Windward Heights by Maryse Condé

Author:Maryse Condé
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2014-08-12T18:52:37+00:00

6

Back To Earth

Aymeric read over again the letter he had just received.

My dearest,

God has sent us another ordeal. He did not want us to have our little Angele and called her to Him the day after she was born. You cannot be with us for the wake. But we shall wait for you to lay her to rest. Be brave, my dear, as I am trying to be myself.

Your affectionate,

Marie

It was an annoying disruption, but he felt no real emotion. It wasn’t the first time that he and Marie had laid a baby to rest. Over these twelve years together they must have lost three or four infants carried off by worms, fever, pernicious anaemia or some other childhood sickness. Though Marie seemed so distressed each time that one wondered whether it wouldn’t be her turn next to be laid to rest, Aymeric, however, grew hardened. His sojourn at Papaye had turned him into another man, younger and now indifferent to life’s tribulations. Gone were his preoccupations with his family, the firing of his cane fields, the factory, his unpaid workers and his urgent debts. What’s more, he had almost stopped torturing himself over the loss of Cathy whom he had constantly mourned. He was too busy watching Justin-Marie convalesce. The boy slept better at night. His temperature was down. He ate more and had gained a little weight. Although he coughed just as much, there was never any blood at the corner of his lips. Recently, well wrapped up, he had been taking a daily walk under the trees in the park without a stumble. Doctor Sacripant, who came up from Saint-Claude twice a week, declared one should never lose hope with young people. The best, he repeated, was yet to come. While reluctant to leave at this stage, Aymeric was too much a man of duty to think of ignoring his wife’s call and he quickly made plans. If he set off immediately he could reach Capesterre before nightfall. There he could stay on the Bois-Baril plantation with his cousins, the Saint-Esprit, and change horses.

He got up and walked over to the window. In the garden he caught sight of Sanjita’s black back, like a giant spider flattened against the greenery. She was walking up and down in her graceless way, cutting roses and wisteria blooms. The watchful presence of this woman hovering around Justin-Marie at every hour of the day exasperated him, for he was jealous enough to want his patient all to himself. A vague sense of anguish gripped him. If he left, what would happen behind his back? Then he came to his senses. What was he afraid of? Sanjita was simply yearning for motherhood.

He called her over, and when she was up close he examined her angular face with its tapering, elusive eyes below her hair that was tightly brushed back.

“I have to go away for a few days,” he explained brusquely. “I’m counting on you to take great care of Justin-Marie.” She did not betray her real feelings.

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.