Chapter 33

BEVERLY HILLS AND THEN RENO

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1934

Darcy and I stood facing each other. “I’d better go,” he said. “I’ll see you when you’re back in England, then.”

“I don’t know where I’ll be,” I said. “I really don’t want to go back to Castle Rannoch and Mummy will be off back to Max.”

“You can always use my place, darling,” Belinda said. “Since I’m going to be here for a while.”

We hadn’t noticed her curled on the sofa.

She smiled. “That sweet boy Ronnie came by this morning. He said that Golden Pictures will take care of everything we need and he’s going to make sure I get an introduction to the costume department. This could be my big break, darlings.”

“I’m happy for you, Belinda,” I said. “And can I really use your mews cottage for a while?”

“Absolutely. Feel free.”

“Golly,” I said. “That’s so nice of you.”

“Well, I have made use of you from time to time,” she confessed.

“Now you know where to find me,” I said to Darcy.

He stroked my wet hair back from my face. “You had better go and take a bath. You look like a drowned rat. And I have to pack to catch that train.”

I walked with him to the cottage door. There were so many things I wanted to say, but couldn’t. On the doorstep he kissed me gently. “Take care of yourself,” he whispered.

“You too.”

His hand brushed mine. Then he was gone.

I went inside to find that Queenie had packed all my things and complained loudly about having to open the cases again for dry clothes. “Just when I got them all nice and neat you go rummaging through them and messing them all up,” she said.

“Queenie, if you don’t enjoy working for me, you’re very welcome to stay here and find another American lady to work for,” I said, “but if you come with me you’ve got to stop this complaining. I want a proper lady’s maid, and one who does her job cheerfully and willingly. Is that clear?”

“Yes, my lady,” she said sheepishly.

I wasn’t too hopeful.

Mummy had rented a car and driver to take us to Reno as quickly as possible. It was a spectacular journey over mountains, past lakes and forests until finally we came to the dry scrub and heat of Nevada. Mummy was a bundle of nerves all the way.

“I can’t think how he found out about it,” she kept on saying. “Now I’m finished. He’ll never divorce me and Max won’t be able to marry me and everything is ruined. Everything I hoped for gone, destroyed, vanished.”

You can see she was able to be dramatic and eloquent even in despair.

I sat in the little bungalow at the ranch while she went in search of Homer, awaiting the worst. But it wasn’t long before I heard the tap of her high heels running up the path to the front door. Mummy burst in, her hair out of place, her face alight with joy.

“It’s all all right, darling.” She was beaming. “I saw Homer and everything is going to be wonderful. He didn’t even know I was here, can you imagine? He came to Reno because he wanted to get a quickie divorce from me. He’s found someone he wants to marry and suddenly he’s not quite so religiously puritanical anymore. Isn’t that brilliant? So we’ll be divorced in a few days and free to go home.”

“What about Mr. Goldman’s funeral? Aren’t we supposed to attend that?”

Mummy shrugged. “Oh, darling. There will be millions of people. Who would notice if we were missing—and it’s not as if we were bosom friends or anything. And to be truthful, I’ve had enough of America. I want to be back home where there are no silly ideas of equality and I can buy a decent face cream. I can’t wait, can you?”

Actually no, I couldn’t wait.