend in love, he was useless. He could only give down-to-earth practical information. And there was nothing to advise. The only thing he said to her was, “Do not let him go,” and, “Be happy.”

Over coffee came the second highlight of the meal. In walked Max with a beautiful young girl on his arm and another young man.

After they were seated at their table, he went over to Isabel to say hello, and she introduced him to Cecil. Max was very formal and polite, asked when she had returned and said that he would be in touch. He was very attractive but seemed young to her, and she was more than a little annoyed at the fact that Max, who always pooh-poohed The Connaught and expensive restaurants and taking her
out to lunch, seemed to have different opinions where other friends were concerned.

Clever Cecil picked it up and said, “Isabel, you are not going to get interested in young men like that when you have a man like Alexis Hyatt, are you?” That was practical, sensible Cecil at his best.