CHAPTER 84 - GOODBYE, MUMMY ---- CAPÍTULO 84 - ADIÓS, MAMÁ.
The vicar of St John the Baptist in Longdown officiated at the funeral. The same man who, only a few months earlier, had conducted Nahia and Thomas’s wedding. As the coffin was lowered into the ground, Charlotte looked towards the slope of Stampton Hills, the Devon fields stretching as far as the eye could see, the pale, wide, clear English sky, and thought that her mother had chosen well. That she had chosen well in remaining in Algeciras for fifty-two years, and that she had chosen well in coming back here at the end. John stood beside her in his brigadier’s uniform, the insignia of his KBE on his chest, his back straight and steady. His face unreadable, though marked by immense dark circles beneath his eyes that spoke for themselves. Andrew and Claire watched their father and their aunt supporting one another. The vicar finished. John and Charlotte threw a handful of earth onto the grave. Margot, Andrew and Claire followed them. Florence, Paddy, Elfie and the Smith brother...
