Page 75 of Sands of Sirocco
Ginger hesitated.She didn’t know how much to tell her mother but her mother might help smooth things over with Lady Hendricks.“Actually, I learned a few more details.Apparently, Father gave the concession to a Freddy Mortimer.Mortimer was to take the concession to a safe location and then bring back information about where he’d taken it.He never returned.”
Her mother’s eyes widened.“That’s why Lady Hendricks gave you the cold shoulder.”
“Then you know about him?Lucy told me later about the rumors—”
“Tell me you have said nothing to Lucy.”Her mother’s hand shot out toward Ginger.
“Of course not.I made up an excuse about why I needed to speak to Lady Hendricks.”The waiter arrived, carrying a plate of sandwiches, which he set on the table.Ginger watched him leave.“Do you remember Mr.Mortimer?Mr.Brandeis said Father knew him well.”
“Unfortunately, your father never introduced us.”Her mother’s lips hinted at a smile.“I heard he was quite handsome.Given his reputation with Lady Hendricks, I think Edmund wasn’t eager for me to meet him.”
“Well, that’s where my inquiries ended.Lady Hendricks won’t accept my invitations or apologies or return my notes.”Ginger sighed and selected a sandwich from the tray.“I’m not sure where to go from here.”
“Oddly enough, Lady Hendricks didn’t answer my note yesterday either.I suppose she thought I was attempting a meeting on your behalf.”
The cheerful sounds of people chatting and laughing, spoons clinking against porcelain, felt incongruous to Ginger’s conversation with her mother.
Her mother glanced over Ginger’s head, toward the street.“William and Lucy are on their way back.We’ll have to discuss this further when we return from Gezira.”
Lucy arrived and held a light-blue scarf toward her mother.“I bought this for you.”Then she turned and handed Ginger a beautifully embroidered cream scarf.“And this is from William for you.”
Ginger took the scarf.Much as she was touched by the gesture, it was just one more thing she owed him.“This is beautiful.Thank you, William.”
“My pleasure.I only wish you were going to Gezira with us.”William held Ginger’s gaze.She’d avoided him recently.A part of her felt remorse.She didn’t want to hurt him.
Ginger folded the scarf and placed it in her handbag.
“And look what William bought me.”Lucy lifted a third headscarf, a long navy-blue one.It seemed Lucy was enjoying spending William’s money on herself.
The thought provoked the question about William’s background once again.“What did you do in Kent, William?Before the war.I feel I haven’t had the time to ask you too much about yourself.”
“I worked in banking.”His answer was vague, though perhaps he intended it that way.
“I was always terrible with numbers,” Ginger admitted as she fingered a sandwich.“Though I enjoyed literature.Do you read?”Inadvertently, she’d asked the question while thinking of Noah.She remembered Victoria describing Noah as a bookworm.
“Occasionally.I enjoy a good novel on a cold winter night.”William leaned back in his seat, the caning on the seat creaking as it stretched under his weight.“Though, I think I could accustom myself to these Egyptian winters.They’re rather more enjoyable than deep drifts of snow and shivering until you can’t feel your toes.”
“Snow,” Lucy said the word reverently.“I miss it.And that first beautiful day in the spring—” She gave Ginger a knowing glance.“Ginny always used to call it her favorite day of the year.”
Ginger shared a wistful smile with her sister.“That’s true.There’s nothing quite like that first warm day, when the birds have returned, and the skies have turned blue once again.And the green grass is so perfect for a horse ride …” Ginger blushed and bit into her sandwich.
“You enjoy the natural world, then?”A breeze teased the hair near his ears.
Ginger swallowed her bite.“I do.”
As Lucy told William about all their favorite outdoor places back home at Penmore, Ginger felt a mixture of nostalgia and wistful regret.When they’d left home at the beginning of the war, she’d never imagined she wouldn’t return.Now the chances of her ever seeing Penmore outside of a passing visit were remote.She would never live there again.
Neither would her family.Unless Lucy married William.While that remained a possibility, she still felt guilt at the thought of Lucy being forced to marry someone just to save the family fortune.
A troubling thought struck her.At least she had a life with Noah to look forward to.For her family, the future had the potential to be much bleaker.
She sat back in her chair, sipping her tea, determined to enjoy this time.With her family going to Gezira Island for the afternoon, it left her some freedom in her schedule.Shepheard’s was around the corner.Noah might be there.
She was going to pay him a visit.No matter who saw her.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Under her gloved hand, Ginger’s knock on the wooden door to Noah’s room at Shepheard’s sounded dull and soft.Within a few seconds, footsteps approached.Noah stood there.He blinked at her, surprise registering on his face.Then he stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind him.“Ginger.What are you doing here?”
