At the Chateau for Christmas

“I know, and I’m very grateful. For what it’s worth, I apologize for the way I treated you in San Francisco. Or maybe I should say, the way I didn’t treat you. You were sent into a hornet’s nest.

“Given the lovely evening out you showed this tourist last night, I should have taken you to some special spots in San Francisco. We could have eaten at my favorite restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf, ridden a trolley, driven up to Twin Peaks for the greatest view. Forgive me for being incredibly rude when you were only carrying out your grandfather’s wishes.”

“Just as you were holding up your end to the best of your ability,” he inserted.

Now that Nic was getting to know Laura, he’d been forced to alter all his old concepts about her. With the gloves off, this woman was showing the perception and human insight she shared with her grandmother. It took that kind of depth to have attracted his grandfather. In truth, it attracted him.

He couldn’t believe that in so short a time Laura had stirred up feelings inside of him without any design on her part. How had Nic allowed himself to get in this position when her family had wronged his over several decades? Since he was in love with Dorine and always would be, neither Dorine’s nor Nic’s family would be able to understand him having a desire to be with another woman. But for it to be Laura?

Their shock if they knew she was his houseguest filled him with despair. He would never want to let his family down, or Dorine’s, but Laura’s presence beneath his roof was important to Maurice. Unfortunately, no matter how pure Nic’s intentions, their disapproval would pour down on his head once they found out.

“To be honest, I’m ashamed of my behavior,” she confessed.

“No more than I. Yet we’ve survived our second skirmish intact. Are you ready for the third?”

Her inquisitive gaze darted to his. “Do I take it you’ve already talked to Maurice this morning?”

Nic nodded. “He and your grandmother were early birds. Naturally he would like to come over. How do you feel about that? No one else will be here to disturb us.”

She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Please tell him to come. Will someone drive him?”

“Not my grandfather. He says driving is his one pleasure at this point and he refuses to give it up.”

“It must be so hard to find himself alone. To have lived with someone all those years...I can’t imagine it.”

“To be sure, he’s struggling. He’s also apprehensive of your true feelings.”

She bit her lip. “Whatever the problem with my family, I wasn’t a part of it except to feel the fallout. You have no idea how eager I am to talk to him.”

That would thrill Maurice no end. “Bon.” He pulled out his cell phone and rang his grandfather to give him the go-ahead. The older man sounded elated before they hung up.

“Nic? Does your family know I’m in Nice?”

“Not yet. For the time being this meeting is just between the three of us. My grandfather is aware this is new ground for all of us.”

Those lovely blue eyes were filled with anxiety. “Is the animosity as bad on your family’s side?”

Time to tell the truth. “To this day none of his siblings or my parents or my aunts and uncles have approved of Maurice’s second marriage. They couldn’t very well banish Irene from the family, but they kept their distance so that she always felt like an outsider—except with Maurice, of course.”

“And you.”

He nodded.

“That means all of you have been in pain, like my family. How tragic,” she whispered.

“Tragic is the right word. They thought my grandmother Fleurette was perfect. I did, too. At the end she suffered from a severe case of arthritis that deformed her extremities and kept her bedridden.

“My grandfather waited on her with such devotion and grieved for her so terribly, none of us thought he would ever get over his loss. When he announced he was getting married again less than two years after the funeral, it was hard on the family to comprehend.”

“Two years?”

“Yes.”

“But I thought—”

“I’m afraid you don’t have all the information,” he muttered gloomily. “There’ve been huge lapses of the truth on both sides of the Atlantic.”

A distressed sound escaped her throat. “Whatever the truth, both sides of our families have suffered a lot of grief that I find appalling.”

“You’re not alone on that score. My family would have understood his finding a woman—or several women—to be with. But to actually get married again to a woman from another culture and bring her to the family home to live was a particularly bitter pill to swallow. It turned out she was the widow of Richard Holden, another hotelier who’d put Holden Hotels on the map in California.”

Nic sat forward. “Did you know your grandparents and mine met at several world conferences with other hoteliers while they were in business?”

“What?” she cried.

“It seems the four of them struck up a friendship and did a little traveling together.”

Aghast, Laura shook her head. “I didn’t know about the travel.”

“I’m not surprised. As they say, the devil is in the details, and you weren’t privy to them. Maurice was saddened when he learned Richard was dying of cancer and visited their home several times before he passed away.”

“Was your grandmother still alive at that time?”

“Mais oui. She went to Richard’s home with him.”

“So the idea of an adulterous relationship—”

“Is preposterous,” Nic concluded for her. “It was two years later before arthritis turned on Fleurette and put her to bed. After her death my grandfather finally rallied and started working all hours. A year later there was an international conference in New York where several hoteliers were being honored. He discovered Irene was there to receive an award posthumously for Richard.”

“So that’s how they met again.”

He nodded. “I leave it to your imagination to figure out what happened. Two strong people who’d been friends earlier and had a great capacity to love discovered they wanted more and fell in love.”

Laura was fighting her emotions. “What a romantic story.”

“Yes. My grandfather flew to California constantly to be with her. He tried to get to know your mother and aunt, but it wasn’t meant to be. When he proposed, she said yes and they got married.”

“Where?”

“In California. They had a private civil ceremony performed by a justice of the peace. He planned to settle there with her so she wouldn’t have to be uprooted from your family. They could travel back and forth to France. Maurice had decided to install his brother, Auguste, to be in charge of the corporation while he consulted from a distance. But it wasn’t meant to be, at which point Maurice brought her to France. He’ll fill you in on the details.”

“Their marriage shouldn’t have decimated both families,” Laura cried softly. “What’s wrong with all of them?”

He shook his head. “I was twelve at the time. After hearing the family talk, I wasn’t prepared to like your grandmother, who was taking the place of my minou, but that changed when he brought Irene to Nice to live and I met her. She was one of the most charming women I ever met, and it was clear to anyone they made each other happy. She became my unofficial English tutor.”

Those blue eyes lit up. “Really?”

“We both enjoyed our informal sessions.”