The Eden Legacy

TWENTY-FOUR
I

Davit was in bed with Claudia when he asked her to come to Eden with him.

‘I can’t,’ she told him. She was lying on her back, stroking his hand upon her stomach. ‘This is my work here. If they hire another girl, they won’t take me back.’

‘What do they need you for?’ he asked. ‘There’s no one here but us, and we’re leaving. Ask them for a holiday.’

That made her laugh. ‘No holiday,’ she said.

‘Please come,’ he said. ‘We’d pay you well. A thousand euros.’

To his surprise, Claudia looked hurt rather than pleased by this. ‘I don’t want your money. Not for this.’

‘It wouldn’t be for this,’ said Davit. ‘We could really use your help. To cook for us, translate, that kind of thing.’

She turned on to her back. ‘You want to pay me one thousand euros to cook and speak Malagasy? How many days?’

‘Four. Five. I don’t know yet.’

‘And what is this job? You look for this Eden man, yes? Why? What do you want with him? Do you mean him harm?’

‘The people I work for just want to talk with him, that’s all.’

‘Talk!’ she snorted. ‘Then why not just telephone him? Do they not have telephones where you come from?’

‘It’s not as simple as that.’ But then he wondered: Why not? He let the thought go, however; it was more enjoyable to stroke her belly. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘We really need you.’ He realised suddenly he had a way to prove it. ‘In fact, it was Boris’s idea to ask you, not mine.’

This didn’t please her as much as he’d expected. ‘I don’t like your friend,’ she said. ‘He’s a bad man.’

‘He’s okay.’

‘Men like him come here all the time. They are not good men.’ She turned to face him, pointed a finger at herself. ‘Me, I can always tell. That is why I am with you and not him.’

Her words cheered him immeasurably; he felt a rush of tenderness for her. ‘Please come,’ he begged. ‘I don’t know how I’ll survive without you for five days.’

‘Sure!’ she laughed. She gave his right hand a little squeeze. ‘This is how you’ll survive.’

‘I’m serious. I’m crazy about you. I really am.’

She looked doubtfully at him. ‘You mean that?’

He took her hands and kissed them. ‘I mean it,’ he told her. ‘I want to be with you all the time.’

‘Okay,’ she said happily. ‘Then I come.’