The Russian Concubine Part 51

Lydia nodded. 'Good night, Mama,' she said and gave her a light kiss. Then she did the same to Alfred, avoiding his spectacles.

Upstairs she drew a big letter A on a sheet of paper and stuck pins in it.

They lay among the blankets on the dusty floor. Gently, soothingly, he stroked her nipple with his thumb. Together they watched the moon travel slowly across the skylight above them. Lydia yearned for it to be a full moon, a complete magical disk, so that they could wish on it but it was at least a week too early, its perfection marred by reality. Her head rested on his shoulder, their limbs so entwined she no longer knew where hers ended and his began. His skin a part of hers. Her breath a part of his.

'Lydia.'

'Mmm?'

They had been silent a long time, wrapped comfortably around each other. The crisp rectangle of translucent light that the moon shed over them turned their naked skin silver and made shadows leap from one face to the other as their lips brushed. Earlier they had made love and it had been different. Fiercer. Hungrier. As if their bodies knew time was running out. Lydia had waited impatiently in her room until she was certain her mother and Alfred must be asleep, and then she'd crept downstairs and sped across the gra.s.s. Frost made it crunch underfoot. Trees lurched at her with spiky elongated shadows, and a bat flitted low over her head as she turned the key in the padlock.

'Are you all right?' he'd asked immediately. He was standing to one side of the doorway, a blanket over his shoulders.

'No. I'm not all right. Not remotely all right.'

He kissed her mouth.

'My mother came home early, just as you said she might, and so I've been stuck up there in the house worried sick about you and what you must be thinking Alexei Serov will get up to. d.a.m.n the man. Why did he have to call? But honestly I don't think he'll betray us. He's helped me once before. I know he can be a real supercilious b.a.s.t.a.r.d at times, but he's not so bad underneath. The danger is that he might feel a strong duty to the Kuomintang and . . .'

'Hush, hush, my love.'

His dark eyes searched hers and the expression in them made all the words tumble straight out of her head. He drew her into his arms, enveloped her in his blanket, and for the first time in hours she felt safe again. In the middle of a rickety old shed, freezing to death and with every possible thing going wrong. Yet she felt safe. And happy. She only had to look at him and she felt happy. And when she wasn't with him, she only had to think of him and her limbs turned liquid with desire.

'I must leave tomorrow,' he said.

'No.'

He kissed her hair and she could hear him breathing in deeply, preparing himself. She knew she should make it easy for him. Already she could feel that his body was starting to burn up again. The exertion of the day had been too much for his fragile state, but he hadn't allowed her to nurse him tonight, just drank the herb concoction for the fever. She mustn't make it harder. Mustn't.

'To leave you, Lydia, will tear my heart into a thousand pieces. But I can stay no longer. It is dangerous for you. I love you too much to risk that.'

She held him close. Said nothing. She was frightened the wrong words would come out.

He caressed her ear with his fingertips. 'I must leave Junchow . . .'

Everything inside her started to hurt.

' . . . but it will be hard. Kuomintang troops check every road in or out. That means I must find somewhere else to hide . . .'

She breathed.

' . . . until I'm strong enough to swim the river.'

She closed her eyes.

'Kiss me,' she whispered.

His lips came instantly to her mouth and his tongue found hers, soft and sensuous. His hand moved down between her legs, stroking the silky inner thigh. They didn't hurry, just took their time. In the moonlight.

They agreed he would leave before dawn. She had brought what was left of the two hundred dollars and hidden part of it in his leather satchel, part bandaged to his thigh and part tucked inside his boot.

'No rickshaw,' he warned.

'Why not?'

'The pullers have loose tongues. They are in the pay of the tongs. Black Snakes could track me. And you. I'll walk.'

'I'll get Liev,' she said quickly.

'No, my beloved. I want help from no one who leads to you. You see? I escaped from Po Chu. The loss of face will be worse than a blade in his belly and he will work to destroy anyone who . . .'

She put a finger to his lips and nestled close under the blankets. 'Sleep,' she murmured. 'It's not dawn yet. Sleep. Grow strong.' Their bodies clung together.

But when the first hint of grey tinged the skylight, Lydia knew Chang An Lo would be going nowhere today. The fever was back.

45.

'This room smells odd,' Valentina remarked.

She was wandering around Lydia's bedroom, picking things up, putting them down, plucking copper-coloured hairs from a hairbrush, straightening the curtain.

'It's herbs. I tried out some Chinese herbal teas while you were away.'

'What on earth for?'

Lydia shrugged. 'No reason.'

She was sitting on the edge of the bed feeling tense. Her gaze repeatedly scoured the room for any telltale signs, but there was nothing that she could spot. She wondered what her mother wanted. After a rather stilted family breakfast all together, Lydia had bolted upstairs but soon afterward Valentina had drifted in. She was wearing a red wool dress that skimmed her slender figure and made her dark bob look more dramatic. On her wrist was a new bracelet of carved ivory. Lydia thought she looked tired. Finally her mother came to a stop by the window and perched on the sill, facing her daughter. Outside it was snowing again.

'So who is he?'

'What?'

'Who is the lucky young man?'

Lydia's pulse kicked erratically. 'What on earth do you mean, Mama?'

'Dochenka, I am not blind.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

Valentina reached into the pocket of her dress and for one awful moment Lydia thought she was going to bring out some piece of incriminating evidence, but it was only her cigarette case and lighter. She selected a cigarette, tapped its end on the tortoisesh.e.l.l case before lighting it, and exhaled a plume of smoke in Lydia's direction.

'Sweetheart, have you looked in a mirror lately?'

Lydia glanced at the mirror in the front of her wardrobe, but all she saw reflected was her white nightdress on the chair. Suddenly she was nervous there might be blood on it.

'Mama, I want to go and feed Sun Yat-sen now. Is this important? '

'Ah, my wicked little liar. What were you up to last night? Don't look so shocked. I know you went to the shed.'

Lydia felt her palms grow moist. She brushed them over the eiderdown. 'How?'

Valentina laughed. 'Because I couldn't sleep. I came in to see if you were lying awake, like in the old days in the attic, but you weren't here, naughty girl.'

'Oh.'

'Don't you oh oh me. You disobeyed Alfred. You went to feed your precious piece of vermin when you thought we were asleep, didn't you?' me. You disobeyed Alfred. You went to feed your precious piece of vermin when you thought we were asleep, didn't you?'

'Yes.' It came out as a whisper.

'Dochenka, a rabbit is not worth making trouble between you and your stepfather.'

A heavy silence stilled the room.

'Is it, Lydia?'

'Of course not, Mama.'

'Now,' Valentina took a long drag on her cigarette and pointed its glowing tip straight at Lydia, 'tell me who has got you looking like someone's lit a fire inside you. Come on, darling, tell your mama.'

Lydia could feel her cheeks flush. 'I don't know what you . . .'

'Don't be such a ninny, Lydia. You think I can't see? That I haven't got eyes? You and Alfred staring across the table over your tea and toast. You've both got it bad.' She shook her head, setting her hair swinging in a girlish way. 'The pair of you.'

'Got what bad?'

'Love.'

Lydia almost choked. 'Mama, don't be absurd.'

Her mother made a funny little grimace. 'You think I don't remember what it feels like? Lydia, my sweet child, you have changed.'

'How?'

'Your eyes shine and your skin glows and you give secret little smiles when you think no one is looking. Even your walk is different. So who is this fellow? Tell your mama. A boy from your cla.s.s at school who has taken your fancy?'

'Of course not,' Lydia said scornfully.

'Then who?'

'Oh, Mama, just someone I met.'

Valentina came over and sat down on the apricot quilt beside her daughter. She took Lydia's face between her hands and looked into her eyes with a dark and solemn expression. 'Whoever it is, you can keep it a secret if you must, but listen to me. No messing. You hear me? No messing with him. You have school to finish and university to go to, maybe even Oxford if we can get you to England in time. That's our plan, remember? So . . . ,' she shook Lydia's head slowly from side to side, 'you obey me this time, girl. No messing, absolutely none.'

'Yes, Mama.'

'Good. I'm glad we've got that straight.'

Lydia tried out a small smile and Valentina laughed. 'Don't fret, we'll leave it there for now. But you tell him from me that I'll dig his eyes out with a rusty spoon if he ever hurts my daughter's heart.'

'Don't be silly, Mama.' But she gave her mother a quick hug. 'I missed you,' she murmured.

'Oh yes? Like a cat misses a dog!'

Lydia held her mother's hand on her lap. It was the right hand, the one without the diamond ring, the one Lydia preferred.

'And you?' she asked. 'Are you happy, Mama? With Alfred, I mean.'

Valentina abruptly put on her enthusiastic face. 'Oh yes, darling, he is an angel. The sweetest, dearest man who ever lived.'

'And he adores you.'

'That too.'

'I want you to be happy.'

'Sweetheart, I am. Really, look at me.' She demonstrated with a big wide smile. She looked so lovely it was hard to believe it was anything but real. Only her dark eyes didn't sparkle.

'You'll have all sorts of nice things now. Just like you wanted.'

'Just like I wanted,' Valentina said. She stabbed out her stub in a gla.s.s dish on Lydia's bedside table and lit herself another. 'But there's one thing dear Alfred wants me to have that I don't want.'

'What's that?'

'A baby.'

Lydia's mouth dropped open.

'You look like I feel about it, darling. Don't worry, it won't happen. Oh for heaven's sake, what's the matter? Why are you crying?'

'A baby,' Lydia whispered as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. 'I'd have a brother. Or a sister.' It had never entered her head as a possibility before, but of course her mother was still young enough. 'Mama, that would be wonderful. You'd love it.' She tried to give her an excited kiss, but Valentina pushed her away.

'What? You're crazy, dochenka. dochenka.'