It has been said that the real
Her eyes flickered with hope each time the telephone rang – but it was never Red, only endless press and television people, and all her temporary enemies: Dancer, David Waterlane, Bas, Brigadier and Mrs Hughie, even Miss Lodsworth, all of whom suddenly, after Tero’s death, had become friends again. The twins sent a congratulations card from Deauville with the words ‘Good Reddance’ inside. Chessie wrote a carefully worded note asking Perdita to tell Ricky to do better in the Westchester than the International. Sharon Kaputnik sent huge mauve chrysanthemums. Taggie, hearing Perdita wasn’t eating, arrived with the most delicious smoked salmon quiche. Drew wrote to her from Sotogrande. Feeling awful, Daisy sneaked in when Perdita was asleep to see if she were mentioned in the letter, and felt even worse that she was not.
Realizing Perdita’s utter despair, Daisy reproached her with nothing. Ricky had no such reticence. Ten days after Tero’s death, he had an extremely humiliating lunch with Rupert and Bas in the Venturer boardroom. Fuelled by Chateau Lafitte, they had told him exactly what they thought of his performance in the International and that England had better bloody well get their act together before the Westchester. Seeking gentle comfort, Ricky dropped in on Daisy on the way home.
‘I’ve just seen a rabbit in your vegetable patch,’ he told her.
‘Must have been on a suicide mission,’ said Daisy.
Ricky smiled. The crows’ feet light up his eyes like rays of the sun, thought Daisy. In an attempt to snap out of her depression, she had bought some very expensive paper and, having spread it out on the hayfield of a lawn, was trying to cut it into pieces. But even when she secured it with two books, it kept rolling up.
‘I’ll hold it,’ said Ricky, taking the other end. Noticing a tawny-orange butterfly landing on the Michaelmas daisies, he added, ‘Look, a painted lady.’
‘I’m a painting not-quite-a-lady,’ sighed Daisy.
The next minute Ethel emerged from the stream and, followed by her puppies, bounced across the paper leaving black footmarks everywhere.
‘Oh Ethel, you stupid idiot,’ screeched Daisy, then, as Ricky shoved Ethel out of the way, ‘I’m sorry, darling. Good dog, I didn’t mean to shout at you. I can paint on the other side.’
Amused, Ricky watched her cutting with the scissors. Her hair was piled on top of her head with a green ribbon, but escaping tendrils softened her sweating face. She was wearing red denim shorts, secured with a safety pin, and a purple and white striped bikini top, quite inadequate to contain her big, golden breasts, which, also shining with sweat, were flopping all over the place. She was so busy cutting, her pink tongue clenched between her teeth, that she bumped straight into Ricky.
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ She blushed scarlet.
‘I’m not complaining . . .’
‘For Christ’s sake!’ It was Perdita at the side door, hysterical with rage. ‘There’s a note here that Bibi rang. Why the fuck didn’t you wake me? You knew I wanted news of Red. How can you be so fucking stupid?’
‘That’s enough.’ Getting to his feet, Ricky seized her by a chunk of her greasy, lifeless hair and, leading her into the sitting room, shut the door and pushed her down on the sofa.
‘It’s about time the pussy-footing stopped,’ he said grimly.
Perdita opened her mouth to scream, her tongue so white, her teeth looked yellow by comparison.
‘Shut up,’ went on Ricky. ‘Have you no idea how many people you’ve screwed up in the last year?’
‘I didn’t know Simpson Hastings was a journalist.’
‘You could have denied what he wrote, instead of slagging Daisy off to the other papers. You never bothered to apologize afterwards. Daisy is one of the sweetest, kindest most gentle . . .’
‘Are you after her then?’
‘No, I am bloody not. I just know how different my life would have been if I’d had a mother like her.’ For a moment he bleakly remembered childhood at Robinsgrove, alone in a huge, cold house with Herbert, an inconsolable widower, either silent or shouting.
‘Have you ever thought what effect it had on Violet and Eddie? All their school chums nudging and giggling. No wonder Eddie ploughed Common Entrance.’
‘He’d have ploughed it anyway, he’s so thick,’ stammered Perdita, fight seeping out of her like air out of a punctured tyre.
‘Rubbish, and look how you fucked up Rupert and Taggie. It’s not surprising Rupert loathes you. Trying to frame him in bed after he’d only been married for a year to the one true thing in his life. If you hadn’t screwed up Venturer he’d have been in England and never have let Taggie slip on the ice and miscarry, and if you hadn’t dumped about the orgy the adoption societies would never have pulled the plug on them.’
Perdita gasped. ‘I never knew about that. Taggie’s been lovely to me.’
‘That’s because she’s got a sweet, forgiving nature, unlike you, you vengeful bitch. Go away,’ he snapped, seeing Daisy’s worried, bright pink face appearing at the window.
‘Don’t kick her when she’s down,’ pleaded Daisy.
‘I haven’t finished,’ said Ricky, shutting the window on her.
‘I’m sorry,’ whispered Perdita, who was now haggard and shaking. ‘I didn’t realize how awful I’d been.’
‘And walking out on Apocalypse just as we were getting the team together, and that’s nothing to what you did to Luke – short of making a wooden cross and banging the nails into his hands and feet.’
‘I don’t want to talk about Luke.’ She was suddenly hysterical.
‘Well, I do. Did you realize that when Hal Peters went bankrupt, he left Luke with all his medical bills and the bills for the yard, so he had to sell all his horses.’
‘Even Fantasma?’ The tears held back since the night she came home spilled over. ‘Oh, no, he loved her as much as I loved Tero.’
‘Far more,’ said Ricky bleakly. ‘He’d never have buggered off to Singapore without seeing she was OK.’
‘Where’s she gone?’
‘Alejandro’s.’
‘Oh Christ, he’s such a bastard to horses. Why didn’t anyone tell me?’
‘They didn’t think you’d be interested.’
Outside they could hear the protests of the mower as Daisy forced it through the hayfield, then the manic rattle as it tried to swallow one of Ethel’s shredded bones.
‘Did Red know about Luke?’
‘Course he did. You must know what a shit he is.’
You’d think he was even more of one, thought Perdita dully, if you’d caught him in bed with Chessie.
‘I hate him so much for what he did to Tero,’ she whispered, ‘but I can’t help still wanting him. It’s horrible, like being in love with a husband who’s battered your child to death. How can I ever get over him?’
‘Work,’ said Ricky, going towards the door. ‘I want you up at the yard by seven o’clock tomorrow.’
‘I’m not up to it,’ said Perdita in panic.
‘Don’t be so bloody wet.’
‘D’you think Red’ll send Spotty back? I asked the twins to ask him. He must be so miserable missing Tero and me.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ said Ricky, privately thinking Red was unlikely to relinquish a pony as good as Spotty with the Westchester coming up.
‘Ring Chessie, will you?’ asked Perdita with a sudden explosion of hostility. ‘You expect me to get over Red. You didn’t get over her.’
‘We’re not talking about me,’ said Ricky.
