Tidal Wave (33 page)

Obligingly, Anthony and Nicholas followed Arabella up to the observation deck. There the three joined the other passengers in the glass-enclosed room that offered a full view of New York harbor.

“It looks like one of those tourist souvenirs of New York City — you know, the little glass globe filled with water and white bits with a minute golden Statue of Liberty. You shake the globe and
voilà
! The Statue of Liberty in a snow storm, just like this,” said Nicholas, with his arm outstretched presenting the scene to them.

Arabella laughed. “It’s true, good God, it’s true! Oh, it’s wonderful!”

The three walked to the stern on the port side of the ship and stood silently until the statue was swallowed up in a whirlwind of snow. Several people stopped to speak to them.

Arabella recognized the look of annoyance she knew so well on Anthony’s face. He was out of his element and felt uncomfortable. Many people milled around Nicholas, wishing him luck.

“Let’s do get out of this, Arabella, and find some privacy,” said Anthony.

Nicholas disengaged himself from the crowd as quickly and graciously as he could. “Arabella,” he said, “I have a few things to attend to. I’ll meet you on the boat deck very shortly. I’ll say good-bye, Lord Quartermaine, in case we should miss each other.”

The two men shook hands, and Arabella mustered her strength for the conversation she must have with Anthony.

Anthony linked his arm through hers as Nicholas went off in the opposite direction. They rounded a corner in the deserted stairwell and Arabella started up the stairs. Anthony blocked her way by putting his arm against the wall in front of her. She stopped and looked at him. He pulled her quickly to him and held her tightly with one arm. He grabbed her face roughly by the chin, tilting it up to him. He must have known, she thought, that she had made up her mind, yet now he was desperate.

He kissed her passionately, saying “Don’t be foolish. Remember Alexandria, all our years of passion? We can have it all now!”

She had been afraid that Anthony Quartermaine could still, after so many years, practice his power of animal lust on her. But now in his arms Arabella felt nothing, only, possibly, a slight sadness at his touch.

She ducked under his arm as soon as she felt his grip relax and continued up the stairs. He walked up behind her and put his arm around her waist. “Forget all this, this ridiculous drama. Let me take you back to England.”

She quickened her step up the stairs, leaving him behind. He followed and she heard his familiar laugh. She stopped for a moment on the landing and closed her eyes. Then she realized it was a joy to hear his laugh. She loved and adored it, and had longed for and missed hearing it very much.
She might no longer hunger for him as a lover, but he would always be part of her life.

Then, very seriously, he said, “I must have been mad, mad not to have chained you to me years ago.”

“No,” she said, swinging around to face him on the landing, “no, you weren’t mad, just married.”

Then she pushed the door open. He was laughing now as they stepped out onto the glass-enclosed section of the boat deck.

“I’m glad you still have some wit about us,” he said.

“And memories, Anthony, wonderful memories.” She reached out and held both his hands in hers. “I hope you’ll always remember it, Anthony, as I will.”

He squeezed her hands and nodded. Tears had welled up in his eyes. “Yes, Arabella. I will always remember and cherish what we had.”

One of the two sailors in attendance interrupted them. “Is this gentleman with you, Miss Crawford?”

She looked at the young sailor and smiled warmly at Anthony, answering, “For the moment at least.”

“Thank you, ma’am. We have to check that no people other than yourself or Mr. Frayne’s party are allowed out here.”

Suddenly there was an enormous explosion. The snow turned pink and then another whizzing sound and a bang as red rockets shot up across the gray sky. A cacophony of horns, bells, sirens, fog horns rang out. The ship was bathed in a rainbow of light from the fireworks display of a flotilla of twenty tugboats surrounding the
Tatanya Annanovna
on her way up the Hudson River to her berth.

It was extraordinary, wild, and exciting. The display was remarkable for its timing as it surrounded the ship with a constant flow of purples, oranges, yellows and reds, silver and gold, all diffused by the heavy snowfall. The ship sailed through it like a great wonderful goddess of the sea, announcing her arrival with great blasts of her horn.

Arabella was thrilled by the display and by the great relief and joy she felt. Xu, Missy, and Henry arrived with
the birds, dogs, and hand luggage. It was a mad, noisy group, and Arabella loved every minute of it. Finally she gave up trying to hold back and clapped her hands in delight. They no sooner had the four dogs under control with Xu handling them on leads when Nicholas and Marvin Kandy arrived, followed by the two secretaries.

Then a waiter appeared with a large silver tray holding crystal glasses filled with champagne and passed them around. Even Anthony had to give way to good humor.

Through the snow they saw the Anglo-French line’s terminal building draped in red, white, and blue bunting. The ship began to swing around, to make its maneuvers to dock. Several sailors appeared to remove the glass walls, open up the section at the rails where the gangway would be pulled in from the top floor of the terminal. Arabella felt a gust of wind begin to lift her hat off. Nicholas caught it, smiled, and handed it back to her. She put it on and adjusted it securely. It was a gray felt Adolpho, magnificently shaped with a wide brim and chocolate-brown satin band around the crown.

Nicholas gave her nose a quick kiss and told her she was beautiful. She looked up at him, pulled up his collar against the snow, and said she loved him. They both had forgotten that Anthony Quartermaine was there.

The snowflakes were now whirling in at the three as they leaned on the polished rail. They watched a young sailor swing open a section of rail, getting ready to receive the gangway. They heard the clanking sound and felt the vibration of the anchor as it dropped.

The great fat hemp cables were already lassoed around the moorings and the ship was doing its last-minute sidling up to the dock.

Arabella could see them now, hundreds of people waiting in the terminal. Its wide doors swung open so the crowd could see the ship and its passengers. She was standing between Nicholas and Anthony. Nicholas turned to her and said, “Look, Arabella, that’s my son there, that boy waving.”

“Oh, he’s very handsome, Nicholas!” Nicholas waved back at his son.

“And my parents are next to him!”

Arabella saw a handsome, white-haired couple.

“Oh, look,” said Arabella. “Look at your family!” They were all waving enthusiastically at Nicholas. He waved back.

Arabella saw her Rolls-Royce with Oskar beside it, in a special cordoned-off area in front of the media people. She saw him go around the car and open the door. She was surprised, overwhelmed, and delighted to see her mother step out and then Robert, her brother.

“I never expected this,” said Arabella. “What a surprise! Nicholas, look over there. It’s my mother and brother.”

Arabella turned to Missy and said, pretending to be stern, “Did you know about this?”

“Sorry,” said Missy, laughing, “but I was sworn to secrecy.”

By now streamers were being thrown onto the ship from all over the open viewing areas in the building. Hundreds of people waved to the
Tatanya Annanovna
’s passengers. Thousands of brightly colored streamers were tying the ship up to the terminal.

Covered gangways, great tubes, now connected the building to the ship, and the passengers were already disembarking. An open gangway was being shifted from the building to the ship for them, and when Arabella heard it bang on the deck itself and saw the sailors make it secure, everything fell into place for her.

An officer from the ship walked across the open gangway to the building, testing that it was safe. He waved them to come across.

Nicholas looked at Arabella. Marvin interrupted their gaze, saying “Arabella, I think we’d better have Nicholas go first and begin the conference. Then you can come down without being besieged.” He turned abruptly away from Arabella to Nicholas and said, “This is it, Nick. Good luck, Governor.” Then he went off down the gangway.

Nicholas looked at Arabella. He ducked under the brim of her hat, kissing her on the cheek. “I love you and always will.”

Then, before she could react, he was off. She watched Nicholas disappearing away from her.

Anthony stepped up to Arabella and said, “You’re going to marry him, aren’t you?”

Arabella looked at him, studied his face, the face she had thought about so many nights when she was alone.

“Yes, Anthony, I am. Anthony, I love, you possess. I don’t want to be possessed. I wanted to be loved. You’ve waited too long, left it too late.”

“Yes,” he said very softly. “I know that now. Good-bye, Arabella. Good luck to you both.” The Earl of Heversham turned without another word and walked away.

She had taken only two steps when she saw Nicholas running back up the gangway toward her. Her heart leaped.

He said, “I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to walk into a new world without you.”

She smiled and said, “Thank goodness for that! I don’t want to start a new life without you either.”

He took her by the arm and together they walked down the gangway.

“Don’t be nervous. When we get to the microphone, I’ll introduce you to the press.”

“As the future Mrs. Frayne, I hope. Oh, and by the way, you can also tell them that the bride is not willing to wait more than three days for the wedding.”

They were three quarters of the way down the gangplank treading carefully in the swirling snow, the bustle and noise all around them, dogs leaping and prancing around Arabella’s feet, Xu a few yards behind her with Missy.

Nicholas stopped her and said, “Do you mean it,
really
mean it?”

“Yes, yes, I really mean it,” she replied.

He took her in his arms. She pulled the pin from her hat, took it off her head, and, with a strong toss, she flung it up into the wind. Photographers and TV cameramen broke
through the barriers trying to get the picture. They raced up the gangway.

Arabella’s eyes followed her hat as it took flight and disappeared. She said, laughing as she looked into Nicholas’s eyes, “Well, you change your life, you change your hat. That’s two in less than a week. Where do we go from here?”

“Home,” he said, laughing.