“We were,” the caretaker answered as he held out a hand to shake Marie-Ange's, “we played together as children. When did you come back?” he asked her with a look of wonder.
“Just now … today …” She looked apologetically at the new owner of the chateau. “I'm sorry. I just wanted to see it.”
“Did you live here?” the count asked, puzzled by this brief exchange.
“Yes. As a child. My parents … I … they died a long time ago, and I went to America to live with my great-aunt. I just drove down from Paris today.”
“So did I,” he smiled benignly at her, looking polite and well bred and pleasant as Alain waved at her and slipped away. The count was wearing a blue blazer and gray flannels, and his clothes looked impeccably cut and expensive. “Would you like to come inside and look around?” She hesitated for a long moment, not wanting to intrude further on him, but the offer was irresistible. And he could see in her eyes that she would love to. “I insist that you come inside. It's getting cold out here. I'll make a pot of tea, and you can wander.” Without a word, she followed him gratefully into the familiar kitchen. And as she did, she felt her lost world envelop her, and tears stung her eyes as she looked around her. “Has it changed much?” he asked her gently, unaware of the circumstances of her parents' accident, but it was easy to see that this was an emotional moment for her. “Why don't you walk around for a while, and when you come back, I'll have your tea ready.” It was embarrassing to have barged in on him in this way, but he was so nice about it.
“It has hardly changed at all,” she said, with a look of tender amazement. In fact, the same table and chairs were there, where she had had breakfast and lunch every day with her parents and Robert. It was the same table Robert had passed the sugary canards under as they dripped coffee on the carpet. “Did you buy the chateau from my father's estate?” she asked, as he took out the teapot and an antique silver strainer.
“No. I bought it from a man who had owned it for several years but never lived here. I think his wife was ill, or she didn't like it. He sold it to me, and I have been planning to spend some time here and restore it. I haven't owned it for long, and I've been too busy to pay much attention to it. But I'm hoping to get to work on it this winter, or at least next spring. It deserves to be as beautiful as it once was.” It looked undeniably tired and untended.
“It doesn't look as though it would take much work to do it,” Marie-Ange said to her host as he poured the tea through the strainer. The walls needed some paint, and the floors needed wax, but to her, it still looked wonderful and so precisely as she remembered. But he smiled at her assessment.
“I'm afraid the plumbing is in sad shape, and the electrical wires have all gone wrong. It needs a great deal of work you can't even see. Believe me, it's a big undertaking. And both the vineyards and the orchards need to be replanted … it needs a new roof. I'm afraid, Mademoiselle, that I have let your family home fall into sad disrepair,” he said apologetically with a smile that was filled with charm and wit and spirit. “By the way, I'm Bernard de Beauchamp.” He extended a hand to her, and they shook hands politely.
“Marie-Ange Hawkins.” As she said it, something clicked in his memory, and he remembered a story about a terrible accident that had claimed three lives and left a little girl an orphan. The man he'd bought it from had bought the chateau from her father's estate, and told Bernard the story.
He shooed her off to the living room then, and heard her go upstairs to visit her old bedroom. And when she came back downstairs, he could see that she'd been crying and felt sorry for her.
“It must be hard for you to come back here,” he said, handing her the cup of tea he'd made for her. It was strong and dark and pungent and helped to restore her, as he invited her to sit at the familiar kitchen table.
“It's harder than I thought,” she admitted to him, as she sat down, looking very young and very pretty. He was almost exactly twice her age. He had just turned forty.
“That's to be expected,” he said solemnly. “I remember hearing about your parents, and about you,” he smiled at her, and there was nothing wicked or lascivious about him. He just looked like a nice man, and seemed like a sympathetic person. “I've had my own taste of that. I lost my wife and son ten years ago in a fire, in a house like this. I sold the chateau, and it took me a long time to get over it, if one ever does. That's why I wanted to buy this one, because I longed to have a house like this again, but it has been hard for me. Perhaps that's why it has taken me a while to do it. But it will be lovely when I get around to it.”
“It was lovely when I lived here,” Marie-Ange smiled gratefully at him for his kindness. “My mother always had it filled with flowers.”
“And what were you like then?” he smiled gently at her.
“I spent all my time climbing trees and picking fruit in the orchards.” They both laughed at the image she painted for him.
“Well, you've certainly grown up since then,” he said, seeming pleased to be sharing a cup of tea with her. It was lonely for him there, for the reasons he had just explained to her, and he enjoyed her company. She had been a pleasant surprise for him when he got there. “I'm going to be here for a month this time. I want to work on the plans for the remodeling with the local builder. You'll have to come and visit me again, if you have time. Will you be staying here long?” he asked with curiosity, and she looked uncertain.
“I'm not sure yet. I just arrived from the States two days ago, and all I knew I wanted to do was come here. I want to go to Paris, and see about taking classes at the Sorbonne.”
“Have you moved back to France yet?”
“I don't know,” she said honestly, “I haven't decided. My father left…” She caught herself on the words. It would have been indelicate to mention the trust her father had left her. “I have an opportunity to do what I want now, and I have to make some decisions about it.”
“That's a good spot to be in,” he said, as he refilled her cup of tea and they went on talking. “Where are you staying, Miss Hawkins?”
“I don't know that yet either,” she said, laughing and realizing she must have sounded very young and foolish to him. He seemed so grownup and sophisticated. “And please call me Marie-Ange.”
“I would be delighted to do so.” His manners were impeccable, his charm impossible to ignore, his looks impressive. “I just had a very strange idea, and perhaps you will think me mad for suggesting it, but perhaps you would like it. If you haven't made any other arrangements yet, I was wondering if you might like to stay here, Marie-Ange. You don't know me at all, but you can lock all the doors in your wing, if you like. I actually sleep in the guest room because I like it better. I find it sunnier and more cheerful. But the entire master suite can be sealed off quite effectively, and you would be safe from me, if you're worried about it. But it might mean something to you to stay here.” She sat and stared at him, overwhelmed by the offer, and unable to believe that things like that happened. And she wasn't in the least afraid of him. He was so well brought up and so polite that she knew she had nothing to fear from him. And all she wanted was to stay here and steep herself in the past and the memories she had missed for half her lifetime.
“It would be incredibly rude of me to stay here, wouldn't it?” she asked him cautiously, afraid to take advantage of his kindness, but dying to stay there.
“Not if I invite you, and I did. I meant it. I wouldn't have offered it if I didn't want you to stay here. I can't imagine you'd be much trouble.” He smiled at her in a fatherly way, and without letting herself think about it further, she accepted, and promised to leave for Paris the next day. “Stay as long as you like,” he assured her. “I told you, I'll be here for a month, on holiday, and the place gets rather dreary when I'm alone.” She wanted to offer to pay for her room, but she was afraid to insult him. He was obviously prosperous, and what's more, he was a count. She didn't want to offend him by treating the chateau like a hotel. “What shall we do for dinner, by the way? Do you have plans, or should I whip something up? I'm not a great cook, but I can come up with something edible. I have some groceries in my car.”