Beverley shook her head slowly, unable to speak.

‘Oh, don’t look so shocked. It hardly matters now. It was ages ago. And it didn’t last long. It was purely physical.’

‘I really don’t want to hear that,’ said George. ‘I live in a fantasy world where you’re all virgins.’

‘Even me?’ asked Wilkes, momentarily forgetting his correct pronoun.

‘Especially you.’

‘How long?’ asked Beverley.

‘How long what?’

‘How long did it go on for? You and Pylyp.’

Elizabeth scrunched up her face, trying to remember. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘A few weeks? Until just before I met Wilkes.’

Beverley said nothing, simply sat back and finished her glass of wine in one gulp.

‘What does any of this matter?’ asked George, his face still red with anger. ‘The point is, you are not going to Indonesia. I’m putting my foot down.’

‘Daddy—’

‘No, I’m sorry, but this is an absurd conversation. I’m under a great deal of stress at the moment and I simply won’t listen to another word of your nonsense. Beverley, Elizabeth, Ustym Karmaliuk, Wilkes’s multiple personalities and Wilkes himself – and I list you in order of how seriously I take you all – I’m picking up my whisky and I’m going upstairs to read a book. One printed on paper and that has no comments at the end of each page.’

‘But Daddy,’ protested Elizabeth as he made his way towards the door, ‘what about Indonesia? What about our trip to the leper colony? What do you think we should do?’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ he asked, turning back to pick up the bottle before leaving the room. ‘Cancel it.’

PART 4

Part 4

16 September 2011

They’re seated outside a restaurant in Newport, Rhode Island, on the second-to-last afternoon of their trip. Since arriving a month earlier, they’ve spent time in Massachussetts, New York and Washington, DC but have decided to end their trip here, in a town where Beverley spent a summer when she was a student, working in the Newport Creamery.

It’s been a hugely enjoyable holiday. Nelson has been fascinated by every city they’ve visited, wanting to explore every museum, every architectural site, and have his photograph taken in front of the Liberty Bell. Achilles, too, although only seven, has kept them entertained with an endless stream of jokes and performance pieces. Although the last to join the family, he is, both George and Beverley agree, the glue that holds them all together, the one around whose antics they all revolve.

President Bush, the first President Bush, has been in the north-east over the last few weeks and, as an old friend of George’s, having appeared on his chat show several times over the years, had invited them all out to Walker’s Point Estate in Kennebunkport for a weekend.

But their holiday is drawing to a close now. Their flights are booked for home and George is due back at the BBC the following Monday. There’s an air of dissatisfaction around the table; they would all like to stay longer. Really, none of them wants to leave.