7
When the Rosebery arrived in George Town, Evie couldn’t help wishing the ship could turn around with her and Jasmine on it and sail straight back to Africa. Now they had reached their destination, the pain of their impending separation was biting.
Crowds were gathered on the quayside: people there to meet returning family and friends, uniformed soldiers, policemen, traders, hawkers, drivers, porters, rickshaw men. Evie had told Mary there was no need to come to meet the ship as she and Jasmine intended to spend several days in George Town before she brought Jasmine up to Mary and Reggie’s house up in the hills. But as her eye drifted over the throngs of people, she saw Mary standing amid the crowd, waving her hand, trying to catch Evie’s attention.
‘How could I possibly have waited?’
