Most of all, she was trying to decide what she wanted to do. She spoke to her sisters regularly. Olivia continued to tell her to divorce Nicolas. Venetia told her to fight for him if she still loved him. Athena told her that she would be fine even if she wound up alone. She hadn’t spoken to her mother as much recently. Rose was up to her neck in the October issue. The September issue was due out at the end of the month, and Rose was still upset about it. For the first time, she wasn’t looking forward to it. All she could think about was the cover feature, with the joint interview and photographs of her son-in-law and his pregnant mistress. She wished they hadn’t done the story, but it couldn’t be avoided, and she dreaded Nadia’s reaction to it, even though she had sweetly agreed to it and said it didn’t matter.
Nadia missed her children for the two weeks they were at the château with their father, but it was also a relief not to have to be responsible for anyone, eat at set times, come home on time from the office, and make sure they were happy, safe, fed, and entertained. She had been bracing herself for when they would hear about their father. Now the news was out, and there was nothing she could do about it. It was up to him now. He had to clean up his own mess with them.
In the middle of the month, there was a change of shifts at the château. Nicolas left the day before Nadia’s sisters and their families were due to arrive. Nadia planned it so that she would miss him. The housekeeper spent the afternoon with the girls after Nicolas left for Saint-Tropez in the morning. Nadia arrived at dinnertime. Sylvie and Laure were thrilled to see her, and she was equally so to see them. They didn’t mention Pascale and the baby until after dinner, and then Sylvie cautiously brought it up.
“Papa says that his friend is leaving the baby in Bretagne with her mother. The grandmother is going to take care of him, so we won’t have to see him,” Sylvie said, sounding relieved. “Papa is going to visit him, and send him presents, but he won’t come to Paris until he’s older.” Nadia found that interesting. He was intending to be an absentee father to this baby. Apparently Pascale wasn’t going to stay with the baby either. Her mother was going to redeem herself by caring for her grandson, to atone for not raising her daughter. Not having the baby with them would give Nicolas and Pascale more time with each other, without being tied down to an infant. Clearly, Pascale had no intention of spending time with her baby, or adapting to motherhood. “Papa says she’s having it in seven weeks,” Sylvie informed her mother, so obviously he had been talking to them about it. Nadia had avoided speaking to him while the girls were with him, and communicated by text and email when she had to. It was a relief not to hear his voice or see his pleading face when he tried to convince her not to give up on him. For two whole weeks, for the first time in months, she had tried to focus on herself.
When Venetia and her troops arrived, it was like an invading army at the château. Her sons, Jack and Seth, climbed trees and chased each other around the orchards. India tried to keep up with Sylvie and Laure, and was a sturdy little thing. She fell into the pool after lunch on the first day, and came up spluttering, but she didn’t cry, and her father jumped in immediately and fished her out. And after that, she jumped in fearlessly on her own, wanting to prove how brave and grown up she was.
“She’s going to be a skydiver or a stunt pilot or something when she grows up. She terrifies me, she’s fearless,” Venetia said, grinning at her daughter.
Olivia and Harley arrived a few hours later, looking very circumspect and somewhat exhausted from the flight. Will was happy to be there. Harley went to take a nap shortly after they arrived, and Will challenged his uncle Ben to a chess game. He had brought his travel set with him and was an expert player. Will was more comfortable with adults than Venetia’s sons. Jack, Venetia’s oldest son, the same age as Will, usually managed to entice him into mischief eventually, and her younger son, Seth, tagged along. Sylvie loved to tease Seth since he was the same age and she liked him a lot. They blended into a perfect group, with lots of squeals and splashing in the pool, while their parents watched them and chatted animatedly.
The three sisters were happy to see each other, and no one mentioned Nicolas. Ben and Venetia admitted to Olivia that they missed him. He was always a happy addition to the group. They FaceTimed Athena at dinnertime so she didn’t feel left out. It was morning for her, and she was on her way to the studio for her show, since their hiatus was over, which was why she couldn’t come to France.
“We should rent a house together somewhere next summer, maybe Italy,” Venetia suggested, since the château belonged to Nicolas and she didn’t know if Nadia would have use of it if they got divorced. And it appeared that they were going to. Nadia was waiting for her attorney to get back to start proceedings.
Olivia went to wake Harley from his nap before he slept too long and wouldn’t adjust to the time change. Venetia and Nadia found themselves staring at Will reading at the side of the pool, and the two sisters had the same thought and whispered to each other.
“Every time I see him now, I think of what Olivia told us on the Fourth of July weekend,” about Harley not really being his father. Venetia said it so softly that only Nadia could hear her.
“I know. I feel guilty, but I keep thinking about it too. I wish she hadn’t told us,” Nadia responded.
They joined the others on the terrace shortly after, had a glass of champagne, and then everyone went to change for dinner, and returned in pressed white slacks or clean white jeans. Venetia came down from her room dressed in a bright turquoise silk shirt, with orange satin pants and gold sandals, all of which looked great on her with her tan and red hair. They were a handsome group, and Harley livened up when he joined them. Venetia smiled at what Olivia was wearing: white silk slacks and a navy-and-white silk blouse with a string of pearls and her hair in a knot. She looked years older than she was. Harley was a very distinguished-looking man, but also seemed old for his age. He was only sixty, but the way he moved and spoke and his natural gravitas made him seem older.
They had bouillabaisse for dinner, brought in from a local restaurant, sole meuniére that the housekeeper made, bread and cheese, and a big bowl of fresh berries for dessert. The berries were from the estate and were served with delicate chocolate cookies that melted in your mouth.
Eventually, all the children went to bed, so they’d be fresh for the next day. The adults stayed up late, talking and drinking wine after dinner. It was two a.m. before the adults climbed the stairs to their bedrooms, with Nicolas’s ancestral family portraits all around them. It made Nadia feel odd to be there without him, and she was thinking of Nicolas as she left the others and went to her enormous master bedroom. She was grateful that she and her family could spend a week there together, thanks to him. It reminded her of happier times when they’d had house parties with friends for the weekends, and when she had been helping him to restore it. Most of their eleven years of marriage had been happy ones, it was sad to think that it was all ending in disgrace now. It seemed a terrible way to end their marriage. A year before, she would never have expected them to be separated. She tried not to think about it as she slipped into bed between the beautiful Porthault sheets she had bought for all the beds.