Fernande was getting ready for Pauline, Esther, and Robert’s arrival. Louis-Marie looked tense at the idea of seeing his wife again after the long separation. His manuscript was completed, but he kept rewriting parts of it.
Jules, always stressed when the harvest approached, spent his time with Lucas in the fields or down in the cellar. He managed his time as best he could. He often sent Louis-Marie to Bordeaux in his place, even for delicate missions with merchants. Mr. Varin came to Fonteyne once a week to tell Jules of the latest developments concerning the trial, and to talk about the funds required to settle Frédérique in Paris and other financial considerations relating to the estate.
Laurène spent a lot of time on her bookkeeping tasks. Though Louis-Marie had taken care of the company’s urgent needs, she was way behind in her work and kicked herself for it. She spent hours every day at the computer trying to catch up. All the while, Dominique took on her old responsibilities in the house, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, lifting a huge weight off her sister’s shoulders. And so things went back to the way they’d been at Fonteyne.
As soon as they arrived on Saturday at lunchtime, both Robert and Pauline recognized the change that had occurred while they were gone.
“Here they are!” Dominique exclaimed when she saw Robert’s car coming up the driveway.
Esther ran up the terrace’s steps and threw her arms around her dad’s neck. Louis-Marie kissed her over and over again, making his daughter giggle. Pauline also went up the stairs. She was lovely in her short denim skirt and light-blue satin blouse.
“Leave some for me!” she told Esther with a smile.
She pressed her entire body against her husband’s, got on her toes, and gave him a Hollywood kiss. Jules was amused but not surprised by Pauline’s excessive display. But by the looks of Robert’s expression, some sort of disaster seemed inevitable. Jules needed no explanation to guess what had been happening in Paris the past two months. Annoyed, he stopped looking at them altogether and asked Dominique to tell Fernande to bring drinks out for everyone.
Even though Aurélien was missing and Alex wasn’t there, they all had the impression that they were gathered just as they’d been in the good old days. The twins and Esther were chasing each other on the terrace, Laurène and Pauline launched into a discussion about the flowerbeds, Robert listened as Jules and Louis-Marie gave him the latest news, Dominique was giving Fernande a hand, and the harvest was fast approaching, always an exciting time. Fonteyne was alive again.
Marie shot Antoine a furious look. Following Alexandre’s lead, he’d just downed three glasses of wine, one after the other. Their son-in-law kept saying that while it was his fault his wife had left, it was still scandalous that she’d taken refuge at Fonteyne. To him, it was an absolute betrayal. Marie tried to calm him down, saying that Dominique needed some time to think things over and be with her sister, whom she adored. She reminded him that when Dominique married Alexandre and left for Fonteyne, Laurène had followed her there by getting hired as Aurélien’s secretary.
“They’re not happy when they’re apart,” Marie had explained.
It was true, but Alex wouldn’t relent. By going to Fonteyne and placing herself under Jules’s protection, his wife had insulted him in the worst way possible.
“If you guys hadn’t fought,” Marie had said, “she’d still be here!”
Though Marie wasn’t really so sure of that, since for months she’d been aware of Dominique’s depression.
She would’ve left sooner or later, she thought with sadness.
Dinner was excellent, as always, but Marie wasn’t hungry. She watched Antoine eating with great zeal and drinking too much. No use reminding him of his heart attack, he wouldn’t listen to her. Two weeks before the harvest, he was too happy that this had been such a great summer and that the vineyards were in as good a shape as they had ever been.
Annoyed by Alexandre’s whining about Dominique and Fonteyne, she got up and started clearing the table. She missed the twins’ chatter at mealtimes and wondered what Alex was doing here and how long this situation was going to last.
“Apparently she doesn’t want to talk to me,” Alexandre said. “But how do I know they’re telling her it’s me when I call?”
Now completely exasperated, Marie raised her shoulders.
“If you miss her so much,” she said, with some disdain, “why don’t you go get her?”
Antoine gave her a stunned look, wondering why she was being so harsh with their son-in-law. He needed Alex for harvest and didn’t want anything to do with his marital problems. Perplexed, he saw Alexandre’s empty glass and decided to fill it.
“Not too much,” Alex said with staggering hypocrisy. “I’m going to Bordeaux after lunch to talk to my lawyer. We decided to appeal.”
Unable to control herself anymore, Marie exploded.
“You can really afford to continue with this stupid trial? You haven’t lost enough money as it is?”
“It’s the judge we had that—”
“Every judge is going to rule against you!”
“Marie,” Antoine intervened. “Don’t be like that.”
“Like what? Look at him, your son-in-law. He doesn’t respect anybody. Not his father, not his wife, not his children!”
She slammed the kitchen door behind her, ran up the steps, and walked into her mother-in-law’s room, out of breath. Mrs. Billot didn’t seem surprised to see Marie storm in this way.
“I could hear you all the way up here,” she said.
She maneuvered her wheelchair to face Marie.
“You should get rid of Alex,” she said. “After the harvest, I mean. …”
“Where would he go? Even if I convinced Jules to take him back, Alex would refuse to go.”
Mrs. Billot chuckled and said, “Convince Jules? You’ve got to be kidding.”
Marie sat on the edge of the bed and let go of a heavy sigh.
“Don’t be discouraged,” the old woman said. “Of course, it’s no fun to not have Dominique around and then being stuck with Alex to boot. But you knew that one day she was going to leave. We can’t blame her for loving Fonteyne. Ah, Fonteyne …”
With a dreamy look on her face, Mrs. Billot remembered that magnificent place, where all her descendants were presently living.
“Alexandre needs to see a doctor,” she then said.
Marie frowned. She thought that Alex was a pain, but she didn’t think he was sick.
“He’s lost it. There’s his drinking, but that’s not all. … I think he’s heading for some kind of depression. He’s become violent. Really violent. And that’s not in his nature.”
“Well,” Marie said, “he’s not seeing a doctor this afternoon, but that lawyer of his.”
“Again? That’s crazy. The entire legal community is behind Jules. And Alexandre will always lose, because he has no case. …”
Mrs. Billot wheeled herself to the bed and took Marie’s hands in hers.
“All those judges will back Jules,” she said. “He’s part of their club, their world. When he was alive, Aurélien introduced Jules to everyone in high society as his successor, and people accepted that. And now he’s the man in charge, and he’s reliable and smart. In a region like ours, he’s a big player.”
“But from a legal point of view …”
“There is no legal point of view. You can’t fight mentalities. Can you imagine for one second the precedent it would set if some judge went along with Alexandre’s claims? After that, everybody would think they’re entitled to challenge anything, heirs would never agree, estates would be fragmented. Oh no, those folks in high places are too smart and too cunning to create that kind of precedent. …”
Marie could only laugh. Her mother-in-law’s sharp mind delighted her.
“Alex is going to wind up broke,” the old woman concluded, “with his ego scorched and his wife living with the enemy. A total disaster. … And now you have to put up w
ith that pain in the neck, but at least your daughters are in a great place, and that’s what really counts.”
Marie nodded. She could see, in her mind’s eye, Laurène wearing her wedding gown and Jules kissing her in the Margaux church.
Mrs. Billot smiled and said, “You know what they say: What goes around comes around.”
Louis-Marie stood at the window. Esther and the twins were following Jules across the lawn. They’d asked for a ride on Bingo, and Jules, shockingly, agreed to take an hour off for the kids.
Louis-Marie turned to Pauline, who was unpacking. She moved aside some of her husband’s clothes in the closet, joking that he was turning into a bachelor again.
“Are you staying until the harvest?” he asked with fake casualness.
Pauline hung up one of her outfits before answering, “What kind of a question is that? What do you mean by ‘you’? We’ll stay until the harvest, if you like, and then we’re all going back home. Right?”
His eyes were on the bedroom’s gray carpet.
“Well,” he said after a while, “it depends.”
“It depends on what?”
“You … Me …”
She hadn’t imagined the conversation she’d known was unavoidable would start like this. She knew that they would have to talk about things, but not so quickly, and not with the casual tone Louis-Marie had just used. She certainly didn’t want to have a fight with him now. Watching him standing at the other end of the room, she thought he looked old and tired. Robert looked so much younger. Not only because he actually was younger, but also because of his much more youthful energy. Robert was a great seducer who had all these women fawning for him, but with Pauline he was reduced to a little boy with a big crush, and it flattered her.
“I’ll never marry anyone but you,” he’d promised her ten years earlier and, against all odds, had kept his promise. Such a longstanding passion couldn’t leave a woman indifferent. And Robert didn’t have Louis-Marie’s calm and paternalistic side. Pauline had liked it at first, but she no longer needed it, as she’d reached her thirties. Lastly, she’d always had the feeling that Louis-Marie would one day want to get away from the hectic Parisian life, and that made her shiver.
“Weighing your options, honey?”
Pauline was startled by Louis-Marie’s voice. She had the unpleasant feeling that he’d read her mind.
“I’m a mediocre journalist and a failed playwright,” he said. “Robert is a brilliant surgeon and a very popular man. … He’s invited everywhere. … And he doesn’t like kids or the countryside. Just like you. …”
The accusation was so direct Pauline went pale.
“What does Bob … ?”
But she didn’t finish her sentence, at a loss.
Louis-Marie gave her a look of kindness that annoyed her.
“You’re imagining things. …” she said, with little conviction.
“Maybe, but it’s still torture!”
He’d raised his voice but immediately got ahold of himself.
“Knowing that you’re with him is very painful,” he whispered. “And what about him? What is he feeling right now, in his room? What do you think? Either way, you’re going to make people around you suffer, darling.”
“Listen to me! You’re wrong!”
“You’re cheating on me, Pauline!”
He was hurting badly, but she couldn’t care, his calm made her too angry.
Overlooking the obvious fact that Louis-Marie was only fishing, she conceded, “We did happen to see each other, but it’s not what you think.”
Not able to add anything, she pouted. He turned back to the window.
“I think I’m going to stay here,” he said. “For good.”
Pauline was immediately overtaken with panic. She hadn’t expected that the choice would’ve been put to her so bluntly. She went over to Louis-Marie and snuggled against him with all the sensuality she could muster.
“Don’t lie to me,” he whispered.
He thought about what Pauline had just said: “We did happen to see each other.” She’d admitted it. What exactly did that mean, “see each other?” Gazing into each other’s eyes? Laughing? Pauline getting undressed? Robert caressing her expertly? Louis-Marie had always admired his brother’s hands, the fingers made for surgery: delicate and precise.
He felt like hitting Pauline and demanding to know why she’d married him in the first place. Instead, he stroked her hair as though she were some small untamed animal. Pauline was a woman-child, he’d always known that.
Cuddled against him, she decided to go for her favorite weapon: seduction. And he thought that she was his wife after all and that he’d be crazy to deprive himself.
Dominique and Fernande outdid themselves. The Pauillac lamb and the round steak were out of this world, and the atmosphere in the dining room was cheerful, though Robert and Louis-Marie avoided talking to each other. Laurène was definitely over the very difficult first few weeks of her pregnancy and now was beaming, which made her even prettier than usual. She was devouring her meal, under Dominique’s amused gaze and in spite of Pauline’s sarcastic warnings that she might get fat.
Allowed to sit at the adults’ table for once, the three kids were well behaved and silent. The twins, still in love with their cousin, kept gawking at her. She pretended to eat like a grown-up, and the boys tried to imitate her.
Robert ignored Pauline, sitting on his left, and only spoke to Dominique.
“You should talk to Fernande,” she told him. “As a doctor. She’s coughing morning to night.”
“It’s true,” Laurène added. “But you know her, she always pretends that everything is fine when she’s sick.”
Robert promised to have a chat with her. He could feel Pauline’s leg against his, but he didn’t even want to glance at her, and he remained impassive. She’d spent the entire afternoon in the bedroom with Louis-Marie and he couldn’t get over his anger.
“I’m leaving on Sunday,” he told Jules, “but I promise I’ll be back sometime during the harvest.”
Esther gave her uncle a hateful look. She didn’t like him at all. On the other hand, she was thrilled about the upcoming harvest. She didn’t know the first thing about it, except that she was going to miss a few days of school, like every year.
“Are you taking us to Paris again?” she asked Robert with deliberate insolence. “We’re leaving already?”
Pauline shot her an angry look, but Jules intervened first.
“I thought you promised to behave,” he said.
“I’m behaving,” Esther said. “I’m just asking a question.”
“At your age, it isn’t polite to talk at the table,” Jules said, calmly.
Lowering her eyes to her plate, Esther said, “That sucks.”
Jules glanced at Louis-Marie. A heavy silence had fallen over the table. Esther swallowed hard as she saw her dad coming her way.
Louis-Marie took her by the hand gently and said, “Come with me, young lady.”
They left the dining room side by side, and Dominique was first to react.
“We shouldn’t have let them sit at the table,” she said, smiling. “They prefer eating in the kitchen with Fernande. Right?”
The twins nodded silently. Dominique got up and gestured at her sons, who followed her to the kitchen. Louis-Marie was sitting on one of the long benches, Esther next to him and a big plate of chocolate mousse in front of them.
“We want some!” the twins shouted, and Fernande smiled as she gave them servings.
Louis-Marie smiled at Dominique. He gave Esther a kiss and got up.
Crossing the hall, he told his sister-in-law, in a mournful tone, “Pauline lets her do whatever she wants.”
“Well,” Dominique said to make him feel better, “the dining room bores them and our meals are too long. It’s no big deal.”
They took their seats at the table as though nothing had happened, everything forgotten. Though Pauline did whisper in Lo
uis-Marie’s ear, “You guys are so old-fashioned it’s ridiculous. …”
She followed the comment with a sigh. She’d always assumed that after Aurélien was gone, meals would be less formal. She turned to Jules, who was talking about the laborers hired for the harvest.
“There are no more foreign workers,” he told Robert. “Besides, with the mechanization I started a few years ago, we don’t need nearly as many hands as we used to. I mostly just hire students now.”
“No unemployed people?”
“No. It’s odd, but they don’t apply. Maybe the work is too hard.”
“It is,” Robert said, laughing. “I still remember those days in the fields …”
“Funny …” said Jules with a laugh. “What I remember is you coming up with silly excuses like college and medical school to get out of doing some real work.”
Jules and Robert smiled at each other. Then Robert wondered if the price to pay, if he was back with Pauline, would be to never again be welcome at this table, in his home, relaxing and joking around with his brothers. When the phone rang in the next room, Jules looked up at the ceiling. He turned to Dominique, who pretended she didn’t hear anything. Jules got up and walked out of the room. They could all hear his angry voice, but he was back in the dining room in no time at all.
“It was Alex,” he said to Dominique. “I told him to go to hell.”
And then he sat back down and began chatting with Robert again.
“Your wife is coughing. Tell her to see a doctor.”
Jules spoke those words without looking back, Lucas on his heels. They were working their way down a row of vines, examining everything.
“Twelve hundred gallons,” Lucas said.
Jules stopped in his tracks and turned around.
“Yes,” he said. “That sounds just about right to me. It’s going to be a great year. But I was talking to you about Fernande. Don’t take this lightly.”
A Bordeaux Dynasty: A Novel Page 50