Thurston House (1983)

by Steel, Danielle

  Already? Antoine was thrilled. My God, how wonderful!

  Her name is Dominique, and she's very beautiful, and she is two hours and, he checked his watch, fourteen minutes old. He beamed and Antoine was incoherent with delight.

  'Oh my God ' Papa ' c'est formidable! ' How's Sabrina? ' is she in the hospital?

  Andr+! laughed at his oldest child. The answers to that are yes, and fine, and no. Yes, it is formidable, she's fine, and no she isn't in the hospital. The baby was born at home. Sabrina beamed at him as he explained. She would never forget how he had held her up, that he had been with her. It meant everything to her to have shared that with him.

  What? Antoine was stunned. At home? But I thought'

  So did I. But your mother pulled a fast one on me. She didn't want to disturb my sleep, so she woke me too late. And ' voila, Mademoiselle Dominique arrived about twenty minutes after I woke up. And the doctor arrived here ten minutes after that.

  That's incredible!

  Andr+! sounded as though he were still in a dream, and his eyes were damp again. Yes, mon fils, it is incredible. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. He wished that for Antoine one day; a woman he loved as much as Andr+! did his wife, and the birth of a much loved child, shared with his wife if possible. He was glad that he had been there with her after all, now that everything was all right. It had been at the same time much more difficult and much easier than he realized. It was much harder work than he had ever known before, more painful, more frightening, more beautiful, and in effect Dominique had delivered herself. But he realized that Sabrina was one of the lucky ones. When Antoine had been born, his mother had been in labor for more than two days.

  You do that awfully well, you know, Andr+! teased her that afternoon as they lay in bed side by side. She was eating lunch, and Dominique was sound asleep in the bassinet that had been Jon's, draped with white organdy and new white satin ribbons now. Maybe we ought to do that again sometime. He was teasing her and she looked at him in astonishment.

  Now just a minute here ' it wasn't as easy as all that. ' She was terribly sore understandably, but none of the danger signs the doctor had warned them of had happened to her. I don't think I want to do that again. And they both knew that it was unlikely she would have the chance at her age, but it was a gift they were both grateful for.

  They were both disappointed that Jon was out to lunch when she called him. She left a message with the secretary he shared with young Bill Blake, and he called her back later that afternoon, sounding a little drunk and not very interested in why she called at first, and then when he heard the news, there was dead silence at his end and she thought they'd been cut off.

  Jon? ' Jon? ' Jon? ' Jon ' oh damn ' Andr+!, I think ' And then he came alive again.

  I can't believe you really went through with it. He hadn't seen her since four months before. Somehow I thought you'd come to your senses before it was too late. Mom, I guess it looks like you're stuck with it. He laughed tipsily and Sabrina was annoyed at him.

  Her name is Dominique, and she's tiny and very beautiful. We hope you see her soon. She went on as though he were as pleased as they, and then Jon realized something as he counted backward on his hands.

  Come to think of it, weren't you supposed to have her in December, Mom? Seems to me you only got married in April or something like that ' He was no fool, her boy.

  Something like that. She came two months ahead of time.

  Don't tell me he knocked you up before you married him. No wonder you two were surprised, as you put it in June. I'll bet you were. He was laughing openly and Sabrina wanted to throttle him.

  Come home soon, and see your sister, Jon.

  Sure, Mom. Oh ' and congratulations to you both' . But he sounded snide on the phone. How different from the call to Antoine, she thought as she hung up. Antoine had been wild with excitement for them, near tears, overwhelmed, Jon had been cynical, nasty, pointed out that he knew the baby had been conceived before their wedding day. Sabrina felt disappointment in him wash over her again, and she looked at Andr+! with tears in her eyes.

  He wasn't nice. She looked like a little girl, and Andr+! patted her hand and kissed her cheek.

  He's jealous. He's been an only child for a long time. He always made excuses for him, for her sake. But she agreed with him less often now.

  So has Antoine. You know, he's a selfish little shit, and he's going to get his comeuppance one day. You can't go around treating people like that and not pay a price for it. And as she said it, she remembered Arden Blake and hoped that she wouldn't get hurt by Jon.

  They didn't see him again until the following year. He arrived in June when Dominique was eight months old, and he scarcely looked at her as he walked into Thurston House. He looked around as if he owned the place, and his mother looked at him. He was even more handsome than when he'd graduated a year before. He was not quite twenty-three years old, actually a month shy of it, and he was tall and lean and looked very debonair. There was something so sophisticated about him that he almost looked decadent, and Sabrina put her arms around him and smiled into his eyes. It had been a year since she had seen him off on the Normandie and she was so happy to see him again. She had the cooing baby in her arms, who laughed at him, but he seemed almost not to notice her.

  Well, what do you think of Miss Dominique? Sabrina looked proudly from her baby daughter to her handsome son.

  Who? Oh ' that' He pretended not to be amused and his mother scolded him.

  Now come on, don't put on that grown-up stuff with me, Jon. I remember when you were this age, and it wasn't that long ago. He smiled at her, and looked warmer this time.

  All right' all right' she's cute. But she's not quite the age I like girls best.

  And what age is that? She was teasing him as they walked upstairs and he looked around his room. Nothing had changed. She always kept the room for him, no matter how seldom he came home.

  Oh, between twenty-one and twenty-five.

  I guess that leaves out Arden Blake. Sabrina hadn't forgotten her or the comment he had made that Arden was his ticket to success, which had irked Sabrina so terribly.

  She can't be more than nineteen by now.

  You have a good memory, Mom. She is. I make an occasional exception for her.

  Poor child. His mother rolled her eyes.

  Never mind that. She and Bill are coming up from Malibu next week. Can they stay here?

  If you behave yourselves. You can even come up to Napa, if you and Bill share a room. We've got two very nice guest rooms you can use. In fact, she smiled happily at him, it was so good to have him back, no matter how impossible he was sometimes, we'd love to have you come up.

  I take it you're not living in that dump anymore.

  Jon!

  Well, it was.

  It was temporary. No, Andr+! built us a lovely house. There's a separate cottage for Antoine.

  Is he still hanging around? Jon seemed annoyed.

  He runs the vineyards with Andr+!. That's no small property and things are beginning to roll very pleasantly. Andr+!couldn't do it without him. She remembered Jon calling Andr+! that farmer from France, but he said nothing derogatory now.

  Maybe we'll come up for a few days if we have time. They want to spend most of their time here

  There's a lot to see. But they might enjoy Napa too. And when they arrived, they were thrilled with it. Jon was noticeably blase and bored, but Bill was fascinated with the enormous vineyards they ran. He said that his father had, at one time, invested heavily in wines in France and had made a fortune with it.

  I know, Andr+! smiled at him, your father and I did very well in that deal. He laughed and Bill was excited to realize who he was. He turned to Jon and explained that Andr+! and his father had known each other years ago. Bill Blake, Sr., hadn't come to the ship and Andr+! hadn't seen him at the Harvard graduation the previous year, he realized now. Next time I'm in New York, I will call him up. But in the meantime, pleas
e send him my regards.

  I will. Jon seemed suddenly more interested in Andr+!after that, although he ignored Antoine totally, and Sabrina and Arden had gone for a long walk with Dominique in the buggy Sabrina had found in an antique store somewhere. They walked for hours along paths Sabrina had known as a child, and when they returned at last the four men were lying around the pool, and Arden shook hands with Andr+! and Antoine, whom she hadn't met before. And Sabrina saw Antoine's eyes almost fall out of his head as she shook hands with him. He had stared at her for the rest of the afternoon, and they had talked for hours that night while Bill and Jon went out to play pool in town. They were used to leaving Arden at home, and neither of them thought anything of it. Bill had asked if Antoine wanted to come along, but he said he had work to do at home, which he seemed to forget the moment they were gone.

  Sabrina smiled as she mentioned it to Andr+! that night, after she put the baby to bed. Antoine and Arden were sitting in the dark, in earnest conversation on the porch. He's very taken with her. Did you notice that?

  I did. Andr+! thought about it. Will Jon object? I thought he had a soft spot for her.

  I'm not sure he does. Sabrina sat down on their bed. He said something about her I didn't like last year, that she was his 'ticket to success,' and I hope he wasn't serious. Marrying her would certainly give him a permanent place in Bill Blake's bank, but I don't ever want him to take advantage of her like that. Not that anything she said had any influence on him, and she didn't delude herself about that, but Andr+! didn't take the comment seriously.

  I don't think he meant any harm by that. It was probably just a smart thing to say at the time.

  I hope that's all it was. He doesn't seem particularly interested in her. They had been in a hurry to run away and play pool that night.

  I can't say the same for Antoine. Andr+! smiled. Antoine had just broken up with the girl in town, and he had looked lonely for the past few months, but not tonight with Arden Blake. And the two of them had played with the baby endlessly, cooing and laughing and holding her. Antoine seemed enchanted with her, unlike Jon.

  The next day, Arden took the baby in the pool with her and played with her carefully, and when Antoine came back from a meeting in town with some important distributors, he changed into his swimming trunks and joined Arden in the pool. They chatted and laughed quietly, played gently with the baby, and at last returned her to Sabrina and went on talking endlessly, as Sabrina watched. They had looked almost married as they had played with the child. And they were both old enough. There was something so quiet and warm about both of them. It was almost as though they were out of the same mold, even their hair was the same blond. They looked like a perfectly matched pair, although no one remarked on it, but Jon seemed to notice it as he dove into the pool once Dominique was out, and swam right between Arden and Antoine. That night they took her to the movies with them, but didn't ask Antoine to go along. Sabrina found him sitting on the porch alone, lost in thought, smoking a cigarette and drinking a glass of their own wine.

  Don't you know better than to drink that stuff? she teased as she sat down in the rocking chair next to him. Everything okay with you, love? She always worried about him, he was so quiet, one didn't always know if something was troubling him, or what he had on his mind. He never wanted to cause others pain, and he took too much responsibility on his back, but because of that, he was a wonderful operations manager for Andr+!, and a help to both of them.

  I'm okay. He still had the same French accent he'd had when he arrived, and she smiled at him. ?a?a.

  She's pretty, isn't she? They both knew who they were talking about: Arden Blake.

  More than that. He spoke very quietly. She's a very unusual girl for her age. She has a great deal of compassion, and depth. Did you know she worked with a missionary in Peru last year for six months? She told her father that if he didn't let her, she would run away. So he gave in. She speaks fluent Spanish, perfect French, he smiled at Sabrina again, and a lot goes on in that pretty blond head of hers. More than Jon knows, I suspect.

  I don't think he's really interested in her. Sabrina still didn't think he was, but Antoine knew better than that.

  I think you're wrong. I think he's waiting till the time is right. Right now he wants to play, and she's still very young. Antoine looked at her with something old and wise in his eyes that she hadn't seen there before, and it saddened her. I think he'll marry her one day. She doesn't know that yet, but I'm sure of it. He wants her kept on ice until then, and if anyone gets too close ' They both thought of how Jon had simply taken her along that night, even though they had no real interest in having her along. But she had said too much about Antoine. I know I'm right.

  Sabrina was honest with him. If he marries her, it will be for the wrong reasons, Antoine.

  I know that. He smiled almost sadly at her. It's strange when you see into the future like that. It's so easy to predict sometimes what other people will do. You wish you could stop them sometimes, but you can't.

  You could in this case, Antoine. For once, she wanted him to have what he wanted out of life, and not worry about everyone else. He didn't owe a damn thing to Jon, and Jon had never even been pleasant to him. And for some reason she couldn't explain she didn't want Jon to have Arden Blake. It was for the girl's sake, not his own. She knew it would be wrong for both of them. Go after her, if that's what you want.

  She's too young, he sighed and then smiled, and she's absolutely crazy about him. Apparently, she has been since she was fifteen. That's a tough one to fight. She'll have to grow out of it, and she hasn't yet.

  She will in time. He isn't very nice to her.

  That only makes it worse. There's something masochistic about girls that age. He was wise for his years and Sabrina looked at him.

  Why don't you spend some time with her?

  We did today. And she won't be here for very long, I think. Sabrina had an idea then, and she mentioned it toandr+!that night.

  Don't you think you should send Antoine to New York to see about that market plan we discussed? Andr+! stared at her.

  Why? I thought we'd go this fall.

  Why not let him?

  Don't you want to go?

  We can go another time.

  He looked at her strangely then, and suddenly grinned. Are you pregnant again?

  She laughed. No. I just thought it would do him good.

  There's more to it than that. You're not fooling me. What have you got up your sleeve, you witch? He came over and pulled her into his arms and her nonchalance disappeared as she giggled with him.

  Stop it, I'm serious.

  I know you are. But what about?

  All right, all right' She told him about Arden Blake and Antoine's interest in her.

  Why don't you let him fend for himself? He's twenty-seven years old, he can take care of himself. If he wants to go to New York, he can afford to go on his salary. They paid him a handsome wage, but that was beside the point this time.

  He won't go then. He's too much of a gentleman and he doesn't want to cut Jon out.

  Maybe he's right. Shouldn't you stay out of this? He looked concerned, but she didn't give a damn.

  Andr+!, she's perfect for him.

  Then let him work it out.

  Dammit, you're impossible! But he had heard everything she said. He chatted with Antoine about her just casually, the next day, and said nothing when Antoine vanished for the afternoon and then came home looking sunburned and contented after a picnic somewhere near a brook they had found somewhere. He had introduced her to some of their wines, presumably kissed her once or twice, and that night took her for a quiet walk while Bill and Jon went to town to chase a line of chorus girls they'd heard about, and when Arden left Napa with Bill, to return to Malibu, she said that she hoped she would see Antoine again. Jon stayed on for only a few more days, and then went south to join them. He went back on the train to New York from Los Angeles with Bill. And Antoine discovered that there
was something he had to see about there, and went to see her once in Malibu before she and her mother left, but he said very little about it to Sabrina and Andr+!.

  Well, are you sending him to New York? Sabrina was enjoying it all vicariously and her husband smiled mysteriously at her.

  Yes, but only because he asked me himself. He wants an excuse to go to New York to see her again, although he didn't put it that way. But the next time Jon called, he sounded interested in her again, and talked about Arden a lot. He had taken her here and there, to some cocktail party, to a play. Sabrina knew he was playing with her, and Antoine was right. He wanted to keep her on ice for himself, and she was young enough to fall for it. But Antoine went to New York to see her anyway, and seemed depressed when he came back.

  What happened? Did he say anything to you? Sabrina pounced on Andr+! as soon as father and son had their first talk.

  Yes. That she's in love with Jon.

  But she can't be. She looked crazy about Antoine when she was here.

  Jon's been making a fuss over her since then, and she even thinks they might get engaged. She didn't think it was fair not to tell Antoine. And she didn't even kiss him this time, but don't you dare tell him I told you that.

  Of course not. She looked as depressed as Antoine. Shit. That little manipulative son of a bitch.

  That's a nice thing to say about your son. Look, stay out of it. It's between the three of them. If Antoine wants her badly enough, he'll fight for her. If Jon is playing games, he'll drop out eventually. And if she has any brains at all, she'll pick the one she wants. The best thing you can do is leave diem alone.

  I can't stand the suspense. She laughed with him. But she knew that he was right.

  Antoine didn't mention her again for months, and Sabrina saw no letters coming in from her, although they might have come while she was in town. And when they talked to Jon at Christmas she could have wrung his neck.

  How's Arden, dear?

  Who?

  Arden Blake. The girl you were so busy keeping from Antoine, you ass. But she kept her cool. Bill's sister, your friend.