The Daughter of Night (18 page)

'No, of course not,' she forced herself to say. 'You're a business man, I know that, and it's quite normal you should have to travel, it's part of your job. I'm only sorry I—we can't come with you. I'd like to have a second look at Athens and I've never been to Crete or Cyprus.'

'Then give me something sweet to take with me,' Demetrios murmured, pulling her closer, his hands sliding down to her hips, 'so I'll come back quickly for more.'

'I'm tired,' she protested, 'and I think I've a headache coming on, it's been a busy day.'

'Liar!' he teased. 'You're vexed because I'm leaving you for a few days. Will you miss me?'

'Like a hole in the head!' But it was her last spark of defiance as she softened against him. His mouth was on hers and she went into the sweetly familiar, dizzying spiral where her body moved sensuously against his until all the stars exploded in a triumph of consummation. 'Help me,' she prayed to some strange god. 'I'm becoming an addict, I can't live without him.'

On the morning of Katy's birthday, Hester woke feeling on top of the world. According to her last telephone call from Demetrios, he would be home this evening, so the absence of a birthday card from him caused her no concern—she was able to comfort Katy with the thought that very few children received cards from both their parents and that since there was one by the side of her breakfast plate marked as being from Papa
and
Hester, there would possibly be some extravagant present under his arm when at last he walked through the door.

Solaced by this thought, Katy went joyously to school, having first fed her pup and taken him for a walk in the garden where he had uprooted several smallish rose bushes and, driven by hunger, had eaten the plastic rose of a new watering can.

By three o'clock Hester's preparations for the party were complete. Katy had discovered that while an iced birthday cake was quite acceptable, girls of her age no longer required jelly or any other childish thing. Paper hats and a tea at half past four were also old-fashioned, and Katy had settled for barbecued beefburgers on the patio at seven with a few fairy lights strung in the small saplings that grew close by.

Hester made herself a cup of tea, took it into the lounge where the wide window looked out over the front garden, then sat down and put her feet up for the half hour or so before she needed to go to fetch Katy from school. The silence was profound, so much more restful than the noise of London traffic, and her eyes drooped shut, only to fly open a few moments later at the sound of a car turning into the drive and the crunch of wheels on the gravel surface. Without looking out of the window, she went flying to the door to fling it open, and her smile of welcome froze on her face. The car was a blue Lancia upholstered to match the speedwell blue of Vilma's silk suit and her mother was standing at the door, her hand raised to the bell push.

'Good afternoon.' Vilma stepped past her into the house without a by-your-leave. 'So good of you to see me,' she drawled. 'For one moment I thought you were going to refuse me the house.'

'As if I'd ever think of doing such a thing!' Hester retorted sardonically as she ushered Vilma into the lounge. Her mother accepted gracefully, went past her and seated herself in Hester's favourite chair.

'Oh, tea—how civilised!' Vilma touched the fat teapot with a gloved hand. 'And freshly made, so nice. Shall I pour you a cup?'

'Mine's already poured.' Hester motioned to her rapidly cooling cup. 'If you can bring yourself to wait for a few seconds, I'll fetch you a cup and saucer from the kitchen.'

When she came back, Vilma was still sitting there, smoking a cigarette and looking about her, eyes taking in every detail. Demetrios had allowed Hester to choose which pieces of furniture she wished, their shape and size, but the things he had bought were so much more luxurious than her more economical choices and Vilma was appreciating them. 'You've done very well for yourself,' she observed. 'It seems Demetrios can afford far more than I thought. Is he generous?'

'I've no fault to find with his generosity.' Hester poured tea into the fresh cup and handed it over, worrying her brow into a slight frown. Vilma looked exactly as she had done when Hester had met her before, both at Crispins and after the mockery of a wedding—slim, svelte, incredibly well groomed and dressed and very well preserved, but today there was a tautness about her—almost as though she was nervous.

Hester slid down into the chair—it was the one Demetrios had bought for himself, wider and deeper than her own and with fat pillows and a low, long seat. It was ideal for him, he liked to sprawl with his long legs sticking out halfway across the hearthrug. On him it looked graceful, but Hester didn't feel graceful, not with her straight skirt riding up above her knees and with her rather scuffed slippers on prominent display. She was also at a disadvantage, almost half lying in the chair as she was. Her mother was looking down on her, making her feel like a child or a naughty housemaid who had been caught larking about. She straightened herself, pulling a couple of cushions beneath her to raise herself a bit.

'Why are you here?' she asked baldly. 'And don't try to tell me you're interested in how I'm getting on, because I shan't believe you.'

'No, I don't suppose you would.' Vilma stubbed out her half finished cigarette and lit another immediately. 'As a matter of fact, I came to ask whether you had any spare money.'

'About five pounds in my purse and nearly two hundred in the bank,' Hester said flatly as she poured herself another cup of tea.

'Oh lord, another one!' Vilma lifted her eyes to the ceiling in a kind of mute appeal to fate. 'You're the same as me—married to one of these damn Greeks who provides us with everything we need. Who houses, feeds and clothes us, gives us everything we want except hard cash.' She drew on the cigarette and let the smoke trickle down her nostrils. 'I'm sorry about that, truly I am, but if you can't help me, I shall have to take the other alternative.'

'Oh, get on with it!' Hester descended to crudeness. 'Say what you have to say and cut the cackle. Just at the moment you're not making much sense.'

'You're so like your father, my dear!' Vilma shook her head and shrugged. 'He always had to have everything laid on the line for him—one could hint and hint, he never understood until everything was put to him in words of one syllable. To be blunt, I need a rather large sum of money and I need it quickly. I had two options—you because I thought you couldn't have spent what you had from me and the other—well, I'd rather not mention that yet, not until you've had a rethink.'

'No need for a rethink.' Hester gave a tight smile. 'The money I had from you—I had a use for it, and the day after I received it I put it to that use. I don't have a penny of it left.'

'Pity,' Vilma made a little moue of almost regret. 'You leave me no alternative.'

'Will you get on with it!' Hester seethed with exasperation as she looked at her watch and checked it against the carriage clock on the mantlepiece. 'It's nearly twenty past three and I have to leave here at four-fifteen to pick Katy up from school. I've no time to waste on hints and innuendoes.'

Vilma shrugged. 'I'm a gambler, my dear, I like to play the tables and usually I win, but last year was a bad year. I lost far more than I could afford. Of course, I couldn't include gambling losses when I made a list of my debts for your husband, I tried that once before and he refused to pay, so when, because of you, he cut my allowance almost to nothing, I started getting unpleasant letters from the place where I play Lately, the letters have become more than unpleasant, they're almost threatening, so I have to find money and find it fast. I've tried gambling on credit, but it's always the same when you do that—you lose!'

'And I can't help you.' Hester felt dismay and a faint pity. 'What's this alternative?'

'Simply that I play Athene's game for her.' Vilma took a sip at her cup, found the tea had cooled so that it was undrinkable and put the cup down. 'She wants you out, my dear,' she continued, 'and I suppose one can't blame her. She wants Demetrios and she wants her daughter, and you're in the way, so you'll have to go, and if you won't go willingly, she's cooked up a little scheme.'

'Athene wants her daughter?' Hester looked her astonishment. It was an assumed astonishment, but she thought she did it very well.

'Katy! Don't say you haven't noticed the resemblance.' Vilma smiled wryly. 'Even I did that, and I'm not noted for noticing much. They're as alike as two peas from the same pod. It was a long time ago,' she added, 'and Athene was being pushed into one of those marriages Greek fathers are so fond of arranging, and in any case, they'd never have let her marry Demetrios—but she's a widow now and a wealthy one. She wants her man back, and her daughter.'

'Then she'd better speak about it to Demetrios,' Hester said flatly. 'I'm not equipped to make a decision like that, and in any case, maybe he isn't all that keen any longer. As you said, it was all a long time ago, and tastes change.'

'Then you don't know?' Vilma registered surprise. 'They went off to Athens together, you know, and he didn't stay in the hotel as he usually does. This time he lived with Athene at her villa. When he went on to Crete and Cyprus, she came back to London and told me all about it.'

'Why didn't she come and tell me?' Hester had gone cold. It was one thing to love a man when you didn't know about his other women, but knowing about them made all the difference. She felt physically sick, she wanted to rush away somewhere quiet and on her own where she could burst into a storm of weeping. She'd been the most complete fool, she must have given herself away a thousand times… Vilma broke in on her thoughts and she had to pay attention to what her mother was saying or Vilma would have something to crow about.

'You don't know Athene very well, do you? She can't bear to be in the limelight, she prefers to be offstage, directing things. No,' Vilma lit another cigarette, the third in less than an hour, 'when all this is over, Athene wants to come out of it with not a stain on her reputation.'

'She wants a hell of a lot,' Hester growled, conscious of a rising anger. 'And how does she expect it to happen all at once? You know the divorce laws as well as I do, if not better. Haven't you told her nobody can do anything for three years?'

'I did make the point,' Vilma admitted, 'but Athene says she'll manage very well as long as you clear out, and if you won't go willingly, she'll make you—she has it all worked out. That woman has a mind like a computer.'

'How?' Hester forced the word from her lips with a studied nonchalance.

'So simple,' Vilma laughed; it sounded a bit forced, and now her face was showing strain, she looked every day of her age. 'Yesterday afternoon, at about three o'clock, you phoned me. No, don't try to say you weren't even here, that you were taking tea in the vicarage or something equally bucolic. I phoned
you
, don't you remember? And when you answered, I hung up without speaking…'

'I thought it was a wrong number,' Hester frowned. 'Do tell me what I was supposed to have said. As an interested party, I think I ought to know.'

'You asked for more money, of course. As I said, Demetrios was giving you everything but plain cash, and you married him for that, not for a house or a car or anything you couldn't convert to money. Of course, this time I was lucky, somebody was with me and I sent her to listen in on the extension. Rather a crafty move, don't you think? It gave me what I didn't have before when you tried your first bit of blackmail. I now have a witness.'

'Athene!' Hester nodded. 'A very nice try—and are you going to tell my husband if I play it awkward?'

'Of course.' Vilma's laugh was rather forced. 'I shan't have to if you're sensible and leave him. If you walk out tomorrow…'

'I can't do that,' Hester protested. 'There's Katy, I can't leave her at the drop of a hat.'

'You'd better,' Vilma said grimly, 'because if you don't, I shall have to tell Demetrios what you've been up to and he'll throw you out. But it needn't be as nasty as that, not if you use your head. I don't want to do this, but as I've explained, I don't have much option. Athene's going to give me the money I need when you go, so save yourself a lot of trouble and go quietly. He'll probably be quite generous and you needn't go empty-handed.'

'You and Athene, you're a couple of—oh, I can't think of a word bad enough for you!'

'Save your breath,' Vilma advised. 'You can slate Athene all you want but be sensible when it comes to me. I talked her into giving you this chance. Without that, you'd have been a dead duck, and really I've little choice. You're younger than I am and able to earn your own living, whereas me, I'm dependent on Sandros, and if he hears about my little failing,
he'll
throw me out, and what would I do at my age? It would be the finish of me.' She rose from the chair and walked elegantly to the door, where she paused and turned back.

'You
are
like your father,' she said. 'You've got a lot of his honesty and you're just as damn naive as he was. He thought we should marry, he had some dream about a rose-covered cottage and love everlasting, but I never went for that "better a dinner of herbs where love is" thing. I'll put up with the hatred as long as the ox is well cooked and served with mushrooms and a wine sauce on a silver dish. And don't start thinking Demetrios will disbelieve Athene—remember, he's just spent four days with her in Athens, reliving the love of his life. She told me he was happier than he'd been for years.'

Hester sat rigid in the chair, listening to the closing door, the tap of high heels on the polished tiles of the hall and the gentle thud of the front door. Then there was the sound of the Lancia starting up and the crunch of the wheels on the gravel of the drive. After that, only silence.

She felt old and beaten, older even than her mother, and she wanted to run screaming from the house to lose herself somewhere and die, but that was impossible. There was Katy to be collected from school and then the party.

With a groan, she pulled herself out of the chair and made her way upstairs. She still felt sick and her head was beginning to ache, pain stabbing through her temples. There was another hard knot of pain in her chest, hurting her when she breathed and bringing tears to her eyes, but they wouldn't fall, they stayed there, smarting beneath her eyelids.