The Gallery of Vanished Husbands: A Novel by Solomons Natasha

Author:Solomons, Natasha [Solomons, Natasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

CATALOGUE ITEM 9

Sun-seeker on Venice Beach,

Tibor Jankay, Oil on Canvas, 30 x 45in, 1961

‘TRAVEL TO AMERICA with a man, not your husband?’ whispered Mrs Greene, as though alarmed she might be overheard even in the privacy of her own front room.

‘Well, travelling to America with my husband would be tricky,’ said Juliet, frustration making her irritable.

‘What will people say?’ asked Mrs Greene, dabbing her eyes.

‘Nothing, if you don’t tell them.’

Mr Greene cleared his throat and held up his hand for peace. ‘I thought we could send a letter. You shouldn’t go yourself and your mother’s right, it’s not—’ he cleared his throat, hunting for the right word, ‘it’s not decent to go with your man-friend. We can send one of your uncles. Ed’s always wanted to visit America. I’ll pay for his ticket.’

Juliet shook her head. ‘No, Dad. I have to go. George would never answer any letter. And if he is there, it has to be me who finds him.’

Mrs Greene clucked in indignation, not ready to concede defeat so easily.

‘But what about the children? You can’t have them with you, living in sin on board a boat like that.’

Juliet bit her lip, unsure if her mother was more indignant about the sin part or the fact it was on a boat. Before Juliet’s wedding, Mrs Greene had given her a cryptic warning about the dangers of married love in unusual places. Juliet supposed the warning held for unmarried love too.

‘We’ll all have different cabins. The children like Max. It’ll be an adventure.’

She did not confide to her mother that they stayed with Max when they visited him, allowing Mrs Greene to assume that they borrowed a cottage as they had on their first trip. Mr Greene frowned and removed his spectacles to clean them on his trousers with exactly the same gesture as Leonard. He didn’t look angry, only sad, and this disturbed Juliet more than her mother’s pink-ruffled fury. She picked at a mark on her skirt. There was no other choice. The morning after she found out about George, she’d taken a train to Dorset and arrived on Max’s doorstep with two British Rail sandwiches and a flask of coffee and informed him that he must take the Cunard Lines job. She marched him to the village and waited inside the booth while he made the telephone call to accept the position and request that the pair of first-class tickets to New York be exchanged for four berths in tourist class. To her surprise and relief, Max had not objected. As soon as she had explained about George, he’d only nodded once and said, ‘Of course you must go to America.’

The journey was arranged for the summer holidays. Juliet would close the gallery for August and reopen in September. Juliet, Max and the children would spend a whole month in America. But Mr and Mrs Greene had remained so appalled that they refused to come to Southampton to wave them off. Juliet suspected that her mother was afraid of coming face to face with Max.

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