CHAPTER XXVII : HOLIDAY IN ALEX.
Beginning of August we bid farewell to Mrs. Fremantle and took the train to London. We spent the night at the Fulham Road flat with Mr. Fremantle who to all appearances was delighted to see Alice after several months. He had last seen her at Christmas. Alice was by now a year and a half old, an exceptionally beautiful child. I imagined she would turn out to be more beautiful than her mother. Her eyes, a luminous blue like her mother’s on a slightly rounder face inherited from Edgar, lovely silky blond hair, a decidedly daintier nose than Diana’s and Diana’s mouth with two front upper teeth which she tried to exercise by biting us when we would playfully allow her. She could walk alone and was able to pick up toys without falling over and went up and down the stairs at home holding the rail. Diana was obviously mummy and Mrs. Fremantle was glan and I felt my heart flutter every time she called me daddy. All in all, a normal, active, sweet-tempered child one would expect from the calm but gentle and stern upbringing that her mother and grandmother provided. I could not help thinking of the incongruity that in his despicable and depraved intent to hurt Diana, Edgar had given us such a wonderful present. But I wondered if we had seen the last of him. Mr. Fremantle told us that about a month ago a scruffy man in his forties turned up at the flat and rang the bell. Mr. Fremantle answered the door and the man, who was undoubtedly Edgar, asked for Diana. And who might you be? asked Mr. Fremantle. I am Diana’s old boyfriend, he answered. Diana has no more boyfriends at present as far as I know, Mr. Fremantle answered. She is happily married and has a child. How old is the child? Edgar asked. What has that got to do with you? Mr. Fremantle asked. It might, Edgar answered. It might be my child. Mr. Fremantle was infuriated. Barely able to contain his rage, he said, listen carefully, young man, if you ever come around here again ringing my bell I shall call the police. Where is she? Edgar insisted, and Mr. Fremantle said a gentlemanly, excuse me, and shut the door to his face.
During that one single day in London I took the opportunity of calling Omar who rushed in the afternoon to the Fulham flat to see Diana and Alice. He kissed both of them and complimented us for our lovely child. He said he was sorry that at such short notice he had no time to buy a toy for Alice. Alice was once again seduced by his good looks and was constantly playing with him giving him objects and taking them back and running back and forth always ending her runs in his smiling embrace. He asked me if Annie was in Egypt but I didn’t know because I had not had a recent letter from Cairo. He asked me to send him a letter with her news but I said we’d be back long before a letter would reach him.
Early the next day we took a cab to the West London Air Terminal and from there a bus for Heathrow. We took with us the barest minimum of clothes so as not to be burdened with a lot of luggage. In a handbag we had Alice’s prepared food, milk and changes of nappies for the daylong trip. In the airplane she was a little restless at the start but got used to it and slept most of the way. We descended at the transit stops and the airport commotion kept her interested and allowed her to walk here and there and explore the terrain with a worried daddy at her heels. We arrived at the Cairo airport at around ten local time and found father, mother and Annie waiting for us. The reunion was joyful and emotional with introductions and embraces and everyone was eager to kiss and pet Alice who was utterly bewildered and refused to leave Diana’s arms. After Hove’s tranquility, the fuss was too much for her. Diana was touched by my parents’ reception and delighted to see Annie as much as I was. I was not aware that she had come to Cairo and wondered what the situation with her husband was. She seemed a little thinner than she normally was as well as a little subdued. We left with my father driving the car. He, too, was not at his best. He was visibly weaker though he drove with his usual aplomb and we were soon at our home where a cot was placed in our room for Alice who, after drinking her warm milk, went straight to sleep. So did my father but the rest of us stayed up a while longer in the living room and chatted on various subjects. My mother in her laborious English, as she had a French education. I told her that Diana was fluent in French and on two-way conversations they used this language.
Annie told us that at the end of summer they were moving to Athens but that the issue of her refusal to live with her in-laws had not been resolved. I shall leave Tasos if he continues to insist that we live with his parents. He claims his pay will be minimal in Athens without the comparatively generous living allowance he had in his posts abroad and we would hardly afford to rent a nice flat in a good neighborhood. You must give it a try, Annie, mother pleaded. It might turn out to be a much more viable coexistence than you imagine. If eventually you find that you cannot live with them then you can give him your ultimatum and see what he decides. I have already given my ultimatum, Annie replied. The ball is in his court. I shall not change my mind because living with his parents will entail the certain deterioration and eventual break up of our marriage. Apart of that, if he insists to have his way it will mean that he ignores my wishes and warnings. And what will you do if you leave him? mother asked. Allow me not to answer your question, mother, because in any case you shall not approve.
Early the next day we left for Alexandria by the desert road with the Chevrolet and Soliman. It was a rush because the weather in Cairo was sizzling and to avoid unpacking and packing our belongings a few days later. The heat would be more or less the same in Alex but at least we had the sea and would spend a good part of our days by the seaside. Mother had already gone there and cleaned the house with Sigawa and bought a cot and a perambulator for Alice. For Diana, Annie’s presence was a godsend. However hearty my parents’ welcome might be Annie absorbed much of the awkwardness that was inevitable at this first encounter. Alice was soon quite familiar with Annie and played with her and must have felt the love and tenderness that Annie radiated. I had already began using a smattering of Greek words of affection with Alice in England and these were multiplied a hundredfold by Annie and my mother and Alice seemed to realize that this was a different language and she responded as if she understood what was said to her. She began alternating daddy with babá and mummy with mamá. My mother was from the start yiayiá but Annie was Annie. Diana, the foreign implant, was shy and cautious to show the usual affection with me and Alice but after a few days things smoothened out. We made love silently in our room with the lights out and somewhat uneasily because our door was minus a key or bolt.
From day one we went to the beach every day. We alternated between the beach at Sidi Bishr near our villa and the one at Mandara with the Zouganelli crowd where mother had the company of the other ladies. There I saw Lina again who was with her year-old baby girl, a beautiful child. Alice was the English beauty, blond, blue eyed and Georgina was the oriental beauty, dark haired and big dark eyes. The father was short, plump and ordinary looking but the child inherited her mother’s beauty. I pointed Lina out to Diana who teased me and said, you silly man you left this beauty for ordinary me? Not quite ordinary my love, I answered, I doubt Lina could match you in bed. You’ve become quite a sex maniac, she said laughing. Yes, I said, because I have the most talented and experienced sex instructor in the world. In fact I think you should write a sex manual, an English Kama Sutra with a little mild sado-masochism thrown in to spice it up. It will sell like hotcakes and we shall make good money out of it. Oh shut up, she said laughing. We kept Alice well-oiled and creamed and under the parasol most of the time. The Egyptian sun was not to be trifled with especially with a milk-white skinned English baby. She enjoyed her dips in the lukewarm Mediterranean and particularly enjoyed playing at the water’s edge and throwing pebbles in the sea. Annie was with us every day, a slightly forlorn figure, silent, subdued but beautiful and full bodied in her bathing suit. Diana next to her was like an immature teenager, thin with beautiful legs and sprightly as she fussed about Alice, her blond hair fluttering with the breeze. At one point when we were alone under the parasol Annie asked me if she could use my room at 95 Queensgate if she came to England for a while and if I would be able to help her financially until she found a job. I said, of course, my dear. It was the first indication I had of her intentions and I kept it to myself.
Father joined us on the weekends driving his little Fiat. We had several conversations in which he asked about my intentions now that my studies were over. I said I would look for a job in England. He asked me if I would not consider joining in his business ventures and feeling like a traitor I told him I could not possibly remain to live my life in Egypt. You know I am not well, he said, and your help would be very valuable. Plus it would be an easy, settled life for you and your family with servants, nannies for Alice and enough money for frequent trips to England for Diana to see her parents. However, in no way do I intend to put pressure on you to stay in Egypt. I thanked him and said that remaining in Egypt was out of the question and that this was my decision quite apart of what Diana might want. Then, he said, I must start thinking of selling the business. It pains me to sell something I worked for all my life but I shall be unable to keep it going under the circumstances. I am not at all well. I have a serious problem with my kidneys and cannot possibly leave your mother burdened with such a messy affair once I am gone. At least we have cleared this point and I now know what course to take. I was truly grateful that he was a good sport and took my decision without bitterness. He was a sociable person and enjoyed chatting with Diana in French and I think Diana took to him more than she did to mother. He enjoyed seeing Alice walk and play and throw whatever came in her hands to the ground but he did not pet her like Annie and mother.
Four weeks went by all too fast and we returned to Cairo and once again left almost immediately for London. I thanked my parents for their hospitality and kindness to my wife and daughter. Diana, too, said she had a lovely holiday, thanked them and hoped to see them in London and Hove. Annie was to go back to Istanbul a few days later and in another month she and Tasos would be moving to Athens, the issue of their lodging still pending. After a long day of air travel with intermediate stops in Athens, Rome and Paris we reached Heathrow and were too tired to board a bus to the city. Instead we took a cab and knocked on Mr. Fremantle’s door at nine in the evening surprising him. We spent the night in Fulham as best we could and left for home the next morning. It was lovely to be back. Truly home sweet home. Even Alice seemed to understand that we were back where we belonged. Mrs. Fremantle was overjoyed. That was a very lonely August, she said, and my, hasn’t our Alice grown?