Meet Me Under The Ombu Tree (44 page)

‘When do they have their foals?’ Sofia was trying to ask sensible questions; it all sounded rather more complicated than she had expected. She was glad Rattie knew what he was doing.

‘From February to mid-April. Now that’s a magical time. You really see nature working right in front of your eyes.’ He sighed. ‘Right in front of your very eyes. Ten days after the foal is born and healthy, both foal and mare go back to the stallion.’

‘How long do they stay there for?’

‘Anything up to three months. Then once she’s back in foal again we bring them home.’

‘When do we sell them?’ she asked, filling up the kettle and putting it back on the Aga.

‘This takes a lot of learning, doesn’t it?’ he chuckled, noticing that she was growing tired of the details. ‘A far cry from your life on the - what do you call it?
Pampa?’

‘The
pampa
, Rattie. You’re right, though - I never did anything like this,’ she added humbly, opening the jar of coffee granules.

‘Well, if you love horses like you do, you’ll soon learn,’ he said kindly. ‘Now in July, there’s a lot of work getting the yearlings ready for the sales. You’ll enjoy that time. Walking them out every day, teaching them how to wear a bridle, that sort of thing. Then the people who run the sales will come and inspect our yearlings to see if they’re suitable for the top sales. The sales take place in October in Newmarket. Now that will be interesting for you. I think you’ll enjoy that,’ he said, handing her his empty cup to refill. ‘I’ll teach you everything I know, but you can’t learn sitting here at a kitchen table. The learning’s in the doing, that’s what my father always used to say. “Enough talk, more do,” he said. So, I’ll stop talking now and we’ll do. Is that all right with you, young lady?’ he asked as she handed him back his cup, now full of thick black coffee, just the way he liked it. ‘Lovely,’ he said, taking it from her.

‘I think that’s just fine, Rattie.’ Sofia didn’t care so much for the details; as long as she was working with horses she felt at home.

The summer passed quickly. Sofia had made it to London only once. Maggie and Anton were furious with her at first and it had taken a lot of flattery to coax them out of their sulk. She had stayed only for an hour, as she was anxious to get back to her horses. They were grateful for her visit, but felt her slipping away and that saddened them.

By September David had begun to spend more time down in the country. He created another office in the study and hired a secretary to work part-time there. Suddenly his home had come alive again, vibrating with the voices of people and animals. But if David was honest with himself he had fallen hopelessly in love with Sofia and could hardly bear to be away from her. That was the reason he had hired her. He hadn’t cared what she cost; he’d have paid any figure she’d asked. Employing her was the only way he could see her without courting her - and he was realistic enough to know that by confessing his

feelings he’d only scare her away. As it was, twelve pounds a week and free board in the cottage was nothing compared to what he wanted to give her, which was a new name and everything he owned.

Sofia was delighted that David had decided to spend more time at Lowsley. He brought the dogs with him, Sam and Quid, who followed Sofia around all day, their adorable clown’s eyes smiling at her lovingly. They spent long evenings walking in the garden talking, watching the long summer shadows shorten into autumn until the days began to recede and the nights close in. David noticed that she never talked about her home and he didn’t ask. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t curious; he wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to kiss away the troubles that he could feel simmering beneath her smile. In fact, he wanted to kiss her every time he saw her and yet he didn’t want to frighten her off. He didn’t want to lose her. He hadn’t been this happy in a long time. So he never tried. Then just when Sofia was succeeding in forgetting about her past someone arrived at Lowsley to remind her of it.

David hadn’t had a house-party weekend since the summer. He had been happy to be alone with Sofia, but Zaza had suggested she might be longing to meet people her own age. ‘She is a very attractive young woman. Some man will snap her up before you know it. You simply can’t hide her away,’ she had said, without realizing how much her words had hurt him.

David watched Sofia as she rushed about the estate and thought how happy she looked. Hardly the expression of someone aching to meet other young people. She seemed content with the horses. But Zaza had insisted, dismissing him with the words, ‘It takes a woman to understand a woman.’ After all, he was more or less twenty years her senior, hardly the right company for a girl of her age.

When Zaza and Tony introduced him to Gonzalo Segundo, a swarthy, unusually tall Argentine polo-playing friend of their son, Eddie, David took the hint and invited them all for the weekend. He hadn’t anticipated Sofia’s reaction.

‘Sofia Solanas!’ exclaimed Gonzalo, when they were introduced. ‘Are you any relation to Rafa Solanas?’ he asked in Spanish. Sofia was stunned. She hadn’t spoken Spanish for a long time.

‘He’s my brother,’ she replied hoarsely. Then took a step back as the sound of her own voice speaking her mother tongue brought all those suppressed memories clattering about her head like a falling pack of cards. She went pale

before running out of the room in tears.

‘Was it something I said?’ asked Gonzalo, perplexed.

It wasn’t long before David knocked on her door.

‘Sofia, are you all right?’ he said softly, knocking again. She opened the door. David walked in followed by Sam and Quid who sniffed anxiously at her ankles. Her face was wet from crying and her eyes were bloodshot and furious.

‘How could you!’ she shouted. ‘How could you invite him down here without asking me!’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sofia. Calm down,’ he said firmly, trying to place a hand on her arm. She swiftly withdrew it.

‘I will not calm down,’ she retorted angrily. David closed the door behind them; he didn’t want Zaza listening to this. ‘He knows my family! He’ll go back and tell them about me,’ she sobbed.

‘Does that matter?’

‘Yes! Yes, it does matter!’ she snapped and walked over to the bed. They both sat down. ‘It matters very much to me,’ she added quietly, blinking away the tears.

‘Sofia, I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me. You can’t expect me to know if you don’t tell me. I thought you’d like to meet someone from your country.’

‘Oh David.’ She gulped and threw herself against his chest. Slowly he put his arm around her. She didn’t flinch or push him away so he sat there and held her. ‘I left Argentina three years ago because I had an affair with someone my parents disapproved of. I haven’t been back since.’

‘You haven’t been back?’ he repeated, not knowing quite what to say.

‘I fought with them. I hate them. I haven’t spoken to anyone in my family since then.’

‘You poor old girl,’ he said and found himself running a hand down her hair. He was too afraid to move in case the moment was ruined.

‘I love them and despise them. I miss them, try to forget them. But I can’t, I just can’t. Being here at Lowsley has helped me to forget. I’ve been so happy here. And now this!’

David was mystified when she began to cry again. This time violent sobs vibrated out from deep within her being. He held her close and tried to comfort her. He had never seen anyone as miserable as Sofia was at that moment. She was crying so hard she could scarcely breathe. David panicked, he wasn’t very

good at this sort of thing and thought that perhaps a woman would be better equipped. But when he got up to fetch Zaza, Sofia held onto his jersey and begged him to stay.

There’s more, David. Please don’t go. I want you to know everything,’ she pleaded. Then she sheepishly told him about Santi’s betrayal and about Santiguito, omitting that Santi was her first cousin. ‘I gave my baby away,’ she whispered hopelessly and looked at him steadily. Falling into her stricken eyes he felt her pain. He wanted to tell her he’d give her children, as many as she wanted. He’d love her enough to match the love of her entire family. But he didn’t know how to tell her. He pulled her into his arms and they sat in silence. In that tender moment David felt he loved her more than he thought it was possible to love anyone. When he was with Sofia, he realized how lonely he had been. He knew he could make her happy.

Sofia felt strangely better for having shared her secret with him, even if she had only told him half the story, and lifting her head up she looked at him through different eyes. When their mouths found each other neither one was surprised. In those few minutes Sofia had trusted him more than she had trusted anyone else except Santi. When David held her against him she forgot the rest of the world, and all that existed was Lowsley and the refuge she had built there.

When David and Sofia returned to the drawing room everyone pretended that nothing had happened. Sofia thought how very British that was. Where she came from, everyone would be falling over each other to ask questions. Gonzalo and Eddie had obviously been told by Zaza not to add to her distress by mentioning it so they simply grinned at her and asked her about the horses.

Zaza lit a cigarette and sat back on the sofa, her narrowed eyes sliding from David to Sofia with suspicion. David has a bounce in his step which he is trying very hard to disguise, she thought to herself, exhaling smoke in a thin line out of the corner of her mouth. She watched Sofia. And her eyelashes are still wet from her tears, but her cheeks are glowing with an excitement she can barely suppress. Something is definitely going on here . ..

Gonzalo found Sofia irresistible on two accounts, she was tragic and beautiful. He had heard something of her in Argentina. Buenos Aires was a small town and a scandal like hers would have been impossible to keep secret. He tried to recall what it had been about. Hadn’t she had an affair with one of her brothers and been banished to Europe? No wonder she didn’t want to be recognized - the shame of it. But still, he thought, watching her wide smile and quivering lips, I could forgive her anything.

‘Sofia, will you take me out on horseback?’ he asked her in Spanish. She smiled weakly, her eyes darting quickly to David who raised an eyebrow. Now she had declared herself to David she didn’t want to be separated from him, even for a minute.

‘Gonzalo wants me to go riding with him,’ she said, hoping that someone would suggest a better plan.

‘Good idea,’ said Tony, chewing on his cigar. ‘Eddie, why don’t you go with them?’

‘Yes, darling, do. The fresh air will do you good,’ said Zaza, longing to be alone so she could interrogate David. Eddie, who slouched lazily in the armchair by the fire, had no intention of going out in the cold. It was a horrid drizzly day, and anyway it was obvious that Gonzalo fancied Sofia. He didn’t want to get in his way.

‘No, thanks. You both go together,’ he said, his fingers delving into the box of fudge that sat temptingly on the table.

‘Darling, you can’t stay in all morning, you should work up an appetite for

Mrs Berniston’s lunch.’

‘Well, you and Dad are staying in,’ he retorted, digging his bottom further into the armchair. Zaza pursed her lips in frustration. Her interrogation would just have to wait.

David watched Sofia leave the room with Gonzalo and stifled a pang of jealousy. Although he knew Sofia went reluctantly, he couldn’t tolerate the thought of her out there on those hills with a man from her homeland. A young, handsome man who spoke her language, understood her culture and related to her in a way that he would never be able to. When she had gone the room felt colder.

‘What a genius you are, darling,’ said Zaza, watching David carefully.

‘How so?’ he asked, trying to inject a humorous tone into his voice that he knew sounded flat.

‘To agree to invite Gonzalo.’

‘Why is that particularly clever of me?’

‘Because they make such a delightful couple. Gonzalo and Sofia!’ she laughed, then clamped the ebony cigarette-holder between her red lips and scrutinized his expression. He gave nothing away.

‘Zaza, darling, there’s no place for Cupid this weekend. The bloody man sent her up to her room in tears. Hardly the most romantic way to win a woman’s heart,’ interjected Tony.

‘What was all that about?’ asked Eddie, delighted that his father had opened the subject. They all looked at David. He sat on the fireguard and stoked the logs with an iron poker.

‘She misses her home, that’s all,’ he replied cagily.

‘Oh,’ said Eddie, disappointed. Tony nodded sympathetically.

‘Was that all?’ persisted Zaza. ‘What was it you said to her that put the smile back on her face?’

‘Oh, I didn’t put it back, she did. Once she’d got over the shock of it she talked to me about her home and then felt better,’ he said unconvincingly, and winced. Zaza would see straight through that hopeless lie.

‘I see. Well, she and Gonzalo will be able to get to know each other a little without us oldies watching their every move. Young people,’ she sighed. ‘Oh, to be young again.’

David’s spirits sank. He was over twenty years older than Sofia. What had he been thinking of? Zaza was right, Gonzalo made a better match for her than he