‘Now you make me sound churlish. But a man doesn’t like to think of himself as hiding behind a woman’s skirts like a weakling.’
‘Does it make you a weakling to accept help? I was simply better placed to do the talking. Besides, isn’t love supposed to make strong men weak? And heaven knows, you were madly in love with Crystal.’
‘Yes,’ he said solemnly.
She waited to see if he would say more, but a heaviness seemed to have come down on him.
She sat on the stone railing, raising one leg to rest her arm against the knee, and looked out over the scene.
Looking at her confused him. She was Joanna and yet not Joanna. The girl of long ago was still there, but only as a faint ghost. The woman of today had a glamour and confidence that girl had never dreamed of.
He’d watched her over dinner, fascinated by the way she had turned into a beauty, her light tan emphasising her large grey eyes and making her smile flash.
But it was more than that, more than the silk and velvet of her clothes or the real gold in her ears. She had made a success of her life, donning authority like a cloak and walking through the world with a superior air.
They called her ‘Boss!’ and it was only half a joke. She had earned the title, not inherited it. He felt at a disadvantage, and that brought a memory back.
‘Do you remember the night you came out here before?’ he asked.
‘Maybe,’ she said dreamily.
‘I saw you here, sitting just where you are now, and I wanted to come and talk to you but you seemed so absorbed in your own world that I couldn’t bear to disturb you.’
‘Oh,’ she said softly.
‘I did come out in the end-but it was all wrong.’
‘I remember that we didn’t say much.’
‘I had an odd feeling that you wanted to tell me something, but you never did, so I guess I was mistaken.’
She was silent, recalling that night and how awkward their conversation had been. How astute of him to have sensed that there were words she longed to say! How blind not to have realised that they were words of love!
From deep in the woods the owl hooted again.
‘There was an owl that night too,’ she said, smiling. ‘That one’s probably descended from it. Nothing ever really changes here, does it? That was one of the things I loved about the place.’
‘Nothing changes,’ he agreed. ‘And everything changes.’
‘Yes,’ she said after a moment. ‘Everything changes.’
Then, for a while, there was nothing more to say.
Joanna found herself pervaded by an unexpected sense of peace and contentment. She felt that she could sit here forever.
Gustavo remained in a chair, watching her as she looked out over the darkened landscape, her hair lifted by the slight breeze that was so welcome at the end of a hot day.
Once she turned her head towards him and smiled, but they did not speak. Time seemed to slip past without her noticing, and she was startled to see the first streaks of light in the sky.
‘Is that the dawn?’ she asked.
‘Yes, but it’s only about four o’clock.’
‘That’s right. I used to stand at my bedroom window and watch it happen. It was glorious.’
‘I expect you were dreaming of the great lost palace even then,’ he said with a smile.
She had been dreaming of him, and the life they would have together. But she only nodded.
‘That palace has filled my dreams,’ she agreed. ‘Being the one to uncover it means everything to me. I remember the day you told me about it, and took me to the place where it was supposed to have stood, fifteen hundred years ago.’
‘But that wasn’t the right place, was it?’ he said.
‘According to all the books it should have been there. Only the real thing turned out to be about half a mile away. Carlo said it was found by chance, when some of the earth settled, leaving a dent in the ground.’
‘That’s right. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. I’d have liked to be the one to take you there, and see your face.’
‘I probably looked like a child on Christmas Day.’
‘Yes, that’s what I’d have enjoyed. I remember you as always so cool and composed. It would be delightful to see you bouncing up and down with excitement.’
Suddenly he stirred.
‘Let me take you there now, Joanna, before the rest of the world awakens.’
‘All right,’ she said eagerly.
It took him five minutes to bring his car around, and together they drove slowly over the gradually lightening land.
At last the site came into view, dim and silent in the soft grey morning. They got out and went to stand looking over it.
‘It’s a slow business,’ she told him. ‘It’s only at this end that we’ve uncovered very much in the way of foundations. Over there it’s still covered in grass. We have to take it slowly to make sure that we preserve as much as possible in good condition.’
‘How many times have I walked or ridden over this piece of land, and never suspected?’ he mused. ‘It just looked like everywhere else, but now, if I’m lucky, it might be my salvation.’
‘In what sense?’
‘I have to repay my debt to Crystal. When we married she put a lot of money into this place. Now she wants it all back. Of course, she’s entitled to it, so I have to raise the cash somehow.’
‘Can you do that?’
‘I’ve managed to pay part of what I owe her, which is keeping her quiet for a while. But I’m going to have to find a big lump sum quite soon.’
‘It sounds as though things are pretty bad.’
‘I’m not crying poverty. I live well, as you can see. Carlo has told me how much I’m paying for your services and I can find it because it’s a good investment. But if you could manage to discover a solid gold vase, preferably two thousand years old, plus some proof that it once belonged to Julius Caesar, who received it from Cleopatra, I’d be very grateful.’
He spoke in a satirical voice and she guessed she didn’t have to explain to him what a wild hope this was.
A moment later he confirmed it, saying, ‘It’s all right, it’s only wishful thinking making me talk nonsense.’
‘Not nonsense. Miracles do happen.’
‘I know,’ he said, so softly that she almost didn’t hear.
‘What was that?’
‘Nothing,’ he said hastily. ‘Tell me, what’s that I see over there? It looks like a whole village.’
‘We travel with everything we need. One of those tents is a makeshift canteen.’
‘And those trucks behind the tents?’
‘Equipment, including a portable generator, that works the fridge in the canteen, so we can all have a nice cold beer. Independence is everything when you work all over the place, as we do.’
‘That’s another thing I recall about you, your independence. Be self-sufficient, and owe nothing to any man. That was your motto.’
‘I’m sure I never said that.’
‘You never had to. You were only eighteen, but even then, there was something about you that was complete unto yourself.’
‘Then you were probably lucky not to marry me,’ she said lightly. ‘Self-sufficient people can be hell on earth to live with. They often know how to give but not to take, and that can be just as hurtful.’
‘Well, it might make a change from someone who only knew how to take and never gave anything in her life,’ he said with a touch of irony.
The next moment he hurriedly backed off.
‘Please forget I said that. I make good resolutions not to criticise Crystal. It’s sometimes hard to keep them, but she’s still the mother of my child.’
