Chapter 30
After Bobby’s mother had departed, and on a day when Riva had the night off, they were driving to Mdina to see Bobby’s uncle for the second time.
She felt delighted to be seeing Addison and his beautiful hidden palace again and was looking forward to a night with Bobby too.
She began to happily sing something she’d recently heard on the wireless.
Bobby reached across and brushed a stray curl from her cheek. She turned to smile at him, took his hand, and kissed it.
‘Careful,’ he said. ‘I’m driving.’
It was a beautiful day although a bit windy and she leant back to enjoy the feeling of sun on her face.
‘By the way, I have information,’ Bobby said, ‘about your Russian girl. At least I think I do.’ His eyes were focused straight ahead.
‘Good news?’ she said and looked at him hopefully.
But as he shook his head, she drew in her breath.
‘What then?’
‘I’m so sorry. It’s pretty awful, but the remains of a young girl turned up on one of the beaches.’ He turned briefly to her, his eyes grave.
Riva gasped. ‘Oh no!’
‘I have a friend at the Times of Malta. I happened to mention what you’d said about a missing girl, and he told me about it. The authorities tend to hush these things up.’
‘When was she found?’
‘About two weeks ago. She’d been in the sea for a little while.’
‘Oh God. That’s awful. But why do you think it was her?’
‘Someone from Strait Street identified her as a Russian girl who’d only been here a couple of days before she didn’t turn up for work. They didn’t worry because people come and go so frequently.’
‘It could have been another Russian girl.’
‘They called her Anya.’
Tears welled up in Riva’s eyes. She dashed them away but felt terribly sad for the girl.
If only she could have done something to help her while she’d had the chance.
She shook her head feeling awful, knowing she’d chosen not to stay with Anya that day and now it was too late and there wasn’t anything she could do for her.
He sighed. ‘Look, darling, there have been rumblings about goings on in Strait Street. It’s likely the police may toughen up. I wish you would leave.’
‘Toughen up in what way?’
‘I don’t know exactly but my friend at the paper wants to talk to you.’
‘Me? Why me?’
‘He’s a journalist with a nose for ferreting out trouble. But he’s a good guy, one to have on your side. He suggested you might like to meet him for tea.’
‘And you think that’s a good idea?’
‘Maybe. You needn’t say anything about what happened in France or tell him your real name. I just think, well … I just think he’d be a friend if you ever needed one.’
She stared at him, wondering if it had been a mistake to tell Bobby the truth about herself. ‘You’re my friend.’
‘More than a friend, I hope. But if I’m not here …’
He glanced over, gave her a peculiar look that she didn’t understand, then turned back to keep his eyes fixed on the road. ‘You must know you mean the world to me.’
‘As you do to me,’ she replied, and leant across to kiss him on the cheek.
She felt joy, of course, at what Bobby had just said.
It should have been a special moment, and it was, but she felt uneasy too, her happiness marred by the thought of what had happened to poor Anya.
How awful it must have been. How frightened and alone she must have felt.
Instead of spending the day with the lonely girl she had swanned off to Lottie’s, but if she’d stayed with Anya the girl might still be alive.
And yet she’d had no way of knowing what was going to happen.
Nor did she know what had happened. How had Anya ended up in the sea?
Surely someone did know. The young girl continued to haunt her thoughts until they arrived in Mdina.
Bobby’s Uncle Addison was as magnanimous as he had been before and they ate a delicious lunch of lampuki pie, a fish dish like nothing she’d ever tasted, and for pudding kannoli – sweet tubes of crispy fried pastry filled with ricotta.
This big man with his equally big-hearted kindness cheered Riva up and as the wine flowed they laughed and ate, and laughed and ate some more.
After coffee Addison wiped his mouth and said, ‘I have something to show you both.’
He rose to his feet, went indoors, and collected something from the top drawer of a desk. ‘Come on. Follow me,’ he said then.
They followed him out of his main door and down the stairs. There he stopped at another door, unlocked it, and ushered them into a pale hall. This opened onto a beautiful high-ceilinged sitting room, full of sunlight slanting through floor-to-ceiling windows with a narrow open-air terrace beyond.
‘Oh,’ Riva said, glancing around at the soft paintwork and feminine furniture. ‘It’s so pretty.’
‘Yes, it was my wife’s favourite place. So, here are the keys. Might as well use the place, Bobby.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I don’t like renting it out, although I do let the ground floor from time to time. In any case, the whole place will eventually come to you.’
‘Well, thank you,’ Bobby said, blinking in surprise. ‘It’s generous of you. But I hope you’ll be around for a lot longer yet.’
‘Indeed.’ He turned to Riva. ‘My wife Filomena and I never had children and as you can see, Bobby is like a son to me.’
‘I thought you might leave this place to my mother,’ Bobby said.
‘Good God, no. She hates it here, she’d only sell it. No, this old place means so much to me I’d rather keep it in the family. I’ve given you two keys, although I do have another, in case of emergencies.’
For a moment Riva couldn’t help comparing her own critical parents with this wonderfully generous man and she sighed.
‘You don’t like it?’ Addison asked.
‘No, I love it. Sorry, I was just thinking of something else.’
Riva smiled at him and after Addison had gone upstairs again, they explored the apartment.
It was bigger than Riva first realised. She opened the tall glass doors and went out to the terrace where she stretched her arms out wide and whirled around feeling as if the whole world was spinning.
Back inside they found a dining room, and beyond that a kitchen.
In the other direction were two bedrooms with a bathroom shared between them and another washroom just off the hall.
‘I can’t believe we can stay here,’ she said.
He threw her a key. ‘If I’m not around jump on a bus and come here any time. Think of it as a haven.’
‘I will,’ she said, with no idea how much of a haven it would one day become.
‘Would you like to stay the night?’ he asked.
‘Are we allowed?’
He furrowed his brows and twisted his mouth as if deep in thought. ‘Err … yes.’
She laughed. ‘In that case I’m going to have a bath.’
He grabbed hold of her arm. ‘Before or after we christen the bed?’
‘Before,’ she said.
‘Nooo.’
‘Yes. I want to be pink and glowing and smelling of those gorgeous toiletries I spied in the bathroom.’
She searched for, and found, some fluffy white towels and a lavender-coloured silk robe.
‘There’s food,’ Bobby called out, ‘and wine.’
Addison had clearly not only ensured the place had been spring-cleaned but had also provided everything they might need. She took a long breath and let it out slowly. How had she managed to land in paradise?
She ran a bath and sat on a stool, watching as the water filled up.
The bath was gorgeous, with gold clawed feet and gold taps.
Real gold, she thought. She opened the glass cupboard, took out bottles of scented oils, rose, neroli, eucalyptus, and poured them liberally into the bath.
As the fragrant steam began to rise, so did her hopes for the future.
Bobby had pretty much said he loved her.
She dared not look ahead too far because life could be contrary, but still couldn’t help picturing herself with him and even saw a brood of children.
Marriage wasn’t something she had longed for, had never been what she’d aspired to; she was going to be somebody in her own right, after all.
But maybe, just maybe, she might make an exception for Sir Robert Beresford, Baronet, and then she called herself an idiot and slid under the water.
After a while she climbed out, dried herself and towelled her hair.
Putting on the silk robe, she went to find Bobby and saw him, apparently asleep, on the sofa with his head resting on the back of it.
She allowed her robe to fall open and then she straddled him.
His eyes remained closed as she moved back and forth, feeling him grow harder beneath her.
The slightest hint of a smile told her he was feigning sleep.
She undid his shirt and kissed his chest then raised herself up so she could undo the buttons and pull down his trousers.
He wore nothing underneath and she stared at him, not expecting that.
Still he did not open his eyes. With a bit of effort, she eventually managed to lower herself onto him and moved slowly at first, enjoying the feeling of power, and then faster and faster while he continued to fake sleep.
She finished quickly, heart racing, her breath short.
She’d never experienced anything like that before.
It had thrilled and shaken her and she felt invincible to have taken him, but then his eyes flew open.
‘And now, in punishment,’ he said, and still inside her he rolled them both onto the floor and then he finished too.
Swimming in the afterglow of it, she laughed and laughed until she was nearly crying.
‘I knew you were awake,’ she said.
‘Yes, but I wanted to surrender.’
‘Robert Beresford. Who would have thought it?’
‘What?’
‘That you’d let a mere girl be the boss.’
‘Nothing mere about you, my darling. And I rather like you being the boss.’
‘I love you, Bobby,’ she said.