Read Online Biarritz Passion: A French Summer Novel by Laurette Long - Free Book Online

voice was soft. Something in the tone, a slight hesitation, made Caroline prick up her ears. Margaret continued:
    ‘I had hoped, when you met your young man, Liam, I mean, that you’d maybe decide to make things permanent, start a family, give up your job even, oh I know it would just be temporary, that’s the way things are these days, you young women like to have your family and your career, though how people manage to juggle the two I don’t know.’
    Caroline remained silent, gazing into the fire.
    ‘It’s just, if you leave things too late...what I mean to say is, having followed a career myself for so long I know that it can take you over and before you know it you find yourself growing old, and discover that you’re alone.’
    She waved a hand at Caroline’s movement of surprise.
    ‘Oh, I was lucky. I was saved by you. And Annabel. I acquired a family, ready-made. But that wouldn’t have happened without your parents’ accident. Without that tragedy, where would I be now? In some retirement home, or living with Birdie in a utility flat, reminiscing about the old days over a gin and tonic every evening? The problem with you and me Caroline, we both share the same fault, we’re too stiff-necked. We had to learn to stand on our own two feet the hard way, and now we’ve come to expect the same high standard from everyone else. And when they fail to live up to that standard, which of course they do, we persuade ourselves that we don’t really need anyone else anyway, that we can take on the world single-handed. Which of course we can’t.’
    She paused.
    ‘I never did tell you about James, did I?’
    ‘James?’
    ‘It was back in the 1950s. I was young, just starting out on my career. They had offered me a posting in Aden, the Colony of Aden as it was called then. It was all so strange, so exotic, I’d grown up in this little village, it was a different world out there, another planet. And the whole region, the Middle East, it was simmering, things were about to erupt, everyone knew it. There was feverishness, everyone out to have fun while they could, the balls, the receptions, we knew it was all coming to an end. And that’s when I met James. At the Embassy. There was a dance, an orchestra, the windows were open, the scent of the flowers coming in on the warm breeze…’
    Margaret fell silent, lost in her memories.
    ‘Do you believe in love at first sight my dear?’
    Her question took Caroline aback.
    Margaret smiled.
    ‘It exists, you know. The moment we saw each other we knew. He was in the Royal Marines, a Commando. Dashingly handsome in his uniform, holding his cap against his chest. The orchestra was playing a waltz. He was on the other side of the room but he moved straight towards me through the couples on the dance floor, we didn’t take our eyes off one another.’
    Caroline was holding her breath, caught up in her aunt’s story.
    ‘What happened?’
    ‘We saw each other as often as we could, under the circumstances. It was difficult, he was constantly being moved about. But then in 1956, it was July 26th, I shall always remember the date, we heard that President Nasser of Egypt had nationalised the Suez Canal. It was the spark that set off the conflagration. The Suez Crisis. The next few months were an agony of waiting, there were heated arguments about invading Egypt and taking back control of the Canal, the British the French and the Israelis were on one side, everyone else it seemed was against. Including the United States, a very powerful player.’
    Margaret gave a short laugh.
    ‘Politics, all politics my dear. Nothing ever changes. The Soviets weighed in, even China had its say. Meanwhile the British and the French sent troops to Cyprus, including the Unit that James was in. It was a tense waiting game, impossible for us to find out what was really going on. And then, it was November, the Israelis struck. Two days later, November 6th, the Commando Units of the Royal Marines