The Crocodile's Last Embrace Read Free Page A

different from throwing a ball.” She told the girls to continue practicing, and let her mind drift while keeping half an eye on them. Beverly joined her.
    “It’s no good, Jade,” Beverly said softly. “I’m not going to let you stand alone over here and brood. And,” she added when Jade arched one eyebrow as though to express her disagreement, “I know you too well, love. You keep stealing off to be alone, and when I find you, you’re in a dismal mood. I knew I shouldn’t have let you wander off to France for the Armistice remembrance. It simply was not healthy.”
    “I couldn’t stay here, Bev. You know that.”
    “You could have gone to your home in the States and voted in that election. And you know you always have a home here with Avery and me.”
    Jade didn’t argue. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. Beverly had always been protective of her friends, and now that she was the mother of a little girl, her maternal instincts had kicked into high gear. Jade had known she had to come back to Nairobi when Beverly had written to her in France, pleading for her help in getting the Girl Guide troop into operation. The four months that Jade had given Sam Featherstone to return to her had been over and she wanted to be here when he came back. The desire had grown into a need, as vital as that for water or air.
    If he comes back.
    She shook her head to chase out the dark thought that had clung to her like a parasite. Since Sam had left in September to sell his motion picture in the States, Jade hadn’t heard a word from him. He’d intimated that he wasn’t the right man for her, that she should forget him, but that was as impossible as forgetting how to breathe.
    After the first two weeks of trying to keep busy, she’d turned her pet cheetah, Biscuit, over to Madeline and Neville Thompson on their coffee farm and taken a boat to Europe. She’d wandered through France, visiting the battlefields and searching out some old friends from the countryside. Then, at her mother’s insistence, she’d spent Christmas with a distant cousin in Andalusia. Over the holidays she’d sent a telegram to Sam, care of his parents in Battle Ground, Indiana. It read simply, I love you. Haul your horse’s patoot back here. Jade. She had no idea if he’d ever received it.
    “Your house is crowded, Bev,” Jade said. “Between baby Alice, her nanny, and now your sister, Emily, I wonder you don’t kick me out for the space. It’s time for me to find a place to stay somewhere in town.”
    “Nonsense. Emily’s doing her level best to snag a husband in the colony. I should have her out of the house in no time.”
    Jade laughed. “I think you’re actually more fond of her than you let on, Bev.”
    Beverly chuckled, a musical laugh like a gently rippling stream. “I suppose she has improved of late. For as long as I can remember, she’s been my bossy, bullying, proper older sister. But she’s had her own rough times, taking care of Father after Mumsy passed. Or perhaps all it took to temper her was knowing that I’m all the family she has left.” She paused and watched as one of the youngest girls, Clarice, accidentally clunked herself in the head with her sling as she spun it around. “Or maybe it took that same knowledge to temper me .”
    “Don’t look at the sling, Clarice,” Jade called. “Look at the target.”
    Bev laughed and turned back to Jade. “You never did tell Avery and me about your time in France. I’m happy to listen if—”
    “There’s nothing to tell, Bev. But since you won’t let the matter drop until I do, this is the short of it. I went back to each of our corps shelters to do a story for The Traveler about the changes in the countryside since the war.”
    “A terrible choice of articles,” muttered Beverly.
    “Do you want to hear this or not?” Without waiting for a reply, Jade pressed on, eager to get it over with. Much like removing a splinter, it wasn’t any easier for