‘If she’d had the baby, things could well have been worse. Can you imagine Veronica as a mother?’ He let out a long sigh. ‘But the truth is she feels less of a woman because she hasn’t had a child. And that’s what was getting under her skin with you yesterday.’
‘I don’t understand at all, Arthur. Plenty of other women have babies. This can’t be the first time she’s come across an expectant mother at the Penang Club.’
‘She doesn’t care about the other women. They’re all in thrall to her – or scared of her. She queens it over them. Her problem is with you because from the very first time she met you, you refused to be cowed by her.’
‘What?’
‘That time you met her in London. She was spitting tacks when she got back to the hotel. She wanted to boss you around, have you hanging on her every word, doing as she told you. Just like everyone else.’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Arthur, I was absolutely terrified of her.’
He looked up and smiled. ‘Maybe. But you didn’t let her see that. You didn’t give way to her. You’ve always known your own mind, Evie, and Veronica can’t bear that. She wants to play cat and mouse and you refuse to be mouse.’
‘But that doesn’t excuse what she did yesterday to Mary Helston.’
‘She knows Mary’s your friend. It’s all a game to her. A game that’s completely out of control.’ He brushed a hand through his hair. ‘But most of all, she’s angry because she knows how I feel about you.’
Evie was horror stricken. ‘You told her?’
‘I don’t need to. Veronica’s not stupid. She can tell. I never looked at another woman until I met you. I can’t hide it. She knows me too well. Even on the ship she realised I was falling in love with you. That’s why she’s always been so beastly to you.’ He put his head in his hands again and gave a sigh as if he were carrying all the troubles of the world. ‘I can’t disguise how I feel. It’s obvious that I worship the ground you walk on, Evie. And I can’t sleep at night for thinking about you. For wanting you.’
‘Stop, Arthur, please! This isn’t right.’
‘That’s the trouble. It’s the only thing that is right. You and me.’
‘You’ve said it yourself before.’ Her voice was low. ‘We can’t ever be together. We’re married to other people. That’s the sad and sorry truth of it and there’s nothing we can do to change that. We’re not the kind of people who walk out on our marriages, Arthur.’
‘I know. And I know I’ve said that myself. So many times. But I’ve come to a decision. I can’t go on this way. I’m here to beg you to come away with me.’
Evie felt as if a tidal wave was sweeping over her, carrying her off, helpless and out of control. Gripping the wooden arm of her chair, she said, ‘Arthur, you’re not serious. You can’t possibly mean that.’ Her breath was jerky. She closed her eyes.
He reached for her hands, holding them in his. She felt that same bolt of electricity she had experienced before at the touch of his skin against hers. Dizzy, disorientated, she struggled to reply, wanting to give in, to abdicate all responsibility to him. His look was intense, determined, certain.
He bent his head, turned her hands over and touched her palms with his lips. He looked up at her again and said, ‘I love you, Evie. Body and soul. That’s all that matters.’
At that moment her unborn baby turned over inside her and kicked her soundly. She pulled her hands away from Arthur and placed them over her swollen belly. ‘It’s not just you and me any more. I have the baby to think of. Doug’s baby.’ She felt tears begin to well in her eyes. ‘I love you, Arthur. Desperately, totally, crazily. But it’s too late. That day at the beach it might have been different. But not now. I can’t do it.’
‘I’ll take care of you and the baby.’
She touched the top of his head with her hand, running her fingers through his hair. ‘Oh my dearest darling. You can’t. We can’t. This is Doug’s child and you know as well as I do how much it means to him. And in his peculiar fashion I think he does love me and you are his only friend. It would be such a terrible betrayal I think it would kill him. How can I possibly do that to him? How can you?’
‘You can do it because it’s no more than he deserves. He’s treated you appallingly. To do what he did with that woman. He’s forfeited all right to your loyalty.’
Evie shook her head slowly. ‘How can you say that? You of all people. You who came here after that dreadful day and asked me to talk to him. You who said it was the best thing for me.’
His face crumpled. ‘You’ve no idea what that cost me. How I’ve cursed myself ever since. It’s the bloody awful wish to try and do the right thing. The decent thing. But the right thing is the wrong thing. The only thing that’s right is that you and I belong together.’
‘Arthur, my love, I won’t argue with you. How can I possibly disagree when I feel the way I do, but it’s too late. I can’t possibly leave Doug now.’
He leaned back and pulled out a rare cigarette, lit it and took a deep draw. ‘I’m leaving Penang, Evie. With or without you. I want you with me. But if you won’t come I have to leave anyway. I can’t go on like this, being so close to you and unable to be with you. I’ve tried. Oh God, I’ve tried, but I can’t do it any more. And I can’t go on watching Veronica spiral ever downwards, knowing that I’m the cause of it.’
‘You’re leaving?
