The Beaufort Sisters. Jon Cleary
a zombie doll,’ said Prue.
‘Oh God,’ said Sally; then wiped her eyes. ‘If you go, Nina, can I have your MG?’
‘How mercenary can you get?’ said Margaret. ‘Nina, how does Tim feel? We’re going to miss him as much as you. He’s part of the family.’
‘That’s just what he’s not. Daddy doesn’t think so. Will you come and see us when we’re in England?’
‘Of course,’ said all three; then all four of them had another big weep. ‘God, it’s just awful!’
Later Margaret walked back with Nina to the Davoren house. Purple clouds boiled above then and a wind whipped the trees to life. There were tornadoes further south, but so far no warnings had been issued for this area. It was a good day for being miserable.
‘If there’s anything I can do to help – ’
‘Better not take sides,’ said Nina, linking her arm in her sister’s. She had never been as close to Margaret as to Sally and Prue, but now she was grateful for Meg’s comfort and presence. She wanted someone to talk to, and her mother had failed her. ‘Just watch out when it comes time for you to fall in love. Please yourself, not Daddy. Is there anyone you’re serious about right now?’
‘No.’ But Margaret seemed to close up; Nina felt her arm stiffen slightly within her own. ‘Well, maybe. But we haven’t talked about it. I could be crazy about someone else this time next year. Did you fall in and out of love once a month when you were my age?’
‘I was crazy for half a dozen boys. It was a wonder I didn’t have half a dozen babies.’
‘You mean you went all the way with all of them?’
Nina laughed, beginning to feel a little better. Her sisters were indeed a comfort, she really was going to miss them. ‘I always said No at the last moment. I must have been a terrible tease. But I was afraid of losing them. I’m – I don’t know, I used to fall in love too easily. I did with Tim, all in a weekend.’
‘You’re not sorry about that, for God’s sake?’ Margaret pulled up, her arm jerking Nina to a halt.
‘Of course not. But I break out in a cold sweat sometimes. I mean I might have missed him, never met him, if I’d married one of the others.’
Margaret nodded. ‘I know what you mean. I’m trying to teach myself to be patient. But it’s hard, isn’t it? Oh, there’s Tim! I didn’t know he was up.’
‘He’s not supposed to be.’
But Tim was sitting in an armchair on the wide rear porch, a book open on his knees, a pitcher of lemonade on the cane table beside him. Inger, the maid, hovered over him, a Swedish angel who would gladly have fallen if the master had tempted her. Nina had already decided that, if she and Tim had not been leaving, then Inger would have had to go.
The maid went back into the house and Nina and Margaret sat down on either side of Tim. ‘Who helped you out of bed? Inger Nightingale?’
‘Only after she’d given me some Swedish massage. They have some marvellous ways with their hands – ’ He grinned at her, then at Margaret. ‘When you marry, Meg, don’t be jealous of your maids. No husband in his right mind would ever dally so close to home. What do you think of our news?’
‘I’m heart-broken. But I think you’re doing the right thing. I just wish you didn’t have to go all that way, to England.’
Nina picked up the book from his lap. ‘All the King’s Men.’
‘I thought it was about your father.’ Then he pressed her hand. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t make snide remarks like that.’
She kissed him and went inside to supervise Michael’s lunch. Tim watched her go. ‘I hope she knows what she’s doing, Meg. It’s going to be a bigger wrench for her than she realizes.’
Tears suddenly sprang into Margaret’s eyes, surprising him: she had always struck him as the least emotional of the sisters. ‘Oh Tim, why did it have to happen?’
‘I don’t really know. The fault isn’t all your father’s. Just learn from our mistakes. Be sure the man you marry will be one your father approves of. You may have to wait till the right one comes along, I mean a chap you love who also meets your father’s approval, but it’ll be worth it. Don’t let some chap bugger up things for you the way I have for Nina.’
‘You haven’t – buggered up things for her. She loves you – isn’t that all that matters? I just hope I’m as lucky as she is.’
‘You’re sweet.’ He put a finger against her cheek. ‘Just take care. You Beaufort girls have got everything in the world but a guarantee of happiness. And nobody has that.’
1
By the time the Davorens were ready to leave for England, Lucas had thawed out towards both of them. It was not in his nature to beg forgiveness and he could only go just so far in his rapprochement with them. He left it to Edith to make a last-minute effort to talk Nina and Tim into staying.
‘I’m sorry, Mother. I’m glad we’re friends again with Daddy, but I think we need to get away from him. For a while, anyway. Once we’re on the other side of the Atlantic, maybe he’ll learn not to be so possessive.’
Edith, standing amidst the Sèvres china, the Persian rugs, the silk drapes, said, ‘I feel like a mother must have felt a hundred years ago when her family left her and headed West.’
Nina laughed, a little too heartily; but it was a good excuse to let out some of the emotion in her. ‘You don’t really think you’re a pioneer woman!’
Edith had not lost her sense of humour. She looked about her, then laughed and took her daughter, the pioneer sailing for England, in her arms. ‘You know what I mean. I never dreamed I’d be losing any of you – ’
‘You’re not losing us, Mother. You’ll just have to get used to the idea that the world has got bigger.’
Even Lucas, when it came time to say goodbye, conceded that fact. ‘We’re investing overseas – in oil, for a start. I suppose it was inevitable. Can’t get used to it, though. I don’t like the thought of foreigners telling me what I can do with my money.’
‘Why are you doing it then?’ said Tim, more at ease with Lucas than Lucas was with him. ‘You don’t need the money.’
‘Washington approached us. I never thought I’d be doing that feller Truman a favour, but he is the President, God help us. They want us to expand over there in the Middle East before the Russians get in. Beaufort Oil is going into a place called Abu Sadar on the Persian Gulf.’
‘You can stop off and visit us in England when you’re on your way to the Gulf.’
‘I won’t be going out there, I’ve got fellers to do that. But Edith and I will come and visit you – ’ He put out his hand, for a moment looked as if he was going to break down and plead with Tim to stay, not to take his favourite daughter away from him. ‘We’ll come whenever you ask us.’
The departure was a quiet one, with no farewell parties. Nina went round and said goodbye to her friends, discovering only as she was leaving them that none of them was really close to her. Tim went back to the stockyards only once, to say goodbye to Bumper Cassidy, who wished him well and invited him back for the next strike – ‘Next time we’re gonna get what we ask for.’
Magnus McKea, home now from Europe, glad to have Nuremberg