Under Gemini by Rosamunde Pilcher Read Free Book Online

been my stepfather for years and years, so I’ve always been called Schuster, but Waring’s my middle name.” She stopped, having apparently run out of breath. They continued to gaze at each other, still astonished, but with a growing sense of recognition, of realization.
    â€œDo you know who your real father was?” Flora asked at last.
    â€œI never knew him. He and my mother separated when I was a baby. I think he was a schoolmaster.”
    Flora thought of her father. Vague, loping about, maddening, but always totally honest and truthful. She thought, He couldn’t have. He couldn’t have done such a thing and never told me.
    The silence between the two girls lengthened. Rose seemed to have nothing more to say. With an effort, Flora searched for words.
    â€œYour mother. Was she called…” The name, scarcely ever mentioned, swam up out of her subconscious. “Pamela?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œHow old are you?”
    â€œTwenty-two.”
    â€œWhen is your birthday?”
    â€œThe seventeenth of June.”
    Now, it was final. “Mine, too.”
    â€œI was born under Gemini,” said Rose, and it was disconcerting to hear Marcia’s words of that very morning repeated so naturally. “The sign of the twins.” She smiled. “That’s appropriate enough, if you like.”
    My twin. My sister. “But what happened?” asked Flora.
    â€œSimple. They decided to separate, and they took one each.”
    â€œBut did you ever have the slightest idea?”
    â€œNot the slightest. Did you?”
    â€œNo. That’s what shakes me.”
    â€œWhy should it shake you? It’s perfectly normal human behavior. Very tidy, very fair.”
    â€œI think we should have been told.”
    â€œWhat good would that have done? What difference would it have made?”
    It was obvious that Rose was more amused than shattered by the situation. “I think it’s hysterical,” she went on. “And the most hysterical part of the business is that our mother and father have been found out. And what a fantastic coincidence that we should meet up like this. Out of the blue. Have you ever been to this restaurant before?”
    â€œNever.”
    â€œYou mean, you just walked in?”
    â€œI only arrived in London this evening. I’ve been in Cornwall for the past year.”
    â€œThat makes it more unbelievable than ever. In the whole of this immense city…” She spread her hands, leaving the sentence to finish itself.
    â€œThey always say,” said Flora, “that London is made up of a lot of villages. I suppose if you stick to your own village, you’re bound to meet someone you know.”
    â€œThat’s true enough. Walk into Harrod’s and you bump into acquaintances all the way through. But it still doesn’t stop it being the most extraordinary thing that’s even happened to me.” She pushed her hair back from her forehead with her fingers, a gesture that Flora recognized, with some shock, as one of her own. “What were you doing in Cornwall?” Rose asked, as if it could make any difference.
    â€œMy father and I went to live there. He still does. He teaches there.”
    â€œYou mean he’s still a schoolteacher?”
    â€œYes, he’s still a schoolmaster.” It was ridiculous to continue to feel as shaken as she did. She decided to be as matter of fact about the uncanny coincidence as Rose was. “And what happened to you?” she asked, sounding unreal, like a person at a formal cocktail party.
    â€œMother married again when I was about two. He’s called Harry Schuster and he’s an American, but he’s spent most of his life in Europe as representative for his firm.”
    â€œSo you were brought up in Europe?”
    â€œYou could say that. If it wasn’t Paris it was Rome, and if it wasn’t Rome, it was Frankfurt. You know how