Beyond the Red Horizon Read online

  Louisa stared at her daughter in disbelief. “It wouldn’t bear thinking about,” she said, just as Luigi came in the backdoor with an armful of wood.

  “What are you talking about?” Luigi asked, sensing tension in the kitchen.

  “I just said it wouldn’t bear thinking about if the dinner didn’t turn out well when we have a guest,” Louisa said quickly.

  “You’re the best cook I know,” Luigi said steadfastly. “Of course the dinner will turn out good.”

  Louisa looked at her daughter. She hoped Elena could see for herself that her father was a single-minded man. When Luigi went back to the living room to put more wood on the fire, Louisa moved closer to her daughter.

  “Forget any ideas about courting a doctor from the hospital, Elena,” she said.

  “But, Mama …”

  “No buts, Elena,” Louisa said adamantly. “Now get the table ready.”

  Louisa went back to her soup, turning her back on Elena, who silently vowed that she would run away with Lyle if she had to. She loved her parents, but she couldn’t tolerate the idea of giving up Lyle.

  An hour later, the Fabrizias’ guest arrived. Louisa and Elena could hear Luigi talking to him in the front room before Luigi brought the guest through to the kitchen to reacquaint him with Louisa and to meet Elena.

  Elena’s first impression of Aldo was of a man uncomfortable in the company of women. He was in his late thirties, and since he was alone, there was every chance he wasn’t married. Suddenly feeling like an authority on the subject, she doubted he’d ever been in love. He was terribly thin, with an olive complexion, eyes that seemed to dart everywhere, and a beaky nose.

  Luigi welcomed Aldo enthusiastically. He told him how good it was to see him again, and for a few minutes they talked about Santa Maria Coghinas. Louisa and Elena could see how happy it made Luigi to be able to talk to someone from his hometown. He claimed he didn’t miss his life in Italy, but there were definitely some things he missed, like being out in the warm sunshine, picking olives. Aldo related all the changes since the war, which only reaffirmed Luigi’s plans to travel to Australia.

  “You speak very good English, Mr. Corradeo,” Elena said. “How long have you been in England?” She offered him bread from a plate while her mother ladled soup into his bowl.

  “Please, call me Aldo,” he said, seemingly too self-conscious to make eye contact with her, but taking in every detail of the small kitchen.

  “Aldo,” Elena repeated.

  “I came to England several times before the war began. I’ve been in Blackpool for just a few days.”

  “Aldo is staying in a guesthouse near Victoria Hospital,” Luigi explained.

  “I’m going out to Australia as soon as the war ends,” Aldo said, excitement dancing in his eyes. With the recent collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, and the inclusion of the United States in the trenches with the Allies, everyone was hopeful that the war would soon end.

  Elena wondered why he didn’t go to Australia straight from Italy. “Do you have business in England at the moment?” she asked.

  Aldo glanced at Luigi. “Not really,” he said. “I just wanted to catch up with Luigi and Louisa again, and talk about my Australian plans.”

  “Oh,” Elena said disinterestedly. If she hadn’t been preoccupied with thoughts of Lyle, she might have found his statement odd.

  Elena glanced at her father. He’d been talking about his own plans to immigrate to Australia for more than a year, but this was the first time she’d heard that someone from his hometown would also be immigrating to the fifth continent.

  “Aldo is going to buy some land and farm cattle,” Luigi said proudly.

  “Ah,” Elena replied, feigning interest. “Were you a farmer in Italy?”

  “Sì, I had sheep and a few cows. I plan on buying land in the Winton area. That’s a town in Central West Queensland. There is plenty of sunshine, and the water comes from underground.”

  “Underground,” Elena said, mystified. She started on her own soup.

  “Sì. It’s very hot when it comes to the surface, but it cools in the open air. Then the townsfolk can use it, and the cattle can drink it. It’s called bore water. Apparently, there’s plenty underground in Australia.”

  “Doesn’t it rain out there?” Elena asked.

  Aldo looked at her and smiled. He liked her inquisitive mind, but he quickly dropped his gaze again. “Sì, but they have long periods of drought.”

  “It doesn’t sound like there’d be much grass for the cattle to eat,” Elena commented.

  “The cattle in Australia have adapted and eat all sorts of vegetation,” Aldo explained. “They’re hardier beasts than those in Europe.”

  “We will move to the town of Winton, also,” Luigi said. “I think there will be great opportunities in Australia. I can open a butcher shop, and Aldo can supply me with meat. Isn’t this a wonderful idea, Elena?”

  “I suppose so, Papa,” Elena said, thinking it was strange that her father would seek her approval. How could she tell him that the thought of going to Australia no longer appealed to her? Suddenly Elena had a terrible thought. She looked at Aldo, then at her father. They were both glancing from her to each other, odd expressions on their faces. Surely her father wasn’t thinking she … and Aldo … . Her heart sank.

  “You will love Australia, Elena,” her father added enthusiastically as he mopped up the last of his soup with a chunk of bread and noisily slurped it. This practice had always made Elena cringe, but then Aldo began doing the very same thing.

  Elena looked at her mother, who was watching her with a steady gaze, almost daring her to defy her father’s plans. Now that she’d met and fallen in love with Lyle, she didn’t want to go to Australia. She wouldn’t.

  “Do you like warm sunshine, Elena?” Aldo asked her.

  “Of course I do,” she replied carefully. “I love summer in England. The days are so long.” She noted that her father was watching her closely. He was also watching Aldo’s reaction to what she said. She suddenly knew for certain that her father hoped that she might like Aldo Corradeo enough to marry him. Her heart plummeted. “If you will excuse me,” she said. “I have a headache.” She actually felt ill. She stood up to leave the table.

  “Sit, Elena, we have a guest,” her father said in a stern voice.

  Elena reluctantly sat down again, looking to her mother for support. It was obvious that Louisa was uncomfortable. She collected the empty soup bowls and took them to the sink. She then put out clean bowls and a big bowl of pasta that she’d been keeping warm in the temperamental oven. As she dished the pasta into bowls, Elena sat frozen. She’d lost her appetite completely.

  “Eat up, Elena,” her father ordered. “You work long hours at the hospital, so you must keep up your strength.”

  Elena said nothing. She began picking at her food, aware that Aldo was watching her.

  “Tell Aldo about your work at the hospital,” Luigi suggested.

  “I’m sure it would be of no interest to him, Papa.” Elena said, more convinced than ever that her father was match-making.

  “I would love to know about your work, if you feel up to telling me about it,” Aldo said kindly.

  “Of course she does,” Luigi said. “Go on, Elena,” he prompted.

  Elena felt anger creeping into her tone. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about the horrible injuries I see every day, Papa,” she said.

  “You don’t have to go into detail, Elena,” her father snapped, frustrated.

  Elena looked at her plate for a few moments and then began telling Aldo about her work at the hospital. Now that she understood that her father wanted a union between her and Aldo, she could barely make eye contact with him. She didn’t want to do anything that would encourage him, not when her heart belonged to Lyle. Aldo asked her one or two questions, and her father sang praises about the long hours she worked and how fit and capable she was. Elena felt like an animal going up f
or auction rather than a woman capable of finding her own life partner. Her cheeks burned with humiliation.

  When the men took their coffees through to the living room, Elena’s eyes welled up with tears as she went to the sink to help her mother with the dishes.

  “He’s a nice man, Elena,” Louisa said gently.

  “I’m not going to marry him, Mama. I don’t care what Papa says.” She wanted to blurt out that she loved another man, but she dared not go that far.

  “It will be all right, Elena. Once this terrible war ends, and we move to Australia, life will be different. It will be good. We’ll be bathed in warm sunshine all the time, and there’s plenty of wide-open space in Australia. It will be a wonderful place for your bambini to grow up.”

  Elena could see that her mother was looking forward to the future, but they had very different views on what that future might be. She said nothing, but her mind wandered to an imaginary life in Scotland with Lyle. Their children would play on the Scottish Highlands he’d told her about, and they’d all spend Sunday afternoons picnicking beside a beautiful loch. Lyle would be a village doctor, and she’d look after all their children. They’d live in a beautiful cottage with flowers in the garden. When she thought about the alternative, living on a farm where it rarely rained, surrounded by dust and cattle, she inwardly cringed.

  “Did you know that Papa has been making plans for me to marry Aldo Corradeo, Mama?”

  “Yes, I knew, Elena. He told me some time ago, but I didn’t say anything because I wanted you to have an open mind when you met him.”

  “I want to choose my own husband. I want to marry a man whom I love. You can understand that, can’t you, Mama?” Tears of frustration blurred Elena’s vision.

  “You know that is not possible, Elena. My father arranged for me to marry your papa. That is the way things are done, and I have been happy. I would have liked more children, and I know your papa wanted a son, but that was not to be for us. Just accept the way things are, Elena. We are going to Australia as soon as the war ends, and you will have a happy life with Aldo Corradeo.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Though it initially appeared that the seaside resort town of Brighton might suffer during the war, the influx of ten thousand troops and two thousand refugees from Belgium proved to be a windfall. Their presence brought financial relief for local hotels, shops, and stalls, as well as the community in general. Most of the refugees found immediate employment when approximately fifteen hundred German waiters and musicians abruptly abandoned the town. The long stretches of coastline also provided relative safety for military training and exercises.

  Shirley Blinky opened her house to lodgers after her husband was killed in July 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. An army widow’s pension didn’t cover the cost of keeping a big house on Ashbourne Street, so taking in lodgers was necessary to make ends meet. The lodgers also filled a lonely void, as her two children had been evacuated to her sister’s house in the Scottish countryside.

  Like many of her neighbours, Shirley could have easily billeted army soldiers, but she preferred doctors because they paid better and were less rowdy. Lyle Macallister had taken up lodging with Shirley, and so had Doctor Alain McKenzie. He’d gone through medical school with Lyle, and they’d worked together at the Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries. When they were transferred to the Victoria Hospital, they’d travelled down on the train together and found accommodation.

  Alain also knew Millie and her family, and most of Lyle’s friends, but apart from their shared profession, the two men were poles apart in character. Lyle was generally outgoing and jovial, interested in sports like curling, football, and darts, while Alain preferred the solitary past-time of reading. His bedside manner could be described as cold, but Lyle felt Alain was misunderstood because he was quiet. Lyle’s dashing looks also made him a magnet for the nurses, whereas Alain was not the sort of man women noticed. He wasn’t unattractive, but he just didn’t stand out.

  A week earlier, Alain had been taking a break with a group of doctors at the hospital when one of them made a remark about two nurses. It was the type of bawdy but harmless remark that men made when they were in the company of other men, but Lyle had overreacted because one of the nurses in question was Elena. He’d meant to apologise to Alain in private, but his housemate had been avoiding him. For this reason, Lyle had been especially vigilant about not letting anyone notice his feelings for Elena. He didn’t want to take the chance that Alain or one of the other doctors from Dumfries might delight in telling Millie about his association with Elena on a visit home. He was also afraid that Alain might bring up the subject of Millie in front of Elena.

  The third lodger at Mrs. Blinky’s was a young girl named Bernadette Dobson who had lost her parents during the war. As her only brother had also gone off to fight, Bernadette had been left in a vulnerable position. She was just seventeen, and Mrs. Blinky had known her parents quite well, so she felt it her duty to take the girl under her wing. Or this was what she professed.

  Shirley hadn’t realised how much work lodgers could be, and she saw poor Bernadette as cheap labour. In exchange for low rent, the girl was expected to clean the lodgers’ rooms and do the washing, as well as work during the day in a vegetable shop. In the evenings after dinner, Bernadette had to clean up while Shirley put her feet up after a “hard” day.

  Lyle had caught the late train back to Blackpool on Tuesday night. Fearing he’d wake the rest of the lodgers, he crept quietly up to his room. He was passing Shirley Blinky’s bedroom door when he thought he heard muffled noises. Worried that something was wrong, he stopped to listen, only to realise that Shirley had someone in her room. His first thought was that his landlady was having an argument with Bernadette. Then he heard laughing, followed by a man’s voice. It sounded like Alain. For a few moments Lyle stood frozen, trying to work out why his colleague would be in Shirley’s room. Was Shirley ill? Then he heard her laugh again. He had to concede that it wasn’t the laugh of a sick girl. Then Lyle heard Alain’s voice again. Then Alain laughed, too. That in itself was unusual, but what surprised Lyle the most was that it wasn’t a jovial chuckle. It was more like an intimate laugh between lovers.

  Lyle stood, frozen in his tracks. Shirley was at least ten years older than Alain, maybe fifteen. She was also rather outgoing. Lyle went to his room, but despite his weariness, he found it difficult to sleep. He kept wondering how long the affair had been going on between Alain and Shirley, and why he hadn’t seen the signs, but then he was at the hospital or with Elena most of the time. He considered the idea that their affair had begun while he was in Dumfries, but he couldn’t believe it.

  Lyle lay awake for hours. When he stopped thinking about Alain and Shirley, his mind was tortured by thoughts of Millie and Elena. Finally, at around three o’clock, he drifted off into a weary sleep.

  Elena did not close her eyes all night. At six o’clock, she got up and dressed. It was still dark, and her parents were in bed. Wanting to avoid them, she left the house before seven o’clock. Even if she hadn’t been in love with Lyle, she could never marry Aldo Corradeo. He seemed pleasant enough, but the thought of being intimate with a man she didn’t find attractive repulsed her. She wouldn’t do it, and she couldn’t believe her parents expected her to. She’d made up her mind. If her father wouldn’t allow her to see Lyle, she’d just run away with him.

  Elena’s shift began at ten that day, so she took her uniform with her when she left the house. She knew Lyle was due to start his shift at lunchtime. She walked to Ashbourne Street in a state of agitation. Lyle had pointed out the house he lived in, and she knew there was a cafe across the road. They’d had tea there together once.

  Elena sat in the cafe and watched the house where Lyle lodged, hoping he’d come out. She saw Alain McKenzie leave for work. A short while later, she saw a dark-haired girl of about sixteen or seventeen leave the house. She was carrying a bag of laundry. Lyle had told her about Bernadette Dobson, and about
how hard Mrs. Blinky worked the girl, so she knew it must be her. The laundrette was in the next street. At eight thirty, Elena saw the landlady come out of the house with a shopping bag. That meant Lyle was inside, alone.

  When Mrs. Blinky was out of sight, Elena knocked on the front door, but no one answered. She called out, but there was still no reply. She suspected Lyle was still asleep. Making sure no one saw her, she went along the side of the house and through a gate into the rear garden. Luckily, the back door was unlocked.

  Elena slipped inside the house and went straight upstairs, where she found three bedroom doors open. The beds had been stripped. One other door was closed. She assumed it was Lyle’s. She knocked softly. When Lyle didn’t answer, she quietly opened the door. Peering inside, she saw the back of Lyle’s head on the pillow. He was fast asleep. Her love for him was overwhelming, and she felt tears prick her eyes. She crept into the room, shutting the door behind her.

  “Lyle,” she said softly, touching his shoulder. He didn’t immediately awaken. She knew he must be exhausted and felt guilty for a few moments. But she had to talk to him. “Lyle,” she whispered more intently.

  Lyle opened his eyes and turned towards the door. He thought he was dreaming. “Elena,” he said in disbelief as he rubbed his eyes.

  “I just had to talk to you, Lyle,” Elena said urgently. She sat on the side of his bed, facing him.

  Lyle glanced at the door, worried.

  “I saw everyone leave, and I came in through the back door,” she said.

  “Are you sure no one is here?” Lyle asked, finally fully awake.

  “Yes,” Elena said. “Doctor McKenzie went to work. Bernadette’s gone to the laundrette, and Mrs. Blinky went shopping. I watched them all leave from the cafe across the road.”

  “It’s wonderful to see you, but why are you here, Elena?” Lyle asked. “Is something wrong?” His heart began to race. For a terrible few moments, he wondered if one of the other doctors from Dumfries had told her about Millie.