Scorpion Sunset (16 page)

‘I didn't expect that advice from you.'

She laughed.

‘What's funny?'

‘Us. Me marrying a Welsh miner, Harry a Bedouin girl, and now you falling in love with an Arab slave girl. Our poor parents. They put such store by what the county thinks. Can you imagine the sensation you'd create if you turned up at mother's next garden party with Kalla.'

‘They'd approve of David Knight,' Michael commented.

‘They probably would.'

‘Is he serious?'

‘About what?'

Irritated by her evasion, he snapped, ‘You, Georgie.'

‘Good Lord, no. David and I have fun together. Nothing more. Besides, David's far too good-looking for any woman, especially me with my plain face, to take seriously. He's like the flashy impractical gown you long to buy even though you know it's going to disintegrate the first time you wash it.' She went to the window and looked down at the wharf.

‘Do you love him?' Michael asked.

She turned to face him. ‘No, but I do love my post at the Lansing because it means I can stay close to you. I can't bear the thought of losing you. Not after Harry …'

‘It's not as though you're in the same situation Clary was,' he broke in. ‘I could understand her refusing to marry Tom until he was sent home sick, because it would have meant her having to give up nursing, and she was doing important work in the Basra Hospital. But the Lansing's a charity. They're not even paying you. They're so desperate for doctors they would keep you on, Georgie, whether you were married or not.'

‘I know.'

‘Then why not marry David?' he asked.

‘One, David hasn't asked. Two, Gwilym may be dead but his death hasn't stopped me from loving him and you can't simply replace one husband with another. Then there's the future – when I dare think about it. I married one man who went off to war and never returned. Gwilym promised me he'd be safe behind the lines as a stretcher-bearer. David's a doctor with field experience. If he went upstream and was killed I …' She turned back to the window.

‘Would it be easier if David was killed and you weren't married, sis?'

‘Probably not,' she admitted. ‘I can't bear the thought of losing anyone else I know and love as a friend.'

‘What did you just say to me? “If you love her you should take her with you.” That applies to you too. If you love David you should marry him.'

‘I told you, he hasn't and won't ask me to. Are you expecting Charles?'

‘Is that your way of changing the subject?'

‘No, Charles just walked in downstairs.'

‘That's his stick hitting the stairs.' Michael went to the door and opened it.

Charles hobbled into the room. ‘Georgie, I didn't expect to see you here.'

‘If you want to talk men's rubbish, I'll clear off.'

‘No, please. Not on my account.' Charles removed his hat and dropped it and his swagger stick on a side table before lowering himself on the divan. ‘I heard you're going upstream soon.'

‘I am,' Michael confirmed.

‘Any news of Maud?'

‘None. Abdul and Daoud have had men out scouring the wharf and Basra. It's as if she's stepped off the earth.'

‘Not into the Shatt al-Arab, I hope.' Charles fell serious.

‘Daoud checks the bodies with the civil authorities every morning. A female of Maud's age and colouring would attract instant attention and there haven't been any answering her description.'

‘I ran into Angela in the stores yesterday morning, She seems to be coping with looking after Maud's child,' Charles took the glass of whisky Michael poured for him.

‘I think she secretly loves having a baby to care for.' Georgie nodded when Michael offered her a glass as well. ‘But Peter isn't too keen. Like all men he wants his own children and he's probably wondering how Angela will cope with two babies.'

‘Angela's going to have a baby?' Michael asked.

‘Not that she's confided in me,' Georgie glanced at Charles. ‘When are you going upstream?'

‘When HQ decides I should go.'

‘Peter?'

‘I shouldn't be telling you this but he was given two days leave this morning. He went back to his bungalow so I assume he's giving Angela the news now.'

‘So the push is coming and Peter will be going in three days?' Georgiana sipped her whisky.

‘Peter will be leaving in three days,' Charles confirmed, ‘the push to Baghdad will only happen when the new command believes we're ready.'

‘New command?' Michael picked up a pen.

‘General Maude's been put in overall command.'

Michael scribbled the name.

‘Before you go rooting around the Basra Club and the bars, I can tell you now, the men like him. He's aggressive, a brilliant tactician, and controls every detail of his command. He never takes unwarranted risks, and performed miracles with the 13
^th
Division after the Dardanelles fiasco. It was shot to pieces but within six months he'd transformed it into a fighting force second to none.'

‘You think he'll take Baghdad?' Michael asked.

‘In his own good time, and only when he's ready,' Charles qualified. ‘He won't advance until he's confident of success.'

‘Will David be going upstream?' Georgiana asked.

‘To quote the senior MO, “Knight will be invaluable to the medical service because he has experience of conducting surgery on trestles.”'

‘Then he'll be leaving on the same boat as Peter?'

‘Ask David that question,' Charles evaded.

‘I don't have to now, Charles.' She set down her glass and went to the door. ‘Time to say a goodbye.'

‘I'll walk you back to the Lansing.' Charles reached for his stick.

‘I walked down here perfectly well on my own. I'm equally capable of walking back among the natives, who are nowhere near as dangerous as British Military would like to have their womenfolk believe.'

‘I'm not offering protection, Georgie, just asking for your company and given the state of my leg the assistance of a doctor should I need it. I have to get back to the office so I'm going in your direction. Dinner tonight in the Basra Club for as many as can make it, my shout? I'll pass the message on to Kitty, Peter, and Angela and book a table.'

‘I'll be there,' Michael agreed.

‘Neither David nor I are on duty so we'll join you.' Georgiana opened the door and strode ahead of Charles.

Basra

July 1916

‘Are you going to tell me why you really called on Michael, Charles?' Georgiana asked after Charles had given in to her demand they hire a carriage for her sake, although he knew she wouldn't have considered doing so if she'd been alone.

‘You heard me talk about the push upstream.'

‘Something Michael would have found out for himself as soon as he went down to the coffee shop.'

‘Dinner tonight …'

‘Was an afterthought and don't try saying it wasn't. Your first question was about Maud.'

‘I'm concerned for her. I recalled what Michael said, about her being upset. Mothers don't abandon their children …'

‘Unless they have nowhere to turn to. Maud's father had thrown her out. From what Michael told me about your visit to the Lansing, Mrs Butler wasn't exactly enthralled at the prospect of having Maud's child dumped on her, which makes me suspect she wouldn't have given Maud house room – or in her case, mission room – if Maud had taken the child to the Lansing herself.'

They were approaching the Basra Club and the turning to the broad avenue that swept up to the European quarter and the Lansing Hospital. The palm-lined boulevard was wide and almost devoid of people at that time of day as the military were working and the locals sleeping away the heat of the afternoon.

‘This is me you're talking to, Charles,' Georgiana added impatiently. ‘We were raised in the same nursery. You may be a major now but I remember you wearing baby dresses and romper suits …'

‘Remind me not to allow you anywhere near my subordinates.'

‘What makes you think I haven't already spoken to them?'

He winked at her. ‘It's good to have people I grew up with to talk to – sometimes – and in moderation.'

‘So out with it,' she pressed. ‘What's the problem, Charlie?'

‘It's years since anyone called me that.'

‘It's years since anyone dared. I'm waiting,' she prompted.

‘It's bad enough that I know what I've done, I couldn't bear to have you think any the less of me.'

‘Does it have something to do with Maud's baby?'

‘How did … what makes you think …'

‘I fed him a bottle of milk when I visited Angela. That child is a miniature replica of you. He has your exact shade of blond hair and the same blue eyes.'

Shocked, he stared at her. ‘Does anyone else suspect?'

‘No one has said anything to me and I haven't said anything to anyone until now,' she reassured. ‘You've turned white. The Basra Club is only five minutes away. We could ask the driver to turn around and have coffee in a private suite so you could lie down.'

‘I could do with a drink. John is my closest friend …'

‘John isn't here. He was divorcing Maud,' she reminded, ‘and I'm guessing whatever went on between you and Maud happened when John wasn't around. After he'd left her?'

‘What happened between Maud and me should never have occurred. I was drunk.'

‘Was she?'

He shook his head. ‘It would be all too easy to say she was, but she wasn't, and to be truthful and at the risk of losing what little good opinion you have of me, neither was she totally willing.'

‘You raped her?'

He remembered all too clearly Maud straddling him after he'd aroused what could only be described as her lust. ‘At first she wasn't willing, then …'

‘Her husband wasn't there and wouldn't be for months, possibly years, and you were.'

‘You understand?'

‘I understand the power of the sexual urge, for all that women aren't supposed to have one. After Gwilym left me in London and went to France I was actually grateful for eighteen-hour shifts because they left me fit for nothing except sleep. Did Maud blame you afterwards?'

‘She explained the pregnancy by telling a medic she'd been raped.'

‘So bloody unfair.'

‘I wish I could …'

‘I didn't mean for Maud and you in particular, I meant for women in general. We're badly designed. Women should be born with switches that have to be operated by a man willing to take moral and financial responsibility for a child before we can get pregnant. There are times in every woman's life when lovemaking is just too damned seductive to turn down.'

‘This whole situation is a mess.'

‘On that I agree. That drink you wanted? I think we'll make it two.'

Chapter Eleven

The desert east of Baghdad

July 1916

The gendarmes hauled a handcart loaded with rags towards the group of naked women and children hunched on the ground. They stopped a few yards away from them and flung out the contents.

‘You wanted clothes,' Mehmet growled. ‘We found a tribe prepared to give you some. Put them on. In five minutes we start walking.'

Mrs Gulbenkian whispered in Hasmik's ear. The child ran to the garments the naked women were already fighting over. She pulled out two long black robes and carried them back to Mrs Gulbenkian. Mrs Gulbenkian handed one to Rebeka.

‘It stinks of goat but beggars can't afford choice.' Mrs Gulbenkian pulled her robe over her head and clambered to her feet. She turned to Rebeka who remained crouched, eyes downcast. ‘Put that robe on and exert yourself, child. If you don't, you'll never find Mariam.'

Rebeka looked up at the older women through dark tormented eyes. ‘You really think I'll see Mariam in this life again?'

‘Those tribesmen took her with them. They wouldn't have bothered if they had no use for her. They would have killed her right away as they did the babies and the older women.'

‘You think they took her to be a servant or …'

‘Don't trouble yourself wondering why they took her,' Mrs Gulbenkian interrupted. ‘It's enough they burdened themselves by carrying Mariam away. The chances are, whatever their reason, they'll feed her. She'll be given more water to drink than we will today, that's for sure.'

‘I hope you're right,' Rebeka said feelingly.

‘Think about it and you'll know I am. Come on, Rebeka, Hasmik,' she softened her voice. ‘Time to toughen the soles of our feet and walk.'

Rebeka looked around. Over a thousand women had left her home town at the beginning of the trek. She counted nineteen women and ten children. ‘There's hardly anyone left.'

‘While one of us still remains upright we have to fight to stay alive.' Mrs Gulbenkian glanced at Hasmik. ‘For the sake of the children and those who are no longer with us. It will be our duty to tell everyone who'll listen, how the Turks forced us from our homes, stole our land and all we had, killed our men and children, raped our women, and drove us like animals into the desert to die of thirst and starvation.'

Rebeka stared ahead into the wasteland. ‘You were right when you said if we die in the desert no one will be there to see it.'

‘God has answered my prayers. Help will come.' Mrs Gulbenkian spoke with conviction.

Rebeka wanted to believe her. ‘You're not just saying that to comfort me?'

‘We wouldn't have lived this long if God wanted us dead. It will come,' Mrs Gulbenkian repeated firmly. ‘And when we least expect it.'

‘How can you be so sure?'