‘I imagined it was something of the sort. The parents did the right thing; I’ve heard terrible stories of what Jews are being subjected to in Nazi Germany. Couldn’t the parents escape as well?’
Kit told her what Hope had shared with him about Dieter’s sister and brother-in-law.
Evelyn nodded again. ‘I suppose, like so many, they’re clinging desperately to the hope that the danger they’re in will pass. So what do you think of your glamorous stepmother?’ she asked in a sudden change of subject.
He shrugged, caught off guard. ‘She’s nice.’
‘Nice? Is that all you can say about her? Goodness, the whole village is agog about Romily Temple, or Mrs Devereux-Temple as she is now. She’s quite the brightest thing to hit us here in a very long time. The men all secretly worship her and the women view her with the utmost suspicion. They’ll be hanging on to their husbands like mad now that your father’s gone.’
Kit was shocked. ‘That’s an outrageous thing to say!’
‘I may be exaggerating a little, but you have to admit she is highly unusual. I’ve met her several times in the village; she was charming, and I might say utterly in love with your father, and he with her. Have you read any of her books?’
‘Sadly not, I’m afraid.’
‘Then I recommend you do. They’re excellent. I came across an interesting interview with her in which she said she was fascinated by the “eternal why” of human behaviour. She’s of the opinion that crime intrigues people more than love does.’
‘What an extraordinary thing to say.’
Evelyn looked at him, her dark eyebrows raised. ‘Do you think so? I for one regularly ponder how to go about murdering my mother, but I barely give love a second thought.’
Kit didn’t know whether to laugh or remonstrate.’
‘And there I go again,’ she said, ‘I’ve shocked you, haven’t I? Take no notice. But I do urge you to read one of Romily’s novels. She has a perceptive understanding of human nature, at its worst and its best.’
‘She may well be seeing a lot of it at its worst in the coming days,’ said Kit ruefully.
‘Yes, I daresay your family won’t make things too easy for her. However, beware. She’ll get her revenge by putting you all in a book and having you bumped off one by one in the most grisly fashion.’
Now he did laugh, causing three old biddies at a nearby table to turn and stare. He recognised them as Elspeth Grainger, Edith Lawton and Ivy Swann. He had noticed them looking his way ever since he and Evelyn had entered the tea shop. He gave them a friendly smile, then, realising he was enjoying himself more than he had in quite a while, decided to confide in Evelyn as to why he would be staying on at Island House.
‘So you see,’ he said at length, ‘as always, my father had the last word.’
‘Why be so cynical?’ she said. ‘Why not respect your father’s wishes and see if you can be friends with your family? Why not be the one to make the first step to make it happen?’
‘I fear you imagine I’m a better person than I really am.’
As if warming to her theme, Evelyn leaned across the table, so close Kit could almost count the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. ‘Then why not surprise yourself by seeing just what you could be capable of. My God, Kit, if you’re prepared to learn to fly and go to war, surely you can help to build bridges with your family? No, don’t bother trying to answer that, I don’t have the time. I’m sorry, but I must finish my shopping and get home to mother. She’ll be expecting her lunch.’
Kit paid for their coffee and teacakes and they left together, Evelyn in the direction of Teal’s the grocer’s, and Kit to the post office, but not before Evelyn proposed they meet again at the weekend.
Which put a decidedly happy spring in his step.
Chapter Eighteen
Allegra had missed breakfast, having been disgustingly sick first thing that morning. Even now, she felt queasy at the thought of lunch.
Just how long would this go on for? she wondered wretchedly as she walked the length of the garden up to the house. Was there something she could take to stop it? Perhaps she ought to visit the doctor in the village. But what if it got out that she was pregnant? If she could only make it through the next seven days, she would then go to London and see a doctor there. An anonymous doctor who wouldn’t ask too many awkward questions.
Then what? What was her big plan? As Roddy had advised her last night, returning to Italy didn’t seem the most sensible thing to do in the current climate. Perhaps she should take his advice and remain here in England.
But what to do about the child she was sure she was expecting? Could she go somewhere and live unobtrusively for the next seven months, then reappear again claiming she’d rescued a Jewish baby just like Hope had? If she did that, she’d be regarded as the child’s saviour, practically a saint for acting so selflessly. But it would be a lie that she would have to live with for the rest of her life, for there would be no handing back the baby, as Hope would be doing. No, this child she was carrying would be hers forever.
But to live as a liar for the rest of her life would make her as bad as Luigi. She grimaced at the thought of the man who had betrayed her so cruelly. The man who had left her in this terrible mess.
There was always the option of having the baby and giving it up for adoption. That would be the simplest solution, but knowing what she had gone through as a child herself made her reluctant to consider it as a possibility.
Yet her true nature – her wild, rebellious nature – was calling to her to be brave, to throw caution to the wind, stand defiantly before the world and claim that she was unmarried and expecting a child. And what of it! But if she did that, the poor little thing would be forever labelled a bastard. He or she would be tainted for life just as Allegra herself had been.
