‘Sorry, sis. The ferry was late but we should be with you in about thirty minutes.’
‘We could delay the start—’
‘No, dinner won’t wait so go ahead with the presentations. Lucy can speak after dinner before the serious bidding. How was Dad this evening?’
‘Furious. Frustrated at not being able to remember stuff. To walk properly. To say what he’s thinking.’
‘That’s probably a blessing.’
Laura laughed. ‘Undoubtedly, but he’s improving every day, even if the words aren’t in any dictionary, so stand back to have your ears blasted.’
* * *
‘Your grandmother and I used to come here all the time when we were growing up,’ Martha said. ‘Christmas parties, birthday treats, sailing. I missed her so much when she went off on her travels after college.’
‘I didn’t know Nana travelled. Where did she go?’
‘Spain, France, Italy, Ireland. There are photographs. You’ll find them as you sort through the cottage. Bring them over and I’ll tell you who everyone is.’ She sighed. ‘The itchy-feet gene runs deep in your family. Your mother was away to Africa on some research trip the moment the ink was dry on her degree, met your father and never really came home again.’
‘Nana wasn’t...’
‘Welcoming? Easy to live with?’ Martha finished for her. ‘She was such fun as a girl, but she was never the same after your grandfather died. We tried to involve her, but we didn’t understand so much about depression back then and we were all so busy with our own families.’ She shook her head. ‘But that’s not what kept your mother on the move. That’s who she was. I’ve never been further than Boston, which is why she asked me to be your godmother. She wanted someone grounded in your life.’
Eve struggled for something to say but Martha rescued her.
‘I thought you were going to follow in your parents’ footsteps, Eve. I seem to recall that you were studying zoology?’
‘I was.’ She had dreamed of returning to Africa, to the scent of hot earth when the rains came, the thunder of hoofbeats as a million wildebeest migrated across the plains, velvet-black skies filled with stars. ‘When I discovered I was pregnant I realised that fieldwork wasn’t going to be an option, at least not for me, so I forgot about my Masters and I took a teaching diploma.’
‘Pregnancy didn’t slow your mother down.’
‘She wasn’t alone, not until Dad left her, but I’d never send Hannah to boarding school.’
Martha reached out and took her hand. ‘Her death was such a tragedy. I hope your little girl gives you some comfort.’
‘She is a gift, Martha. My joy.’
‘Well, let’s hope this visit will be as blessed,’ Martha said, innocently.
Eve realised that she’d underestimated her godmother’s capacity for mental arithmetic, but she’d been away on a fishing trip when Eve had met Kit that summer. Martha might have put her swift departure together with Hannah’s birthday and come up with a theory about where and when, but that was all it was. There was no way she could be certain that Hannah had been conceived on the island.
‘People are beginning to sit down,’ she said, changing the subject. ‘Shall we go and find our table?’
Martha knew everyone at their table, mostly couples of her own generation who greeted her warmly before quietening to listen to Barbara Merchant welcome them and introduce the auction.
She had the same colouring as Kit, Eve thought; the same sun-streaked hair, the same vivid blue eyes. Lost in memories of that night, she heard little of her introduction to the cause for which the auction was being held.
‘Let’s go and check out the trips,’ Martha said, when she was done.
Monitors showed film of the trips on offer at Merchant resorts and some of their partners, in fabulous locations.
There was whale watching off the west coast, trips to Europe—vineyards in France, culture in Italy, golfing and fishing in Scotland—but it was the last one, the wildlife safari, that brought a gasp to Eve’s lips.
The Nymba Safari Lodge had been built high amongst the trees with viewing platforms where you could watch animals in a landscape that was painfully familiar. There was a glimpse of a giraffe at sunset, forelegs spreadeagled as it drank at the oxbow lake. There was the dusty green bark of fever trees, a family of warthogs snuffling through the grass.
‘Eve?’
‘Nymba... It was our home,’ she said. ‘It’s where we lived...’
The cover of the brochure for the safari trip had a photograph of a mama elephant, trunk curled protectively around her calf, and Eve picked it up, instinctively hugging it to her.
Nymba...
It was what her mother had called their boma. The word meant home and for just a moment she could hear her mother’s voice as she’d given her a hug before putting a small grey velvet elephant in her arms and sending her off to school.
‘This little elephant’s trunk is my arm, Evie. Hold onto it when you’re lost...put it around you when you need a hug...’
She wished she could wind the clock back to those last few weeks with her.
‘Excuse me? Can I get in there?’
The woman waited for her to move and Eve stepped back, forcing a smile as she turned to Martha.
‘There are some really exciting trips on offer. Have you seen anything you like?’ she asked.
‘I was hoping for something a little more relaxing than zip-lining through a rainforest,’ she said, ‘but this one could have been made for you. Your grandmother left you some money and you could do with a break.’
‘That’s rainy-day money and, anyway, Hannah is too young to come with me.’
‘The rule with an inheritance is to give ten per cent, save ten per cent and spend the rest,’ Martha said. ‘Serendipitously, if you were to make a winning bid for the safari, you’d be economising by giving and spending at the same time.’
Eve laughed at her logic but shook her head. ‘Good try, but I couldn’t leave Hannah.’
‘It’s only for ten days. I don’t imagine you took her to lectures with you when she was a baby? Teaching practice?’
‘Well, no. Obviously. She is in a wonderful day nursery, but I’ve never left her at night. She’d miss me.’ And she knew everything there was to know about missing your mother.
‘Mary would love to have her stay and Hannah would have a great time with her cousins.’
‘You’re very free with your daughter’s hospitality.’
But Eve knew her godmother was right.
Mary was one of those women who wrapped you up in a hug and instantly made the world seem a better place. Older, she’d been married and living in New York when Eve’s mother had died, or things might have been very different.
Now she and her husband were back on the island with their three children and a menagerie of pets, and Hannah adored, and was adored by, all of them. Every sentence seemed to begin with Cara and Jason and Lacey...
‘Okay,’ she admitted. ‘I’d miss her.’ Putting an end to the discussion, she turned to a rail journey across the US. ‘This hits the less strenuous requirement,’ she said. ‘Or how about this camel trek across the desert? Camping out under the stars. You might meet a dark-eyed sheikh. Very romantic.’
‘There is nothing in the least