Stratford Jewel

by Oliver, Marina

  Adam led the way to one of the big rooms at the front of the house. 'I've made up this bed, I know it was aired for some of our relatives who came for the funeral.'

  Rosa looked at the big bed. It looked so very lonely, as did Adam. Impulsively she turned to him. 'We've both made a mess of our lives,' she said sadly. 'Adam, please stay with me. I don't want to be alone.'

  *

  'Max, we do realise you've been having problems lately, but you'll have to pull your weight now, with this new chain of cinemas out west.'

  'You want me to go there, Reuben?' Max asked. It was a week since Rosa had left, and he'd changed the steamer tickets twice, still undecided whether he wanted to follow her to England, wanted her back. Now it seemed the decision would be made for him.

  'We need two partners out there to set up the new branch. It will be a boost to you if you're one of them. De Vries is definitely going.'

  Max glanced warily at the older man. Had he heard rumours about himself and Gloria? But Reuben was smiling, his face bland and his gaze open. 'How long for?' he asked. 'Is it a permanent move?'

  'A year first, to set up the office and get these cinemas started. After that we'll see. De Vries may want to come back, but we'll need a senior partner in charge of all the new staff we have to hire. It could be you. Well, you'll go?'

  'Yes, I'll go.'

  Max knew he should be relieved. He would have no temptation to follow Rosa, no constant reminders of her. The apartment resounded with echoes of her presence there. Every room, every piece of furniture, even the towels he used and the plates he ate from made him think of a time when she had been there, touched these things, cooked for him, ate with him, loved him. He sometimes wondered whether he'd have been attacked with these doubts if he'd been able to sail on the same boat or one a day later. The delay had been crucial. He'd had time to think, to wonder whether he had married her on a wave of pity for her desperate need to save Jack. The more he wondered the worse his indecision became, and he was terrified of making the first step for fear of further rejection. That would be even more unbearable. He missed her, he longed for her every waking moment, but he was beginning to think it would be better to finish with her now rather than keep hope alive and once more fail.

  Going to California would help. There would be no reminders of Rosa there. The only difficulty would be if Gloria de Vries went too, and she was bound to want to follow him even if she could bear to part with her husband for a year. Gloria had been relentless in her pursuit. Every evening, it seemed, she telephoned and wanted to know what he was doing, whether he wanted company, or consolation. She found it difficult to keep the note of triumph out of her voice as she commiserated with him about faithless, feckless wives. He'd resisted temptation so far, blaming her indirectly for Rosa's flight. If he hadn't spent the night with Gloria he'd have been able to argue Rosa out of her wish to return to England. If they were both in California, though, seeing one another often as they would be when he and her husband were working closely together, he might fall prey to the old fascination.

  What did it matter now? Then he shook his head. It would matter because he and de Vries had to work together. He had no faith in Gloria's discretion. He didn't think her husband knew of their previous affair, but any resumption of it would soon become public.

  He surveyed the apartment. He'd been wandering round it as he tussled with his problem. He'd sell it, everything, and start afresh. He'd buy a plot of land and build himself a house overlooking the ocean. Once he'd dreamed of such a house in Virginia, of bringing up a family with horses and boats on their doorstep. Well, that was impossible now. But designing a house and supervising the building would give him occupation for his spare time. It would prevent him from being drawn in to the social scene too much, protect him from predatory females like Gloria.

  *

  Rosa woke again and turned restlessly in the bed. A faint light was creeping through a gap in the curtains, and she could hear gusts of rain beating against the window. She was for the moment disoriented, accustomed as she'd been to seeing the small porthole when she woke, and hearing the sound of the sea. As she moved, someone beside her stirred and her heart leaped. Max? Had it all been a terrible dream? Had Jack not died, Max not abandoned her, she not lost everything?

  'Rosa? Oh, my darling! I've dreamt of that for years, but it was never half as good as the reality.'

  Memory flooded back and Rosa shrank away from Adam as he rolled over and pulled her towards him. She'd let him, no, asked him, to make love to her! She could feel the shame of it staining her cheeks, making them hot and flushed. She'd been in need of comfort, but not that way, surely she needn't have betrayed Max the very first night she was back in England.

  He'd betrayed her, a small voice whispered. Max had gone to his mistress when he'd known she needed him. Adam had needed her last night as much as she had him. If he hadn't been there it wouldn't have happened later, she was sure. He was married now, and she would have conquered her sense of desolation.

  As Adam covered her face with kisses and began to stroke her body she wondered vaguely why she felt so dissatisfied, so incomplete. After a night in Max's arms she had felt wonderfully alive, as complacent as a well-fed cat preening itself before the fire. She'd been tired, in need of comfort more than passion, she decided, wriggling away from Adam's increasingly venturesome hands.

  'What time is it?' she murmured, trying to sit up and reach for her watch on the bedside table.

  'Time doesn't matter,' Adam protested. 'Rosa, I have you in my arms at last, don't vanish now. I want to make love to you all day, all week, for the rest of my life.'

  'But Agnes, she's your wife,' Rosa protested. 'We shouldn't.'

  Adam pulled her towards him. 'Only because of a despicable trick. I don't feel the need to be faithful to her.'

  'You can't prove it.'

  'Neither can she, but I know. Do you feel guilty about Max?'

  'No,' Rosa said slowly. 'Our marriage was a mistake too.'

  'Then why should we not take comfort in each other? After all, it was always you I wanted.'

  Rosa nodded, and relaxed, letting Adam's hands wander over her. She tried to respond, but could feel nothing. He didn't appear to notice her lack of enthusiasm, and when he finally rolled away from her he gave a soft laugh of triumph.

  'Darling Rosa, that was wonderful. We must make plans, decide how we can be together.'

  'I'm going to become a professional actress,' Rosa declared. 'I have a little money, but I need a job. I decided during the voyage that I'd try some of the companies appearing in Birmingham first. Sir Barry Jackson has some wonderful new actors in the Repertory company, from what I've heard. I've seen good reviews for Peggy Ashcroft and Laurence Olivier.'

  'You don't need a job. Darling, I'll take care of you. I was going to sell this house, but I'll keep it now, for us. I can be here for most of the time. Rosa, we'll be wonderfully happy together.'

  She shook her head. 'No, Adam. I need a job to have something to do. I won't be idle, and I certainly won't permit you to keep me.'

  She remained adamant, and they argued about it all day, and finally compromised when Rosa agreed to live in the house until she obtained a part. Then, if she had to move away from Birmingham they would consider once more whether it was worth Adam maintaining what was a large house for occasional visits.

  'I'm going to make you so deliriously happy you won't want to go away from me,' Adam declared later that night as they prepared for bed.

  Rosa nodded. She was weary of arguing, all she wanted was to collapse into bed and sleep the clock round. It was tiredness, the strangeness of being back in England, of being with another man instead of Max, she told herself. She would soon become used to Adam, and able to give him what he wanted. Fortunately he seemed content, not expecting more, but as he once again straddled her she wondered bleakly whether she could ever feel the same physical rapture with him that she had experienced with Max.

  *


  'I see Rosa Greenwood's back in England. That marriage didn't last long. I expect her husband lost all his money when the stock market there collapsed. I heard everyone was made poor overnight.'

  Agnes looked at her mother in surprise. 'Rosa? Back here in Stratford?'

  'No, Birmingham. Following in Celia's footsteps on the stage, apparently.' Mrs Holmes sniffed derisively. 'In other ways too, I've no doubt. I heard, or rather your father did from some of his cronies, that Celia didn't actually marry that actor fellow until she had to sell the business.'

  'How do you know Rosa's on the stage?'

  'I saw a review of the play she's in. Only a small part, but she had a favourable mention. I wonder if she'll dare show her face in Stratford when the next Festival opens?'

  'She preferred Shakespeare.' Agnes was thoughful. 'I think I'd like to go and see her,' she said slowly.

  'I hope you don't mean to take up with her again? Those Greenwood girls were not at all the thing.'

  'No, I don't want to cultivate that acquaintance. I'm just curious. I could stay at Adam's house. He hasn't managed to sell it yet. I'll book two tickets, we could go together. And we could do our Christmas shopping while we're there.'

  Mrs Holmes looked at the small smile hovering on Agnes's lips. No doubt her daughter wanted to crow over her old rival, boast about her own marriage. And why not? Even if it had begun in such a ramshackle manner, it was still a triumph to have acquired such a wealthy and respectable husband. And she could still recall the temptations of youth. It hadn't been surprising that Agnes should have succumbed to the wiles of such an attractive man as Adam. She was a little concerned about the time he spent away from home. Not at all the behaviour to be expected of an eager young husband. Perhaps the doctor's warning that Agnes must not attempt another pregnancy too soon after her unfortunate miscarriage was responsible. Adam might feel he could not control his lusts if they were together.

  'It's time you had some enjoyment,' she said briskly. 'I'll come if it's what you want, though by rights that husband of yours should be taking you. When is he due back home?'

  'Next week. He's had to go to London, more business to do with his mother's will, he said. It's not selling his own horses this time.'

  Two days later they took the train to Birmingham. They had intended to go in the morning, but a domestic crisis had delayed Mrs Rhodes when her maid of all work had thrown a tantrum, as well as most of the best dinner service, and declared she would no longer put up with being paid so little, she was off to Coventry to work in one of the new motor-car factories, and as for notice, Mrs fusspot Rhodes knew what she could do with that.

  Mrs Rhodes knew she ought to stay and arrange to hire another girl immediately, but Agnes would be disappointed, so she ordered her husband to take his dinner at the White Swan and go out for breakfast. All, she declared, would be in good order by the time she returned the following evening, even if she had to cook his dinner herself.

  The play was an entertaining comedy, and Rosa's part not as insignificant as Agnes had secretly hoped. It was almost as long as that of the leading lady, and the audience clearly appreciated Rosa's saucy performance as the girl next door, who always appeared at critical moments and foiled the husband's amorous advances to his weekend guest, a wealthy widow, or the wife's attempts to surprise him in compromising situations. Add a pair of incompetent burglars and the widow's handsome stepson, and the audience was well pleased. The applause when the stepson and the girl next door crept away from the mayhem and roared off to Gretna Green in his two-seater was prolonged and noisy.

  'Typical,' Mrs Rhodes commented sourly under cover of the applause. 'Do you want to go backstage and see her afterwards?'

  Agnes was trying to puzzle out what her mother meant, and shook her head. 'I don't think so,' she replied. She didn't want to have to watch Rosa basking in the admiration of stage-door-johnies. 'Let's go straight to the house.'

  They found a taxi immediately and gave him the address. When they arrived Agnes took out the spare key she had found in Adam's desk and unlocked the front door. 'I think I remember where the sheets are kept. The kitchen's through there. Will you make a pot of tea while I do the beds?'

  Mrs Rhodes bustled away. Agnes smiled faintly. She knew her mother had been looking forward to inspecting this house, and seeing what sort of a mess it had deteriorated into since Adam's mother had died and her maid had departed. He had rejected Mrs Rhodes's offer to help Agnes sort through his mother's possessions, and although Agnes had shrunk from the very idea of such a task she was well aware that her mother still felt aggrieved that he hadn't trusted her.

  Agnes limped upstairs, found the linen cupboard, and took up an armful of sheets. She sighed. It was late, and she was tired. She didn't feel like making up beds. She avoided the big front room which she knew had been her mother-in-law's, and went first to the twin on the opposite side of the landing. When she switched on the light she blinked. Was she mistaken? There were pots of cosmetics on the dressing table, powder and rouge and bottles of perfume. On a chair lay a pale pink dressing gown, trimmed with swansdown. She couldn't imagine her mother-in-law wearing that. She took a few steps into the room, and saw a pair of familiar gold cufflinks in a small tray on the dressing table. She bent towards them, knowing what they were yet hoping desperately that she was wrong. She had given Adam those cufflinks as a wedding present.

  She swung round, looking at the large bed, the evidence that this room was inhabited by a man and a woman, and she screamed and ran awkwardly for the door. As she halted at the top of the stairs, still clutching the sheets, she heard a crash from the kitchen. Mrs Holmes ran into the hall, and simultaneously the front door opened and Adam appeared, brandishing a swagger stick. Rosa was immediately behind him.

  *

  Max finally succumbed to his partner's insistence that he must meet people socially.

  'Look, old man, I can understand what you feel like, your wife dashing off like that, but it happens. Between you and me I've been rather surprised Gloria's put up with me for so long. There are other women, and here in Hollywood you've got the choice of some of the best lookers in America. But aside from that we have to make ourselves known. There are people here with fortunes to spend on building houses. If they like us we could do the designs. One day they'll have too many cinemas, but they'll always want houses.'

  Max accepted invitations, went through the motions, and wondered why he was still here when part of him longed to give it all up and follow Rosa. There were occasional moments when he forgot her, moments when he was asleep or concetrating on a tricky design. For days at a time he was able to convince himself he'd married Rosa on an impulse which had been misguided and wrong. Then pangs of doubt would assail him. He gained a reputation amongst the Hollywood starlets of a moody, inscrutable man with a dark secret. Several of them tried to discover what it was, and one contrived to find her way back to his apartment with him after one all-night party. She didn't boast of her ignominious ejection half an hour later, clutching the clothes she'd discarded in a final desperate attempt to clamber into his bed.

  Max sometimes wondered why he rejected the proffered delights. It was in these moments that he was certain Rosa was the only woman he'd ever again want. But she had run away from him. He'd make up his mind what to do one day, but for the moment he was too confused to think straight.

  He wasn't too confused to recognise Celia when she entered the room on the arm of Hank Rossi. He'd heard mentions of her from various acquaintances, but never before met her at a party. He was not prepared for her shriek of delight as she abandoned Hank and ran to fling herself into his astonished arms.

  'Max! Darling! Oh, look, everyone, my utterly divine brother-in-law is here. Isn't he gorgeous? I used to envy my sister like anything to think she found him first.'

  He grinned faintly, appreciating her performance, and permitted her to drag him round the room and introduce him to all her new friends. Hank, he noticed, had wat
ched for a few moments with a sardonic gaze, then turned away to talk seriously with two other men, both important men in the growing film industry.

  Eventually Celia led him to a settee screened by banks of palms. 'What's going on between you and Rosa?' she demanded. 'I had such a peculiar letter from Agnes last week.'

  'Agnes? You mean that English friend of yours?'

  'Yes, she married Adam Thorn. Did you know that? He must have despaired when Rosa ran away with you, and given in to her. She's always wanted him.'

  'But your letter? What did she say? Has she seen Rosa?'

  Celia took his hand and held it tightly. 'Max, you must be brave. It may not even be true. Agnes isn't terribly intelligent, and she might have misunderstood, After all, Adam and Rosa have been good friends for many years, we all grew up together.'

  'What do you mean? Misunderstood what?'

  'Well, it would have been perfectly natural for Rosa to go to Adam for help when she went back to England. There's nothing strange about that.'

  'Even after his threats against Jack?'

  'Oh, he didn't mean them, I'm sure. Rosa panicked. And you were there to help her escape.'

  'What did Agnes say?'

  'It was before Christmas. She and her mother went to stay in Adam's house in Birmingham. She'd died. Adam's mother, I mean. She used to live there. Rosa was there.'

  'Rosa? And Agnes didn't know?'

  'Well, he'd hardly have told his wife they had a little love nest, would he? Agnes went into one of the bedrooms and found their clothes scattered all over the place, she said. And then,' Celia giggled, 'I'd have loved to have seen it, but Adam came bursting into the house, seeing lights on, and thinking there were burglars, to find Agnes screaming her head off and her mother brandishing a kettle. Rosa followed him in, and they just couldn't deny it. Agnes is distraught. Her mother carried her straight off to an hotel, but not before there'd been the most dreadful row, with Adam saying he'd always loved Rosa and now they were together he wouldn't allow Agnes or her mother to separate them. They would stay together, he said, and Agnes is totally devastated. She says she can't think straight, she hates them both, and will never speak to either of them again.'