Meet Me Under The Ombu Tree

by Santa Montefiore

  ‘Yes, Paco, I will marry you,’ she whispered, overcome with emotion. Paco wrapped his arms so tightly around her she found herself laughing into his neck. He laughed too, with relief.

  ‘I am so happy, I want to sing!’ he exclaimed, lifting her off the ground so that her feet dangled in the air.

  ‘Paco, put me down,’ she giggled. But he proceeded to dance with her like that around the fountain.

  ‘I will make you so happy, Ana Melodia, you will not regret your choice,’ he said, placing her feet back on the wet stones. ‘I want to meet your parents tomorrow. I want to ask your father for your hand in marriage.’

  ‘I’m afraid they won’t let us marry,’ she said apprehensively.

  ‘Leave it all to me, mi amor. Leave everything to me,’ he said, stroking her

  worried face. ‘Let’s meet at Gunther’s Tea Shop.’

  ‘Gunther’s Tea Shop?’ Anna repeated, looking up at him blankly.

  ‘Gunther’s Tea Shop on Park Lane. Five o’clock,’ he said, before kissing her again.

  Anna stayed up with Paco until the dawn streaked the sky with gold. They talked about their future together, made plans, sewed their dreams into the fabric of their destiny. The only problem was how she was going to explain it all to her mother and Aunt Dorothy.

  ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Anna Melody, have you gone mad?’ her aunt objected when she heard the news. Emer took a deep breath and sipped her tea with a trembling hand.

  ‘Tell us about him, Anna Melody,’ she asked faintly. So Anna told them how they had spent the night wandering the streets of London. She omitted the kiss; she didn’t feel it was fair in front of Aunt Dorothy who had never married.

  ‘You spent the night alone with him in the streets?’ spluttered Aunt Dorothy. ‘Good God, girl, what would people think? Poor Sean O’Mara. Sneaking out of yer bedroom like that in the middle of the night, like some tramp from the back streets. Oh Anna!’ She patted her sweating brow with a lace hanky. ‘You’ve only known him for a few hours. You know nothing about him. How can you trust him?’

  ‘Aunt Dorothy’s right, dear. You don’t know this man. I’m only thankful he didn’t harm you,’ Emer said tearfully. Aunt Dorothy sniffed her approval that her sister was for once seeing sense and agreeing with her.

  ‘Harm me?’ Anna cried in exasperation. ‘He didn’t harm me. We danced around the fountain. We held hands. He told me I was beautiful. He told me he had loved me from the moment he saw me sitting in the lobby. Harm me indeed! He’s captured my heart, that’s all he’s guilty of,’ she said, sighing melodramatically.

  ‘What will yer father say?’ Emer said, shaking her head. ‘Don’t think he’ll sit back and let you run off to a foreign land. Yer father and I want you near us in Ireland. Yer our only child, Anna Melody, and we love you.’

  ‘Why don’t you at least meet him, Mam?’ suggested Anna hopefully.

  ‘Meet him? When?’

  ‘Today at Gunther’s Tea Shop on Park Lane,’ she said breezily.

  ‘My my, you’ve got this all worked out, haven’t you, young lady,’ huffed Aunt

  Dorothy disapprovingly, pouring herself some more coffee. ‘What are his parents going to think, I wonder.’

  ‘He said they’d be happy for him.’

  ‘I’ll bet he did,’ she said, digging her chins into her neck and nodding her head sagely. ‘I’m sure they’ll be over the moon that their son has fallen in love with a strange girl from Ireland with not a penny to her name. A girl he’s met only once.’

  ‘Twice,’ interjected Anna crossly.

  ‘Twice if you count the brief introduction in the hotel. He should be ashamed of himself and run after someone from his own class and culture.’

  ‘Perhaps we should at least meet him, Dorothy,’ Emer suggested, smiling kindly at her daughter who had pinched her lips together in fury and was glaring at her aunt venomously.

  ‘Well, that’s typical. One sniff from Anna Melody and you’ll give her anything she wants, like you always have,’ said Aunt Dorothy. ‘I suppose you think they’ll welcome you into their family with open arms, do you? I bet you do. Life is never that simple. His parents are probably hoping he’ll marry someone from Argentina, someone with class and connections. They’ll be suspicious of you because they’ll know nothing about you. You think yer cousins call you horrid names, well how does “gold digger” sound to you - hmm? Oh yes, you may say I’m being harsh and unfair, but I’m only teaching you now what life will teach you later. Think about it hard, Anna Melody, and remember that the grass is always greener on the other side.’

  Anna folded her arms in front of her and looked imploringly at her mother. Aunt Dorothy sat stiffly in her chair and slurped her coffee, but without her usual gusto. Emer stared into her tea and wondered what to do.

  ‘What if you could stay on in London - get a job, perhaps, I don’t know. Maybe there’s a way that will enable you to get to know him properly. Perhaps he can come over to Ireland and meet Dermot?’ suggested Emer, trying to find a middle way.

  ‘No!’ said Anna quickly. ‘He can’t go to Glengariff. He can’t. Dad can come over here and meet him in London.’

  ‘Afraid he’ll no longer want you when he sees where you come from?’ snapped Aunt Dorothy. ‘If he truly loves you, he won't care where you come from.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know, Anna Melody. I don’t know what to do,’ Emer sighed

  sadly.

  ‘Please come and meet him. When you see him, you’ll know why I love him like I do,’ she said, directing her words to her mother and deliberately ignoring Aunt Dorothy.

  Emer knew there was very little she or anyone could do to stop Anna Melody if she was set on something. She had inherited that stubborn streak from her father.

  ‘All right,’ she conceded wearily. ‘We’ll meet him.’

  Emer and Aunt Dorothy sat stiffly at the table in the corner of the tea room. Aunt Dorothy had thought it more discreet to sit as far away from the other guests as possible. ‘You can never be sure who’s listening,’ she had said. Anna was nervous. She played with the cutlery and went to the cloakroom twice in the space of ten minutes. When she came back the second time she announced that she would wait for him outside. ‘You’ll do nothing of the sort!’ sniffed Aunt Dorothy. But Emer told her to go. ‘Whatever makes you feel more comfortable, dear,’ she said.

  Anna stood outside in the cold, looking anxiously down the street to see if she could spot Paco among the unfamiliar faces that walked towards her. When she finally saw him, tall and handsome beneath the sharp brim of his hat, she thought, this is the man I’m going to marry, and grinned with pride. He walked with confidence, looking around at the people about him as if they were there to make life comfortable for him. He had the languid insouciance of a dashing Spanish viceroy who believed his supremacy would never be undermined. Money had put the world at his feet. Life had been generous to him. He expected nothing less.

  Paco smiled at Anna, took her by her hands and kissed her cheek. After telling her she shouldn’t be waiting outside in the cold in such a thin dress they entered the hot steaming tea shop together. Briefly she explained that her father wasn’t there, he had had business in Ireland to attend to. Paco was disappointed. He had hoped to ask for Anna’s hand immediately. He was as impatient as he was ardent.

  Emer and Aunt Dorothy watched them approach the table, weaving their way through the clusters of small round tables that were tightly grouped about the room like lily pads on a pond, laden with silver pots and china cups, pyramids of teacakes and scones around which the most distinguished and elegant

  people chatted in low voices. What struck Emer immediately was the superior way with which Paco held himself and the loftiness of his gaze. He possessed an air of languorous privilege and easy charm that Emer felt must belong to the enchanted world from which he came. At that moment she feared her daughter had swum far out of her depth and would have trouble keeping up with the strong undercurrents
her new situation would bring. Aunt Dorothy thought he was the most handsome man she had ever seen and she experienced a bitter twinge of resentment that her niece, in spite of all her caprices, had won the heart of such a gentleman when fate had removed any such possibility from her own past and without doubt, her future too.

  After the initial pleasantries, about the dreary weather and the show they had seen the night before, Paco took it upon himself to tell them a little about his family. ‘I understand that this is somewhat hasty for you, but I assure you I am no infatuated cowboy. I am from a decent family and my intentions are decent,’ he explained. He told them that he had been brought up in Argentina. Both his parents were of Spanish origin, though his maternal grandmother was Austrian. That accounted for his fair hair and blue eyes, he laughed.

  ‘My father is so dark, you wouldn’t know we are related,’ he said, trying to alleviate the heaviness of the atmosphere. Emer smiled with encouragement, Aunt Dorothy sat tight-lipped and unforgiving, Anna listened to his every word with more reverence than she would have accorded the Pope. His command and confidence assured her that she would be well looked after when they were married. In him she recognized the manly self-possession she had always admired in Cary Grant.

  He had been educated, he told them, at the English boarding school of St George’s in Argentina. He spoke English, French and was completely fluent in Italian as well as his native Spanish. His family was one of the wealthiest and most respected families in Argentina. His father owned a small plane. As well as the family estancia, Santa Catalina, his family took up most of an apartment building in the centre of Buenos Aires. Once they were married they would live in an apartment of their own in the same building and spend weekends at his parents’ house at Santa Catalina.

  ‘I can assure you, Senora, your daughter will be well cared for and will be very happy. I love Ana Melodia. I cannot describe how I love her, I have surprised even myself. But I do and I believe she loves me too. Sometimes one is lucky enough to be struck by a bolt of lightning. Some people take longer to

  find love and are unable to understand the bolt of lightning. I was one of those, but now I understand what poets have so often written about. It has happened to me and I am the happiest man in the world.’ Emer could understand exactly how he loved her daughter. He looked at Anna in the same way that Dermot had looked at her all those years ago when they married. She wished he were with her now but feared his reaction. He would never let his precious daughter marry a foreigner.

  ‘I don’t care much for riches, Mr Solanas, neither does my husband,’ said Emer in her gentle voice. She sat with a straight back and looked steadily into Paco’s sincere blue eyes. ‘What concerns us is the happiness and health of our daughter. She is our only child, you see. I can speak for my husband on this account. The thought of her marrying and living across the seas, so far away, is traumatic for us. But we have always given Anna Melody a certain amount of freedom. If this is what she really wants, we cannot stand in her way. Although, we would feel happier if you could just spend some more time together before you get married. Get to know each other a little. That is all. And, of course, you will have to meet my husband to ask for her hand.’

  ‘But, Mam . . .’ protested Anna. She knew her parents couldn’t afford to put her up in a hotel and they knew no one in London. Paco silently understood their dilemma.

  ‘Might I suggest that your daughter stays with my cousin Antoine La Rivfre and his wife Dominique? They are recently married and living in London for the moment. If after six months we still wish to marry, do we have your blessing?’

  ‘I will have to discuss it with my husband,’ Emer said carefully. ‘Anna Melody must come back to Ireland with us tomorrow.’ Anna looked at her in horror. ‘Dear, let’s not rush into this. Yer father will want to talk it over with you,’ her mother said, patting her hand and smiling sympathetically at Paco.

  ‘Then at least can we spend the evening together,’ she said, ‘if I’m to go back to Ireland tomorrow? You want us to get to know each other, don’t you?’ Paco took Anna’s hand in his and lifted it to his lips and kissed it, silently telling her to leave the discussion of such matters to him.

  ‘I would be honoured if you would allow me to take the three of you out for dinner tonight,’ he said politely. Anna opened her mouth in horror. Emer ignored her sister who kicked her under the table.

  ‘Yer very kind, Mr Solanas,’ she replied, drawing her feet in under her chair. ‘Why don’t you take Anna Melody out on her own? After all, you’ll have to get

  to know each other if you want to marry. You can pick her up from the hotel at seven-thirty.’

  ‘And return her before midnight,’ added Aunt Dorothy tartly.

  After tea Anna and Paco said goodbye to each other at the door while her mother and aunt waited for their coats.

  ‘Sweet Jesus, Emer, do you think we’ve done the right thing?’

  ‘All I can say, Dorothy, is that our Anna Melody knows her mind. She’ll have a much better life with this young man than she’d ever have with Sean O’Mara, that I can tell you for nothing. I can’t bear to think of her the other side of the world. But how can I deny her such a life? If that is what she wants. By God, there’s got to be more of a life for her out there than in Glengariff’

  ‘I hope Paco Solanas knows what a spirited, fanciful young woman Anna Melody is. If she’s as cunning as I think she is, she’ll play the game until the ring is on the finger,’ Aunt Dorothy commented dryly.

  ‘Dorothy, sometimes you are so mean.’

  ‘Not mean, Emer - truthful. I seem to be the only one around here who sees things the way they are,’ she said grimly, and walked out into the street.

  Chapter 6

  The last night in London had been unsettling. Emer and Aunt Dorothy had sat up in their nightdresses until Anna was safely returned to them at midnight. Anna, trapped in her lie about where she was staying, had been forced to take another taxi to Brown’s Hotel so that Paco could meet her there as agreed. He had taken her to dinner at a small restaurant overlooking the Thames, where they had later walked and talked beneath the tremulous stars that glittered above them.

  Paco was unhappy that she had to return to Ireland and couldn’t really understand why. He had hoped she would stay in London. Afraid that she would disappear into the Celtic mists never to be seen again, he had taken great care in writing down her address and telephone number and said that he would call her every day until she returned. He had wanted to walk her back to Brown’s, but she insisted that he see her into a taxi on account of the lack of romance in the hotel lobby.

  ‘I want you to kiss me beneath a lamp post in the drizzle. I don’t want to remember you in some public lobby,’ she said and he had believed her. His

  kiss had been long and soulful. When she returned to the De Vere in South Kensington her heart was burning through her skin with ardour and her mouth still trembling from where he had kissed her. She was too excited to sleep so she lay staring into the darkness, replaying his kisses over and over again until her thoughts turned into dreams and she drifted into a sensual sleep.

  Anna was like a wind-up doll, spinning around the suite in a state of manic excitement. She didn’t seem to care much about Sean O’Mara; all her thoughts were for the handsome Paco Solanas alone, and however much Aunt Dorothy tried to impress upon her the gravity of her situation she just didn’t seem to want to know.

  ‘Sit down a while, Anna Melody, yer making me dizzy,’ wheezed Aunt Dorothy, turning pale.

  ‘But I’m so happy I want to dance,’ she replied, breaking into an imaginary waltz. ‘He’s so romantic - like a Hollywood film star.’ She sighed and skipped across the carpet.

  ‘You really must think about this very hard. There’s more to a marriage than passion,’ her mother said carefully. ‘This young man lives in a faraway country. You may never see Ireland again.’

  ‘I don’t care for Glengariff The world is opening up for me,
Mam. What is there for me in Glengariff?’ Her mother looked hurt and swallowed a sob. She couldn’t allow her own feelings to influence her daughter in this choice although she felt an overwhelming desire to fall at her feet and beg her to stay. She didn’t know how she would be able to live without her.

  ‘Yer family, that’s what,’ interjected Aunt Dorothy crossly. ‘A family that loves the bones of you. Don’t belittle that, my girl. There’s more to life than riches. You’ll learn that the hard way.’

  ‘Calm down, Aunt Dorothy. I love him. I don’t care how rich he is. I’d love him if he were a pauper,’ Anna said imperiously.

  ‘Love is something that grows, my dear. Don’t rush into anything,’ her mother said indulgently. ‘We’re not talking about London or Paris, Anna, we’re talking about a country that is on the other side of the world. They speak a different language. The culture is different. You’ll miss home.’ She choked, then pulled herself together.

  ‘I can learn Spanish. Look I can already say te amo - I love you,’ Anna said and giggled. ‘Te amo, te amo.’

  ‘It’s yer decision, dear, but you’ll have to convince yer father,’ Emer

  conceded sadly.

  Thank you, Mam. Aunt Dorothy’s an old cynic,’ Anna joked.

  ‘Oh, and no thought at all for young Sean? I suppose you think you’ll be able to pick up with him where you left off when it all goes wrong?’

  ‘Aunt Dorothy, no!’ gasped Anna. ‘Besides, it won’t go wrong,’ she added firmly.

  ‘He’s too good for you.’

  ‘Dorothy, really,’ chided Emer nervously. ‘Anna knows her own mind, she knows what’s best for her.’

  ‘I don’t know, Emer. You haven’t spared a thought for that poor young man who's been nothing but kind to you. Don’t you care what becomes of him? He’s looking forward to a future with the woman he loves and you’re just callously throwing that back in his face. I tell you, Emer, you and Dermot have indulged this child to the point where she can only think of herself. She hasn’t been taught to think of anyone else.’