The Intimates by Guy Mankowski Page B

harm.”
    “Georgina – is my half-sister? But how do you know this?”
    “You know I am a devoted follower of your father Vincent, and if it is not too presumptuous of me I like to think that over the years we have become friends. At times he has seen me as a confidante, even if sometimes I have had to read a little between the lines of what he says.”
    “You mean that you don't even know if this is true?”
    “It is true Vincent,” she says, dismissively. “And tonight I have asked your father to come because I feel he is now ready to make amends with Barbara.”
    “Well judging by her performance out by the fountain, I don't think Barbara is ready to make amends. Even if what you say is true, tonight still does not seem a good night for anything that delicate to come out into the open.”
    “Tonight is the perfect night for this Vincent, don't you see? Tonight is about facing our pasts, taking on our future with veracity. Tonight is about confronting our truths Vincent.”
    “Well why don't we start to confront your truths a little more then Francoise? How about it? The real reason you are trying to mend all of my father's relationships, yes? Because I think it all comes down to a very simple desire to have a role in his life. It's nothing to do with wanting what's best for us; it's a way for you to handle this obsession you have for him, which you have had since long before we met. Am I right?”
    “You're just being childish now Vincent.”
    “No, I'm not. I don't even know if I can handle this information tonight, but Georgina most certainly cannot. She and her mother are very close to ending their temperamental relationship once and for all, and I won't be the one to tell her this news this evening. You should wait until this can be dealt with sensitively Francoise, and judging by the way you are teasing Elise I would say that is beyond your capacity right now.”
    “I was just having a little fun with Elise,” she says, as she pours bright green liquid into the cocktail glasses, scattering over them the shredded leaves and then stirring each with a long mixer.
    “That is it Francoise. I have looked to you for guidance for much of my life, but tonight you are treating people like toys, and their pasts like scenery that you can reshuffle at will. And you cannot do that. I don't know what has happened to you, but tonight you have lost something, something that always prevented you from being this person.”
    “If you are angry towards me because I teased Elise then I am sorry.” She sips a cocktail, and blinks slowly in pleasure. “Wonderful,” she says. “I was a little mean to her, but I will make it up to her now Vincent. Now take a cocktail.”
    Francoise draws me outside into the still night, her guests looking expectantly up at her. She hands a slightly bewildered Elise one of the potent-looking cocktails. “I don't think that I've shown you the jewellery left to me with this house, have I Elise? I think I'm a little old to pull some of it off, but some of the pieces might suit a woman with your style. Would you be interested in having a look at them?”
    Elise looks up, relieved and perhaps excited, and excuses me with a wave as the two of them sweep into the house.
    As they walk away Georgina and Graham look over, but I am still too angry with Francoise to meet their eye. Perhaps I am slightly frightened too, frightened of how I will feel when I look up and see Georgina in a new light. Already I am aware that what Francoise has said rings true. I realise that it makes sense; it explains how the bond between Georgina and I always surpassed the mere proximity of youth. I understand now the protective, slightly aloof manner with which we have long dealt with one another. Perhaps somehow we both knew all along. It would explain the way that, for some unknown reason, we were always unable to see one another in a romantic light – however politically helpful it sometimes might have been to do