Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
‘M ichaela didn’t mention this hill,’ said Anna, slowing down as she puffed breaths into the chilly morning air. She was reasonably fit, but her calf muscles were complaining about the workout on the steep incline. During the most delicious dinner of mushroom goulash the previous evening, their neighbour had insisted they should visit Pet?ín Hill. ‘We should have taken the funicular.’
With his usual bouncy puppy-dog enthusiasm Leo had convinced her that it would be far more fun to walk up through the park and ‘experience’ it rather than sit with other tourists.
‘The clue was in the word “hill”,’ said Leo and with a good-natured grin grabbed her hand to pull her along.
‘Very cute,’ she said, although she was laughing.
‘You know you’re having a good time, really.’ Leo threaded his arm through hers.
Rather than admit it, she rolled her eyes at him, although in fact she was enjoying herself enormously. She wondered if he was ever unhappy or sad or took anything seriously. Even his proposal had been a bit of a lark.
‘Let’s get married,’ he’d said, as they stood at the top of Primrose Hill admiring the skyline view of the City, on a walk not dissimilar to this one. And because she’d loved him, and was young and stupid, and there was romance in the moment, she’d said yes.
Swept along on the high of love, they’d decided to marry on her parents’ wedding anniversary, six weeks later, at the Kensington and Chelsea Register Office. It had been a conscious decision not to involve their respective families, Leo’s because Ernesto was away on location and hers because she knew her aunt and uncle would think it was all too rushed.
At the time it had seemed symbolic. Making a deliberate decision to follow in her parents’ footsteps rather than fall into line with her adopted family’s approach.
Of course, when she and Leo split up, her aunt and uncle were the first to say they knew it was a mistake. Why, she wondered, did people take such great delight in ‘I told you so’?
* * *
‘I suppose you’re going to want to go up to the Observation Deck,’ she said, tilting her head right back to gaze up at the steel girders of the Pet?ín tower, which bore a strong resemblance to its inspiration, the Eiffel Tower.
‘Of course. You’re not scared of heights. And the exercise will do us good.’
‘“The exercise will do us good!”’ Her outraged echo made him laugh. ‘You’ve just made me climb up a mountain.’
‘Come on,’ he said, disengaging his arm and taking her hand and dragging her towards the entrance. ‘I’ll pay. And we can take the steps slowly, old lady.’
‘Who are you calling old lady?’
‘Only two hundred and ninety-nine steps,’ he commented as they began the ascent.
With a half-hearted groan, she shut up and focused on putting one foot in front of the other and breathing. The staircase wound round the outside of the tower and, despite the strenuous workout, she was distracted from her aching thighs by the view. Through the metal latticework, she caught tantalising glimpses of the city, and with each flight of stairs the view altered slightly.
Hauling in a big lungful of air when she reached the top, she had to admit, as they stepped out onto the octagonal platform surrounding the steel structure, that the climb had been worth it. The panoramic view was one that you could look at a dozen times and each time find something new to see. With a happy sigh she scanned the skyline. She could see exactly why Prague was so often referred to as the City of a Hundred Spires.
Along the valley, the castle dominated the view, standing guard over the city, keeping a watchful eye on the buildings below with their distinctive cream walls, topped with bright terracotta tiles. The jumble of roofs was interrupted by the soaring, verdigris-topped spires punctuating the skyline, all kept in check by the boundaries of the Vltava, where riverboats, long and sleek, puttered between the bridges. Spread below them, the trees on the slope were burnished in flaming autumn finery.
‘I feel like I’m starting to know my way around,’ Anna said as they stood studying the different landmarks. ‘That’s St Nicholas Church, the Charles Bridge, the Old Town Square.’
‘You can’t miss the Church of our Lady before Tyn,’ Leo responded, his arm brushing hers as he pointed. ‘When you see the city like this, you realise there’s so much more to explore. So many wonderful buildings … and breweries.’
‘And also, how lucky we are that we have all this time,’ said Anna. Exploring on her own wouldn’t be nearly as much fun as with someone else, and with Leo … well, you never quite knew what fun you’d have.
‘We ought to make the most of it, you know. We should choose a new place to visit every weekend. We could make a list and then pick one at random each week.’
And there he went again, full of bright ideas.
‘For a moment there I thought that sounded very organised for you, but then you had to throw the random element in,’ teased Anna.
‘What can I say, I have a talent for spontaneity.’ He grinned at her. ‘And most of the time it pays off. When did I ever make you do anything you didn’t want to?’
‘There was that time at the Bar Flamenco when you had me dancing on the table and I almost broke my leg.’
‘Nuh-huh,’ said Leo, shaking his head. ‘ You decided it would be a good idea to do a little stamping with attitude on the table. Not me.’
‘It was flamenco,’ she protested, laughing, and wrinkled her nose at him. He had a point, although he was the one that had helped her up onto the table top and whooped and cheered when she did so. ‘And you didn’t stop me.’
‘Why would I? You were having a good time.’
It was easy to have a good time with Leo.
‘We’re definitely going to have to come here again,’ said Leo as they descended the last of the steps. ‘There’s still much more to see, but I’m ready for some lunch and a beer.’
‘You’re always ready for a beer,’ teased Anna.
‘When in Prague,’ he replied with an insouciant smile. ‘Lead me to the monastery.’
They left the park and walked along a pretty tree-lined lane with the creamy stone walls of the park on one side.
‘You could almost believe we’re in the middle of the country rather than in a city,’ commented Anna. This really was such a fascinating and beautiful city, and she loved that there was so much greenery about.
Their walk to the Strahov Monastery took little more than ten minutes and they found the brewery easily. Inside, the cool white interior with its sinuous, curved bar and polished copper trim immediately appealed to Anna.
‘This is lovely,’ she said, glancing round at the clean, light, bright space with its whitewashed walls, which set off the rather austere dark wooden benches and tables. It was easy to imagine generation upon generation of monks sitting here over the ages.
‘Beer,’ said Leo, immediately heading towards the row of taps mounted on a big copper stand. She followed in his enthusiastic wake as he grabbed a menu from by the door and immediately shared it with her. ‘What do you fancy?’
They scanned the selection, Anna noting the hops and the ABVs as well as the names and descriptions.
‘It’s got to be St Norbert’s,’ she said with a smile, remembering the couple on the bridge.
‘Oh, good. I couldn’t decide between that and the Amber Lager. I can try yours.’
They exchanged another in-tune smile, making Anna reflect upon how good it was to be with someone who spoke the same language.
Within minutes they each had two glasses, each with an inch of a different beer. The friendly barman, Ivan, happily talked them through the different flavours. ‘This is our autumn special,’ he said as Anna took a sip of the seasonal pale ale.
‘Oooh, I like. Here, Leo.’ She handed her glass to him without a second thought.
He took a sip. ‘Nice. Try mine.’ He pushed his glass towards her.
For the next fifteen minutes they tasted, sipped and compared before settling on their final choices. Of course, by then Leo was Ivan’s new best friend.
‘Cheers, mate,’ Leo said as they took their drinks, leaving Ivan to serve another customer.
‘How do you do that?’ asked Anna, taking a sip through the foamy head of the lager.
‘Do what?’
‘Make everyone fall in love with you,’ she said a touch irritably, waving one hand at him.
‘I’m being friendly.’
‘Hmm. I was friendly first.’
He lifted his shoulders. ‘I like people. I guess I’m predisposed to think well of them. My brother was the opposite. He had a tough time when we were growing up. It’s not every day your mum marries a movie star. It plunged us into a whole new world but it was easier for me because I was younger, so I didn’t have as much to compare it with. Raph got burned by people using him. It made him very cynical, whereas for me it opened up a whole new world. I guess I’m more like my mum than him. She likes to embrace new things and she loves people. Although everyone assumes because Raph is the suspicious, careful one that he’s much more sensible than me.’ Leo’s mouth twisted and Anna saw an unfamiliar scowl on his face. ‘He’s the reliable one that everyone can trust. I’m the flaky one.’
Anna stared at him. She’d only met Raph a handful of times and yes, he was the dark to Leo’s light, with an air of calm authority about him. She could see why people would automatically defer to him rather than to Leo. But Leo was implicitly honest.
‘You’re not flaky,’ she told him.
‘Aren’t I?’
‘No, not at all.’ She realised it was true. ‘You are reliable. You’re a good friend to people. You care about them and you don’t let them down. I suppose some people might … well, be suspicious that you make friends so easily. Are you really sincere?’
‘If you show people you like them, in general they like you back. If you’re suspicious then they they’re going to be wary.’
‘Yes, but not everyone has the confidence to bound in like a puppy, expecting everyone to like them.’
‘Yes, but why assume people won’t like you? And if they do, don’t worry about it. That’s their problem. You could spend all your life trying to please other people. Just be yourself.’
Anna swallowed. Maybe her tongue was loosened by the beer but she was surprised when the words slipped out. She asked in a very quiet voice, ‘What if you don’t know who yourself is?’
Leo leaned over to take her hand. ‘That’s the saddest thing you’ve ever said. You’re Anna Love. You’re a good person, who looks after others. Kind and decent.’
‘But nothing special. And now I sound whiny.’
‘You’ve never been whiny in your life, Anna. And you are special. Super special. I don’t think you’ve ever given yourself enough credit for the duff hand you were dealt. You lost both your parents at a young age, but you were old enough to remember them and be shaped by them. Then you moved into a completely alien environment.’
Anna started. ‘“Alien environment”! That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it? My aunt and uncle gave me a home. They gave me everything. They treated me the same as their own children. They’re my family.’
‘I know they looked after you and gave you a home but… I feel sometimes that they squashed you. Made a square-shaped Anna when you should have been an oval-shaped Anna. You had to fit, rather than be you.’ Leo looked a little diffident, fiddling with his beer glass, as if maybe he’d said more than he meant to.
Anna shook her head. ‘You’re wrong, Leo. They didn’t have to take me in. I needed to adapt. I was the one that came into their home. I was the cuckoo in the nest.’
‘Rubbish. You still should have been allowed to be who you are.’
She scowled. He had no idea. But for a fleeting moment, she wondered what oval-shaped Anna would have been like.