Redemption - Leon Uris [308]
“Both Freddie and I have taken a fancy to him. He makes us feel almost like, well, Jeremy and Chris are still here. I expect to see him before you do and I’m going to put the good word in for you.”
He ordered quail. She opted for salmon, off the bone.
Over nibbling they lowered and lifted eyes and smiled and she blinked hers and he staunchly held his level until they were staring at one another, bang-on.
“Is my interest in you in any way being encouraged?” he ventured.
“Well, what do you think, Llewelyn?”
“There is a possibility, then?”
“There’s always a possibility.”
He felt warm. He stifled his desire smartly by staring down to St. Stephen’s Green and mumbling that it hardly seemed the place of a recent battle. He mentioned how fortunate for Countess Markievicz and her rabble that he had not been commanding the opposition troops.
Having restored himself to the task ahead, he mellowed his way into the next phase with utter sincerity. “So long as Roger was alive, despite your unhappy separation, I’d never have dreamed of doing anything out of line. Alas, my own marriage has been virtually nonexistent…for more years than I can remember. Beatrice is a…decent sort.”
You bet, Caroline thought, decent and extremely well situated politically, socially, and economically.
“I still have utmost respect for Lady Beatrice as the mother of my daughters, though I had to finally reconcile not having sons…not that my daughters aren’t lovely women…but a man should have a son….”
“Yes, Freddie had the same problem with my being a girl,”
“But you’ve overcome it. Being a woman, I mean. Oh dear, I’ve just put my foot in my mouth.”
“I admire you coming right out with what everyone thinks.”
“Caroline, there are ten thousand men in the British Isles who would cut off their right arms just to be sitting here with you.”
Like the ten thousand arms that floated from Gallipoli to North Africa, she thought.
“May I ask. What about this Galloway fellow?”
“Gorman? He has been a devoted companion. He’s terribly amusing.”
And would like at your treasury, Brodhead thought.
“We have loads of the same friends in the theater and among the writers. We share a great number of political feelings, to be frank.”
“Well, you were always your own man, so to speak, when it came to politics. Freddie and Roger learned to live with it. I rather admire that in you. Fair play, that’s what we’re all about. And, uh, the quiet moments of your relationship with Galloway.”
Caroline hedged, allowing herself a moment to reflect. “Shall I say that I would not have been so taken by your attention if Gorman and I had more suitable intimate relations?”
“I take it, then…”
Salad arrived. He mumbled that it was too vinegary. Suddenly her hands were on his. “I’m hungry for a real man,” she said, and looked away quickly.
Dessert was wordless. She assisted him quietly in getting his cigar lit.
“I didn’t intend to be so forward,” she said.
“You are delicious,” he said, taking a long draw. “Can’t get enough of these Havanas since Gallipoli.”
“Too bad Freddie can’t smoke them anymore.”
“What do you suggest we do, Caroline,” he came out with, at last.
Caroline shook her head and shook it again. “I think we ought to retreat to our individual domains and give it some good hard thought.”
“My dear, don’t ask me to cut it off entirely.”
“Certainly there are numerous social occasions where we can see each other. I’ll bring Gorman along and you arrive with Lady Beatrice. I think no private contact for now. If we continue to have the same feelings, we’ll have to arrange to discuss it.”
“Nothing is going to change with me,” he said.
“It came on so suddenly,” Caroline said. “It must have been hiding there somewhere for years. I know I am with a very strong and trusted friend. And I know you will never betray me.”
“Caroline, hush up.”
I trust you, Llewelyn, she thought, because you love that uniform more than anything