The Perfect Happiness

by Santa Montefiore

  “Go on.”

  “He went back to his farm; I continued my events. We met again in Cape Town when he drove me to Rosenbosch.”

  “His farm?”

  “Yes, the most beautiful vineyard you have ever seen. Oh my God, Candace, it’s like paradise.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “But first he took me up to this pass to watch the sunset. He’d brought wine, and we drank and laughed and watched the sky turn red and gold. It was amazing. Then we went to his house, and I met Anna, his wife, and she asked me about the sunset. She had told Jack to take me up there.”

  “A little odd, didn’t you think?”

  “It gets even stranger. I got the feeling that she was purposely leaving Jack and me on our own, as if she knew we were having an affair and condoned it.”

  “What’s she like?”

  “She’s incredible. I liked her the moment I saw her. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help myself. She has an extraordinary charisma, as if she’s a glowing lightbulb and I’m a fly.”

  “Honey, you’d never be a fly!”

  “A moth.”

  “A butterfly.”

  Angelica smiled and sniffed. “A very small creature. There’s no side to her. She is wholly good and kind and generous, and there’s nothing she doesn’t know about.”

  “Where’s the catch?”

  “There is a catch.” Angelica tried to control her tears by blinking. “But wait. We spent two magical days together, and Anna left us alone all the time. Then, on Saturday evening, we drove back from a neighboring vineyard. Jack sensed something was wrong. But we were so determined to spend our last evening alone together that we marched in. Anxious wasn’t there . . .”

  “Anxious?”

  “The maid.”

  “She’s really called that?”

  “She really is.”

  “I love it!”

  “Poor Anxious. She was tied up and dumped in the dining room. They had slaughtered all the dogs. They were piled up there in the kitchen like skins. It was horrible. This gang of blacks descended on us. I thought we were dead. I was so scared. But Jack was very calm. They wanted to know where the safe was, and Jack kept telling them there wasn’t one, but they didn’t believe him. You know, one of them was called Somebody.”

  “Wow! That’s a cool name, too! Shame I’ve finished breeding.”

  “He didn’t really want to be there, you could tell. Anyway, the leader shot Jack on his way out, for no reason. Jack was bound and helpless, and he just shot him.”

  “Is he going to be okay?”

  “Yes. He bled a lot. Oh my God, the amount of blood. You wouldn’t believe a person could bleed so much and live. But he is stable. Now for the catch.”

  “Here, let me get you a tissue.”

  “I don’t have any.”

  “Then loo roll will have to do.” Candace padded into the bathroom and came back with a whole roll. Angelica dabbed her eyes gratefully. “So what’s the catch?”

  “Jack is dying of lung cancer.”

  Candace’s jaw swung open in astonishment. Even she couldn’t have foreseen that. “He’s dying of cancer?”

  “Yes. He told me as he bled onto the rug. He said it didn’t matter one way or the other because he was going to die anyway.”

  “Holy shit!” Candace shook her head. “This is really heavy duty.”

  “I know. I didn’t believe him at first, but he insisted. He said he was sorry that he hadn’t told me earlier, but he hadn’t wanted to spoil things.”

  “Hold on. He encouraged an affair knowing that he only had a limited time to live?” Now Candace was cross.

  “Yes. He said I made him feel like the man he used to be, whereas his wife looked at him with pity.”

  “Oh great! So he uses you to forget his illness?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “How selfish is that? I told you he was selfish. You know, if he had once considered you and your family, he would never have pursued you. I knew he was selfish right from the start.” When Candace got angry, her nostrils flared and she emphasized her words with verve, as if punching them out with her anger.

  “I believe he loves me.”

  “Of course he loves you! What isn’t there to love? But he shouldn’t have made you fall in love with him.”

  “If I had listened to you that day in Starbucks, none of this would have happened.”

  “And the girls would have nothing to talk about!” Candace laughed.

  “That’s not true. I imagine Kate has kept you all busy this past week.”

  “And some!”

  “Oh dear.”

  “I’ll let her fill you in. The last thing I want to do is steal her thunder, and besides, I’m not done yet.”

  “Okay, so the last thing he said to me before he passed out was that the only important thing was that he loved me.”

  “And you haven’t spoken to him since?”

  “No. But get this? Anna told me that she loves him enough to take pleasure from his happiness.”

  “From his screwing around?”

  “I wouldn’t put it quite like that. She isn’t possessive. She really isn’t.”

  “She’s clearly not from this world.”

  “I think you’re right. She told me that he has had many affairs but that he’s never lost his heart to anyone like he lost it to me.”

  “Generous of her to share that with you.” Candace raised an eyebrow cynically.

  “I’m not sure that he does though. I feel wretched and betrayed. I left yesterday evening on my scheduled flight without a word to him. I’d hidden my passport and rings in my wash bag.” She fingered her diamonds fondly.

  “Clever you.”

  “Only because the rep in Jo’burg told me to. Thank God for her.”

  “I’d hate to think of those brutes running off with your beautiful diamonds.”

  “So would I. I don’t know what they ran off with. Not much, I suspect. South Africans don’t keep large quantities of money and jewelry in the house for that very reason.”

  “I don’t know whether to admire Anna or mistrust her.”

  “If you met her, you certainly wouldn’t mistrust her. She’s the real thing, I tell you.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “I’m hoping you’re going to tell me.”

  “You really want my advice?” She chuckled. “I’m rather wary of giving it to you, after all you’ve been through.”

  “No, I want you to tell me what is right. I’m ready to listen now.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  “I am. I should have listened to you months ago.”

  “You love him, that’s obvious.”

  “Yes, I do. But I feel hurt, and I don’t want to risk losing Olivier or the children. I know I’ve been foolish and selfish, too. I’m definitely part of the ‘me’ generation. I want to call him now . . . more than anything in the world. I want to make him better. But I know it’s got to end.”

  “Well, here’s the deal. You write him a letter, and you tell him it’s over. I don’t think it would be wise to speak to him, considering he’s in the hospital recovering from a bullet wound, and it’ll be harder on you if you hear his voice. Then you go upstairs to your office and block his e-mails and delete his address from your system and his number from your telephone, and you make a conscious effort to send back any letters he writes to you and any e-mails that he manages to send you. Trust me, he’ll try to find you.”

  “This isn’t going to be easy.” “Of course it isn’t. But it could be a whole lot worse. Think about the mess if Olivier found out.”

  “Right, I’ll do it.”

  “You’ve got away with it, which I never thought you would.”

  “My fingers have been burned.”

  “Honey, your whole life could have gone up in flames! Now, we’d better tidy you up. If the girls see you looking like this, they’ll think you’ve given up on life!”<
br />
  Angelica put on a pair of skinny flare jeans from Gap and a cashmere sweater from Paul & Joe. She dried her hair and applied some makeup. Candace sat on the loo seat watching her.

  “Phew, it is you after all. I wasn’t quite sure.” They both laughed.

  “You’re a great friend, Candace.”

  “Well, I hope so.”

  “Joking apart. You’ve made me feel so much better about the whole thing.”

  “You just needed to make sense of it . . . then deal with it.”

  “I was so confused. I love him, and yet I feel so hurt.”

  “And angry.”

  “A little.”

  “If it were me . . .” She sighed heavily and flared her nostrils. “Well, it just wouldn’t be.”

  At one o’clock the girls arrived on her doorstep en masse. Even Kate was on time for once. Loaded with presents and bags of lunch, they marched into the house, embracing Angelica with such fervor one might have been forgiven for thinking she’d just risen from the dead.

  “You’re so pale!” Kate cried, studying her face to check her features were still in place. “I want to hear every detail. Then I want to fill you in on my life, which couldn’t get any stranger.”

  “We’ve brought sushi,” said Scarlet, dumping her bag on the dining room table.

  “I’m ravenous,” said Letizia. “Let’s spread it out and tuck in.”

  “Not before a glass of wine. I don’t know about anyone else, but the sight of Angelica’s white face has scared the life out of me.” Kate opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay.

  “I think Angelica needs a shot more than any of us,” said Scarlet, going to the cupboard and grabbing the glasses by their stems. Her jeans were so tight they could have been painted on. She stood on tiptoe in spite of her high-heeled black PVC boots, which gave her at least another three inches.

  “Thank you all for coming,” said Angelica, laying the table.

  “Are you crazy? They’ve been dying to come all morning,” Candace exclaimed.

  “We’ve been so worried, darling,” said Letizia kindly. “When Kate called me, having heard from Scarlet, I had to sit down. I mean, to have all those horrible men on top of you!”

  “On top of me?”

  Kate pulled a face. “So I exaggerated a little,” she admitted sheepishly.

  “They weren’t on top of me. They tied me up and dumped me in the dining room. Besides that, they didn’t touch me.”

  “Oh! I’d have been offended,” Kate quipped. “Just joking! Had any of them come anywhere near me, I would have died!”

  “No, you wouldn’t. The prospect of telling all your friends afterwards would have sustained you,” said Candace.

  “It must have been a real nightmare,” said Scarlet, placing the maki rolls in neat lines on the serving dish.

  Letizia had found a vase for the purple tulips she had brought and placed it in the center of the table, taking a step back to admire her creation. “Now, isn’t this divine. Spring is just around the corner.” She tossed her glorious mane off her shoulder. “But an early spring is in your dining room, darling.” Angelica thanked her.

  “I bet it was stunning in Franschhoek,” said Scarlet.

  “It was.”

  “It’s a crying shame there’s all that poverty and homelessness,” mused Letizia. “I mean, if it wasn’t for the crime, which is beyond anything we have here, it would be the perfect place to live.”

  “It’s so easy to forget when you’re there, in someone’s home. I drove past shantytowns of such squalor, but the minute I was at the vineyard it was as if that squalor belonged to another country. Then it invaded their home, and I realized why people leave and start again on other continents.”

  “I’d like to live in Italy,” said Kate brightly. “In a magnificent palazzo.”

  “Well, of course you would.” Letizia laughed.

  Candace rolled her eyes. “You’ll have your moment, Kate. But right now the spotlight’s on Angelica, and you know what? I think she deserves it.”

  28

  Vulnerability is your strength.

  In Search of the Perfect Happiness

  They all sat around the dining room table, listening to Angelica recounting her adventure. She didn’t get emotional this time, having processed the experience with Candace. Besides, none of the others knew about her affair. They finished the bottle of wine. It was only the prospect of having to pick up their children from school that prevented them from opening another. Kate insisted her baby enjoyed alcohol in spite of Candace trying to convince her otherwise. Finally, after they had devoured all the sushi and the gory details of dead dogs and bullet wounds, Kate’s moment arrived.

  “Go on, tell her,” said Candace.

  “You mean, you haven’t already?”

  “Of course not. It’s not my story to tell.”

  “That never stopped anyone,” said Scarlet.

  “What’s happened?” Angelica asked, glancing at Kate’s belly. At least the baby was still in the right place.

  Kate said melodramatically, “I’ve walked out on Pete once and for all.”

  “You haven’t!”

  “I have. It took a lot of courage—”

  “And a few drinks,” interrupted Candace.

  “But I couldn’t take his philandering anymore.”

  “The Haggis is still in the picture?”

  “Honey, she is the picture.”

  “What about the baby?”

  “It might not be his,” Kate conceded.

  Candace shrugged and raised her eyebrows at Angelica. “Still no name.”

  “It’s irrelevant. Pete is the father of all my children.”

  “Unless you have any more,” Scarlet added.

  “You never know,” said Kate with a smirk.

  “So where are you living?”

  “When I said I walked out on Pete, I didn’t mean I literally walked out of the house. God forbid! I walked out of our marriage. He walked out of the house. He’s camping at a friend’s.”

  “What about Betsy Pog?”

  “That old harridan!” quipped Candace.

  “At least we can say we both tried.”

  “To be fair,” said Scarlet, “you tried more than him.”

  “Darling, he didn’t try at all,” agreed Letizia.

  “He’s trying to win me back, but I’ve already moved on.” The secretive smile indicated that she literally had.

  “Go on, Angelica, ask!” Candace demanded.

  “Who is he?” she complied.

  Kate’s grin swallowed her entire face. “He’s, now wait for it . . . Count Edmondo Augustino Silviano di Napoli. And he comes with a beautiful palazzo overlooking the sea.”

  “Are you sure he’s not making it up?” Angelica asked.

  “Sounds like he owns the whole of Naples.” Scarlet laughed.

  “Counts are two a penny in Italy,” said Candace.

  “He’s the real thing,” Letizia insisted. “I promise you.”

  “It really doesn’t matter,” Kate replied. “He’s gorgeous.”

  “So what are you going to do about the Vera Wang wedding dress?”

  “Maybe she’ll make use of it in her palazzo,” said Candace.

  Kate was appalled. “If you think I’m going to hurry down the aisle with another man after all I’ve been through, you don’t know me at all.”

  “Such a waste of a beautiful dress!” Letizia sighed.

  “I’ll give a wedding dress party. Everyone has to come in their wedding dresses.”

  “Honey, half the guests won’t be able to get into their wedding dresses!” said Candace.

  “They can have them let out,” said Kate.

  “Why don’t you put it in a box? You’re young. I can’t believe you’re going to go through the rest of your life as a single woman.”

  “Single no, unmarried yes. I’ll never trust men again.”

  “They all say that,” sai
d Candace.

  “I’m having fun. Pete is trying to woo me back. Edmondo is whisking me off to Rome and whispering sweet nothings to me in Italian, not to mention the flowers and jewelry. I’m enjoying the attention.”

  “That, I can imagine,” said Candace.

  “I’m dying for you to meet him.”

  “So what have you done with your tickets to Mauritius?” Angelica asked.

  “Given them to Art and Tod. They’re so excited. Two weeks at the Saint Géran hotel, business-class flights on Virgin, all paid for by Pete.”

  “They struck it lucky!”

  “I think Art deserves it. He’s seen me through the rough times.”

  “And Tod deserves it for having put up with him sitting on the telephone with you night after night,” Candace added.

  “Well, exactly,” Kate agreed. “After all, it’s my New Year’s resolution to be generous. This is the new generous me.” She smiled angelically.

  “It’s so easy to be generous on other people’s money!”

  Kate turned to Candace and pulled a face. “I’ve got to begin somewhere. Small steps for me, giant steps for mankind!”

  When Angelica picked the children up from school at half-past three, she forgot about the robbery at Rosenbosch in the comforting familiarity of her old life. Joe and Isabel flung themselves at her, clinging to her coat like monkeys, competing to be heard. The three of them held hands and walked up the street and into Kensington Gardens, where the pale, winter sunshine had managed to find a break in the clouds and stream through. They walked up the path towards the palace, and Angelica listened to their news. They had so much to tell her, and she gave them all her attention, soaking up their love and letting it revive her.

  Once they got home the children rushed upstairs to see what presents their mother had brought them. They bounced on the bed as she unpacked her suitcase, delving through her memories to pull them out. Joe and Isabel tore at the paper excitedly. But nothing delighted Isabel as much as the little bottles of shampoo and body lotion that Angelica had taken from the hotels. She ran to her bedroom, her arms full of loot, to try on her pajamas and to put the bottles in her dressing table drawer in tidy rows. Joe was happy with his gifts, but it wasn’t until he had given his mother the Full Joe that he was able to put the week behind him. He lay against her, nuzzling into her neck, and Angelica held him tightly, thanking God that she was alive to enjoy her children.