Paradise Island

by Hilary Wilde

  Lauren made him sit down with her on one of the stone benches and told him eagerly, if a little uneasily, that she had told Mr. Harvey how worried Nick was about his wife. "But why did you talk about Natalie?" he asked. She felt the colour creep into her cheeks. "He ... he ..." "Saw me kiss you last night?" Nick asked abruptly. "I'm sorry about that, Lauren. But you looked so sad and so very lovely." "I know you didn't mean it," she told him quickly. "I told Mr. Harvey that it was just a brotherly kiss." "Of course it was," Nick said, but he gave a strange smile, and suddenly the palms of herhands were damp. She jumped up. "Nick, he said if you'll give Miss Hunter your home address, he'll have all the necessary arrangements made to bring Na-talie out here. I thought you'd be so pleased," she finished disconsolately. Nick managed a smile. "I am pleased, Lauren.It's wonderful, arid will do Natalie a lot of good to get away from the ghastly weather they're having in London, fogs and sleet. It's just . . ." He paused, slowly tracing a pattern on the stone seat with his finger. "Well, she's going to resentbeing an invalid and not being able to dance, and I told you she was very jealous." He sighed. "She doesn't trust me." Lauren took his arm and hugged it. "Nick, I do, and when I tell her how very well you've behaved out here, I'm sure she will, too. It's just that she loves you so much." "I know." He stood up and smiled at her. "Thanks, anyhow, honey child. I'll go and see the Hunter now and get things fixed." She watched him hurrying towards the hotel and then saw, by her watch, that it was time for -128

  the children's dancing lessons, so she hurried back to the hotel to change. On her way down again, she collected several letters and thrust them into her gay orange and green beach bag. The children were waiting for her and the time passed swiftly. She thought what a pretty sight it was to see the children of different ages in their gay swim-suits dancing lightly over the sand. She was planning a concert for the parents to see what progress had been made. The ' only flaw in the lovely morning was the fact that Deborah was not there. Lauren had riot seen her since the night when she had stood like a stork and Deborah had recognized her. After the class she went to lie in the shade under their favourite palm, feeling comforted, for many of the parents had spoken to her kindly, asking if she was badly bruised from her fall, and saying she should not have bothered to give the dancing class. It was so good to know that many people liked her; to realize that it was only a small minority who thought she had done a disgraceful thing by taking Natalie's place. One thing, Natalie was coming out here, so soon everything would be all right and the gossip would die a natural death., She settled down to read her lettersone from her parents, one from Natalie, oddly enough, and one from Miss Cartwright. She saved the nicest letter to the last and read Miss Cartwright's first. She had to laugh, for it was so typically Miss Cartwright, congratulating her on holding down a difficult job and pleasing Mr. Harvey. Miss Cartwright finished: "Of course it will take many years of training before you are as polished a dancer as Natalie Natal." That was to make sure that she did not ask for a raise in salary when she got back, Lauren knew. Poor Miss Cartwright^-what happiness did she get out of her life, always carefully counting the pennies ?Natalie's letter was full of moansbecause she still had pain and the doctors were unsympathetic, because of the terrible weather, and because Nick didn't write often enough. Poor Na-talie, Lauren thought as she folded the letter.Well, all her troubles would soon be over and she would be out here, basking in the sun with her beloved Nick. The parents' letter was lovely and long, for her mother enjoyed letter-writing, and there was a postscript in her father's writing. Everyonewas well, Emily had passed her examination, Fleur had started music lessons, and they all thought the famous Roland Harvey was wonderful, He had been very concerned about their daughter's welfare and said she was a marvellous dancer. Then he and Dad had got on like a houseon fire and he had wanted to know all about Dad's life as a deep sea diver.Slowly Lauren folded up the letter. Roland Harvey had made a great impression on the whole family, she thought sadly. How empty the beach seemed without him . . . Almost as if he had read her thoughts, Roland Harvey was suddenly there by her side, immaculate now in blue Bermuda shorts and a white Sitting up quickly, for she always felt at a disadvantage when sprawled on the hot sands, she looked at him nervously. Now what? He sat down by her side, leaning back on his elbows and putting his dark glasses on."Well, was your dancing partner pleased with your good news?"She felt uncomfortable beneath his stare. Of course he was," she said quickly. Too defiantly/ She hoped he would not guess the truththat Nick had been dismayed. 130

  "Good. Everything is under control. My agent in London will contact Mrs. Natal and make all the necessary arrangements. She can fly out as soon as she likes." His voice went flat and she glanced at him quickly, but he was not looking at her, he was studying the lighted tip of his cigarette. She looked away immediately, not wanting him to catch her staring at him. "I've just heard from my family," she said lightly, wanting to steer the conversation away from Nick. "You have?" Roland Harvey looked amused. "I trust they gave a good report of me." She turned to him eagerly. "They all liked you." "I'm glad. I liked them. Your mother js a remarkable woman." His face clouded as he studied his cigarette again. "I imagine that, in future,you will make exhibition dancing your career? Miss Cartwright implied that she is looking for a suitable partner for you." She felt forlorn. Was that the sort of life she wanted ? "Is she?" she said flatly. He turned to her and the quick change in his voice made her look up so that thteir eyes met,frankly, searchingly. "Lauren, I want to tell" Even as he spoke, a small bundle flung herself at them, shouting, "Miss Woubin!" "Deborah!" Lauren cried. Deborah stared at her accusingly. "You pwomised to see me and you never came. Youbwoke your pwomise. You don't love me any more." Her lower lip trembled. "I do love you, darling," Lauren protested. "And I did want to see you, but . . ." . She hesitated, and over Deborah's head her eyes met Roland Harvey's, Should she tell the truth and tell 131 the child that it was Mrs. Lindstrom's fault theyhad been kept apart? Roland Harvey spoke gently. "Deborah, Miss Roubin would have kept her promise to you, but something happened to prevent her." Deborah gazed thoughtfully at him, obviously accepted the explanation, and snuggled down between them, holding Lauren's hand firmly in one of her hands, and Roland Harvey's in her other hand, as if afraid they might suddenly vanish. "Then it's like it used to was?" Lauren chuckled. "Yes, darling, it's like it used to was." Her eyes exchanged an amused look with Roland Harvey's and, for a moment, she felt very close to him. Later he told them a comical story of one of his first mountaineering exploits and had them both shaking helplessly with laughter. Then Deborah said proudly that her "Miss Woubin" was the finest dancer in the world, and Roland Harvey solemnly agreed with her. It was wonderful, Lauren thought, completely relaxed for once. Shyly, she told him so. "I'm so very glad you know the truth," she said. "I hated living what seemed like a lie." He studied her face gravely, but said nothing, and then turned to Deborah. "Now, young woman," he said, with a mock sternness that did not deceive the little girl for a moment, for she beamed at him, "does your mother know you're here?" Deborah's face grew impish. "She thinks I'm with Wosie." She turned to Lauren. "That's my new nannie, she's awful pwetty, but I don't like her. She never wants to play and can't swim." "Rosie is one of the local girls who sometimes acts as nannie to children at the hotel," Roland Harvey explained briefly. He turned to Deborah "So you ran away? Don't you think Rosie will be worried?" 132

  "Oh, no," Deborah said happily. "She's talking to her fwiends. She won't think of me until it's time for lunch." Lauren watched the quick frown on Roland Harvey's face. "Is that so?" was all he said, but she imagined he would have something to say to this Rosie about the casual way she performed her duties. He smiled. "All the same, I think you should run back now in case Rosie reports you as lost. It would frighten your mother and might get you into trouble." His voice was friendly, with no trace of censure. "If you say so," Deborah agreed cheerfully. She looked at Lauren. "You won't hide from me? You'll be here this afternoon?" Lauren hesitated a
nd looked at Roland Harvey, who nodded, so she told Deborah she would be there until three o'clock that afternoon. "We'll swim," Deborah announced, and stood up. Now it was Roland Harvey's turn. "You won't forget that you're taking Mummy out to that big ship tonight, will you?" she said sternly. "She's having her hair done for it and she'll be awful cwoss if you forget." The big man ruffled Deborah's hair. "Of course I won't forget." He was laughing. "Have I ever forgotten yet?" He looked at Lauren. "Some friends of mine have a yacht and are moored off the harbour. They're giving a party tonight." She wondered why he bothered to explain. Suddenly she shivered, for it was as if the sun had gone behind a cloud and a chill wind had blown up. She had been so happy, just the three of them. And now she had been reminded of something she had tried to forgetthat Roland Harvey and Leila Lindstrom were always together. Roland Harvey was on his feet, holding out his hand to the child. "We'll walk back together." 133 His eyes were grave as he looked at Lauren. "It will be all right. Deborah will join you later." She watched them walk across the sands, the tall, big, impressive man and the small girl dancing gaily by his side, laughing up at him. How they loved one another. What a perfect father he would make. She turned over on her front and closed her suddenly smarting eyes. The foolish dream wasdead. She was sure, now, that Roland Harvey intended to marry Deborah's mother.' 134

  CHAPTER TEN

  IT WAS a week before Natalie arrived on the island; a strange week for Lauren, for she feltshe was living on borrowed happiness, knowing that it could not last but enjoying it while it did. She lived in a world of dreams, knowing they were simply dreams but enjoying them just the same. Each day, she lay on the sands in the sunshine, while Deborah and Roland Harvey sat with her, talking, laughing, swimming in the warm waters of the lagoon. It was deceptively pleasant, too, in the hotel. Lauren did not know what Roland Harvey could have said to Mrs. Lindstrom, but now, when they met, she was coolly polite. As for Miss Hunter, it seemed to Lauren that she avoided her. Nick was Lauren's only anxiety. Not that he was difficult or attempted to make love to her. In fact, he was the reverse, for he was very casual, almost off-hand at time, seeming to avoid being alone with her, only dancing with her when their duties demanded it. He was choosing the simplest dances for the evening, she noticed. Was it to shorten their practice hours? It was the fact that he was avoiding her that worried her, for she felt there must be something troubling him. The day Natalie arrived was the first dull day they had known. The usually cloudless sky was an ominous grey mass, the very sea looked cold and gloomy. The plane came in just after lunch and Lauren went with Nick to meet it. As theywaited, they both said how sorry they were thatI the weather had suddenly changed. -135

  "But it can't last long," Lauren said optimistically. Silently they watched the passengers ajight, and then Lauren caught her breath with dismay as she recognized Natalie. Was that thin, fraillooking girl the beautiful, glamorous Natalie ? She was still lovely with classical features delicately chiselled, her deep blue eyes framed by long dark lashes, but today she looked almost dishevelled, her blonde hair lank, her eyes sunken and lifeless, deep shadows smudged under them, her face gaunt. Usually very elegant, today she looked as if she had flung on her clothes carelessly; they hung loosely on her. "Nick!" Natalie almost threw herself in his arms. "At last!" She saw Lauren and her face seemed to go dead, her animation vanishing. "Hi, Lauren," she said, and turned back to Nick. "What's happened to the sunshine, darling?" "Just hiding behind a cloud," Nick said cheerfully. "Have a good trip?" Sitting silently with them in the car, Lauren wished she had stayed at the hotel and let Nick come on his own, for Natalie was deliberately ignoring her and making her feel awkward. Lauren had not wanted to come, but Nick had insisted. "I've told you that Natalie is jealous," he-had said almost irritably. "If you don't turn up, she'll think we have something to hide, and if you do, she'll hate you for being there so take your choice," he had finished, almost churlishly. Now she was sure she should have stayed behind, and as soon as they reached the hotel, she murmured goodbye and would have slipped away, but Nick stopped her. "Don't forget," he said sharply. "Three o'clock we practice. You were late yesterday." Natalie looked at her watch, her mouth sulky. f QIS lob

  "Surely you don't have to rehearse every day?" she queried. "Of course we do," Nick snapped. "We do three dances a night and have to ring the changes. There's a lot to be worked out ... the music, lights ..." "We never used to," Natalie declared, looking at him, with suddenly unhappy eyes. Nick looked annoyed. "We never danced at the Island Hotel, Paradise Island," he snapped."Three o'clock, Lauren, and on the dot." Lauren escaped from them gladly and hurried to her room. She shivered a little, partly because of the dull day, partly because already she had sensed tension between Nick and Natalie. Had Natalie always been difficult? Lauren looked back and realized that although they hadbeen friends for a long time, she really knew Natalie hardly at all. They had never had long talks or been alone together. At the CartwrightSchool of Dancing, Natalie had been one of the star dancers, and although she was alwaysfriendly with Lauren, they had little in common. Natalie disliked children and could not understand Lauren's enthusiasm for her classes. At their flat, Natalie had always been the perfect hostess, sympathetic, witty, but always passing on to the next guest.So really, Lauren realized, she did not know Natalie at all. Now Lauren began to remember other things. Nick congratulating her on not grumbling about the tiring practices, and he had said once that it was a pity Natalie was so lazy, that she thought beauty was enough, but in these days of highly competitive living, beauty came a long way behind personality and perseverance. It was as if that first day set the keynote to everything. Nothing pleased Natalie, not evenwhen, a few days later, the threatened storm vanished and the sun shone again out of a clear 137 blue sky. Nothing was right. No, she did not want to sit on the sands and sunbathe, her skin was too sensitive; yet, several times, Lauren saw ' Natalie walking along the family beach, looking intently at the couples or groups, looking towardsLauren where she sat with Deborah. Not even a trip round the island interested her, and only the sight of the graceful yacht, moored in the harbour, seemed to bring her to life. "Now if only we could have a yacht like that," she said enviously. "What would you do with it, if we had one?" Nick asked bluntly. "You're always sea-sick." In the old days, Natalie would have laughed and parried it with a joke, but that day, her eyes swelled with tears and she looked reproachfully at Nick. "Shall we ever be rich. Nick?" she asked. Nick frowned. "We'll have to work for it." He turned away. "I don't think I'm doing too badly." Lauren grew more and more uncomfortable as the days became weeks. Everything now was different. Poor Natalie seemed to have tarnished the gloss and spoiled things for them all. One night Natalie had been particularly difficult, and after the dancing was over Lauren slipped away 'from the crowded ballroom and went to stand on the wide veranda. It was deserted, and she leaned over the stone parapet. It was a perfect night, a night for romance, for joy. The water in the lagoon was absolutely still, slashed by the golden pathway of the moonlight. Even the palms were still, as if holding their breath expectantly. Something was going to happen . . . It had to happen, Lauren thought unhappily, gripping the wall. How long could she stand thestrain'? Everything she did or said was wrong, according to Natalie. It was growing so bad thatnow Lauren thought cautiously before she spoke, 138 and even so, she was always saying the wrongthing. Natalie insisted on watching every practice, criticized Lauren's dancing, the way she wore the lovely gowns that should have been Natalie's, and she was always asking questionsabout Nick and his pupils. It was a jealous, querulous Natalie who distorted every innocent remark, who was forever .watching, as if waiting to pounce. 'Only that evening when Nick had been alone for a moment with Lauren, he said angrily that he wished she had minded her own business and had never suggested to Mr. Harvey that Natalie joined them."You think things are difficult," he had said crossly, "but you have no idea what I suffer. She knows I earn extra money by giving dancing lessons, but the way she creates, you'd think
I do it for fun. She always was possessive and jealous but now, well, she's the end!" It would have been no good to point out to Nick, in the mood he was in, that it had not been her idea to suggest Natalie came out to them, Lauren thought miserably. Nor that if Nick had . not kissed her, Mr. Harvey would never have suggested it. Now as she stared blindly at the beauty, shefound herself wishing that she had never come to Paradise Island. If it meant wrecking Nick's happy marriage, it was too big a price to pay for a few weeks of happiness. All that happiness had gone, killed by Natalie's probing jealousy.Lauren had seen her talking to Miss Hunter and even to Mrs. Lindstrom, and Lauren had wondered what tales those two women had told her. What a long tiring day it had been. Lauren thought, aching with heartache and weariness. It had begun that very morning when she missed Deborah from the dancing class and had knownthat it probably meant that Roland Harvey had 139

  taken Deborah and her mother out for the day. That had hurt, foolishly of course, but still it always hurt to think of Roland Harvey with Mrs. Lindstrom. Later, as she lay under the palm tree, Lauren had been shocked and startled when Deborah had come stumbling across the sands, white-faced, tearful, clinging to her tightly, but refusing to say what was wrong. Lauren had been so worried when Deborah's tearful trembling continued that she had taken her back to the hotel and found the hotel doctor, who was busy and not too, pleased about being disturbed. "There's nothing wrong with the child," he had grunted. "Must have had a fright of some kind. Put her to bed and give her these tablets. They'll make her sleep, and in the morning she'll have forgotten all about it." Lauren had hesitated before taking Deborah to the small bedroom that led off her mother's magnificent bedroom. Ought she to find and tell Mrs. Lindstrom? But when she suggested this to Deborah, the child burst into hysterical tears and clung to her, begging her not to tell her mother. In the end, Lauren took the child to her bedroom, tucked her up in bed, gave her the tablets, and sat by her side until the child was sound asleep. Then, very quietly, because it was nearly time for dance practice, Lauren had crept out of the room. Closing the bedroom door softly, she jumped with surprise as she saw Roland Harvey walking down the corridor towards her. "What on earth" he began, looking down at her, a slight frown on his rugged face. Lauren was not listening, she was too worried. "Mr. Harvey, have you seen Deborah's mother?" she asked. . He looked puzzled. "I think she's playing bridge, but I'm not sure." 140