Past Perfect

by Danielle Steel

  “That’s a long way for us to go,” Bert said practically, knowing Gwyneth would be upset. “And we can’t leave your grandmother and Magnus.”

  “Yes, you can,” Bettina insisted. “Nothing can happen to them now,” she reminded him with a grin, which reminded her of her warning. “And please don’t let them do anything weird while he’s here, nor Uncle Angus.” She knew Josiah would behave.

  “I can’t control your grandmother, but I’ll say something to the others. When are you thinking of getting married?” he asked her.

  “That’s up to him, and whatever he works out with you,” Bettina said demurely. “Where are the Gregorys?” She wanted them to meet Louis too.

  “They’re in Maine till Labor Day.”

  She looked disappointed. She knew they had to leave before that.

  “Well, I’ll wait for him to speak to me,” Bert said, as they left the library and walked back to where the others were. Louis was engaged in a lively exchange with Augusta, which worried Bettina.

  “What are you saying, Grandma?” Bettina asked her, as Augusta looked at her.

  “I was telling your friend that he has excellent manners for a Frenchman.” Bettina rolled her eyes and suggested they show Louis to his room. It had been a long day. They’d been up since dawn on the train. And a few minutes later, Phillips took him to one of the large guest bedrooms. Gwyneth wanted him to have the best one.

  “We dine at seven-thirty. It’s early, I know,” Bert said pleasantly, and Louis asked him politely if he might have an audience with him before dinner, and Bert said he could. He wasn’t wasting any time. Gwyneth overheard them, and raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

  “Is it what I think?” she asked Bettina in a whisper as she followed her upstairs to her bedroom. It had stood empty for five months while she was gone.

  “Yes, Mother, it is,” Bettina said, turning to her, as tears filled Gwyneth’s eyes. She tried to restrain them but couldn’t.

  “I should never have let you go to Paris,” she said sadly. “Now you and Lili will live there.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as they hugged each other.

  “I’ll come to visit you, and you can visit us too, I promise. He’s such a fine man.”

  Gwyneth nodded, pained that she was leaving the nest again. But Bettina looked so happy. She had never hoped to meet anyone like him. “Is it really what you want?”

  Bettina nodded in answer. Gwyneth didn’t want to stand in her way, and knew she had been miserable in San Francisco for several years. With Tony, and the baby, and a life that was too quiet for a young girl, with more responsibility than she had wanted, on her own. Her life in Paris would be better for her.

  They chatted for a while as Gwyneth helped her unpack, and tried to adjust to the idea of losing her daughter. She had thought she was coming home to stay, but she had only come to say goodbye.

  Louis and Bert came to a satisfactory understanding when they met before dinner. Bert granted his permission for them to marry. He was impressed by what a serious man Louis was, and satisfied that he truly loved Bettina. Bert was sure she would be in good hands, and he had liked all of Louis’s answers to his questions. And he was obviously a person of substantial means.

  Louis was waiting for Bettina at the bottom of the stairs when she came down dressed for dinner in a pale blue satin dress and the tiara she had worn when she came out. This was a special occasion, and she hadn’t worn it since.

  “What did he say?” Bettina whispered with stars in her eyes.

  “He said yes.” Louis beamed at her. “Now what do you say, my darling?”

  “I say yes too,” she whispered back, and he kissed her, and slipped a small old black leather box out of his pocket. It had been his grandmother’s, and his parents had given it to him when he went to Dordogne. They were anxious to meet Bettina, and they had given him his grandmother’s ring to take to California when he got engaged. He gently put it on her finger, and put the little black box back in the pocket of his tails. The stone was quite large and Bettina was amazed. It fit perfectly, and they walked into the dining room together with it sparkling on her finger. It looked huge on her slender hand. She had never expected her life to turn out so well.

  It took exactly two minutes for her grandmother to pick up her lorgnette and stare at her granddaughter’s left hand.

  “What is that?” she asked, and looked from Bettina to Louis.

  “We have something to tell you,” Bettina said softly, and her father interrupted her immediately.

  He stood at the head of the table and smiled at all of them. “I would like to welcome our guest, Monsieur Louis de Lambertin,” Bert said in perfectly accented French, although it had been a long while since he’d spoken it. “And I have an announcement. Monsieur de Lambertin and Bettina are engaged,” he said proudly with a warm glance at his future son-in-law, who was only eight years younger than he was.

  “As of when?” Augusta demanded to know, furious not to have been told before.

  “As of twenty minutes ago, Mother Campbell,” her son-in-law informed her with a bow. “We wish them well. They will live in Paris, unfortunately for us, and Monsieur de Lambertin will adopt Lili and be her new father. This is a very happy day.” He beamed at his daughter, as tears rolled down Gwyneth’s cheeks. It was all so bittersweet.

  “I can’t believe you and Lili are going to be French,” Augusta sniffed at Bettina. “I find that quite shocking.” But she had to admit, he seemed like a very well brought up person, and a nice man. “And when is the wedding?”

  “I don’t know. We haven’t set a date yet,” Bettina said shyly.

  “You’ll have to do it here. I’m too old to go traveling on trains and boats to France,” not to mention the fact that she had returned to the house from the spirit world six months before and Bettina had no idea if she could travel, nor Josiah or Magnus, or her great-uncle. It was a complication she hadn’t thought of, but she did now. She, Louis, and Lili were leaving in three weeks, and they couldn’t easily return to get married. She looked at Louis and whispered something to him during dinner, and he nodded. She spoke to her parents after dinner. They were delighted at the idea, and gave their permission instantly. It was the perfect solution for a number of reasons she didn’t want to mention to Louis. Bettina wanted to get married at the house, before they went back to France. They could have a reception for their friends in Paris. The Margaux had already offered to give them one. And she just wanted her family at the actual wedding. She wanted the Gregorys there too, but they were in Maine and not returning in time. Louis was very pleased at the idea. That way, they would already be married when they went back to France, and could live together immediately, and travel as man and wife on the ship.

  “I’ll arrange everything,” Gwyneth promised. And she was going to see if the Gregorys could be home in time.

  The next day, she and Bettina got busy with all the arrangements. They needed a minister, a caterer, and flowers. Bettina needed a dress, but there was no time to have one made. They had decided to have the wedding the following weekend, which was barely more than a week away, two weeks before they went back to France. The next afternoon, Bettina and her mother went up to the attic and began opening boxes, where the family wedding dresses were stored. Gwyneth had broader shoulders and was taller, and her wedding gown looked too old-fashioned and would have taken time to alter. Augusta had always been a much bigger woman. Bettina would have drowned in her wedding gown. But Augusta’s mother had been very much the same size and build as Bettina, and they carefully took out her white satin dress that was entirely encrusted with tiny pearls. It had a beautiful headdress, which looked like a pearl tiara, and Bettina very gently tried it on, mindful of how delicate and old it was. And when she put the dress on, it looked as though it had been made for her.

  Louis was visiting Bert at the bank, so Bettina tiptoed down the stairs to her grandmother’s room to show her, and Augusta just stood there and smiled with tears in
her eyes.

  “May I wear it, Grandma?” she asked, and Augusta nodded.

  “Of course…although it’s a shame to waste it on a Frenchman,” she said, but she was smiling, and Bettina knew she liked him and was happy for her.

  They put the dress away again carefully, and Bettina had white satin shoes that were perfect for it. It needed no adjustment or alteration, and she was going to wear her hair swept up, with the little pearl tiara and the long veil, with pearls on it too. And the dress had a very long train.

  “You’re going to look exquisite in it,” Gwyneth said when they got back to Bettina’s room. A few minutes later, Gwyneth went to Sybil’s office and sent her an email. It was the only way she could think of to contact her with the obstacle of their being a century apart. She told her about the wedding and the date and that Bettina and the entire family hoped they could be there. She went to the office an hour later to see if Sybil had responded, and she had. She explained that there was no way they could come out in time. They had to get Andy off to Edinburgh and Caroline to Los Angeles, Blake had business in New York after that, and then they’d return to the house in Maine and a sailboat they’d chartered, although she hated to miss the wedding. Gwyneth emailed back that she understood.

  Gwyneth told Bettina later that the Gregorys had sent a message that they couldn’t get back to San Francisco in time for the wedding. They had too many plans they couldn’t change. They hated to miss it, but it was going to be strictly a family affair. But all Bettina wanted was Louis there, and all he needed was his bride.

  —

  When the day came, it was brilliantly sunny, without a wisp of the usual summer fog. The weather was warm, and they were going to be married in the garden, under an arch of white roses. And Gwyneth had filled the house with white orchids from their hothouse. She was wearing a royal blue gown, and Augusta was wearing purple. And Lucy had a pink silk dress she’d never worn. The men looked serious and elegant in morning coats, striped trousers, and top hats. Magnus was the ring bearer, Josiah the best man at Louis’s request, and Lucy her sister’s maid of honor. The ceremony was brief and very moving, and Louis gasped when he saw Bettina come down the grand staircase in her great-grandmother’s gown, with the train stretched out behind her the length of the staircase. Lucy kept it in good order for her, and felt well enough to do it.

  Every minute detail of the wedding was perfect. And the lunch in the dining room was delicious. Angus insisted on playing the bagpipes and they couldn’t stop him, but he got winded very quickly. Even Rupert and Violet attended the wedding. Louis said he had never seen such a magnificent bride, and Bert had a photographer take formal portraits. There was a problem with his lens, which he was upset about. The photographer said his camera malfunctioned every time he tried to take photographs of the bride’s grandmother, her two brothers, and her great-uncle, and he just couldn’t record them. It had never happened to him before. But he got beautiful shots of the bride and groom, her parents, and her younger sister, and everyone was satisfied with that. Bettina knew why it happened. They all did, but said nothing.

  Bettina told Louis it had been the most perfect day of her life.

  “Really, Madame de Lambertin?” he asked with a satisfied smile. “As a matter of fact, mine too.” He had promised her a honeymoon in Venice when they got back to Europe, or Rome if she preferred it, or both. But that night, they slept in Bettina’s room, in her parents’ house, where she and her sister and brothers had been born. She wouldn’t have wanted to get married anywhere else. She was going to miss it terribly. She had always felt that the house had a soul of its own.

  “You love this house, don’t you?” he asked her gently, and she nodded.

  “I will always love it,” she said sadly.

  “Perhaps one day we’ll spend time here when we’re very old.” But he had his château in Dordogne, and the house in Paris. And this was her home, and always would be. “If your brothers don’t want it, it might pass on to you,” he said, but she didn’t want to think about it. Neither Josiah nor Magnus could inherit it any longer, and Lucy wasn’t well. But Bettina couldn’t bear thinking about a time in the future when her family wouldn’t be there.

  “Have I told you how much I love you?” he whispered to her, as he put his arms around her. “I love you much more now that we’re married.” And that night she discovered mysteries with him that she had never known. She felt as though she had waited her whole life for him, and belonged to no one else. She was his now, and their story was just beginning.

  Chapter 15

  It was excruciatingly difficult for Bettina to tear herself away when it was time to leave, knowing that she wasn’t coming back, or not for a long time. She had to say goodbye to her parents, brothers, and sister. And even her grandmother was very tender with her, and wished her a happy life with Louis. Bettina promised to come home when she could, but she had no idea when that would be. She wanted her parents to visit her, but she knew they had responsibilities in San Francisco that made it hard for them to travel far away.

  As the car pulled away from the house, they were all waving, and Uncle Angus was playing the bagpipes. She knew she would remember that sight of them, waving to her, and her wedding day forever. Their visit to San Francisco had been perfect, and everyone had behaved impeccably. Louis had no idea that there was anything unusual about the family or the house. And he had no reason to suspect.

  “You warned me that they’re eccentric and like to play tricks on people,” Louis said on the way to the train station. “They don’t seem eccentric to me at all, and your grandmother was quite charming and almost forgave me for being French,” he laughed.

  “That’s because you charmed her.” Bettina beamed at him. She was still sorry that he hadn’t met the Gregorys, but hopeful that he would in the future. “My whole family loves you,” Bettina said, sitting close to him with his arm around her.

  They settled on the train, and she had asked the others not to come to see them off. It was too emotional and would have made her too sad to see her parents shrinking away on the platform as the train pulled away. Now Lili was in her compartment with the nurse, and Louis held Bettina in his arms as she watched her city disappear from sight, as they began their new life together.

  —

  The voyage back to Europe was delightful, and especially nice as Louis’s wife. Once in Paris, they moved into his parents’ old home on the Place François Premier, and Bettina tried to make it feel like their home now. The house was a bit gloomy, but with new curtains, moving things around a little, and fresh flowers, she thought she could improve it. She felt very grown up as she tended to her household and waited for Louis to come home every day. They made love more than she ever could have imagined, and she was so happy he didn’t want a baby and felt Lili was enough. Bettina would have hated to have another child, and he knew that and didn’t mind. He was a loving, caring husband and lover. And their three-week honeymoon in Venice and Rome was idyllic.

  She wrote to her mother almost every day, and when Blake and Sybil and Charlie got back to San Francisco, Gwyneth told them all about the wedding.

  “It was gorgeous,” she said dreamily, with tears in her eyes.

  “I wish we had been here.” Sybil had been sad to miss it.

  “So do I.” And even though Bettina had been gone for five months before that, and had been back for only a few weeks, the house seemed so empty now without her and Lili. Bettina had written that Louis had started the adoption process for Lili as soon as they got back to Paris. It meant that Lili would inherit a sizable fortune from him one day, and be safe for life, no matter who she married. Bettina would also be set till the end of her days, in addition to what she would inherit one day from her parents. She hated to think about it, but it was nice to know that her future was secure. And best of all, she and Louis were madly in love with each other, and everything about their life together felt right. It made up to Gwyneth for how much she missed her, knowi
ng how happy Bettina was.

  “You never know how things are going to turn out, do you?” Sybil mused, as she and Gwyneth walked in the garden. “You think you do, but there’s always a little surprise, or a big one, good or bad.” Bettina hadn’t expected to meet her husband in Paris, or to spend the rest of her life in France as she knew now that she would. Her home was no longer San Francisco. It was wherever he was. After the unhappy years before Lili’s birth, and her rash marriage to Tony Salvatore, destiny had taken the upper hand. No one could have predicted that. In some ways, it was reassuring that things turned out right in the end.

  —

  Andy had gone back to college in Edinburgh from New York before Blake and Sybil came back to San Francisco with Charlie. Quinne had been with Andy, and Caroline had flown back to Los Angeles in time to start her second year at UCLA. Charlie started school again in Marin County as soon as he got home. And Magnus was overjoyed to see him.

  Sybil was working hard on her book. She had made good progress, and was trying to finish it by the end of the year. And Gwyneth did her artwork on the computer to fill her days after Bettina left. She had gotten very skilled at it and produced beautiful work.

  Sybil was in her office when she heard Blake come home early one afternoon. She found him in their bedroom.

  “What are you doing here?” She was startled to see him. He’d been sitting on their bed, with his head in his hands, and she was instantly worried. “Are you sick?”

  “Maybe.” He stared at her, his face pale, and she could see that something was very wrong. She’d never seen him that way before.

  “What is it?” She sat down next to him and took his hand in hers, and he had no choice but to be honest with her. He had never lied to her, and wouldn’t now.

  “The business is in trouble. We took too many risky positions. Our two brilliant geeks who’ve made billions with their other ventures didn’t know what they were doing with this one. They started leveraging it heavily a few months ago. They figured they could cover it, but they can’t now. And I sank a lot of my own money into the business to try and save it. More than I should have.” He had always had money of his own set aside, to make investments with, sometimes risky ones. He had never taken chances with their joint investments, and he hadn’t this time. But his own money was in the business he had believed in, and the Titanic was about to go down, with all of it. “I talked to Bert about it, and he gave me some good suggestions a few months ago. I should have listened to him and pulled out then, but instead I put more money in, and we’re going to be up to our ears in lawsuits, personally and in the business, if we can’t cover our loans.”