by Gloria Bevan
Tracy smiled back into the florid friendly face, but all the time she was aware that for some reason she couldn’t understand Alison was displeased and angry. She knew the signs only too well—the tightening of the lips, the hard cold glitter of the green eyes. But as she looked up at her male companion, Alison’s smile was as warmly provocative as ever" ‘You don’t need to do that, Will. Tracy won’t mind if you stay.’
Tracy had the strangest feeling ... if she hadn’t known better she would have imagined her cousin to be frightened and nervous, desperately seeking a way out of an unpleasant situation. Already however the short well-dressed figure had moved back to the crowded counter and there was nothing Alison could do but accompany Tracy to a nearby table.
‘I’ve only got a moment!’ Alison flung herself down on a chair. ‘Oh, what the heck! You may as well know!’ She smiled the old reckless smile that in their younger days had presaged an admission to some misdemeanour.
‘Is it true?’ Tracy couldn’t seem to take it in. ‘He said you’re going to settle down ... over in the States. You’re getting married, to him?’
Alison’s laugh was nervous and high-pitched. ‘Trust Will to spill the whole thing! He’s so besotted about me that he wants the whole world to know—but how about you?’ Alison sent her a quick, inquiring look. ‘Where’s Stephen?’
‘Stephen? What makes you think he’d be here, with me?’
The ether girl shrugged. ‘You tell me! From the last word I got from New Zealand I gathered that you and he were getting pretty friendly ... maybe a bit more than friendly?’
Tracy shook her head. She avoided that shrewdly mocking gaze. ‘I’m on my way back to London, just here in transit to connect with the night plane.’
‘Well...’ Alison’s brows were arched in surprise. She gave a short bitter laugh. ‘If I’d known that I wouldn’t have bothered—’ she stopped short.
‘What do you mean?’
Alison answered the query with one of her own. ‘He told you, then, Stephen, all about what happened?’
‘Oh yes, when I first arrived—’
‘That’s okay, then. You wouldn’t be taken in by those letters of mine?’
A shattering suspicion was taking hold in Tracy’s mind, an idea that was almost too terrible to contemplate.
‘You lied to me!’ Her eyes were blazingly blue. ‘You had no intention of going back to the valley, ever! You never did have! You lied about everything. Cliff, Stephen—’ (especially Stephen, she thought over heartbreak).
‘Not really.’ Alison’s brittle smile held no humour. ‘What happened with Cliff was all his own stupid fault! Pretending he was a partner in his brother’s wine business, leading me on to think he had money to burn, when all the time—’
‘All the time he was squandering what little he had on you!’
‘And what was wrong with that? He didn’t interest me one little bit! Not once I’d met his brother!’
Tracy was following the matter to its bitter conclusion. ‘That note you left for me, the first one, it was all lies, what you said about... about Stephen...?’
Alison took a silver cigarette case from her shoulder bag, flicked it open and held it towards Tracy. She shook her head.
‘You seem awfully interested in Stephen,’ Alison sent her a shrewd look. ‘Don’t tell me that you’ve fallen for him too?’
Tracy dropped her gaze. ‘I just want to get things straight, that’s all. Why did you leave that letter?’
‘Oh, grow up!’ Tracy, as she caught the cruel glint in the green eyes, wondered how she could ever have thought this girl beautiful. ‘You always were a naive little fool, just asking to be taken down. I knew I’d be quite safe, that you’d never let on to Stephen what I told you.’
‘But why?’
‘Can’t you guess? You’ve known me long enough to know that I don’t take kindly to not getting what I want, when I want it!’ Viciously she stubbed out the ash from her cigarette in the glass ashtray on the table. ‘I’ll tell you something, Tracy! I’ve got an old score to settle with Stephen Crane. That’s why! No man’s going to turn me down and get away with it!’
‘I still don’t see—’
‘No, you wouldn’t! Wouldn’t you,’ she cried fiercely, ‘invent some sort of cover-up if a man had let you down like that?’
‘Let you down? How do you mean?’
Tracy had to strain to catch the muttered words. ‘He turned me down flat—me! And I was crazy about him! He made it very plain,’ the low tones were laced with bitterness, ‘that he wanted nothing to do with me, and that was after I had thrown myself at him, practically proposed marriage. It was just bad luck that that fool of a Cliff had to wander into the room at the wrong moment! And that really did it! Hearing me make my big confession to his brother made him see red. Not that he was any loss. It wasn’t my fault,’ she met Tracy’s look of wide-eyed disgust, ‘that he took it so badly and smashed himself up that night in a motor accident. Why, it could have been me who was hurt that night, and it would have been all his fault, driving like a madman. As to that Stephen ... I swore that night that I’d get even with him! For a start I wasn’t going to take any chances on his getting too friendly with my little cousin when she arrived, so I took care to nip that in the bud. Took you in too, didn’t I?’
Tracy struggled with a wild primitive urge to administer a stinging slap to that mocking face. Then wisdom prevailed and she crushed down her anger. Why give the other girl the satisfaction of knowing how very well her plan had succeeded? She was, however, determined to get to the bottom of the affair. Not that it mattered—now. She raised her heavy glance. ‘And the letter I got this week?’
Alison drew on her cigarette. ‘You may as well have it all. A few days ago at the hotel here I happened to get talking to a guy who I used to know in Auckland, a Yugoslav winegrower. Old Joe might look a dumb sort of character, but he’s right there when it comes to romance. He told me he’d run into you and Stephen when he was on the way to some wine conference thing in Tauranga, said he could almost smell the orange blossoms.’ Again that cruel smile. ‘I couldn’t allow that to happen could I? Oh well, if Joe was way out in his ideas of you two, no harm done. But if he wasn’t—’ The narrowed eyes, the pinched look around the nostrils, shocked Tracy. It was as if she were gazing at a woman grown suddenly old. ‘He deserved it.’
‘You did that to Stephen?’
‘My,’ a sneering smile lifted the corners of the curving lips, ‘Joe was right, then!’
Tracy realized that her transparently horrified face had betrayed her secret to the other girl. She never could hide her emotions successfully.
‘... That’s one score I’ve settled! You know something? When I first caught sight of you here today it really threw me! I thought I must have made a mistake; that you wouldn’t be going back to London, alone, if Joe had been right. Now I can see it was worth all the trouble. It worked ... put a finish to any ideas you might have had about Stephen Crane! Don’t bother to deny it! I can see it in your face! You never were any good at hiding anything from me. So now you’re on your way back to London, alone...?’
‘Thanks to you.’ Flushed with anger, Tracy leaned across the low table. ‘Ally, how could you?’
‘Easy! Remember, I’ve had lots of practice. All it takes is brains and a little bit of finesse ... and knowing who you’re dealing with and—’ The mocking tones were drowned by the booming sound of a loudspeaker. ‘Will passengers leaving on flight number one-nine-one for Los Angeles please proceed to the aircraft. Will passengers...’ Alison got to her feet, pulling the strap of her suede handbag over a slim shoulder. ‘That’s my call! I’ve got to go. Here’s Will—’ Tracy realized that the stout man pushing his way through the moving stream of people was making his way in their direction. For a moment Alison paused, looking down into Tracy’s ashen face. ‘He’s quite a pet, isn’t he? Not like Stephen, of course, but,’ she turned away, throwing a mocking smile over her shoulder
, ‘you can’t have everything, can you?’
Tracy didn’t answer. Aware of nothing but a chill sense of despair, she stared blindly after the other girl. Sick at heart, she sat on as the crowd of passengers moved towards the flight of stairs leading down to the gleaming jet below, Stephen, Stephen, what had she done? Ever since that day in Gisborne he must have wondered at her sudden change of heart, but she had given him no chance to make explanations, even had his pride allowed him to do so. Then the coolness between them had grown until there’d been no way of mending matters. She wouldn’t again love a man of Stephen Crane’s calibre. She had had her one big chance of happiness, and had thrown it away! How could she have believed Alison’s fabrications, against all she knew of Stephen. When had he ever done anything discreditable? When had he ever lied to her, even when he’d told her he loved her? And she—what must he have thought of her? She’d held a lifetime of happiness in her hands and she’d tossed it aside. Now it was too late. Too late for tears ... or regrets ... and that was the hardest of all to endure, the sense of regret.
CHAPTER NINE
She had no idea how much time had gone by when at last, realizing the big room was almost empty, she pulled herself together and moved down the stairs and out into a blaze of sunshine. Stepping into a waiting taxi, she gave the driver the address of the hotel in Lautoka where a helpful travel agent in Auckland had already arranged her booking. At least it would be somewhere to hide away while she waited until it was time to proceed on the next stage of the long flight back to London.
It was only a short distance to the hotel. The route took her through quiet winding roads with green hills on either side. Then she was checking in at an attractive building where a smiling attendant welcomed her to the modern palm-shaded hotel. The surroundings were so beautiful, she mused, taking in the tropical palms throwing their dramatic shadows over lush green lawns, banana trees with their hanging clusters of fruit, hibiscus blossoms in flaming scarlet and rose. It was a perfect setting for love, had one been fortunate enough to qualify for that category, instead of ...
Listlessly she moved along the corridor beside the smiling young Fijian girl, who led her to a clean and comfortable room. It wasn’t worth unpacking her travel bags for such a short space of time, but she took a cool shower, trying to rouse herself from the depths of misery into which her meeting with Alison had plunged her.
Through the window she glimpsed tourist cars drawing up at the entrance to the building, waiting to transport sightseers on excursions to Suva and nearby islands but Tracy turned away indifferently. What matter that this was her one day in a colourful south sea island? Nothing mattered any more. Perhaps if she could sleep the hours away... She threw herself on the bed, closed her eyes, but the ceaseless whirring of the fans seemed to keep time with her thoughts. Too late ... too late... You couldn’t run away from love, it seemed. It didn’t matter who you were with or where you were. You couldn’t escape the pictures that kept forming in your mind, banish the bitter regret. Yet later she must have fallen into a deep sleep, for when she awoke the room was in darkness and for a moment she wondered where she was. The next minute it all came flooding back—the heartache, the aching longing. But you couldn’t hide here with your grief for ever. She changed into a cool dark shift and went along the corridor, passing a softly lighted restaurant where diners sat at small candlelit tables. Tracy left the babel of voices behind her and wandered out into the Pacific night where the stars hung like spangles in the soft darkness above.
Slowly she crossed the grass of the spacious, sloping lawns. A sheet of water glimmered ahead and moving to the pool, she dropped down beside it, staring blindly down at the shower of stars reflected in its depths. Gradually the shadows around her deepened, the night air, fresh and cool after the tropical warmth of the day, caressed her face. Still in a daze of misery she thought she had imagined a voice, deep and vibrant, calling her name, but of course it was all a part of her imagining ... and longing.
‘Tracy!’ There was nothing dreamlike about the determined way in which Stephen came striding towards her, the purposeful note in his voice.
‘What... are you doing here?’ she gulped.
‘I’ve come to take you home.’ He dropped down at her side and as she caught the glint in his eyes the old magic took over and she scarcely knew what she was saying.
‘But I’m going—’
‘You’re not, you know. You’re going to do some explaining, young Tracy, and so am I! For a start—’
‘But my plane for London! It’s leaving in an hour.’
‘Let it go! We have other plans.’
‘We?’ Her heart was beating suffocatingly. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that Lucie gave me a letter to read, the one from your cousin Alison that sent you rushing away from the valley this morning! And that,’ his voice was grim, ‘explained a lot. No doubt,’ he went on, still in the same ruthless tone, ‘the one she wrote when she left the country was in the same vein?’
This was the other Stephen again, his voice sharp and crackling, shooting questions at her like rifle bullets, his eyes icy, demanding an answer, a clearing up of all the misunderstandings that had clouded the way between them.
She nodded, said very low, ‘And I believed her—then.’
‘You mean you don’t now?’
‘No. You see, she’d twisted the whole thing around—’
‘How do you knew?’
‘She told me!’
‘Told you!’ His tone was incredulous. ‘Alison—’
‘It’s true.’ She might as well tell him of the encounter and all she had learned from it. It didn’t matter now anyway. ‘I ran into her at the airport today. She was getting a plane for L.A. and she let me in on what had really happened at the valley. I guess,’ she glanced uncertainly up into the strong dark face, ‘that I shouldn’t have needed her to put me right. I should have known—’
‘Why should you have known, Tracy?’
He wasn’t making it any easier, but she was past caring now. One thing about having lost everything you valued in life, nothing seemed to matter any more. ‘Well,’ she raised heavy eyes to his intent gaze, ‘you see, I knew you,’ she said simply.
‘Yet you believed those lies of Alison’s?’
‘I’ve always believed her, until I found her out. And you see, I’d always known she had that terrific attraction for men—’
‘Not for me.’
In the starshine she caught a look in his eyes that sent her heart singing. All at once she was aware of a feeling of freedom. What Alison said or did would never matter to her ever again. She was herself, Tracy Cadell, not just Alison’s cousin, and by the way Stephen was regarding her at this moment that was how he thought of her.
‘It was pretty hard for her to take,’ Tracy murmured. ‘I mean, for her to throw herself at any man was something new in Alison’s life. And then for you to turn her down. No wonder it made her mad enough to do anything.’
‘She was jealous of you, Tracy.’
Alison, jealous of her! It was a novel and oddly satisfying thought.
‘Forget her,’ she brought her mind back to Steve’s vibrant tones. ‘She doesn’t matter any more.’
‘I know. I know. How stupid it all seems now—’
‘That’s a mild way of putting it. Especially as I happen to have been in love with you since the first day I saw you at the wharf—’
She couldn’t believe her ears. ‘What did you say?’
‘Love, Tracy. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks, only things got in the way.’ He gathered her into his arms, tearstained face and all. ‘When you changed towards me so suddenly,’ he murmured against her hair, ‘I got the idea something was wrong, that Alison had managed to snarl things up some way, and after that—’
‘I wouldn’t let you explain—’
‘And everything seemed to go haywire!’
‘Then when I found you’d gone and in the rus
h left Alison’s letter behind you, things began to get clear. I took a chance that you’d come back with me—’
‘But how did you know?’
‘I didn’t! Had the dickens of a job tracing you, but I finally found your name on the airport passenger list. After that I had to get moving—and fast! To get myself over here, get your name on the flight for the trip back to New Zealand tonight—there’s a plane taking off from here in a couple of hours.’
Tracy smiled up into his face. ‘You seemed awfully sure of yourself—’
‘Oh, I am! I am! It’s you I wasn’t sure about—’ He broke off as a couple came strolling from the lighted courtyard in their direction. ‘Hell! This place is getting too crowded for my liking. Let’s get out of it!’ Gently but firmly he drew her to her feet, leading her towards a narrow path that gleamed faintly amongst the palm trees. Soon there was nothing but the darkness, and far below, the sheen of the sea. Where the shadows were deepest, he paused, and once again, drew her close
‘Why didn’t I listen?’ she whispered.
‘Why didn’t I make you?’
They spoke together, then Stephen’s seeking lips found her own. Tracy didn’t know whether the low-hanging stars really were so close or whether it just seemed that way because of the heady excitement that was sweeping her away into a new and unknown world.