‘There was this fallen tree, Mum, and she said she could jump it. Luca told her not to but she wouldn’t listen.’
‘Women don’t,’ Freddy said wisely, and they exchanged nods, man to man.
‘Anyway, she jumped and fell off as the horse landed. It was really scary. I thought she’d broken her neck.’
‘No, just her arm,’ Joanna said. ‘But you’re a hero, staying with her like that.’
‘She kept talking about her mum, saying she’d come and take her away now. Then she’d cry even more.’
‘I expect that arm hurts a lot,’ Freddy observed.
‘No, it’s more than that,’ Billy insisted. ‘Even before this, she talks about her mother wanting her, and then she cries. I think she knows it’s not true. She won’t admit it, but part of her is beginning to suspect.’
‘Well, her mother’s coming now,’ Joanna said. ‘It may all work out for them. Isn’t it your bedtime?’
Billy assumed a mulish look, but Freddy clapped him on the back and said, ‘Come on. Let’s finish that talk we were having.’
They went off together.
It was late at night before Gustavo returned. At first Joanna thought he was alone, but then he opened the rear door and Crystal climbed out. Even from this distance Joanna could see that she was in a thunderous sulk. She saw Gustavo point towards the house, then take her arm firmly to draw her inside.
Joanna opened the door to see them approaching and stood back while Crystal approached the child, who, by now, had fallen asleep. She sat on the bed and gave her a little shake. Renata’s eyes opened. She gave a glad cry at the sight of her mother’s face, and the next moment they were locked in each other’s arms.
Joanna could just make out the words Crystal was murmuring, words of motherly love and reassurance. She gave Gustavo a puzzled look, and he drew her out into the corridor.
‘She does it beautifully, doesn’t she?’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t think I practically had to frogmarch her into the car. Now she’ll play the role of the loving mother until it bores her, then she’ll go again, leaving me to pick up the pieces.’
‘What’s happening to her other child?’
‘Safe in the apartment with Elena, his nanny.’
‘So Crystal tried not to come?’
‘Yes, but I persuaded her,’ he said, his eyes glinting. ‘I also persuaded her to bring some clothes because she’s going to stay a few days, whether she likes it or not.’
His face was hard, forbidding. Joanna would have given a lot to know his thoughts, but she suddenly realised that in this family quarrel she was an outsider.
‘I have things to get on with,’ she said heavily. ‘I hope this all works out as you want.’
For a few days she kept well clear of the family, eating at the dig and working late into the evening, determinedly keeping her thoughts on her work. She refused to speculate on what might be happening between Gustavo and Crystal. That way lay madness.
She came inside late one night to hear music coming from the radio. Through an open door she could just make out Crystal swaying in the dance. So she and Gustavo had reached that stage, she thought.
But it was Freddy, not Gustavo, who was dancing with Crystal. They moved in perfect time together and looked good, Joanna had to admit. Gustavo was sitting at a table, writing. He looked up and saw Joanna standing in the doorway.
‘Come in and join us,’ he said, with a touch of relief in his voice. ‘I’ll have something sent in.’
He rang the bell and a cold supper appeared so quickly that it was clear it had been already waiting.
‘I’ll just run upstairs…’ she said, eyeing the food with pleasure.
‘No need,’ Freddy said, emerging from the dance. ‘Billy’s fast asleep. We swam for miles.’
‘Oh, yes,’ she said, remembering. ‘There’s a swimming pool in the grounds, isn’t there?’
‘I’ve had it cleaned out,’ Gustavo said, bringing her a glass of wine. ‘You’re all welcome to use it. A day off in the pool would probably do your team good.’
‘Thank you. Yes, I think we’d like that.’
She sipped her wine before asking, ‘How is Renata?’
‘Doing well,’ Gustavo said quietly.
‘She’s so much better,’ Crystal said sweetly. ‘I took her to the pool and she paddled in the shallow end. The poor little soul wanted to go in with Freddy and Billy, but she can’t, because of her arm.’
‘But I’m sure she was happy sitting on the side with you,’ Joanna said. ‘It means so much to her to have you here.’
‘But of course,’ Crystal said prettily. ‘Nobody can replace a mother, can they?’
More music came from the radio and she began twirling around the room again, looking gloriously pretty and several years younger than her real age. Freddy joined her and they bounded around like teenagers.
Joanna finished her supper, bid them goodnight and went to the library, where most of the others were still up. They looked tired and disgruntled.
‘I thought we’d be through the wall into that chamber by now,’ Lily grumbled.
‘The wall’s twice as thick as the others,’ Claire said.
‘I know.’ Joanna flexed her hands, which were still painful from the day’s work. ‘But we’ll be through soon, won’t we, Hal? Hal?’
‘He’s been asleep in that chair for the last hour,’ Danny said. ‘And we’re all knackered.’
‘Fine, then let’s have some time off. There’s a swimming pool here and we’re all invited to spend the day in it.’
Everyone cheered, even Hal, who seemed to cheer in his sleep.
‘Tomorrow, then,’ Joanna said.
They gathered at the pool next day, all giving yells of delight as the clear blue water came into sight, glinting under the sun. In minutes they were all jumping in.
Joanna tried not to look as Gustavo appeared with Crystal and Renata, both in bathing suits. They seemed like a family, which, in a sense, they were. Just as she, Freddy and Billy were.
Billy was already in the deep end, crowing as he climbed onto Freddy’s shoulders and dived. But he swam the length of the pool when he saw Renata arrive and sit at the top of the steps that led down into the shallow end. Joanna stayed where she was, in earshot.
Crystal and Renata had their heads together, and Joanna heard the word ‘Toni’ several times, and saw Renata smile at the mention of her baby half-brother.
‘Look,’ Crystal said, reaching into her bag and taking out a photo album. ‘Joanna, you haven’t seen my baby, have you?’
He was a beautiful child, full of smiles. Picture after picture showed him beaming with delight, mostly enfolded in his mother’s arms, while she looked down on him with an expression of delight.
‘I keep these with me always,’ she told Joanna.
‘Hey, Crystal!’ That was Freddy’s voice, calling from the pool. Crystal gave a shriek and danced into the water.
As soon as she was gone Renata dived into her bag, rummaging through with hands that grew increasingly frantic, until at last she gave up and pushed the bag aside.
‘What’s the matter?’ Gustavo came close to ask her.
‘She’s just discovered that Crystal doesn’t keep any pictures of her, the way she does of Toni,’ Joanna muttered. ‘Damn her!’
Gustavo swore under his breath and went to sit beside Renata. For once she didn’t turn away from him, and Joanna guessed that Crystal’s presence now made him one of the ‘good guys’. She even gave him a smile, although it was clearly an effort, and Joanna guessed that Billy’s presence helped.
She swam down the pool to find Freddy, and join him in a sandwich from the buffet Gustavo had arranged at the side of the pool.
‘This is the life,’ he said, stretched out luxuriously on the grass while she filled his glass with wine. ‘How can I arrange to live like this all the time?’
‘What you need is another rich wife,’ she observed, without resentment.
‘Ah, now, that’s not fair,’ he protested. ‘I was nuts about you. You know that.’
