Fatal Choices by Anne Morgellyn

Author:Anne Morgellyn [Morgellyn, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-06-24T22:00:00+00:00

19

We ended up in a five-star, a stone’s throw from the summer palace. It was the only place with vacancies, according to the woman in the central tourist office, unless we were prepared to look for a ‘no-stars’ by ourselves, and we were too exhausted to do that. We told her to make the reservation and she called a taxi to take us to the hotel.

It was an opulent nineteenth century pile surrounded by gardens and palm trees. While Androssoff completed the formalities, Nicky and I sat in the lobby on a couple of large gilt armchairs with lions’ feet. They reminded me of Rodolfo’s salon in Geneva. I felt sweaty and dirty and out of place. An enlarged photograph behind the desk boasted of a recent illustrious guest, the Prince of the Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne, who had stayed for some sporting occasion. The concierge raised an eyebrow when Androssoff said we had no luggage.

‘We left it on the ship. There was an emergency.’

There was a nervous pause while the Amex card was authorised.

‘I can send someone into the city if you need anything, Doctor Androssoff. Your room will be ready soon. The maid will make the bed up for the niño.’

‘Can we get something to eat now?’

‘Certainly, señor. You can get a snack at the bar. The restaurant opens at nine o’clock.’ He snapped his fingers. A porter appeared mysteriously, as porters do in grand hotels. ‘Please follow my colleague.’

The porter led us to a wide marble terrace with cushioned wicker chairs and sofas. We sat by the balustrade, overlooking a rose garden. The bay was beyond in the distance, glimpsed through the palm trees. Our ship would be out in the Atlantic now. Maybe someone else was in the commodore’s cabin, making themselves a cup of tea, as I had done yesterday afternoon, and allowing themselves to slide into a carefree holiday mood. What a difference a day makes – whoever said that had known about twists of fate.

We were very hungry and soon worked our way through the club sandwiches which the barman brought out to us. Androssoff had another beer but Nicky and I stuck to mineral water. The terrace was partitioned off for a wedding reception, the guests drinking champagne and eating slices of an enormous ham, carved off the bone by waiters in long, starched aprons. I was ashamed of how we must look to these elegant people.

‘You should call Stasia to let her know what’s happened.’ I told Androssoff.

‘I’ll call her in the morning. She’s not expecting us till then. Look at him, he’s enjoying that.’

We gazed at Nicky, still picking at the crisps and salad that had come with his sandwich. No menu-enfants here.

‘I never want to go through that again,’ I said.

‘He’s fine, Louise. Wait till he’s fifteen.’

The porter came back and told us our room was ready. We rode the lift with him to the fourth floor. The room was spacious, although it faced the front drive and had no balcony.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.