The Portuguese House by Pamela D Holloway

Author:Pamela D Holloway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2019-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

chapter 27

Ronnie rang just after she arrived home. Tim was going to Italy but beforehand he had some leave due and they wanted to travel around India for a while. Could they, Ronnie wondered, come and visit Liz for a few days? “Tim has never seen your lovely villa or the beautiful beaches there.”

Liz was delighted. It would be great to see Ronnie again and she had always liked Tim. They talked dates and time of arrival and Liz said she would lay on a party of some kind. They were, she knew, party people.

A few days later she had another unexpected telephone call – this time from her new agent. She had hoped to meet him on her last visit to England as her previous agent had retired and his nephew, whom she had not yet met, had taken on his uncle’s clients. It seemed he was taking a holiday in India and rather wanted to mix business with pleasure. Could he visit her and could she recommend a hotel nearby?

“I can, of course, recommend a hotel,” she replied. “But why don’t you stay at the villa?” After a moment’s hesitation, he agreed and she realised his visit would coincide with that of Ronnie and Tim. She just hoped he wasn’t gay as well – she didn’t feel she could cope with a gay triangle.

Aarav was in heaven. At last Madame O’Mal was going to do some real entertaining again. They would have three house guests plus one dinner party for twelve, and, even better, a large luncheon buffet for around seventy, with music, lights in the garden and tables overlooking the beach and sea. He immediately requested that Nina be allowed to help him, she was, he told Liz, a really good sous chef these days, apparently delighting in learning about foreign foods and particularly good with a whole range of desserts from crème brûlée to terrine of lychees.

Even Liz was getting excited. It had been a long time since she had held a big party, she hadn’t been in a party mood for a while. She looked in her wardrobe and knew she could wear neither the red or the gold dress, so she moved them to the back of the cupboard. Even looking at them brought back too many memories.

Bernadette came to visit, bringing Marie, Therese and two more little girls she and her husband had already taken under their wing. She seemed troubled about something and Liz knew that she must be patient, waiting for the girl to speak when she chose.

They sat in the shade of the palms watching the little girls play whilst the babies slept in the big pram they shared head to toe. “It seems I can’t have children,” Bernadette said quite suddenly. The response “but you already have four” almost slipped out. Liz bit her tongue it would have been a thoughtless and flippant comment. “Oh Bernadette, I am sorry, so very sorry. Are you sure?” Bernadette nodded wordlessly. They were silent.

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