Gabriel through it now.
‘Isn’t it amazing? Families of ten or more live here.
When they were first built, the houses had no water or
anything, just one big room. The children slept under the
bed, the parents slept in it, with possibly a couple more
children. Often, even now, the sink’s outside at the back
and there might be a gas ring on a shelf. Yet they’re very
happy, close families. There’s very little violent crime here.’
‘You’ll be telling me next they’re happy with their lot,’
he said.
‘They are,’ she said. ‘Really happy.’
‘Octavia, please don’t insult me with that nonsense.’
‘It’s not nonsense, and you don’t know anything about
it,’ she said, and was silent. He didn’t speak either, sat
glaring out of the window. A little later, anxious to improve
matters, she said, ‘We might go and see Elvira’s daughter
tonight, on our way back. She lives here.’
‘No more socialising, Octavia, please.’
‘Gabriel, it’s hardly socialising,’ she said without thinking.
‘Oh,
really? And why would that be? Because she’s
black? Because she’s the daughter of a servant?’
‘Oh, don’t be so bloody ridiculous,’ she said, suddenly
sharply angry with him.
They went into Cave Shepherd and she felt him making
an effort, aware of her mood; picking out hideous shirts,
asking her opinion. His taste really was terrible.
She struggled to be tactful, allowed him one of the
hideous ones — brilliantly patterned, short sleeved - and
then steered him towards a striped Ralph Lauren, in pink
and white. ‘This is nice too. And there’s the same in blue.
And while we’re here, shall we look at trousers?’
‘Octavia, I really don’t want to—’ He stopped.
‘Don’t want to what?’
‘To spend a fortune. On bloody silly clothes I’ll never
wear again.’
‘Of course you’ll wear them again. Why on earth
shouldn’t you?’
‘Well — I won’t. And they’re terribly expensive. It’s
ridiculous.’
‘Everything is here. It’s the import tax. Anyway, the rest
of the holiday hasn’t cost you anything,’ she said lightly and
then stared at him appalled, realising what she had said.
He stared back, his pink face bright red suddenly.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘very, very sorry. I didn’t mean that
is, that came out wrong.’
‘It certainly did,’ he said.
‘I’m really sorry. Please forgive me, Gabriel.’
‘Oh, forget it,’ he said. ‘Let’s just go, shall we?’
‘Are you - getting these?’
‘What? Oh, yes, I’ll get the shirts. If that’s what you
want.’
She left him in a cafe, drinking orange juice, while she went
to see the lawyers. ‘I’ll be about half an hour. Is that all
right?’
‘Yes, of course. Be as long as you like.’
He was clearly angry: with good reason, she supposed.
That was a terrible thing she’d said; she felt quite sick, just
thinking about it. It was so unlike her, to be tactless; she was
usually so careful about everything she said. On the other
hand he was being — difficult. Ungracious. That was what
had prompted it. When she looked back he was sitting
staring at his glass like a sulky child; she sighed.
The lawyers were in one of the small side streets behind
the main square; next door to one of the innumerable
diamond shops. She glanced into the window of the shop;
there was a very pretty emerald and diamond pendant,
simple, almost deco in design. She liked it. She wondered if
she might buy it, treat herself. Jewellery was one of the few
things that was cheaper here. Then she remembered that
she was an about-to-be-divorced woman, and no longer
allowed such extravagance. She went up the small stairs into
the office of Myers and Greenidge, her father’s lawyers.
Nicholas Greenidge, a large, charming white Bajan,
greeted her with a kiss. He had known her since she was a
baby. ‘It’s really lovely to see you, Octavia. How you
doing?’
‘I’m doing just fine, Nicholas. Thank you.’ She hoped
she was, anyway. ‘How about yourself?’
‘Oh, you know. Pretty good, I would say. We’re very
busy, mat’s for sure.’ His accent was thick, the rolling
vowels hard to understand at first.
‘Good. I’m pleased for you. Dad sends his regards. Now,
you know why I’m here. To pick up the stuff from the
trustees in BVI. Have you got it?’
‘Yes, it’s all here. The deeds of the house, all the trust
fund details. If I was your dad, I’d want to be pretty damn
careful before I registered the house in Barbados. I wouldn’t
want the officials here having a claim on the money. The
transfer tax when he sells will be bad enough. He’ll have to
pay that. But tell him I said to strip all the money out of that
trust fund.’
‘You think he should?’
‘I do. There’s a lot there at the moment, you know.’
‘Really? I suppose with the stock market doing so
well…’
‘Nothing to do with the stock market, Octavia. It’s the
extra funds which have been put in that he wants to watch.’
‘Extra funds?’
‘Yup. Quite a bit. Paid in over the past two months or
so.’
‘Really?’ she said. She was touched. It was so like her
father, that: to pay money quietly into the trust fund, of
which she was a beneficiary. He obviously knew she
wouldn’t take money from him directly, and this was his
way of keeping her safe.
‘Yup. About twenty thousand dollars paid in.’
‘Twenty thousand! Goodness.’
It was the divorce of course, his fears for her over that.
He clearly saw her living on the street without his help.
‘So you don’t want to lose it. Anyway, Octavia, you take
all this back with you, talk to him about it. I don’t think this
legislation is going to happen yet awhile. But best to be
ahead of the game. That is my advice to you.’
‘Yes, of course. And we should follow it. It’s always
good, your advice, Nicholas.’
‘Glad you think so.’ He grinned at her. ‘He keeping well,
your dad?’
‘Very well. Thank you.’
‘And how’s Mr Fleming? And the children? You got
them with you?’
‘No. No, I haven’t. Unfortunately,’ said Octavia.
‘They’re in Italy and I miss them.’ She realised, with a
sudden pang, just how much.
‘I bet you do. He’s a very good man, Mr Fleming. I
always did like him a lot.’
‘I didn’t mean—’ said Octavia, and stopped. It was far
too complicated to explain.
‘You send him my best regards, too.’
‘Yes, I will. And Mary, is she all right?’
‘She’s very all right. We’ve got another little varmint on
the way.’
‘How lovely! Congratulations. Well — lovely to see you,
Nicholas.’
‘And you too, Octavia.’
She went to find Gabriel, hoping he was in a better
temper.
If Felix Miller had been present at that interview, he would
have been more than a little troubled by it. God, on the
other hand, of course, would not…
Hugh Shepherd leaned back in the rather luxurious leather
chair that was one of the perks of his job with the Planning
Inspectorate and called Michael Carlton on his direct line.
He smiled out of the window as he waited for a reply; it
was very good to be able to impart welcome news. And this
was welcome news: with a lot of noughts attached to it.
‘It was so wise of you not to take this to a full public
inquiry, Mike,’ he said. ‘Always a temptation, but it wastes
so much time. Anyway, a little bird told me this morning
that the news is very positive. Very positive indeed. Can’t
say more than that, of course, but — well, of course it should
never have been turned down by the LPA in the first place.’
‘Really? I’m delighted.’
‘Yes. I mean, John Whitlam’s report was pretty watertight.
And genuine, nothing remotely dodgy about it.
Straight as a die, our John. Can be tiresome in his own way,
but a useful name to have at the bottom of a report.’
‘Marvellous.’
‘Sure. Now there’s just one thing. I had a call from the
DOE this morning. Some fool of a woman is trying to get
the house listed. Now if she succeeds — which I’m pretty
sure she won’t—’
‘Jesus, Hugh. That would really put the kybosh on it. I
can’t build this place with the house standing there.’
‘No, of course not. But it won’t happen. That house was
built in the ‘twenties. God, Mike, you can hardly get
Georgian houses listed these days.’
‘I know that. But that house is rather extraordinary. The
DOE might think it worth saving.’
‘They won’t. Anyway, the man from the DOE is going
to have a look at it next week. Quickly, as a personal favour
to me. But I am confident they won’t list it. And that is
their last card. There’s nothing else they can do. They don’t
have a leg to stand on. So I reckon by — well, let’s say, by
next March, you can lay your foundation stone. And Bartles
Wood will be history.’
‘Good God,’ said Tom. He stared at Nico. ‘That is
appalling.’
‘Isn’t it? He’s clearly going to make a bid. Portia’s won’t
be the only shares he’s after. They’ve been creeping up in
value for days now. I didn’t think too much about it.’
‘And are you absolutely confident this consortium had
Miller behind it?’
‘Oh, yes. He’s not making any real effort to hide the fact.
The London Wall Bank is one of the biggest components of
the consortium’s backers. Portia’s advisers did a bit of
homework, being intrigued by the rather high offer.’
‘Which was?’
‘Two pounds eighty-five.’
‘God. He really wants them.’
‘Yup. It seems he’s ferreting around, seeing just how
many he can find.’
‘And how many has she got?’
‘Oh, five per cent. Helped with the tax at the time, of
course, and I was younger and less wise. Accountants always
advise giving shares to wives. My solicitor said I’d regret it if
things went wrong, but I didn’t listen to him. He was right.
Shrewd as well as shrewish, my ex-wife. As is now proven.
She’s very excited about it. Going to make a packet.’
‘Well, he’ll have to declare his intentions soon. On the
takeover, I mean. If he’s got any substantial holding
together. Stock Exchange regulations. But—’ He stopped.
‘Yes?’
‘Oh — I was going to ask a really crass question. Of course
we know why he wants the company.’
‘Marianne?’
‘Well - yes. But rather more, I’d say because you’ve
helped me.’
‘What? Oh, now, Tom, that can’t be right. Is he really
that - tortured?’
‘I’m afraid,’ said Tom, ‘Felix Miller can be a lot more
tortured than that.’
‘You look very nice,’ said Octavia.
‘Well, that’s all right, then. Nothing else matters, does it?’
‘Gabriel, please! Please try to enjoy this.’
They were driving to the lunch party with the Richardsons;
to their plantation house in the heart of the island.
Gabriel felt wretched. He had got burned on the boat the
day before, despite thick haze, wearing a T-shirt in the
water and Octavia’s factor 10 suncream. He had also drunk
too much beer, in an attempt to improve his mood — very
black after the shopping trip — and had spent the afternoon
asleep on deck, waking to another filthy headache.
The trip itself had been fun; the catamaran she had
chartered had seemed to fly through the intensely blue
water and he and Octavia had lain on the nets between the
two prows and managed to become friends again. The
snorkelling had been spectacular. She had produced an
underwater camera and he had taken endless pictures of the
electric-blue and yellow striped and spotted fish; and he had
enjoyed swimming with the turtles, sweet, gentle creatures
who took little fish from his hand. But it was hot: very hot,
and there was a new heavy humidity in the air that added to
his misery.
He had arrived home feeling terrible, had hoped she
might say there was no need to go and meet Fergus and the
blonde; but all she did was hurtle into a shower as soon as
they got back and call to him from it to hurry and use one
of the others.
He had pulled on the grey flannels — more scratchy by
the day over his sore legs — and then the Ralph Lauren shirt.
‘You look really nice in that,’ she said.
‘Don’t sound so surprised.’
‘I’m not. I just thought you’d like to know.’
‘Not specially,’ he said, tying up the laces of his old
plimsolls.
‘Gabriel, are you going to wear those?’
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘yes, I am.’
He had half hoped she’d say he couldn’t, just so that he
could refuse to go; but she hesitated, and then said, ‘Come
on, then, let’s go.’
It had been a long, lurchy drive in the car; Cobblers
Cove, pink and excessive, offered him no comfort. Fergus
and the blonde were waiting on the terrace by the sea; a lot
of kissing went on.
‘Having a good time?’ Fergus had said to him.
‘Yes, great, thanks,’ he had said, ‘but could we sit under