Roddy sighed. ‘Poor Allegra, all that radiant beauty and shining talent. I still rail at the unfairness of her death. I was so very fond of her. I saw in her something I felt we had in common, that we were only ever on the periphery of the family, outsiders looking in.’
Romily looked at him, shocked. ‘Oh Roddy, you can’t possibly mean that. Jack never regarded you as an outsider; you know jolly well he thought of you as a brother. More so than his actual brother.’
‘I know that, but Allegra and I were adopted into the family, and that makes a difference to how one sees oneself within it.’
‘Then maybe the same goes for me. After all, I’m only a Devereux by marriage.’
‘You always have an answer for me, don’t you?’ Roddy said with a smile. ‘But talking of marriage, what do you think to your wing commander and Sarah announcing their engagement earlier today?’
Romily glanced over to where Sarah and Tony were talking to Lady Fogg and her husband – Sir Archibald having finally returned to Melstead Hall when the Blitz took hold of London. Romily knew from Mrs Partridge that there had been mutterings in the village that the man had only come home because he was a rotten coward and was afraid of being bombed at his club.
‘I couldn’t be happier for them,’ Romily said quite truthfully. ‘And really, it’s high time you, and everybody else stopped referring to the poor man as my wing commander; he was never any such thing.’
Roddy stared at her thoughtfully. ‘You don’t think you might have been happy with him yourself?’
She laughed. ‘Goodness, no. Not so soon after Jack. I’m happy as I am, Roddy, really I am. You don’t need to worry about me.’
‘Somebody has to,’ he said with a gentleness to his voice that touched her. ‘I shouldn’t say this,’ he went on, ‘but I will anyway, since it’s Christmas, a time I always think is made for heartfelt confessions. The thing is, if I had met you before Jack did, and had I been younger and more dashing, and not a dull old solicitor, I might have tipped my hat in your direction. But alas, compared to the dazzling brightness of Jack’s star, I would not have stood a chance. But then the strength of Jack’s character had the ability to eclipse most men, so I hold no grudge towards him in that respect. I still miss him, you know.’
Romily slipped her arm through his and kissed him affectionately on the cheek. ‘I know you do, just as I do. You’re the dearest man alive, Roddy, and for that I’ll always love you. And for being such a loyal and supportive friend, not just to Jack and his family, but to me. Which I hope will always be the case.’
He patted her hand. ‘In that, you can be absolutely sure. You only have to say the word, Romily, and God willing, I shall be there for you. Now tell me some more about your work with the ATA. Jack would be so proud of you. And jealous too!’
‘Oh, he would have leapt at the chance to join, and long before I did.’
‘Much good it would have done him when he couldn’t fly.’
Romily laughed. ‘Do you suppose a little thing like that would have stopped him?’
They were both laughing as, over on the other side of the drawing room, one of the guests wound up the gramophone player and the sound of Al Bowlly’s soft-toned voice singing ‘The Very Thought of You’ filled the room. The first time Romily had ever danced with Jack, it had been to this song. Holding her firmly against him, their bodies almost as one as they moved together, he had brushed her ear and neck with his lips as he sang along. It had been one of the very many intensely sensual moments between them.
Now, hearing those same words, her heart grew heavy with longing for Jack.
The very thought of you and I forget to do
The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do,
I’m living in a kind of daydream
I’m happy as a king
And foolish though it may seem
To me that’s everything
But rather than give in to the grief that without warning still had the power to creep up on her and strike her down, she cleared her tightening throat. ‘Roddy,’ she said, ‘there’s something I need to discuss with you. It’s something I should have arranged with you a long time ago. Do you remember the jewels and the Rembrandt sketch belonging to the Friedberg family in Austria that I brought back from Europe before Jack’s death?’
‘Yes.’ Roddy nodded. ‘I remember thinking how you really shouldn’t have taken such a tremendous risk.’
‘Tish and tosh, it was hardly any risk at all! Now what I want to ask you is this; those items have been in the safe upstairs ever since I brought them back with me. The original plan was for Sarah to have them in London, but when war broke out we decided it would be better for them to stay here in what we believe is comparative safety.’
‘That makes sense, yes. Although a bank vault would be quite secure, I’m sure.’
‘You’re probably right, but transporting them anywhere now could put them at risk. A risk I’d rather not take. Currently, apart from me, only one other person knows the combination to unlock the safe, and that person is Florence.’
‘Florence?’
‘Don’t look so surprised, Roddy; I’ve trusted that girl implicitly since the day she came to work for me. Just as Elijah and I have trusted her to look after Isabella in our absence.’
