The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,271

receive your missives – you can imagine how chaotic everything was back then – in retrospect, I should have contacted you to at least tell you I – and Wolfie at the time, as well as Kwinet – still breathed and were perfectly safe.’

‘When did . . . I mean, how did Wolfie die?’ The thought of her loyal companion and how she had abandoned him brought a guilty surge of emotion with it.

‘Of old age, in his sleep. After you left, he attached himself to Kwinet and pottered around after him perfectly happily.’

‘And Paradise Farm?’

‘Remains unscathed, although some of your antique furniture could do with a damned good dust. Never was much of a housewife, as you know.’ Bill offered Cecily a weak smile.

‘So how are things out there now?’

‘As a matter of fact, after the doldrums of the late fifties and early sixties, Kenya is experiencing rather a boom. President Kenyatta made an impressive speech shortly after independence, urging the white farmers to stay on and help rebuild the economy – and many of us did. Some, of course, decided to sell up to the newly created Land Bank, but investment is flowing in at present, and aeroplanes land every day bringing tourists on safari.’

‘Then at least, with some finances available, the new regime must be providing better healthcare and education for its own people?’

‘I wouldn’t go that far.’ Bill rolled his eyes. ‘The simple fact is, nothing much has changed for anyone. Seems to me the poor are still as poor as they always have been, the bloody roads are still as impassable as ever, and as for education . . . well now, it’s early days yet and we must all live in hope that things will improve for the next generation, whose parents were prepared to lay down their lives for the cause.’

‘Sounds to me like we’ve both faced revolutions in our different countries,’ agreed Cecily wryly. ‘And yes, we must live in hope that the future will be brighter. Otherwise, what is the point to all the suffering?’

‘Quite. So, tell me what you’ve been doing in the past twenty years? How’s Stella?’

‘Oh, she is simply amazing,’ she smiled. ‘She’s a civil rights lawyer. She works for the NAACP – the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People – in their legal department, and spends most of her time flying all over the country to advise lawyers how to fight cases where there is obvious racial prejudice. I’m so very proud of her, and I’m sure you would be too.’

‘Good Lord, I take my hat off to you, Cecily. Who would have thought that the little Maasai baby abandoned by her mother would turn into a freedom fighter for the oppressed masses?’

‘It was the path she chose and was passionate about, Bill. She always was very bright.’

‘Yes, she was. And what opportunities you have obviously given her.’

‘You know how I loved her.’

‘I do, yes.’

They both lapsed into silence again.

‘I’ve often pondered . . .’ said Bill eventually.

‘What?’

‘Whether you left me, or came for her? If you see what I mean.’

‘I never intended to leave you, Bill, but yes, what New York could offer to Stella was sure a big incentive to stay. Especially as you really didn’t seem to care one bit whether I came back or not.’

‘Goodness, Cecily,’ said Bill hastily. ‘I did not for one second mean for that to sound as if I was criticising you. Please, don’t blame yourself. I freely admit I was hardly an attentive husband. After the war ended, I was far too lost in my own selfish woes to be any good to anybody.’

‘That wasn’t your fault, although I admit that I’d spent five years hoping against hope that once war was over, we could finally settle down and be a happy family.’

‘If things . . . if I had been different, would you have stayed? Even if it had meant that Stella didn’t receive the kind of education you wanted for her?’

‘Oh Bill,’ Cecily sighed, ‘I can’t answer that.’

‘No, of course you can’t. I’ve often looked back on the two of us, and thought that every time we had a shot at happiness, something happened to destroy it. I suppose that’s just bad luck and timing, isn’t it?’

‘I guess it is, yes.’

‘Cecily, one of the reasons I decided to come and see you is because I thought it was time to bury any hatchets that might be hanging about. I want you to know that