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source of unhappiness to him that Dirk would never be fit enough to share
his work here, as I could.'
So in fact, Georgie thought, whatever Reita de Vries's feelings on the
subject, her husband at least would have been more than happy for Niklaas
to inherit Marula, if and when the time came.
'Well, I must be off.' Niklaas's, manner was remote, matter-of-fact. Since
that one moment, at her aunt's cottage, when he had taken her in his arms, he
had said no word, given no sign that he was in any way still attracted to her.
And yet was there any significance in his parting words? 'You know where
to find me, if ever you want me.' He paused briefly on the threshold, as
though expecting hoping? for a reply, but as yet Georgie hadn't the
right words, and she could only nod, her eyes large and wistful.
She might not have the right words yet for Niklaas, but there was no doubt in
her mind just what she must say to Reita de Vries. She waited until Niklaas's
tall figure was out of sight, the sound of the jeep's engine telling her he had
really left. Then, having placed Susan in the care of the comfortable,
middle-aged wife of one of the scientists, she went in search of the other
woman.
Reita was in her bedroom, the room she had always occupied when she'd
been mistress of Marula. Dirk and Georgie had never used it, remaining
instead in Dirk's suite of rooms.
'What do you want?' Reita demanded, as Georgie entered with a perfunctory
knock. There was no sign of the gushing cordiality with which she'd greeted
her daughter-in-law on arrival. 'Just because Marula is yours, does that mean
you intend to walk in and out of my room just as you please?'
'But it isn't your room any more, is it?' Georgie began.
'Oh, so you intend to throw me out again, as you did when you married my
son?'
'You left of your own accord,' Georgie reminded her, her tone deceptively
mild. She wasn't ready to use her big guns yet. 'You were very anxious, for
some reason, that I should marry Dirk, even though you didn't like me.'
Reita remained silent.
'You were afraid I might marry Niklaas instead, as I would have done, if you
hadn't lied to Dirk and, indirectly, to me.'
Still the bulky woman's lips were sealed in a grim line.
'And we both know, don't we,' Georgie continued inexorably, 'that I have no
right to Marula?'
Now Reita did speak, nervously, jerkily. 'You're still Dirk's wife. His death
doesn't change that.'
'True,' Georgie conceded, pausing deliberately. Reita de Vries deserved to
suffer the agonies of doubt a little longer. She had made other people suffer
enough, including her own son, though she would probably deny that, claim
that all she had done had been prompted by maternal love and not her own
irrational dislike of Niklaas. 'But Dirk had no right, legally, to leave Marula
to me. Marula is entailed.'
'For Dirk's child, though . . .'
'But Dirk told you, Susan wasn't his child!' 'No . . . no . ..' The fading
marigold hair was displaced from its careful coiffure as Reita shook her
head. 'He didn't. He .. .'
'Yes, he did. He told you the child was Hendrik's, and you seized on that,
didn't you? You were ready to go along with the deception, let everyone
think my child was Dirk's.'
Again Reita was silent, but her face worked violently, making her ugly.
'Dirk lied to you,' Georgie told her, and again Reita's head shook
vehemently.
'No, he couldn't have done. He wouldn't have lied to me, his own mother. He
wouldn't have d. ..'
'Were you going to say "he wouldn't have dared"?' Georgie asked sweetly.
'That I do believe. It's probably the-only true word you've spoken. Dirk
didn't dare lie to you, except in this case, when he wouldn't have dared to tell
you the truth.'
'But it had to be Hendrik's.' Anger made Reita suddenly careless. 'My son
wasn't lying to me. I know, because I know Dirk was incapable of father. . .'
She stopped abruptly.
Georgie's heart gave an enormous leap. Reita had confirmed her suspicions,
put into her hands the one indisputable item of proof she needed. The
coeliac disease from which Dirk had suffered was sometimes the cause of
infertility and it seemed this had been so in Dirk's case and that was
something that could be proved, by applying to his doctors.
'It was Hendrik's child,' Reita whispered. It wasn't an assertion now. She was
begging Georgie to confirm it.
'Susan is Niklaas's daughter,' said Georgie.
'No!' Reita de Vries held out her hands, as if she would ward off the
knowledge Georgie imparted.
'Oh yes, and now I know how to prove it to him. I'm going to tell him so.
Marula should have been Niklaas's. It's going to be his.' She didn't wait to
hear Reita's reply, if the other woman was even capable of making one.
Instead, she turned on her heel and marched out of the house, heading for
Dirk's Land Rover, still parked under the trees that shaded his house.
Poor Dirk. She felt her eyes sting suddenly. She hadn't cried since she'd first
heard of his death, its tragic circumstances. She hadn't cried at the reading of
the will she'd been too shaken by its revelations. But now she could truly
grieve for the man who had so briefly been her husband for Dirk himself,
as someone to whom she had been grateful, and though she hadn't been in
love with him, she had been fond of him, until Reita's lies had rebounded on
him fond of him for his own sake as well as what he had done for her in
marrying her.
Thank God that now she knew he, as well as she, had been wronged. She
only wished she could have known the truth sooner, while he was alive, so
that she could have thanked him for what he had done for her, for all that he
was still trying to do, even after death! Transfixed by this thought, Georgie
sat with her hands resting on the steering-wheel. Dirk's intentions were clear
now, his final message to her explained. He'd known she would do the right
thing, at whatever cost to herself, that she wouldn't let Niklaas be the loser,
and he'd hoped this would bring Georgie and his cousin together. Would it?
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