Wicked Pleasures (64 page)

‘Doesn’t he look wonderful, I could quite fancy him,’ whispered Melissa hoarsely to Max. Her remark caught a silence as they all sat down again, and everyone laughed.

‘Thank you, Melissa,’ said Alexander, ‘may I say the compliment is absolutely reciprocated. Thank you all. Thank you for coming. It has been the most wonderful evening.’

‘It’s only just begun,’ said Georgina, who had slipped over to the light switch and dimmed the chandelier. ‘Mrs Tallow, we’re ready.’

Mrs Tallow and Nanny came into the room together, bearing, on a silver tray, a vast cake or rather two, in the shape of a five and a zero, each loaded with candles; they all sang ‘Happy Birthday’, and then: ‘Come on, Daddy, blow,’ said Charlotte, and he stood again, laughing, and bent and blew hard at the cake and all the candles went out, and everyone clapped. Then Baby stood up, holding up his hands.

‘I would like to say a few words now. About our great admiration for you, Alexander, for the role you have played as master of Hartest and head of your family, the charm and grace you have brought to it, and the courage too, in recent years. I know that all your children particularly, and mine too, feel a great affection and warmth for you. I don’t think it will cast too much of a shadow to say that I am sure that somewhere, somehow, Virginia is with us this evening. If only in our thoughts and our memories.’

There was a slightly tense silence; then Baby raised his glass again, and said, ‘Alexander. Our Love.’

‘And now, Daddy,’ said Georgina, when the clapping had died away, ‘Kendrick and I have a very special present for you. You may have noticed there was nothing from us.’

‘I didn’t,’ said Alexander. ‘So ungracious an observation could not have crossed my mind.’

‘Well anyway. Nanny, Mrs Tallow, could you hold the door open for us please? And Tallow, could you maybe help us carry the present in?’ She and Kendrick went out of the room. There was a long silence. Nobody spoke. Then slowly, carefully, they came in again, bearing their gift. Alexander, expecting he knew not what, saw as if in a dream, materializing out of the soft darkness, his house coming towards him, magically smaller, but exquisitely and perfectly beautiful, the grey stone, the great windows, the curving steps, the Palladian pillars, the huge front door; he held out his arms to it, as if to a friend or a lover, his face solemn, intense with delight.

‘Oh my dears,’ he said, ‘my dears. How very very wonderful.’ And then he was silent and his blue eyes filled with tears, sparkling in the candlelight. There was a great stillness in the room; nobody moved as he stood, gazing at it, his eyes moving over it, drinking it in.

‘We made it,’ said Georgina, finally, ‘Kendrick and I, we knew you’d like it more than anything. It comes to you with our best love.’ And she leant forward and kissed Alexander’s cheek, and then with Kendrick set the model carefully on the floor.

Alexander sat down, brushing the tears from his eyes. ‘You did know, my darling, you did indeed,’ he said. ‘Thank you. Thank you, Kendrick. How hard you must have worked. Oh, I don’t deserve so beautiful a present.’

‘Yes you do,’ said Charlotte, bringing the room briskly back from its slightly strained emotionalism, ‘that’s what birthdays are for, for getting what you deserve. Now you’re not allowed to sit and play with it, because we want you to open all your other presents in the Rotunda. Not that they can compete with that, but they certainly deserve looking at.’

They all stood up; Alexander led the party out of the dining room, his arms round Georgina’s and Kendrick’s shoulders. Angie and Baby followed, holding hands, and then the rest of the table.

‘Let’s dance,’ said Kendrick, and held out his hand to Georgina. ‘I wanted to tell you how beautiful you look. That dress is sensational.’

‘Oh Kendrick, you are silly. With competition like Angie and Melissa, I look like one of the ugly sisters.’ She glanced anxiously at her reflection in the tall window; she was wearing a long, slithery, white crepe dress, cut on the bias: ‘Very Ginger Rogers,’ Melissa had said when she first saw it.

‘Georgina, I can only presume you’re fishing for compliments. I never heard such nonsense. You are twice as pretty as either of them. They’re like – like flashy little orchids, and you are a very cool, aristocratic lily.’

‘Well, thank you,’ said Georgina, smiling just a trifle too quickly, ‘you look pretty good yourself, Kendrick, if I might say so. That is a tremendous outfit.’

‘Thank you,’ said Kendrick modestly. He was not wearing a dinner jacket like all the other men, but white tie and tails, the tailcoat vintage 30s, his shoes patent Fred-Astaire-style lace-ups; he had arrived complete with cloak and top hat. ‘I got it in the Village last winter.’

‘Why do you think you like clothes so much?’

‘I like all visually pleasing things. Houses. Paintings. Clothes. You,’ he added, smiling into her eyes. ‘Georgina, please relax. I don’t know what’s happened to you lately. Don’t you like me any more?’

‘Oh Kendrick,’ she said, her eyes filling with easy tears, ‘I do like you, of course I do.’

‘And now you’re crying again. God, you’re a nightmare. What’s the matter now?’

‘I’m not sure. I feel odd. Very emotional. I expect it’s the occasion.’

‘Well, that’s allowed. You can be emotional. As long as it’s friendly emotion. Friendly to me, that is. My God, look at Angie, she certainly is coming on strong at that extremely tall neighbour of yours. She surely can’t fancy him?’

‘Angie could fancy anyone, I should think,’ said Georgina, slightly sombre, ‘but actually I can see it. Martin is so mysterious-looking, so sort of tortured and – well, romantic I suppose. He looks as if he has some deep dark secret that he’ll never reveal to anyone.’

‘Well if anyone can get it out of him, Angie will,’ said Kendrick. ‘Now do be careful, Georgina, you looked quite normal and cheerful for a minute then.’

She was dancing with Alexander when Angie, walking just a little unsteadily, came towards them, holding out both her hands.

‘This has been a lovely party,’ she said. ‘Thank you for asking me. I feel part of the family already.’

‘You are part of the family,’ said Alexander. He was clearly very taken with her. Georgina found it irritating, a piece of grit in the honeyed mixture of her evening.

‘No I’m not,’ said Angie, ‘not nearly. Not Mrs Praeger yet, not by a long shot.’

‘Maybe not. But I’ve always thought of you as family,’ said Alexander. ‘Virginia counted you as one of her very closest friends. I haven’t forgotten your kindness to her. So – welcome back.’ Georgina stared at him. He was not usually so forthcoming; in recent years he had been almost pathologically shy. Maybe because Angie was part of so much the distant past he found her reassuring. ‘May I perhaps have the pleasure of this dance?’ he said. ‘Georgina darling, do you mind?’

‘Of course not,’ said Georgina, feeling more embarrassed than ever. She looked around wildly for something else to concentrate on and caught sight of Mrs Wicks, who was jiving very energetically with Kendrick, her jewel-encrusted skirts flying. ‘Your grandmother is having a wonderful time, Angie,’ she said.

‘Yes she is,’ said Angie, smiling at her sweetly. ‘It was so kind of you all to invite her.’

Alexander took her into his arms and started moving very slowly to the music; Georgina watched them, slightly awkwardly, as Angie pressed her body against his, rested her head on his chest. She was clearly very drunk.

When she saw Angie pull her father’s head down towards her, whisper something in his ear, Georgina turned away.

She moved over to one of the windows, and stood looking out at the park. ‘There’s a car coming down the Great Drive,’ she said suddenly. ‘I wonder who on earth it can be, calling at one in the morning.’

‘Oh, could be anyone,’ said Baby, going to join her.

‘Let me see.’ Max looked out at the approaching lights; he was very pale. ‘Are you expecting someone, Max?’ asked Angie. She was looking at him very curiously.

‘No. No, I don’t think so.’

The car pulled up at the bottom of the steps; a very large white Daimler. A man got out, looked up at the house. ‘Oh Christ,’ said Max.

‘What is it?’ said Alexander. ‘What on earth is the matter, Max? Here, let me go out.’

He opened the door, looked down the steps at the car. Georgina and Kendrick followed him.

The man was very tall and heavily built, wearing a greatcoat over denims, and cowboy boots; he gazed up at Alexander for a moment, then grinned and walked slowly up towards him. As he reached the top of the steps, he held out his hand.

‘Lord Caterham?’

‘Yes. How can I help you? Do come in.’

‘Thanks.’ He moved into the house; Georgina stood aside, staring at him; she felt extremely frightened and she wasn’t sure why. She felt for Kendrick’s hand; he gripped hers, held it tightly, aware of her fear while not understanding it. The man had an American accent; as he stepped into the house, they could see that he was tanned, that his eyes were startlingly blue, his wide and careful smile showing oddly perfect white teeth; and that he was overweight, that the blond hair was greying, that the boots were scuffed and down at heel.

‘Hi,’ he said, ‘I see you have a party going. I’m sorry to disturb you. Soames-Maxwell is the name, Tommy Soames-Maxwell.’

‘Yes?’ said Alexander again, politely puzzled.

‘Is Max here? Oh, hi Max, there you are. Nice to see you again. I promised you I’d look you up and I have.’

‘You know Max then?’ said Alexander.

‘Oh sure, I know Max. Intimately, you could almost say. Chip off the old block, Max is. As you would say over here. Aren’t you, Max?’

Max was silent. His face was greenish, sweating slightly.

‘I’m afraid I don’t understand,’ said Alexander. He sounded slightly less polite.

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Soames-Maxwell smiled at him again. ‘Of course not. Let me put you into the picture a little. I – knew your wife, Lord Caterham. Extremely well. I was so sorry to read that she had died.’

‘Thank you,’ said Alexander. Georgina noticed that he was clenching his fists, that the bones of his jaw were taut.

‘Did she ever mention me?’

‘No,’ said Alexander firmly, ‘no, I don’t believe she ever did.’

‘Well, I’ll put you in the picture a little some time. It’s Max I’ve really come to see.’

He looked over at Max and smiled again.

‘He’s a very fine young man, isn’t he, Lord Caterham? A son to be proud of, wouldn’t you say?’

Georgina, 1984

Georgina had not realized quite how miserable it all made her until she sat in the library with Charlotte and Baby next day, listening to Charlotte’s clear, precise voice as she told him who Tommy Soames-Maxwell was. Charlotte had insisted on talking to Baby about their parentage; she said they needed grownup help. Thinking of Max’s defiant, almost angry face the night before, of Alexander’s, grey with shock, and his retreat into his own, withdrawn world that morning, and of Tommy Soames-Maxwell’s horribly relaxed, over-confident entry into their lives, Georgina had agreed. She hated the thought of telling anyone, even Baby, but Charlotte was right: they couldn’t manage on their own. ‘That man is dangerous,’ Charlotte had said, ‘he could resort to blackmail, anything. I may have to talk to Charles as well.’

Baby was clearly as upset as they had been. He downed three large bourbons very quickly and then sat staring at Charlotte when she had finished with an expression of dreadful sadness on his face.

‘I just don’t get it,’ he said, over and over again, ‘I just don’t get it.’

‘Nor do we,’ said Georgina quietly. She heard her voice wobble.

‘And your father won’t talk about it?’

‘Not beyond that very first day. He just acts like nothing had happened, like we didn’t know.’

Baby was silent, and then he sighed very heavily. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I don’t know what to think, but I do know that your mother was a very special person and in no way some kind of scheming adulteress. There has to be an explanation, we just have to find it.’

‘Yes, well, maybe,’ said Charlotte. She sounded faintly impatient. ‘Meanwhile, Uncle Baby, will you talk to this Soames-Maxwell for us? We’re frightened of what he might do.’

‘Well –’ He looked wary. Then he said, ‘Yes, darling, of course I will. I don’t know how much good it will do, but I’ll try. One thing’s for sure. There’s no great rush; he’s not going to go away. Not now he’s found us.’

Georgina felt tears beginning to well into her eyes again; she brushed them impatiently away. Baby looked at her and opened his arms; she crawled into them as if she had been ten, rather than twenty.

‘Don’t worry, darling,’ he said, and his voice was gentle and almost cheerful, ‘don’t worry. We’ll sort it out. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.’

Georgina wished she could believe him.

‘This feels all wrong,’ said Georgina. She was lying in her rather large bed, Kendrick’s head on her naked breasts. ‘I heard your dad saying to mine last night that we were like brother and sister.’

‘It feels great to me,’ said Kendrick. ‘If this is incest, let’s go with it.’

‘Well, I suppose we are only cousins. I think that’s just about legal.’

‘I’m sure it is. You’ve got family relationships on the brain.’

‘So would you have.’ She sighed.

‘I guess so.’

She had told him. He had found her late that afternoon, sitting, fretful and tear-stained, on the back terrace; Max had whisked Tommy up to the Eaton Place house very early that morning, Charlotte was riding with Alexander, who was consumed with a terrible restlessness, and Angie and Baby had gone. The house was empty.

‘Georgina,’ he had said, his voice tenderly amused, ‘you’re crying again! Whatever is it?’ and she had stood up and said, ‘Oh Kendrick, you don’t know, you just don’t know,’ and he had held out his arms to her, and she had taken his hand and walked him round the lake, and told him, and very soon after that they had fallen, relievedly, frantically, half awed, half amused, into bed. The sudden flare of sexual desire between her and Kendrick (born of her heightened emotional state, his kindness and concern for her, the extraordinary situation they were all thrown into), the discovery that they were actually more than just loving friends, the intensely urgent, desperate need to consummate their relationship, and then the delicious discovery that sexually they were quite extraordinarily compatible, greedy, uninhibited, sensual, imaginative – all these things had driven, briefly, her misery and anxiety from her mind.