Three Rivers (37 page)

Oh, she
would
sleep, but no more than three or four hours a night. Tonight, the party over and Alfred asleep, all attention was cut off. She had no one but herself to lie with in bed.

Now Isabel’s diamonds flashed before Ava’s eyes. Suddenly the hatred and resentment came back. Ava knew that she would never,
never
accept the fact that Isabel might marry. All that she could see in the quiet of the dark room was the sparkle of those diamonds.

They were a symbol of material wealth, of security that Isabel now had. The one thing that Ava had all her adult life to hold over Isabel was security. Now those diamonds were flashing like warning lights to Ava. A new kind of security for Isabel weakened Ava. She did not like that at all.

She tossed and turned. It was terribly hot. She kicked off the sheet, went for a drink of water, returned to the bed and lay on her side, away from Alfred, then on her
back, staring up at the ceiling. She tossed and turned and still Alfred slept. Back on her side again, she leaned on her elbow and watched him breathing in the dark. She could have strangled him.

It was six in the morning before she finally fell into a light, nervous sleep. By half past eight she was sitting at the dining table having her second cup of coffee.

Alfred sat across from his wife and meticulously peeled an orange. He knew by the shrillness of her voice and her incessant chatter that she had had a bad night. He offered Ava a piece of orange. She took a segment, and they talked about the clothes they would wear. It was finally decided that he would not swim and that he would wear his gray flannel trousers; a beige short-sleeved, open-necked shirt; a small scarf of red and navy blue Thai silk in a tiny pattern of
fleur de lis
tied jauntily at his neck; and his navy blue blazer with its antique sterling silver admiral’s button.

Ava finally decided to wear a black bikini and over it a pink-and-white polka dot, two-piece dress that buttoned down the front. Alfred would put her robe, bath towel and all her other bits and pieces that she used for sunning, such as a hat, sun glasses, oil, bath cap and, of course, a mirror, in a large basket ready to be put with the picnic things in the boot of Takis’s car.

Alfred asked her about Kate and her forthcoming trip. Not one word had been said about Isabel and her visit the day before. Very subtly he asked how the luncheon went and if Isabel was well.

“Yes, Isabel was well,” Ava said.

“Did you all enjoy your lunch?”

“No, we certainly did not. The food was bad and Isabel thinks that she is going to get married.”

“Really? That is very exciting. Who is she going to marry?”

“That does not bear discussion, Alfred. It is probably another of her fantasies. She arrived at the table dripping in diamonds and had an entourage provided by some Arab. The one she says she’s going to marry. She does not intend to be in London when Mother is going to be there, and she is in Cairo at this very moment. When I receive a telegram saying that she is married, then I will believe it, and not until then. Alfred, it honestly does not bear talking about. You know Isabel is never going to marry,
and if she does, how long will it last? I did my best to make her face the fact that she will never be able to sustain a marriage. Let’s hope she listened.”

“But, Ava, I’ve never, ever heard Isabel talk about marriage before,” Alfred pointed out. “I’m sure she would not go into it lightly. If she is contemplating it, then she must be very sure of the relationship. If she was not, she would never have flown in here yesterday to tell you. Who is the man?”

“Well, I do not know about the marriage bit, but he
is
obviously keeping her. It’s some Egyptian called Alexis Hyatt. Some dreadful Arab.”

“Oh, no, Ava.” Alfred laughed. “I believe you have that just a little wrong. If he is
Sir
Alexis Hyatt then we are going to have in the family one of the most important figures in the Middle East. He is not just a rich little Arab, but a highly cultured man; very intelligent, a most honorable person, a great connoisseur. I’m surprised you’ve never heard of him.”

Ava went pale. “It can’t be, Alfred. Are you sure that he is the same man?”

“Well, unless there are two with the exact same name. How amazing! To think that he might be part of the family. Ava, you would like him very much.”

“Alfred, stop getting excited. I tell you, it is never going to come off. Never in a million years. You will see, it will never come to anything.”

“Well, I hope for Isabel’s sake that it does. He would certainly give her an interesting life and he looks to be a handsome, dashing man.”

“How do you know that, Alfred?” she quietly asked.

“Because recently I saw a picture of him in
Time
. About two weeks ago, I think. I may still have the copy.” He went into his study.

Rage rapidly mounted inside Ava. Why was Alfred so enthusiastic? It was something that was not going to happen anyway. If he was that important, it was impossible. Isabel would not be able to handle it. Why would he want Isabel? What was even more upsetting was that she knew Alfred was always correct about his facts — which meant that Sir Alexis Hyatt was really something.

Oh, that Isabel! She had even managed to disrupt Ava’s day with Alfred with her carryings-on. Oh, God,
maybe he won’t find that old
Time
, maybe Ava would not have to see him.

It was at that point that Alfred came in and took a chair next to Ava, thumbing through the old magazine. There it was, on the top half of the page, a black-and-white photograph of two men. One was King Khalid of Saudi Arabia. The other was handsome, with a broad smile and a pair of mischievous eyes set in a very handsome face. The caption under the picture read: “Sir Alexis Hyatt, the world’s Middle Eastern Ambassador of good will.”

Ava’s reaction was killing: He was handsome, rich, middle-aged, intelligent and respected the world over. And her sister was going to marry him. It was just not possible. And the usually very calm Alfred was actually excited for his sister-in-law.

“Fascinating, just fascinating, a very interesting man,” Ava muttered. “I do not think that it can be him. Of course, it is just possible, but we will see. If we ever get to meet him, and
if
he is still around in a few weeks’ time.”

Alfred saw the glint in Ava’s eye and closed the magazine slowly. “When are they marrying?”

“Oh, I don’t know. She said something about today, or tomorrow. It’s all very secretive. Look, Alfred, if he is all that important, then what is the secret? No, no, we had better just forget the whole thing until we are sure.”

“Ava,
where
are they marrying?”

“In Cairo.”

“Aren’t you thrilled for her? Don’t you think we should send a telegram or something?”

“No, I certainly do not. If it is such a secret, then we will do nothing. That is, supposing that there
is
a wedding, which is still in doubt. None of us was invited to it anyway. Now I am off to dress. I must be ready for Takis. It was so nice of him to offer to take Mother to the airport. I’ll see you at the Piccolo at noon.”

When Alfred had gone off to his attorney for a meeting, Ava poured herself a triple shot of whiskey, throwing it back in one swallow. She was trembling with rage. It couldn’t be true? She closed her eyes and the warm surge of the alcohol in her blood lifted her spirits immediately. She opened her eyes slowly and examined her face in the mirror above the bar. It was all right, she was still there, still beautiful. She felt better, much better.

She gave a few instructions to the maid and that made her life yet again more real. She went into the bedroom to dress, and to think about Kate, now rushing around getting her hair, her feet, her fingernails all done up for her trip and her new life with Isabel. She suddenly realized how naive Kate was.
Well
, thought Ava,
I am out of it. Let them fight it out between them
.

The party of five — Alfred, Ava, Evangalia, Takis and his bachelor friend, Philipos — were ensconced on a lovely and quiet spit of land. The road went around the great burial mound in Marathon and then parallel to the sea. From the road to the water there was a small forest of shady, twisted pine trees. They had parked the car under the pines and carried all the things. Beyond the little forest they came to a finger of land crowned with a pine-clad hill high above the sea.

To the right of the little hill there ran a freshwater river. It had a strong current that pulled far out into the salt water. It ran deep, and you could see the change of color as the salt and fresh water mixed almost as far away as your eye could see. To the left of the headland and all down the coast there was a sand beach from the end of the pines to the water’s edge.

They could hear the faint sounds of other people coming from that end of the beach but saw no one. They were all delighted with the spot and set up their table and chairs to dine and later play cards.

Ava made a claim on a little hill just above the rest of the party. She spread out her blanket, sun things and the writing-box, with her many drafts of the
Reader’s Digest
article.

She took a cloth-covered hanger from the basket and hung up her dress on a low branch of one of the pine trees. There was a heavy carpet of brown pine needles making her hill very soft, if impossible to walk on without sandals. It was very, very hot. Too hot at that time to sunbathe.

To protect herself, Ava wore a great straw hat and a sheer cotton white shirt that came down to her thighs. Afterwards she went down from her private little world to join everyone for a drink.

The table had been set up in the coolest spot and was weighted down with food. The little bar was set up and
busy. It was a pleasant, happy affair, particularly as Ava was the center of attention.

She was, after all, the only one in the group who had a figure and a little turned-up nose and was agile enough to bend over without hearing the bones creak. She flitted around the men, flirting and teasing like a girl of sixteen.

She bounced herself on Takis’s lap, knowing very well that he could feel the separation of the cheeks of her ass, and the movement of the outer lips of her vagina through the scant bikini. Ava knew he would be maddened with desire to take her, and, of course, that was impossible.

Next she made an attempt to play with Philipos. He was not at all interested in her. He had a penchant for
young
girls. A woman of twenty was past her prime for him. He was simply not interested in making a life with one woman. All that was, of course, a challenge for Ava.

When she dropped onto Philipos’s lap and tried to tease him, he took his thumb and forefinger and pinched her so hard on the ass that she screamed and jumped off. Ava stayed away from him for the rest of the picnic.

She treated Takis’s wife, Evangalia, like her grandmother. The more she flirted, teased and threw her good body around, the more ancient and decrepit and grandmotherly she treated Evangalia.

After they had all eaten and drunk too much, they decided to take a walk along the beach before they settled down into an afternoon of cards. Takis asked Ava if she would swim, and she agreed. He told the others to start down the beach; he wanted to make sure that Ava swam on the sea side. They would catch up with the rest of the party later. As Ava and Takis walked, he explained about the river — the Narcissus.

He showed her that the surface was almost without a ripple, as it ran quietly. No more than two feet below the still water, he said, there was a frightening undercurrent formed by the underwater caverns that ran across the bed of the river. The cracks in the riverbed had opened and forced a great tunnel of swift, sweet water far out to sea.

Now Takis showed Ava why it was called the Narcissus. When you bent over the surface of the river, you could see a perfect reflection of yourself. They walked upstream a way. Takis rolled up his trousers and took off his shoes and socks. He got down on his knees and knelt over the water’s edge. Sure enough there he was, a perfect
image of himself. As clear as a silver-backed mirror. Ava knelt down next to him and was enchanted at the picture of them both there together. They kissed, and as they kissed they watched.

They went wading very carefully. Takis warned that there was a small shelf of sand before it dropped off into deep water. When the water was up to Ava’s calves, she felt her toes hang over the edge of the sand shelf. She leaned over and there she was again. A perfect portrait of Ava. She was enchanted with it. She raised one arm and it waved back at her. She waved both arms and they waved back. She smiled and loved the smile of the laughing lady in the water. She saw the adoration in the eyes of the reflection.

Takis became fired up, because Ava was bending over with her rear end up to him. In that position the bikini looked even briefer. He lifted the sheer cotton shirt and pulled down the bikini, saying, “Don’t move.” But she did, straightening up, and turning round to face him. She started for the shore and, just at the edge of the sand where she was sure to be safe, she pulled down her bikini. Takis bent down to kiss her vagina. She teased him, pushing herself into his face. She could see the others way off in the distance, with their backs to them, and walking in the opposite direction, so she had no fear.

Suddenly Takis told her he did not want her that way. He wanted to fuck her right up the ass. He spun her quickly around and bent her over.

Ava became wildly frightened. She pulled up her bikini and started running down the beach. No man had ever done that to her, and no man ever would. Takis was a filthy old fool, but she could tell that he was trainable. When he called after her, she ran back to him again, saying, “No, no, not here. Don’t be silly, not here.”

He could hardly keep his hands off her and smacked her hard on the ass he so wanted a couple of times.

She put her arm through his and said, “No, stop that, we must join the others. If we want to have a wonderful affair, we must be very discreet.”

Takis liked that idea. He gave in, and they caught up with the others.