Pegasus: A Novel (31 page)

“Enjoying your Lipizzaner, Colonel?” he said politely.

“Very much so, Count.”

“He looks well.” The colonel smiled and patted his neck, and Alex drove on, and a
few minutes later he was home, as though nothing had happened. His housekeeper came
in a few minutes later and made him a cup of tea, as Alex went to put away his hat
and topcoat, picked up the cup of tea in the kitchen, and went to his study. He could
still feel the pistol in his pocket, and he took it out and locked it in a drawer.
It had been a good night’s work, the first of its kind for him, and as he took a sip
of the steaming tea, he suspected it wouldn’t be the last. A door had opened for him
that night, and he had chosen to step through it. There was no turning back.

Edmund and Marianne’s wedding at Haversham was just as they had planned it. Simon
got a day off to be the best man, and Charles gave her away. She wore a dress by Isabel’s
dressmaker that molded her figure and made her look like a young goddess in white
satin, and she wore the veil that Isabel herself had worn twenty-five years before.
And there were twenty of the Beaulieus’ friends from the area in attendance, along
with a handful of Edmund’s closest pals from the RAF. All of the young men were in
uniform, and Isabel urged everyone not to talk about the war for the rest of the day.
They were married in the chapel on the estate, which Isabel filled with flowers from
her hothouse, and she made the bride’s bouquet herself of white orchids from the greenhouse.
And the weather was fair.

The bride looked exquisite and was beaming, and the groom ecstatic. They had lunch
at the endless table in the dining room, and nearly filled it. It was covered with
silver birds and fresh flowers, and at the end of the day the bridal couple drove
away to Brighton for a three-day honeymoon at the Grand Hotel, which was funny and
old-fashioned, and they both loved it, although it had changed
a great deal. Edmund had childhood memories there, which he wanted to share with her,
despite the sandbags and provisions for war. All they could see was each other, and
the life ahead of them. They would have been happy in a tent under the stars just
so they were together, which was all they cared about. They were madly in love with
each other. The boardwalk was closed but they chased each other down the beach like
children, and retired to their room at regular intervals to make love. And when Edmund
brought his bride back to Haversham, she looked peaceful and happy, and he spent one
last night with her in the big pink guest room, and she cried the next morning when
he left and made him promise again that he would come back.

“You know I will, Marianne. Always,” he said, as he kissed her for the tenth time
in as many minutes, and finally he left. It had all been absolutely perfect, and she
was in a daze for days. She wrote to her father to tell him about the wedding, and
then to Toby. He couldn’t believe she’d gotten married when he read it. They were
only two years apart, and he was still infatuated with Katja, but he couldn’t imagine
marrying her for another ten years, if that. Marianne had become a grown-up, and he
still felt like a child at seventeen. He told his father about the wedding when he
got the letter, and Nick smiled and shook his head.

“That really makes me feel old. I remember when she was born, not that long ago. Don’t
you go getting any ideas,” he said to Toby, who made a face and shook his head.

“No way. I’m too young. So is she.” He wasn’t sure he approved of her getting married
so young, but it was different with girls. It was hard to believe he hadn’t seen her
in two and a half years. The time had flown. And their life had changed so much. And
now she’d always live in England, and she was a viscountess, in a castle bigger
than theirs. And he and his father and brother were living in a trailer with the circus,
and they were on tour again. This was their life now, and Toby had grown accustomed
to it. They all had. It was comfortable for them, and they liked the familiar routines,
although changing towns every night was hard sometimes. But they’d gotten used to
that too.

When they got to California in July, Nick drove Christianna to Santa Ynez again. They
had a decent car this time, and they stayed at the same hotel. And some Romanian girls
covered for Christianna, but Nick had the feeling that her father knew the truth and
chose to turn a blind eye to it. He had grown very fond of Nick and the boys, and
he knew how serious Nick was about his daughter. Nick wasn’t playing with her. He
loved her, profoundly. And she loved him.

They drove to the same bluff as they had before, and he looked out over the land he
hoped to buy one day. He called it “his ranch,” and Christianna laughed at him. He
was still talking about it when he turned to look at her with a gentle expression.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said cautiously. He wanted to be sure this was right for
her too. “What do you think about our getting married when we get back to Florida
at the end of the tour?”

“Are you asking me?” she teased him. She thought he was joking or just thinking out
loud. They talked about it sometimes, but he always said that he wouldn’t marry her
until he felt he had enough put away. And none of them were able to save a lot of
money working for the circus, although Nick was always careful and had been saving
for three years. He didn’t have enough put aside for a ranch yet, and maybe he never
would, but he had what he needed to marry her and feel right about it.

“Not yet,” he said in answer to her question, and then he got
down on one knee where they’d been standing at the top of the bluff. “Now I am,” he
said, smiling up at her. “Will you marry me, Christianna?” Her eyes opened wide.

“Are you serious? Now?”

“At the end of the tour.” He wanted to take her on a real honeymoon, and he couldn’t
do that until they got back.

“I mean, you’re asking me now?”

“Yes, I am. I love you, and I want to wake up with you every morning for the rest
of my life.” They’d been sneaking around for two years. It was long enough. Too long.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly. “Yes … yes!” She wanted to shout it off the bluff. He
stood up and kissed her then, and he stunned her by taking a tiny engagement ring
out of a box in his pocket. It had a small diamond in it, but it was a proper ring.
He had been planning this for a long time, and had wanted to do it here, at their
future “ranch.” She didn’t believe he’d ever really have it, but it was as good a
place as any and a very romantic spot. He put the ring on her finger and kissed her
again, and then he swept her up in his arms, put her in the car, and took her back
to the hotel, where they made love to celebrate the moment, two years after they had
made love there for the first time.

“It’s going to be a big wedding if we do it at the circus,” she said after they made
love.

“I don’t think we can do it any other way,” Nick said practically. “The circus is
going to make a big fuss about it.” It was all part of the hype of being circus stars,
but he was prepared for that.

They told her family when they went back to the fairground in Santa Barbara the next
day. And word spread like wildfire that they were engaged. They even got a telegram
congratulating them from John Ringling North, and suggesting that they hold the wedding
at
Ca’ d’Zan, the original home of John and Mabel Ringling, which was their palatial
estate in Sarasota. It was going to be an even bigger deal than Nick had thought,
and the Ringlings wanted all the publicity they could get.

By the time they got back to Sarasota in early November, the date was set, Christianna
had the dress, and John Ringling North was going to have commemorative posters made
of the couple to sell at the big top for the next year. Nick and Christianna were
the stars of the circus, and were treated like royalty. And this was going to be a
royal wedding. They would be married, as he had offered, at Ca’ d’Zan on the Saturday
after Thanksgiving, and all the performers were invited. They were expecting eight
hundred people at the wedding, with a special tent set up for dining and dancing.

Nick had asked Toby to be the best man, and Lucas was the ring bearer, although he
was a little old for it at nine, but he took the job seriously, and stood clutching
the rings at the wedding. And Joe Herlihy made a special toast. The bride was radiant
and Nick was as handsome as ever in white tie and tails. It was a fabulous event,
a true circus extravaganza, and the posters of them sold out the first night and they
had to make more. They agreed to do a special show the day after the wedding, and
she wore her bridal veil with her white leotard and tutu. And the day after that,
Nick took her to the Breakers in Palm Beach for their honeymoon. It was an elegant
hotel and they were treated like movie stars while they were there.

“Well, Mrs. von Bingen”—he smiled at her one night after they made love—“are you tired
of me yet?”

“I’ll never be tired of you, Nick, until I die,” she said solemnly.

“That’s liable to be long after I do.” She was twenty-two years younger than he was,
but it didn’t bother either of them. Everything about their union felt right.

And when they got back to Sarasota, everyone congratulated them again, and they were
the heroes of the hour. They got standing ovations at every show. No one was tired
of their fairy-tale marriage yet, and when they appeared on the Lipizzaners together,
the crowd cheered. And Nick went to talk to Sandor the day after they got back from
Palm Beach.

“I came to collect on my wedding present,” he reminded his father-in-law.

“What present is that?” Sandor teased him. “You got my daughter. Isn’t that enough?”

“No, I told you that the only wedding present I want from you is a net for her act.
I said it two years ago, and you agreed. She performs with a net from now on,” Nick
said firmly, and Sandor could see that he meant it, and looked worried.

“The audience won’t like it,” he warned him.

“They’ll get used to it. I told you I’d marry her. And I kept my word. You gave me
yours, Sandor. We shook hands on it. The net, or she gives up the high wire, today.”
Sandor looked at him long and hard and nodded. Nick drove a hard bargain, but he was
a man of his word. “Tonight,” he reminded Sandor, who nearly groaned.

And that night, when she went on, Nick followed her to the ropes. And he saw it. There
were eight handlers holding it for her. And she saw it, too, and turned to him in
surprise.

“Does my father know?”

“It’s his wedding present to us.” Nick smiled broadly and kissed her. “Now go do your
act.” He was going to enjoy it for the first time in three years. And when the crowd
spotted it, they cheered. They approved. Nick gave Sandor a thumbs-up, and he waved
back. She was never going to wind up in a wheelchair now, or fall to her death. Christianna
had a net at last, thanks to Nick.

Two weeks after their wedding, they were still the talk of the circus, and Christianna
was quietly sewing some of her costumes in their trailer, listening to the radio,
when Nick walked in from feeding the horses. He leaned over to kiss her, happy to
see her, and enjoying their newly married life, when the program she’d been listening
to was interrupted and the announcer said that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor
in Hawaii. They both stopped talking and were mesmerized by what he was saying.

“What does he mean?” Christianna looked at Nick, thinking she hadn’t understood.

“You heard him. American naval ships were bombed and sunk by the Japanese in Pearl
Harbor.” It was something no one in America had ever thought could happen. They’d
been attacked on their own territory. America had finally been forced into the war.

Within minutes, people had come out of their trailers and were telling others. There
was a huge hubbub everywhere. Some people were panicking, afraid that they’d be bombed
in Florida too. The whole circus was ablaze with the news within an hour. People were
glued to their radios. And John Ringling North announced that one of their special
Christmas performances was canceled for that night. Everyone stayed home to listen
to the news, and Toby and Lucas were with them in the trailer, listening to the radio.

The next day, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan. And three days
after that, Hitler declared war on the United States. America was at war. Two thousand
four hundred and three men and women had died at Pearl Harbor, and 1,178 were injured.
The big top was still dark, and Nick wondered if life would ever be normal again.
He was talking to his brothers-in-law about it that afternoon, when Toby came home
with a sheepish look. Nick wondered
what he’d been up to. And Toby told him half an hour later when they were alone.

“I enlisted, Papa,” he said, looking half proud and half scared of his father’s reaction.

“You did what?” Nick looked at him, horrified. “You can’t do that!”