A Rage to Live (34 page)

‘You always do, Carlos, always have.’

He rose from his chair and went to Cressida. He raised her hands
and kissed them, and then placed a kiss on her lips. There was much more to those kisses. They were a couple of some sort and Edward didn’t like it one bit. Romi was sitting next to him. She tensed. Her eyes gave her away. There was a fire in them that had nothing to do with love and more to do with jealousy. Edward was aware of her dislike of Cressida and Carlos as a couple. It matched his.

At midnight the two couples were standing outside the New Cobham Inn. Cressida kissed Edward briefly on the lips. ‘Tell them at Hollihocks I’ll be back. Maybe this is best. It will give us both space to think.’ Carlos saw that Cressida was seated next to him in the front seat. Romi and Edward shook hands. ‘Thank you for an interesting evening,’ she said. Then, after kissing him on the cheek, she whispered, ‘I’m a woman who always gets what she wants. Don’t worry, he’s mine. The past is dead, only they don’t know it yet.’

Edward could not help but smile to himself. The smile did not mean he wasn’t concerned that he had actually sent her off with one man to meet another. Two ex-lovers, he hoped.

Fifteen days later the Sheriff of New Cobham County received a telex from Mogadishu: ‘She has made her choice. If I were you I would be at the local airport with a bunch of flowers, very expensive flowers, roses. Arrival eleven o’clock local time Sunday morning. Carlos Marias Arriva.’

The twelve-seater Lear jet landed at Charles de Gaulle airport just long enough for Sami Chow to disembark. Cressida and Sami stood together at the open door. They looked out into the dark. It was pouring with rain. They were on a landing strip remote from the lights of the terminal glaring brightly in the distance. One moment they were standing opposite each other, the next they were in each other’s arms. They kissed, Sami caressed Cressida’s shoulders, her breasts. And then they reluctantly let each other go. ‘Thanks for all the years, Cressida. For these last fifteen days with Carlos. He will marry Romi, you know that?’

‘And you, Sami?’

‘The long suffering mistress in Hong Kong. I have always loved her, you know, but never as much as you. Now you are not there for me.’

‘No. I’ve gone home.’

They kissed again. But this time it was a kiss of farewell. Cressida watched Sami walk away from her until he was no more than a dot on the horizon and then he vanished into the dark and the rain.

‘Now,’ she told the steward. ‘You can close the door.’

The pilot had never cut the jet’s engines. He revved them up and the Lear rushed down the rainswept runway and shot up at a steep angle into the air.

Cressida slept most of the way. In Boston, after they cleared customs, she left the jet and its crew to climb aboard the same small plane she had taken on her first return to New Cobham only weeks before. They flew low over the cape, as low as was allowed. It looked wonderful to her. The sun was bright, the ocean sparkled. This time when they landed she would go straight home to Hollihocks. This time it would be she who would seek out the sheriff, surprise him with her return.

The wheels touched down and bumped along on the grass and finally came to a halt. The only passenger, she took her time before she stepped from the plane on to the grass. She was shaking hands with the pilot when she saw Edward walking across the field to her. His arms were filled with long-stemmed white roses. Her surprise at seeing him there, the flowers, filled her with immeasurable joy. She placed her hands on her temples and pushed her golden blonde hair back off her face. Looking up at the sky, she began to laugh. She was still smiling when he reached her and they gazed into each other’s eyes.

‘Hello,’ he said.

‘Hello,’ she answered. ‘
How
did you know? You are the most clever man. How did you know?’

‘Not all that clever. Carlos.’

‘Ah.’

‘Is it true? Have you chosen?’

‘For the last time.’

‘Then welcome home.’

Edward handed the roses to the pilot and took Cressida in his arms.