Chapter 13. Inscription
Aida was no fool - at first she blinked. "Is this what I think it is?"
Gideon had spent weeks thinking of what would be the best way
to tell her about the return of the ring.
She turned it over and looked closely at the inside of the band.
There were two barely legible initials: L and M.
Gideon felt suddenly ashamed that he'd worn the ring for nearly
two years and hadn't known they were there.
''Lillian Marchant." he said softly.
"Mother." Aida said ''How Gideon? How after all these years."
Before he had a chance to answer, Aida burst into tears
and hugged him.
*
Alone in the house Gideon sipped his tea and enjoyed the peace
and quiet. He knew it wouldn't last, it couldn't. What he hadn't foreseen,
was Aida with ring in hand, immediately catching a train to Bath.
Home to their sprawling family estates and the house they grew up in.
With both their parents now passed, it would be home to the arms of
their gossip starved Aunts and Uncles, and the extended family.
The ring and it's loss was part of family folklore.
*
The visitors started to arrive soon after Aida returned to London,
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but to Gideon's surprise they were a different social set to what he
had expected.
Bath has changed Aida said. It was now full of feminist radicals who
were as passionate as ever about their cause, but were now frustrated
that the War had put a stop to their political campaigning.
Gideon was getting ready for his day at the enlistment board.
"Why don't they do something useful then, like join the land army or work
in a factory and support the War effort. That would be something."
Aida ignored him and continued arranging the flowers on the table she
was setting. She went into the kitchen to get more cutlery.
"The flowers look beautiful Aida." Gideon said as he walked
out the door.
"Don't forget we have guests tonight." Aida said.
*
Gideon arrived home late and found the house already full of the happy
chatter of guests. After changing and freshening up, he found a seat at
the table where a place name had been set for him.
Looking around the room there appeared to be far more dinner guests
than seats, not that anyone seemed to care.
The guests were mostly young women and nearly all of them had a drink
in hand. Next to him sat a woman closer in age to himself who had
fashionably short blonde hair.
"May I introduce myself." he said.
"I was rather hoping you would Gideon." the woman said.
"Have we met before?" he asked.
"We have not. My name is Edith, Aida has told me a great deal about you."
Gideon contemplated the sherry in his glass.
"Let me apologise for my sister's shameless attempt at match making."
Edith smiled. "Pre-dinner drinks started quite early this afternoon and no one
noticed when I switched name cards to make sure that I sat next to you."
Edith's eyes were clear and bright.
His face warmed as he blushed. "May I ask why?"
"I'll tell you that when we have lunch together. I'm in London till the end of the
week." Edith sipped the gin in her glass. "As for tonight, let's get to know each
other better and let the young ones have their fun."
*
Gideon left the enlistment offices at midday and walked to the lake in
Regents park where Edith's note said she would be waiting. As he walked
past the boarded up entrance to the London zoo, it occurred to him that
he knew next to nothing about her. The dinner party had been a wonderful
night and he'd enjoyed her company, but he couldn't remember a single
thing Edith had said about herself.
She'd had asked him all sorts of questions about his life. Surely at some
point in the night he must have asked about hers. There was a time he
thought himself. when he was far more certain of the people around him.
The morning after the dinner party Aida was nursing a terrible hangover.
She handed him the note from Edith.
"Did someone make a friend last night." she said with a grin.
"You've been invited to a picnic."
*
Edith had laid out the picnic blanket on the sunny sloping bank of
the lake. They sat each side of a wicker basket from which Edith took
a small wheel of cheese and sliced it on a timber plate.
"Aida's visit to Bath and the return of her ring was the talk of the town
for weeks." she said.
''I'm sure it was." Gideon replied.
She dipped a flat knife into a jar of paste and passed a biscuit
to him. "But what I found of most interest, was Aida telling me that you'd
seen my nephew Finn at the enlistment board."
Gideon almost choked. ''Your nephew?"
''Miriam Page is my sister. The story of Aida's ring and your chance
meeting with Finn, it made me think that perhaps we have a mutual friend."
Gideon watched two swans circling each other on the lake.
"Perhaps we do." he said.
*
