Doctor at Villa Ronda (26 page)

He paused, and Nicola recalled that fragmentary mention by Ramon and Elena of “Heloise”.

“I decided that I must go away, although no other woman would ever mean as much to me. But it was Eduardo who asked me to stay. He wanted to go on a long expedition to the Pyrenees. So I stayed. But Heloise was wise. She absented herself for long periods, painting in the mountains or Andalusia. Then she became ill and in due course Eduardo returned. We treated her, trying to find out what was wrong. We brought other doctors for consultation, but with no result. Only when she died after several years of suffering was it possible to know that she had a very rare disease of the heart.”

Nicola laid her hand over his in a sympathetic gesture. “So we had both lost her,” continued Sebastian. “But Eduardo blamed me as well as himself for not recognising the symptoms until too late to cure her. Now, Nicola, you know why I have written a long book on these unusual heart conditions. It is dedicated to Heloise and in a way it is a
kind
of atonement for my longing for her.” He gave her a sudden, warm smile that illumined his sombre expression. “But now it is finished. The book, I mean. My attachment to Heloise—now I know it was only a boy’s infatuation. Even Eduardo has realised that life is not finished for him, although he needed time to know that.”

“Thank you for telling me,” said Nicola.

“You understand, of course, that now that Eduardo has returned, I am no longer the head of our house. If it should happen that he marries again, then his wife will be
la madre,
and not you, Nicola. Will you mind being the second—of less importance?”

“Second fiddle?” she queried happily. “I shall
be
content to play any instrument at the Villa Ronda or anywhere you happen to be.”

“
Bless you!” He cradled her head on his shoulder.

T
onight was calm, but with only a few lights pricking the velvet dusk, for not all the electricity services had yet been restored. The storm, the nightmare waters might never have happened, except that Nicola had returned to the Villa Ronda and Sebastian.

“
Adrienne has her fish,” she murmured, “and I have my second fiddle.”

“
What is this joke about Adrienne’s fish?” he asked.

S
he laughed. “One day I will share it with you, dear Sebastian.” As she would also share with him everything else that life had to offer.

“
If we are speaking of fish,” he said, “I must take you out one night for the sardine-fishing. It’s interesting and exciting.”

“
I
shall
like that,” she murmured. What a man! To find romance not in roses and moonlight, but in the hazards of sardine-fishing.

Life with Sebastian would be full of surprises, and that was the way Nicola wanted it
.