Season of Shadows Read Free Page A

steadying breath, she
turned away and returned quietly to her own room.
    In the adjoining bathroom she soaked herself in a hot bath
until she felt the aching tension drain from her body, but reaction set
in when she eventually put out the light and climbed into bed. Choking
sobs racked her body, and she buried her face in the pillows to stifle
the sound of her tears for fear of disturbing Sally. Laura had felt it
coming since her arrival in Cape Town, but somehow she had managed to
keep it in check until now. She had been terrified, also, of making a
fool of herself in her imperious host's presence, but she had
thankfully been spared that humiliating experience.
    When the storm of her weeping finally ceased, Laura
slipped into an exhausted sleep from which she did not awake until a
light hand touched her shoulder the following morning. She opened her
eyes reluctantly to find herself staring into two accusing brown eyes.
    'I've been waiting ages for you to wake up,' Sally
announced with a hint of impatience in her voice.
    Laura sat up at once and stifled a yawn. 'What time is it?'
    'It's half past eight,' Sally informed her, perching on
the side of the bed and flicking her long plaits over her shoulders. 'I
had breakfast with Uncle Anton before he went to the office, and he
said I was not to wake you until now because you were very tired last
night.' Laura could not quite make up her mind whether to feel touched
or displeased by that remark, but she allowed it to pass when she
noticed a suspicion of tears in Sally's eyes. 'I'm so glad you came,
Aunty Laura.'
    Laura opened her arms wide, and Sally almost fell into
them. 'Did you think I would stay away when I knew that you needed me,
darling?' she asked with her cheek pressed against the smooth dark head
resting on her shoulder.
    'No, but…' Sally paused and tightened her arms
about Laura. 'You're always such fun to be with, and—and when
I'm with you I know I—I shan't feel as though Mummy is so far
from me.'
    Her childish logic was touching, and Laura stared beyond
Sally at the patch of sunlight on the floor, vowing to herself that she
would bring the sparkle back into her niece's eyes, and the laughter to
that drooping little mouth.
    'I'll go and tell Jemima you're awake so that she can make
your breakfast, then I'll come back to show you the way to the
breakfast-room,' Sally announced eagerly as she extricated herself from
Laura's arms and made for the door.
    'Sally, wait!' Laura called after her. 'I don't want much
to eat. Just a slice of toast and a cup of coffee will do.'
    'Okay,' Sally nodded, slamming the door behind her in her
haste.
    Laura washed and dressed quickly before she brushed and
coiled her hair into its usual knot. Shadows still lurked in her
usually clear blue eyes, and there was an unusual tightness about the
soft, generous mouth when she applied a touch of lipstick to it. Her
mind had conjured up a remembered vision of a man and a woman, their
happy laughter drifting towards her on the breeze as she watched them
standing with their arms wrapped about each other. Robert and Elizabeth
had been crazy about each other, almost to the exclusion of their
daughter, Sally, but the child had somehow never been made to feel in
the way. Their love for each other had been something unique; a
once-in-a-lifetime thing. The one would have been totally lost without
the other, and it was almost a blessing that fate had decreed they
should die together.
    She shivered and shed her morbid thoughts with a hasty
effort when Sally burst into the room, and then she was following the
child through the house with its priceless collection of antiques.
    The breakfast-room was spacious and sunny, and Laura had
barely seated herself at the large table when a Coloured woman pushed a
laden trolley into the room. Her spotless white apron almost crackled
as she moved, and her dark eyes summed Laura up in a friendly,
interested fashion, then white teeth flashed in a smile.
    'Good