Page 115 of The Chalet Girl

Emme stood firm.

‘He’s been calling every day from South Africa.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Cat asked, looking half hurt.

Will finished tuning his guitar and welcomed everyone to the Hotel Europa bar and to the Cheeky Blinders band. He smiled over at Cat, Tiago and Emme, wondering why their cocktail cheer of ten minutes ago had turned serious.

‘Well, it seems a bit insensitive, after what he did with Anastasia, and I know I’m a fool but–’

‘Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ Cat conceded, nudging into Emme’s arm fondly.

Will strummed the first chords of ‘Summer of 69’ and Lydia looked up and smiled at Cat, who relaxed a little, despite her concern for her friend.

Tiago looked a little guilty for having brought it all up.

‘Did I just kill thetres mosqueterosChristmas party vibe?’ he asked, patting the girls each on the arm. ‘I’ll get another round in…’

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Walter and Lumi’s stolen Friday afternoon in the Steinherr mansion had started with a game of backgammon by the fireplace, for old time’s sake. Lumi had entered the home with trepidation: had it really been thirty years? So much had happened in both their lives. But as she walked the black and white tiled floor of the corridors, it felt like yesterday. The mansion smelled the same– of polished wood, aged leather and smoky logs in the hearth. The mansion looked the same. Apart from a rather disconcerting family portrait above the fireplace, but walking in politely in her Jaeger suit, Lumi felt at home again.

Viktor and Mika were still at loggerheads in Helsinki and wouldn’t be back until Sunday; Anastasia was away in rehab; Dimitri was visiting his father in Athens; the children were still at school and would be returning with Nanny Iris tomorrow; and Vivian was busy at the Anna Maria, no doubt occupied by the hotel’s busiest week so far. Christmas week at the newest, hippest hotel in town would inevitably be full-on.

Walter and Lumi played three rounds of backgammon before the maid delivered a carpet picnic by the fireplace and Walter instructed her to close the door and not to allow anyone to disturb them. An hour later, Lumi and Walterhad transitioned to his marital bed. It felt reckless, or was it romantic, to be reconducting their affair in the family home in which the forbidden love had first ignited.

Walter stroked Lumi’s radiant skin. The stretchmarks on her soft stomach sparkled silver.

‘What do you want, my love? And I’ll give it to you,’ he asked.

‘I want to leave Viktor,’ Lumi said defiantly. She thought of the disdain with which he spoke to her. The disdain with which Benjamin his assistant ordered their lives.

Walter paused, and looked at Lumi with caution. Since his last appointment with Dr Blitzer, he was feeling more wary. He wanted to be with Lumi, but he didn’t want to break her heart either. He shook his head gently.

‘You don’t want that, Walter? The children will grow to understand. Stella will be the hardest to explain it to but–’

‘I do,’ Walter said gravely. ‘More than anything. Well, more than almost anything.’

He wanted to live longer.

‘So what’s wrong?’

Lumi sat up, alarmed, and pulled Walter’s oyster-pink silk sheet around her. The bedroom clearly had the feminine decorative touch of Kiki, although no other trace of her remained.

‘Don’t end your marriage,’ Walter confirmed.

‘But I thought you wanted us to be together?’

‘You will need Viktor.’

‘Why are you saying that?’

Walter shook his head.

‘I just want us to enjoy the time we have.’

A grey shadow dulled Lumi’s luminescent features, realisation dawning on her.

‘Oh god, Walter, how long do you have?’