Illyrian Summer (9 page)

“
Hvla
,”
he said with a dazzling smile, then added in equally halting English,
“
you are most kind.
”

She smiled in return and walked toward the exit gates. Someone came behind her, turned as he passed to look at her, and said,
“
Ah, Sarah! I thought I recognized the hat.
”

“
Adam!
”
She was so pleased that he had called her
“
Sarah
”
again after the cold, dismissive
“
Miss Catherall
”
that she could not keep the delight out of her voice.
“
The hat?
”
she queried.
“
Is it so distinctive?
”

“
I remembered the wide green ribbon on it. You wore it at Pula—when you were climbing the amphitheater.
”

Her eyes danced with pleasure. So he had remembered the hat she had worn!
“
I
’
m very flattered,
”
she said demurely.
“
Most of our hats are created to be forgotten.
”

They walked out together through the exit gates. Then she remembered that probably he had been visiting Mirjana in the hospital grounds.

“
Is Mirjana here in this hospital?
”
she asked him.

“
Yes. I
’
ve just been to see her again.
”

Sarah
’
s spirits, so lately soaring to pinnacles of joy, sank equally suddenly.

“
Is she very badly injured?
”
she asked evenly.

“
She has a broken leg and a few other cuts and minor injuries,
”
Adam answered.
“
She will be moved away as soon as possible.
”

Sarah was on the point of saying that quite likely she had typed out a card this afternoon for Mi
r
jana
’
s case, but she bit back the words.
“
I saw Radmilla today,
”
she told him.
“
Her family is staying close by the river. They aren
’
t injured, I think, but they will lose their house and all their possessions.
”

“
Where are you going now?
”
he asked abruptly, as though Radmilla
’
s problems were no concern of his.

“
To the car park in the public gardens. Up there on the outskirts of the town.
”

“
You
’
re returning to Dubrovnik?
”

She could not repress the spurt of triumph that now elated her.
“
Oh, no. Not until our work here is finished. Edmund has brought a small film unit to make a documentary.
”
She watched his face and added,
“
You jumped to rather hasty conclusions this morning when you took Daniel and me for idle sightseers. We haven
’
t come here for a day trip. We work on our jobs and in
j
our spare time we do anything else we can to help.
”

For a moment or two he stared down at her, his eyes hard and unemotional. Then he smiled and his features became less forbidding.
“
It must be the hat,
”
he said softly.

“
The hat? Why?
”

“
When you wear it, you become indignant.
”
He chuckled.
“
I apologize, though, for this morning
’
s mistake. Actually, I was rather concerned about your safety. Buildings fall down all the time.
”

She was touched by his admission of error and smiled back at him.
“
Thank you, Adam. I have to go up to Edmund now. There
’
s a load of typing to be done.
”

“
May
I
come with you?
”

“
Of course. Edmund will be glad to see you again.
”

“
When it happened, were you here in the town?
”

He hesitated for several moments, as though he were framing his reply.
“
I had taken Mirjana home—we
’
d been working late at the steel plant and we had dinner at a restaurant on the other side of the town, the old part across the river. Mirjana and her mother lived on this side in one of the tall new apartment blocks, only built a few years ago. I was walking back to the hotel where I live—that
’
s on the other side, too, handy for my work—and after I
’
d crossed the bridge I felt the ground heave under my feet.
”

“
That
’
s exactly how I felt it in Dubrovnik, but it was so slight there that I thought I
’
d imagined it,
”
Sarah said.
“
I
’
m sorry about Mirjana! She
’
s such a beautiful girl.
”

She felt rather than saw Adam
’
s quick turn of his head toward her.

“
Mmm, yes,
”
he murmured.
“
But apart from a scratch or two, her face will not be disfigured.
”
After a pause he added,
“
She saved my life, too, as well as her own.
”
It was Sarah
’
s turn now to glance sharply up at his face.

“
Mirjana lost a bead necklace and we went back to the open-air restaurant where we had dined. We spent quite a time looking for it under the chairs and tables, and all the way as far as the bridge. But for that delay, you see, I should have been back in my hotel. When I did return there, after I
’
d found Mirjana—and I spent some time helping others out of the wreckage—the hotel where I
’
d been living for two years had vanished. Nothing but a heap of ruins.
”

“
Oh, Adam!
”
Her face twisted with sympathy.
“
And the people there?
”

He shook her head.
“
The innkeeper
’
s wife was rescued, but none of the others.
”

For a time they walked in silence. Sarah
’
s thoughts whirled in conflicting confusion. Whatever bond of
friendship had existed between Adam and Mirjana beyond that of boss and secretary must surely be strengthened now that virtually they had saved each other
’
s lives.

To Sarah, the irony was that she must now force herself to think of Mirjana with gratitude for saving Adam. She was sharply aware that he had visited the girl at least twice today.

On what trivialities did life depend! A lost necklace could alter the entire pattern of two people
’
s lives.

Yet she found a grain of comfort in the fact that Adam was by her side at this moment, as though her company were not too distasteful to him, in spite of this morning
’
s scolding.

She did not realize how soon that, too, would be snatched away, for as they neared the car park, Adam said,
“
I
’
ve been told that an American convoy of water trucks is somewhere up here. Do you know?
”

“
Yes,
”
she answered.
“
Almost alongside us.
”

“
Good. I
’
ll be glad of any they have to spare. My men need drinking water. On this side they
’
re near enough to the river for washing and building purposes.
”

Sarah felt leaden. So his main object in accompanying her had been to obtain water, urgent though that need was, when tap water was forbidden in case of pollution.

She was appalled at her own stupidity, and as soon as she came near enough to Edmund she called out to him.

“
I
’
m back, Edmund, and I
’
ve brought Adam with me.
”

She wrenched open the door of the minibus, stepped inside and began to tidy her hair and face. A glance in the mirror showed how dusty and smudged she looked, a pale, wan thing, no doubt, beside the glowing vision of Mirjana.

She brushed her fair hair until the dinginess gave place to gleaming softness, cleaned her face and renewed her makeup. Outside she could hear the two men talking and soon Edmund conducted Adam to the water convoy.

It was a relief when Edmund returned alone.

When Edmund had finished dictating, he asked her,
“
Will you type in here or outside? The table is probably firmer in here as the ground outside is bumpy, but I don
’
t want you to be stifled.
”

“
I
’
ll work inside,
”
she decided.
“
I can have the door open.
”

“
By the way, did you give Adam his message from Melanie? Her love and all that?
”
Edmund queried.

Sarah gasped, then turned her head away.
“
No, I forgot about it.
”

“
I thought you would,
”
Edmund muttered as he walked away. Sarah watched him as he talked to Ricardo and two of the other men in the unit. Her face went hot at the thought of how obviously she had shown her concern about Adam.

It was late when Daniel returned, and Sarah had strolled toward the edge of the gardens, away from the parked vehicles. Family groups were scattered all over the grass or in the shelter of bushes and trees and she walked carefully, trying not to disturb sleeping children. Soon she found herself on a tree-lined bank that sloped sharply toward the river, and here Daniel found her as she leaned against the trunk of a silver birch patchily whitened in the moonlight.

“
Hallo, there, Sarah!
”
Daniel called softly.
“
Edmund said you might be up here.
”

“
I
’
ve been typing all the evening and I came up here for a breath of air,
”
she explained.

“
Gosh! I
’
m tired!
”
he yawned, and flung himself down on a grassy patch.

“
Have you had anything to eat?
”
she asked, for he had not returned to supper.

“
Yes. Someone had fixed up a kebab stall in the square and there was plenty to eat. An Austrian Red
Cross van was close by, and believe it or not, they were dishing out apple strudel on the grand scale.
”
He stretched out his hand and caught Sarah
’
s.
“
Come and sit down now that I
’
ve toiled all the way up here to see you.
”

She allowed herself to be pulled down beside him. Long ago she had learned that it was better to give in casually to Daniel than to make a show of resistance.

“
Edmund says one more day
’
s shooting tomorrow and we can be off back to Dubrovnik.
”

The pain of his words stabbed her with the reality of loss. To leave this place where so much needed to be done? To return to the smiling enchantment of Dubrovnik to idle in the sunshine and sparkling sea? To leave Adam, perhaps never see him again?

When she and Daniel returned from the high river bank and
he had tucked herself into her sleeping bag, she looked squarely into this foolish infatuation for Adam. In her mind she repeated the word over and over again. Infatuation. That was all it was. No more than a schoolgirl
’
s crush on a man who was hardly aware of her. How could she be so crazy as to believe that this was love, real, enduring love? After all, she did not believe that Daniel was really in love with her. With him, too, she could not be convinced that his feeling was anything more than infatuation, a romantic attachment nurtured in idyllic surroundings.

She knew so little about Adam. Between the past, when he had apparently loved the young Melanie Roche before she rose to stardom, a
n
d the
tr
agic, disastrous present
t
hat included Mirjana, how many other girls had he known, even flirted with? Yet he did not seem the type for easy flirtations. Sarah immediately realized that this was not a comforting thought, for if he was now drawn toward Mirjana, the association might become permanent.

She fell into a fitful sleep and was glad when her watch indicated five o
’
clock and time to get-up.