Oriental Hotel (59 page)

Would he be disappointed, she wondered, to know what her life had been after all the storms had quietened? Would he be surprised to know that she had eventually gathered the strings together and rebuilt a marriage which had almost disintegrated along with the life she had led in Hong Kong? It had not been a bad marriage or a bad life, though it had never attained the heights she had once glimpsed. The scars had healed, even if they had never completely disappeared, and the knowledge of how close their relationship had come to failing had somehow been a source of strength to both her and Gordon.

She remembered the long months when she had thought that he, like Brit, had died in the invasion, the guilt she had felt for making him unhappy and the joy and relief at discovering she was to be given the chance to make amends. She recalled too the apprehension with which she had met him again after his release, his own relief at finding her and Alex unharmed, his tentative acceptance of the baby he knew – though he never again mentioned it – was not his own. And she remembered his changed attitude towards her, mellower, as he recognised her as a person – flawed as all human beings are flawed and not a young goddess to be placed on a pedestal. As they rebuilt the business together, he had treated her as a partner and an equal, sharing with her where before – he had patronised her, allowing her to play her part and find her own identity.

And she had loved him for it. Yes, in her way she had loved him truly, though never in the way she had loved Brit. Together they had raised their family, together they had built Sandersons to what it was today, together they had made Durscombe Park their home. And when Gordon had died, there had been another empty space to fill.

Momentarily her eyes misted and she clenched her hands. Gordon and Brit. Brit and Gordon. Two men I loved, two men who loved me. I have been very fortunate …

‘Granny, you still haven't told me who that man was'.' Katy's young impatient voice broke into her reverie and her eyes focused with fond love and a hint of perplexity on her grand-daughter.

‘Have you heard of Cormorant, Katy? They are a massive organisation of companies who could buy and sell us several times over.'

‘Oh!' Katy looked impressed. ‘And you knew one of them really well in the old days?'

‘Yes, he was …' She broke off as a half laugh, half sob constricted her throat. How easy – and how difficult! – it would be to say, ‘He was your grandfather!' Her teeth sank into her lip, cutting off the words. ‘He was a great help to me,' she said inadequately.

Katy smiled suddenly, tossing her head so that her hair bounced.

‘Well, all I can say is that it's a great pity you're not still in contact with him! Maybe he would bail out Sandersons instead of us having to sweet-talk Gunther.'

Elise froze. There was a pool of silence inside her suddenly; so deep, so chilling that it took her breath. Only last night, before the advent of Stuart Brittain had diverted her attention, she had been desperately worried about the future of Sandersons – worried not only for the company itself but for the effect the situation might have on her beloved Katy's future. But Katy was, by her birthright, an heiress. As Brit's grand-daughter, she should be entitled to a stake in Cormorant – the company which could, in her own words, buy Sandersons several times over. Katy should not have to sell herself for a paltry three-quarters of a million – without knowing how she could prevent this happening, Elise had nevertheless sworn she would not allow it. Now, staring her in the face was an avenue that might present a means of escaping such a hideous possibility.

‘Granny …?'

Elise became aware of anxious hazel-flecked eyes probing her whirling thoughts, as determination so strong that it made her dizzy penetrated her deepest consciousness. Katy should
not
sell herself short – she must be given the chance to find the love Elise herself had found too late. She would not stand by and allow Katy to sacrifice her happiness to a bloodless company. And if preventing that meant making a journey into the past, then she would do so – and do it willingly.

‘Granny, is anything the matter? You do look awfully pale today.'

‘I'm fine, darling. It's just that …' She broke off, then continued with the directness which her family found both endearing and disconcerting, ‘I think I should like to take up Stuart's offer!'

She saw the amazed look on Katy's face and almost laughed aloud. It was one thing for Katy to talk proudly about her grandmother's youthful exploits and adventures; nevertheless, Elise thought she probably found it impossible to relate these to the elegant middle-aged woman who now seldom travelled further than London and who visited Gstaad and the South of France with monotonous regularity for her annual vacations.

‘You mean – take off for Hong Kong?' Katy's tone was sufficiently horrified to have followed a statement that Elise was going to the moon.

‘Why not?' she asked, still amused by the impact her words had made.

‘But he said
tomorrow
, didn't he?'

‘That's right. I presume he finishes his business here tonight.'

‘It's too short notice, Granny. It's crazy!'

‘Why is it too short notice?' Elise asked. ‘ I have my passport and I've had so many vaccinations over the years I should think I must be immune to every germ and virus between here and the Equator. And Mrs Parsons could pack everything I need within an hour if necessary.'

‘But perhaps he didn't really mean what he said. Maybe he was just being polite, never thinking you would take him up on it?'

‘I don't think so.'

‘And you are really serious? You intend to go flying off with someone you had not even met until an hour ago?'

‘Katy, you are beginning to sound like your mother,' Elise reprimanded. ‘Why is it that when one reaches a certain age, everyone starts behaving as if one was a child again? I have grown used to expecting it from some of my family. But I thought that you, at least …'

‘I'm sorry. Granny.' Twin dimples played momentarily in Katy's cheeks. ‘I don't mean to be a bore. It's just that I am very fond of you and I want to make sure you know what you're doing.'

‘Oh, I know what I'm doing, all right,' Elise said with determination.

‘And you are quite set on going?'

‘Yes, I believe I am.'

Katy crossed to the window to look out for a moment, then turned to fling herself on the velvet-covered curved seat beneath, arms spread expansively along the back, legs crossed neatly at the ankles.

‘Well, in that case I shall come with you.'

Now it was Elise's turn to register surprise.

‘Katy, there's no need for that.'

‘I was invited too. You heard Mr Brittain extend the invitation to me?'

‘Yes, but …'

‘But nothing. Why should you have all the fun, Granny?'

‘But your job! Surely you cannot just take time off when you like? First this afternoon, now … I don't know how long I shall be away, Katy. The invitation was for the journey out only and I shall have to come back on a scheduled flight.'

‘All the more reason why you need someone with you. The gallery can manage without me for a week or so. I'm due for some holiday – overdue, in fact. And with the hours I have been working and the sales I've been pulling off, they will never dare to complain. No, there is no point in looking at me like that! I have made up my mind – and when I do that, I can be every bit as stubborn as you. You are not going without me – and you can take that however you like!'

‘Katy, you are becoming quite a bully,' Elise said, but secretly she could not prevent a feeling of relief, as if someone had just stretched a safety net beneath the high wire she was beginning to walk.

To go back to Hong Kong after so long was going to be quite an ordeal and when the past was resurrected it would be traumatic and emotional. But she did not think Katy would intrude on her privacy. Rather would she be there as a bridge to normality, a breath of fresh air in a world that might close in as stiflingly as a hot and humid Hong Kong summer. As for her meeting with Brit's family, her determination to safeguard Katy's future would be the stronger when she was reminded constantly of her grand-daughter's capacity for love.

Katy looked up. Her face was shadowed, so that it was the softness of her mouth and the delicate curve of her nose that were accentuated, rather than the fiery hazel flecks in those brown eyes; the sun, shining through her hair, obscured the dark browns and highlighted the molten gold strands until it might have been a halo painted with bold brush strokes or a tapestry woven with shining silk threads.

But Katy's voice, vibrant and decisive, destroyed the illusion of ethereality, injecting life and youth and humour.

‘If I didn't keep tabs on you, Granny, heaven only knows what you would get up to next!' she said. ‘But I promise I only do it because I love you. Now – it looks as if your tea is absolutely stone cold. I shall ring for some more and then we can sit quietly and plan exactly what we have to do. OK?'

‘Fine,' Elise smiled. And thought: Thank God tor Katy. What did I ever do to deserve her?

‘Are all those islands Hong Kong? Good heavens, there are so many of them!'

As the Lear jet began its descent, Katy leaned over to look out of the window, excited as a child, and Elise suppressed an urge to do the same.

Although most of Hong Kong's rain fell in the summer, today was clear – the sea as blue as the sky, lit to sparkling brightness by the sun, and from it rose the islands, more than two hundred of them – some rocky and weather-worn, others lushly green and fringed with golden beaches.

During her time here in the East, Elise had known many of them – Cheung Chau, once infamous for smuggling and piracy, where junks and sampans jostled in the bay; Lantau with its glorious beaches and the mysterious Trappist monastery hidden away in the hills; Lamma, Hong Kong's ‘Stone Age' island, inhabited for more than four thousand years and still idyllic with no cars or motor cycles to spoil the peace. But now many of the names escaped her and she felt a strange detachment.

I used to live here, she thought, but it was as if this had been another person in another life.

The Lear jet banked and the open countryside that was the New Territories spread out beneath them, patchworked with rice-fields and neat terraced farms, as old as China itself. Then they were over Kowloon – all modern skyscrapers and moving traffic around the busy mainland side of the harbour – and now dropping lower and lower until they skimmed Kai-Tak airport and wheels touched tarmac on the long runway built out like a jutting finger into the harbour itself. Elise glanced at Katy as the blue water rushed past them and saw from the wide eyes and parted lips that she was enjoying every moment, enjoying even the slightly scaring illusion that the plane would inevitably continue on and into the sea.

But of course this did not happen. Just as the pulse rate increased and breath became right in the throat the Lear jet slowed, slewing gently round and changing direction along three sides of a rectangle before taxiing gently back towards the mainland.

‘That's it then, Katy! We have arrived,' Elise said and the slight tremble in her voice made Katy reach over and touch her hand lightly.

‘You are all right, aren't you, Granny? The journey hasn't been too much for you?'

‘The journey's been a peach!' Elise said briskly – and so it had. The jet was built for comfort, the curved leather couch and matching armchairs made it as pleasant as any drawing room; moreover the weather conditions had been good, with little turbulence to toss them up and down or from side to side.

The moment the doors were opened the smell of the East began wafting into the cabin – the sickly, pungent smell which Elise remembered so well and which evoked nostalgia in her as no sight or sound could do. How it took her back, arousing forgotten shades of emotion, evoking poignant memories in the depth of the subconscious!

Katy, however, was wrinkling her nose in distaste. ‘What
is
that smell?'

Elise smiled. ‘You've never been out East before, have you, Katy? I promise you will soon get used to it.'

‘Never!'

‘You will. In a couple of days you won't even notice it any more!'

Katy pulled a face. ‘Well, if you say so. But ugh! It is a bit off-putting.'

‘And how did you enjoy your trip, ladies?' Stuart Brittain entered the cabin and as always the sight of him shocked Elise slightly. Eventually, she supposed, she would get used to seeing this modern-day Brit; at the moment it could still take her breath away if he caught her unawares.

Now, standing slightly stooped and with one lean brown hand resting on the back of the leather couch, he looked none the worse for the long flight. There was not a crease his lightweight suit and he had obviously just shaved so that there was no hint of stubble on his angular chin.

‘As Granny was just saying, it was a very good flight.' Katy stood up, and Elise thought that she looked every bit as fresh as Stuart in her cool kingfisher silk blouse and black and kingfisher harem pants. Her hair – despite having missed its customary daily shampoo – still fell to her shoulders with that tantalising hint of curl, and since she wore practically no make-up a warm damp towel from the ready prepared box in the small galley had been sufficient to bring a glow to her cheeks. ‘
Were you
flying us, Stuart?'

‘Most of the time,' Stuart admitted. ‘When I am on board, the Cormorant pilot knows he's likely to be more or less redundant.'

‘You're very good.'

‘I enjoy it. That's the most important thing, I imagine.'

‘No, I expect it's a talent. Granny says the Brittain she knew flew a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain.'