by Ruth Hay
“I need to know something about his background first of all, and then I can fill you both in on the reason for my curiosity.”
“I’ll tell you what I can, Anna.”
“Good. What is, or was, his father’s name?”
This was getting more and more strange as far as Philip was concerned but he trusted Anna to have a good reason for her question and replied after a second’s deliberation, “I think it is Albert, or Arthur.........the latter sounds right, I am sure.”
“That’s what I thought.” Anna now knew Nigel was, indeed, connected to the Fraser family from Stirling. The family Helen Dunlop had married into long years ago.
“Can you tell me anything at all about his financial situation, Philip?”
“Who? Arthur or Nigel?” Philip was becoming flustered at these personal questions related to a partner in his firm. He was reluctant to divulge private details without the permission of the young man in question.
“I mean Nigel. Look I know this sounds intrusive, Philip, but I don’t need his financial statements just an idea of his general situation with regards to money. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
Philip twiddled a button on his shirt while he deliberated about this and finally came to the conclusion that a general idea of Nigel’s situation would not breach any confidentiality clauses in their firm’s charter.
“I can’t give you details anyway, Anna. I do know he lives well, in a house outside Manchester with a wife and two young children. He seems to me to be comfortable financially and I know he has a substantial salary as a partner in the business. Why on earth do you need to ask?”
Anna was conscious of the abrupt manner with which these statements had been delivered.
She hurried to alleviate Philip’s concerns. A quick glance at Alina’s shocked face told her he was not the only one who was confused by this line of questioning.
She took a deep breath and began.
“As you both know, my inheritance of the farmhouse outside Oban came from the last will and testament of Helen Dunlop, a relative I had never met, and never known about, prior to the arrival in Canada of a solicitor’s letter from Scotland.”
Two heads nodded in agreement and two minds waited to see where Anna would go next.
“I investigated what I could find out about Helen’s life and among the details I discovered a very tragic incident involving Helen’s husband Harold Fraser, which resulted in a bribe being paid to Helen to keep her silent.”
“But what has this to do with Nigel?” Philip was becoming impatient. He shuffled his feet as if to rise and escape as soon as possible.
“I know Alina will recognize some of this story but it is only recently that I was able to put all of it together.”
“Go on then, Anna,” said Alina in an encouraging manner as she reached out to tap Philip’s hand in an attempt to reassure him that Anna would soon get to the point of her story.
“Well, Helen’s money came from the Fraser family. Nigel’s grandmother was a Fraser who married and had two sons one of whom was Arthur. Nigel’s father, Arthur, inherited a construction business in Stirling. It all fits together with what Nigel told us at The Winter Palace.”
“I imagine you are right about that, Anna, but so what? How does this affect Nigel?”
Anna looked down at the checked tablecloth liberally decorated in crumbs she was unconsciously kneading into little balls of dough. Now comes the hard part, she realized with dread.
“Helen worried all her later life that the Frasers would track her down and take back her ill-gotten gains, leaving her destitute. She hid her true identity in case anyone would connect her to the Frasers even after a new generation, Nigel’s Ogilvy family, had taken over.”
Anna stopped to take a breath. Her hands were shaking with apprehension.
“Do you mean you have carried on this ridiculous subterfuge for your benefactress and now you are allowing these events from the distant past to haunt you today?
Anna, I am surprised at you!” Philip’s harsh words left no illusion about his feelings.
Anna heard only her mother’s stern disapproval as she remonstrated with Anna for falling beneath the required exam standards her family expected. She rose to her own defense, just as she had when she was a child.
“Wait one minute, Philip. Helen may have made mistakes in her life but she was genuinely concerned that an injustice might have been done. I am only trying to lay this entire issue to rest by finding out if the Fraser clan had survived without the money they gave to Helen. Without that assurance, I would also feel guilty for receiving a gift of a home from my Aunt Helen that caused others to suffer financially.”
She lifted a glass of water from the table with an unsteady hand and took a long drink while she attempted to settle her heartbeat.
Alina was the first to recover from this outburst. She still had a grasp of Philip’s hand, for some reason, and she now lifted it in hers and turned Philip’s startled face toward herself.
“This is the new Anna, Philip. Advance with care. She takes no prisoners.”
“Glad to hear it!” mumbled Philip. He was finding an unexpected, and pleasant, warmth coursing through him that had nothing to do with the hot pizza he had consumed, and more to do with the close contact with Alina.
“Well, you can stop worrying right this minute, Anna,” he continued, in a more subdued tone. “Nigel is fine. His family is fine, and as far as I can tell no one suffered from the money they gave to your relative. It sounds to me like she deserved it, whatever the reason was, and it bought her some freedom. You have no need to take on this burden. All those involved are long gone by now.”
“Ah! So this was the family mystery Nigel referred to at the dinner the other night,” concluded Alina, in the silence Philip’s timely advice had created. She had noticed a glance pass between Philip and Anna at that point in the evening and wondered what was meant by it.
“I suppose Nigel was not overly worried by that mystery,” Anna had quickly recovered her equilibrium, “.......so I guess I should not be either. Thank you, Philip. That is what I needed to hear. From now on it’s all in the past, as you said, and there it will remain.”
“I’ll toast to that!” proclaimed Alina, and she raised her water glass till the sunbeams caught it and cast the sparkles all around the table. Anna followed her lead with a huge sense of relief and found Philip smiling at her like the concerned older brother he was beginning to become to her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Philip decided to stay at the Sheraton for the afternoon. A work crew at the building site, under Nigel’s direction, was still clearing up after the sandstorm and he had no urgent business to
take him away. Time off was an unexpected luxury for him, as was female company. The truth was, he was enjoying Alina’s undemanding attention and when Anna decided to take a last swim in the pool he was quite pleased when Alina declined Anna’s offer and suggested that she and Philip retire to their hotel room balcony from which an excellent view of the Nile could be enjoyed.
“Good idea!” agreed Anna. “You will be able to see me from there. I know two rescues in two days would be unusual, but I feel safer knowing you are on duty, Philip.”
Anna’s approval was another new feeling for Philip and with the confidence he gained he ventured into foreign territory and asked Alina what had transpired during the visit to Nefer al-Sayyid’s home on the afternoon of the previous day.
Alina was happy to fill in the frightening details for Philip although she was becoming aware that this knowledge might affect Philip’s future business dealings with the embassy representative.
“I don’t usually have any personal contact with the woman at all,” he explained, reassuringly. “The visa request and the dinner invitation were special circumstances. They have never happened before and will never happen again. Now that I have been warned about her, I will definitely keep my distance. The hotel job will be completed before
spring next year and my responsibility there will be at an end.”
Alina knew Anna would be relieved to hear this. She wondered what Philip might think of another issue that concerned her.
“Why do you think the Madame is not known by her married name? If we had known that name, much of what followed could have been prevented.”
“I imagine her Egyptian title is used here in Luxor and probably when dealing with business in Ottawa. Her married name would be for her private life.”
“I guess so.” Alina felt emboldened by Philip’s willingness to answer her questions so readily. She decided to risk one more.
“What did you think of Anna’s ex-husband?”
“Nothing!” was the reply. “I thought he was some flunky from the government sent to pull out chairs and pay the bill. I had no idea there was a relationship with Madame al-Sayyid, never mind a relationship with Anna. I was stunned to hear about all that.”
“Then you can imagine how Anna and I felt when we recognized him across the table.
It was awful to find out he was so ill with cancer, poor man!”
Philip hesitated to ask a personal question about Anna’s marriage but things were going so well with her friend that he thought this might be his only chance.
“None of my concern, of course, but what happened in that marriage? Anna has never mentioned it in my hearing.”
“Oh, she wouldn’t mind me telling you, Philip. It was a long time ago and the wounds are healed now. I think they were both too young to understand the compromises that marriage requires but don’t take my word for that! I haven’t any personal experience of marriage to fall back on. I speak only as an observer who was Anna’s close friend then, as now.”
So, she is unattached like me, thought Philip, with some surprise. He stole a quick glance at the profile of the woman he saw beside him. She had an attractive face, a petite, trim figure, with short silvered hair and those startlingly-clear green eyes which were usually hidden behind dark glasses.
There were wrinkles round her eyes and mouth, of course, but didn’t they call these laugh lines nowadays? All in all, he thought she was a charming woman and pleasant company. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to spend more time with Alina but when would that happen? They lived on opposite sides of the Atlantic and she was younger than him with possible suitors in Canada.
A flush of disappointment at this realization shocked him into an adrenaline spike that provided the courage to think more positively for a moment.
What about Anna’s house in Scotland? They could possibly meet there and spend more time together. They could see how things went from there. No pressure. No rush. No way!
What was he thinking? A confirmed bachelor, as all his married friends insisted.
Devoted to his work.
Content to live alone in a big Victorian house with another architect and a housekeeper.
Happy with his circumstances.
No family.
No unmet needs.
Philip cringed inside as this roll-call of false advertising scrolled through his mind.
Each statement was more damning than the last.
Well, perhaps it was time to make a few changes? Hopefully it was not too late. He had his newly-discovered-sister Anna’s example to guide him. She had moved on past disappointments and created a new life and thriving business and reached out to other people, like himself.
Surely, he could manage to do some of this also? Did he have the courage?
* * *
Alina had filled her companion’s silence by watching Anna swim back and forth across the circular pool diverting now and then to allow some children to catch a ball thrown by their father on the poolside. Alina could tell how much better Anna felt just by looking at her relaxed movements.
She smiled, wondering what thoughts were going through Anna’s head. Was she glad to be going home, or pleased at how the frank talk with Philip had ended up?
Philip.
They had been sitting peacefully side by side without talking for several minutes. She always thought it was a good start to a friendship when two people could tolerate silence without the necessity to fill it with mindless chatter. The thought made her recall Philip’s comments about Nigel’s habit of talking endlessly.
“What are you grinning about?”
She turned and smiled at Philip. “Oh, I was remembering what you said about Nigel. Isn’t it nice that we can sit here comfortably and not feel we have to talk, unless we want to, of course?”
“I think that’s only one of the nice things about this afternoon, Alina. I’ve really enjoyed our time together. I hope we can do this again another time, and in another place?”
Philip’s speech was tentative and required an answer. Alina found the answer came readily to her lips. “Yes, Philip. I would enjoy that opportunity very much. Don’t wait too long.”
Content with this promising response, Philip sat back happily, contemplating a future that had suddenly expanded before him to encompass possibilities he could never have dreamed of just a few hours ago.
He looked out towards the limestone hills of the Valley of the Dead across the blue, blue Nile, and was glad to be alive.
People said there was mystical power in Egypt. For the first time, he was beginning to believe that might be so.
FAREWELL TO EGYPT. FLIGHT HOME.
Seems an age since I wrote in this journal. So much has happened lately that it will take some time for me to process all of it. Perhaps I can think it through in the winter months.
My heart aches for Richard and what awaits him back in Ottawa. I hope he remembers to keep in touch somehow. I hope he can.
I must not let that sad memory of the final days in Luxor spoil the wonders that came before.
The sandstorm brought wild weather and even wilder events with it but once it was all swept away the sky, and the future, became clearer.
One thing remains there. In the charred fuel of a fire within the pita oven on the grounds of the Sheraton Hotel in Luxor, lie the tiny fragments of Helen Dunlop’s memoir. They will escape and descend into the sand, or the waters of the Nile, and be forgotten forever. It was Helen’s wish that her words should be destroyed and I have complied with that wish. Somehow I believe she would have been pleased to know her wishes were followed in such an unlikely place in the world. A place she had never thought to see, and where I have been happy to venture with my forever friend, Alina.
We will have a treasure trove of memories to pore over for the rest of our lives. The pictures will be amazing and the fabrics and souvenirs, we just managed to stuff into our luggage, will warm us through the worst that Ontario winter can throw at us. Alina is already planning new products for A Plus.
Hard to imagine winter when we have basked in sunshine for all these weeks but surely we will be better able to survive the cold with the added sunshine in our bones.
Alina is sleeping beside me leaning against the window of the plane. I can’t see out from here but we are high in the sky having left Africa behind us. Will we return one day? I hope so. There is all of Cairo and northern Egypt to explore. Inshallah! God willing!
Last night I asked Alina what she thought the most enduring memories of our trip would be.
She hesitated to commit herself to an answer so soon but thought it might be the sights along the Nile we saw from the deck of the cruise ship.
My answer is no more specific right now. I think what stands out initially is the sheer delight at the relics of an ancient time that still exist in Egypt today. I know from previous experience that what becomes most important from this trip may be neither of these first impressions. In time, it will be some small item we bought, or an event we can’t even recall at this moment, or a person we met, that will finally represent the enduring effects of this momentous adventure.
A long day of travel before we see London, Ontario, again. We will make it through together, as usual, with the promise of one last treat to welco
me us home.
We will be in time for Christmas at Susan and Jake’s. A real reunion. With all the places we have been and wondrous things we have seen, it feels as if we have been gone for months instead of weeks. So good to think of seeing Maria and her family again. It will be great to catch up with them. During our last phone call home, Maria suggested she and Paul would pick us up from the airport as they were spending the weekend with her parents in Toronto. Such a relief to go home with friends instead of waiting around for that long, weary ride on the bus.
I am getting weary now. Better sleep while I can.
Just one more thing to note for future reference; Philip phoned to wish us a safe journey last night. He was in a strange mood; quite talkative for him. He wanted to talk about family and was thinking about his sister Lynn. He asked if I thought he should make an effort to spend more time with Lynn in the south of England. I tried to encourage him to do that as soon as possible.
Life is short and opportunities are not always there for us. It would be tragic if he missed the chance to repair the gulf between them. I reminded him that Lynn had welcomed him when we met at his mother’s bedside in Sussex.
It is good to be able to talk to Philip like this. He is not the easiest person to get to know but I feel we have made progress on this trip. He needs family in his lonely life.
Philip asked to speak to Alina after we had said goodbye. I was surprised at this but Alina seemed quite anxious to talk to him. I took the chance to tidy up our things in the washroom so I did not hear what was said between them.
When I emerged with our toiletries in my arms, there was an odd look on Alina’s face. I was about to ask her what had happened but she distracted me by reminding me that we had left some overnight washing and my swimsuit arranged discreetly on the balcony chairs and we needed to find a place for it in our already-groaning cases.
I’ll get the story out of her eventually. She can’t hide anything from someone who is as close as we have always been. There’s plenty of time ahead of us.