Chapter 10

On the night before Valentine’s Day, there was a huge snowstorm in southern Vermont. Justin and Richard had invited friends over for dinner, and canceled at four o’clock when the roads became nearly impassable. And when the snow stopped and the temperatures dropped later that night, there were sheets of black ice on the road, and warnings on TV for people to stay home.

They went to bed early, and were sound asleep when the phone rang at three A.M. Justin answered, and was groggy at first when he listened, and then sat bolt upright in bed.

“How is she? Is she all right? What happened?” Richard came awake as he listened, and thought instantly of Justin’s grandmother in New York. They had had heavy snows there too, and all the way down the Eastern Seaboard to Washington, D.C. “Can we see her?” Justin asked in a shaking voice. “When will they know? Is she bleeding heavily?” Justin’s eyes were closed, and Richard gently touched his shoulder to reassure him. A moment later, Justin hung up, and turned to Richard with a look of panic.

“Grandma Lou?” Richard asked and Justin shook his head.

“Shirley. They were in a car accident. Jack’s mother fell at home and broke her hip, and they drove to the hospital to see her, and their truck skidded on the ice. They hit a tree, they’re okay, but she has a concussion, and she started bleeding a little while ago. It’s too soon to know what’s going to happen.” She was two and a half months pregnant, the most vulnerable time for miscarriages, and it didn’t sound good to either of them. “They’re doing a sonogram now, but they can still hear a heartbeat. The nurse said she can bleed and still not lose it. Shirley told her to call us.”

“Can we see her?” Richard asked as he got out of bed and grabbed his jeans on the chair where he’d left them.

“Yes,” Justin said, looking devastated. “Do you want to go? It’s dangerous as hell out there.” The night was freezing and the air crisp, the temperature was below zero, and the ice on the road would be lethal.

“I’ll drive slowly. Do you want to stay here?” he offered and Justin looked shocked.

“Of course not. Are you crazy?” They both dressed in five minutes, put on their warmest clothes, and walked gingerly out to their car, praying it would start. Justin shoveled a path while Richard tried to warm up the car. It failed to turn over a few times, and then sputtered to life, and they let it warm up for a few minutes, and then drove slowly out of their driveway. Richard was at the wheel, and they inched along, barely going five miles an hour, and trying to avoid the patches of ice they could see. They skidded once, but Richard regained control of the car. It took them half an hour to get to the hospital, which should normally have taken five minutes, and Shirley was still in the emergency room when they got there. She looked pale and shaken, and had thrown up from the concussion. She smiled wanly at them when they arrived and then started to cry.

“I’m really sorry, guys,” she said as Justin’s heart nearly stopped, thinking she had already lost the baby.

“Did you?…Is it…” he asked in a choked voice, and the nurse intervened.

“Nothing’s happened, and the sonogram was fine. The fetus is fine, and the heartbeat is normal. Shirley is just a little shaken up.” She put a warm blanket on her, and the two men retreated to the waiting room, not to disturb her. She told them that Jack was being treated for a broken nose he had sustained from the air bag. The one in the passenger seat had hit Shirley hard too.

Justin and Richard sat in the waiting room for four hours until seven-thirty in the morning. Shirley had been taken to a room by then, they said she was still spotting, but nothing further had happened. They were still there at noon, waiting for news, when a female resident came to see them. She was smiling, which they took as a good sign.

“She’s doing fine. The bleeding stopped, but we’re going to keep her till tomorrow, just to be on the safe side. I think the baby will be okay. We told her to stay in bed for a few days, until everything settles down again. She got a hell of a jolt, but babies come through worse than that sometimes and make it.”

“Thank God,” Justin said as he exhaled. They went to see Shirley in her room then. She looked tired and pale, but she said she felt better, except for a headache. She had no cramping, and as the resident had told them, the bleeding had stopped, and had never been major.

“I’m so sorry. My mother-in-law broke her hip, and I thought I should go to the hospital with Jack. He was driving really careful too, but we hit a patch of black ice he didn’t see, and hit the tree.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t any worse for either of you,” Justin said generously, relieved about the baby. “Can we do anything for you?”

“I’m fine. I was just scared for the baby when I got here and started bleeding.”

“So were we.” Justin smiled at her, and then left her to sleep. They went downstairs to the gift shop and bought magazines and a teddy bear for her. And they stopped at the florist on the way home and sent her flowers. And then they went home and climbed back into bed, and lay talking to each other. It had been a terrifying night, and they had both been sure she’d lose the baby, and were grateful she didn’t. Justin called Julie that afternoon and told her about it, and as always she was sympathetic. She couldn’t wait to be an aunt. And she was still disappointed they weren’t having twins.

They drove Shirley home from the hospital the next day, since Jack’s truck was in the shop, badly damaged from when he hit the tree. Shirley seemed much better than she had the day before. Her sister-in-law had taken her children, and she promised to stay in bed for a few days, although the doctor had said she didn’t have to, if she felt all right and took it easy. But she promised to humor Justin and Richard. And Jack was staying home from work too.

And more than anything, it had reminded Richard and Justin how fragile life could be, and how much they wanted the baby.

Kate went to Paris, as she had told Bernard she would, in February. She treated herself to a room at the Meurice, and set out to explore all her favorite haunts to find top-quality vintage and used clothes, among them the auctions at the Hôtel Drouot, and all the little shops she had been visiting for years all over Paris. She found a few interesting items on the first day, went for a walk along the Seine, and had a cup of tea at a café. She called Bernard the day after she arrived. They had signed the final papers on their deal the week before, and when she called him, he insisted they had to celebrate. He suggested dinner at Le Voltaire, which was one of her favorite restaurants in Paris. The small, elegant bistro had been the favorite place for chic Parisians and members of the fashion elite for many years. He picked her up at her hotel and drove her there in his Aston Martin. He had looked very dashing when he stopped and got out of the car at her hotel. He seemed more subdued in New York. He looked delighted to see her when he hugged her, kissed her on both cheeks, and helped her into the car. They sped off a moment later. The weather was beautiful, and felt almost like spring, which was unusual at that time of year.

They had a wonderful time, and he invited her for a fancy dinner at Apicius the next evening, after she foraged around the resale shops and went to an auction. She had a ball going to her favorite places, and when he picked her up at the end of the day, he was wearing a dark suit. She had put on a short black cocktail dress under a dark mink coat, and it felt more like a date than their evenings out before. They went to the restaurant in the beautiful old Rothschild home, where all the headwaiters knew him and made a big fuss over them.

“I give dinner parties here sometimes,” he explained to her. “In a private room they have. It’s an easy way to entertain as a single man.” He had almost convinced her that he was, since he lived like one. The food at Apicius was incredible, the restaurant elegant, and the service fabulous. It was one of the nicest evenings she’d ever had. And when he dropped her off at the hotel, Bernard offered to take her for a drive in the country the next day.

They drove to Deauville, in Normandy, in the morning, and walked along the boardwalk. They had lunch at a small fish restaurant he knew, and they drove back to Paris after dark and had a drink at her hotel.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” he asked her, as they relaxed at the bar. It had been a perfect day.

“You’re spoiling me,” she said, enjoying every minute of it. It was a wonderful experience sharing Paris with Bernard.

“Why don’t we have lunch at Les Cascades, and then there’s a very good art show at the Grand Palais.” She agreed to the plan, and he looked regretful when she finally left him and went upstairs to her room. She called her mother to see how she was, and Louise was delighted to hear from her, although Kate didn’t mention Bernard. It didn’t seem appropriate to report to her mother, or relevant who she was dining with in Paris. Kate told her she was in Paris to restock the shop. She described some of the auctions she’d been to, and stayed off the subject of who she was spending her evenings with. Even at her age, she didn’t want to tell her mother that she was being wined and dined by a married man. She knew her mother wouldn’t approve. Nor would she, Kate realized, if one of her children were doing the same. And she couldn’t help wondering what information her own children were withholding from her. It was a game every generation played to escape their parents’ disapproval and not cause them concern. After a few minutes, her mother told her to have fun, and they hung up.

And at noon the next day, Bernard picked her up. It was Sunday, and lunch at Les Cascades was relaxed, looking out at the gardens, and the art show at the Grand Palais afterward was fun. They left the car there and went for a long walk, and went to the hotel George V for tea, where there was a small orchestra playing, and lots of good people-watching as they sat at a table in the gallery. They never stopped talking, and Kate enjoyed Bernard’s company, more than she had expected to, and perhaps more than she should, she realized, when they retrieved his car and he took her back to the Meurice. She was about to thank him for a lovely day as they stood outside the hotel for a few minutes, when without saying anything to her, he pulled her gently into his arms and kissed her. She was startled at first, and then melted into his arms, and loved it, and then she gently pulled away.

“Should we be doing that?” she asked him softly. She was suddenly torn between thinking of him as married or single. With his status in limbo, according to French tradition, it was confusing.

“Why wouldn’t we?” he answered and kissed her again. “I’m a free man in all the ways that matter,” he reminded her and he seemed so sincere that she kissed him, and then they walked slowly into the hotel. He didn’t ask to come upstairs, but she sensed that he would have liked to. Doing so would have been more than she could handle for now. She needed time to absorb what was happening and what it meant, if anything. Maybe he was just an inveterate flirt and woman chaser, and if so, he was good at it, because he seemed so earnest and caring, and so interested in her. He kissed her one last time before she got in the elevator, and he called her that night when she was relaxing in her room.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said, and she smiled. She was thinking about him too, and trying not to. She wasn’t sure she wanted a romance, particularly with a married man she was doing business with. That was confusing too, but he was so appealing and so much fun. And no one had ever been as attentive to her as he was. American men were different, and Frenchmen were so adept at the art of courtship and seduction that it was hard to resist, whatever his status.

He had to work the next day, and she had things to do for the store, and there was the online store to buy for now too. He didn’t invite her to dinner that night, but he showed up at her hotel and asked her to come down to the lobby for a drink. It was ten o’clock at night, and he said he had been in meetings until then, with some Chinese businessmen he was cultivating. She hesitated because of the hour, and he finally convinced her to come down in jeans and a sweater with her hair loose, while he told her about his meetings, and they drank champagne at the bar. No man had wooed her as ardently in years, if ever. And she was beginning to look forward to seeing him at the end of every day.

He came up with new plans for them every night, went to an auction with her once, and was impressed by how adept she was at bidding, and what she bought. She had a great eye for fashion. They even went to the movies one night. He seemed to have nothing to do with his nights except spend them with her. More and more, she was realizing that he was as free as he said, and it made her feel more comfortable with him. She didn’t care as much that he was married legally as long as she wasn’t poaching on someone else’s turf, and clearly she wasn’t, if he was never with his wife, and always with her.

He said he wanted to introduce her to his children, but they were having too much fun alone. And on her last weekend in Paris, they drove to Versailles and walked around, and then had dinner at a little bistro on the way home. She still had two more days, and it had been a magical trip for her thanks to Bernard, who had entertained her every night, spent the weekend with her, took her to exhibits, and saw to it that she had a wonderful time for the two weeks she was in Paris.

“I’m going to be very sad when you leave,” he said wistfully, as they drove back to the Meurice after their day at Versailles.

“So am I,” she said honestly. “I’ve always loved Paris, but it’s never been like this before, thanks to you,” she said, looking gratefully at him as he drove. She had grown completely comfortable with him, and it was going to be strange when she left, not to see him every night. “I’ve been totally spoiled.”

“You deserve it,” he said warmly. “It’s going to be lonely here without you.” He was going to New York in March, which wasn’t far away. They pulled up in front of the hotel, and the doorman recognized them both, they were a familiar sight. Bernard left the car with him and walked slowly into the hotel with her, lost in thought. She had her hand tucked into his arm, and he leaned closer to her to ask the question he had wanted to ask her for two weeks but hadn’t dared. He didn’t want to scare her off. “May I come upstairs?” he whispered. She hesitated for a long moment as she looked into his eyes. She hadn’t planned to do that, and had promised herself not to, for all the obvious reasons, the uncertainty of his “arrangement” with his wife, but what she saw in his eyes melted her resolve and she nodded, and a moment later he followed her into the elevator without a word. He walked down the hall with her, and she unlocked the door to her room and stepped inside, and he swept her instantly into his arms and held her with the force of his desire that had been building since he met her and for the past two weeks. He couldn’t stop himself anymore, and in less than a minute they were on her bed with their clothes off, overwhelmed with passion like two people half their age.

He was like a tidal wave that overtook her and swept her along with the force of everything he felt for her. They were both breathless when they stopped and he looked at her and smiled.

“Oh my God, I’m so in love with you, Kate. What have you done to me? I feel eighteen years old.” He made love like it, and she was just as enamored with him. “What are we going to do?” he asked, as he rolled over on his back with a broad grin, and she was smiling too. “You can’t move to Paris, you have a business to run. And I can’t move to New York. How am I going to live without seeing you every day?” He looked genuinely bereft at the thought.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said as she rolled onto her side and kissed him again. And she suspected that not being together all the time would make the time they did share even more exciting, which wasn’t entirely a bad thing. He was more possessive than she was and wanted her at his side constantly. They were together every minute while she was there. For now, it was enough. And if things became serious between them, they could discuss the rest. She had no complaints, and no demands to make.

He slept at the hotel with her that night, which made it all even better and seem more real. They had breakfast together in her room in the morning, and then he left for his day, after kissing her and promising to make plans with her that night. She had two more nights left in Paris, and they were going to spend them together, and enjoy each other until she left, and then they had to go back to their own lives until they met again in March.

He took her to one of his favorite bistros that night on the Left Bank, and then they walked along the river and wound up in front of Notre Dame under a full moon. It was an idyllic scene that she knew she would never forget, and then they went back to the hotel and he spent the night with her again. And on her last night, they had room service and had a quiet evening, talking about her business and their plans.

Bernard drove Kate to the airport on the morning she left. He felt terrible that he couldn’t stay with her until her flight, but he had an early meeting. He kissed her tenderly before he left her, after she had checked in her bags, and then she watched the Aston Martin disappear onto the highway, as he waved at her. It had been exactly what Paris should be, and the most perfect two weeks of her life.

She was smiling, thinking about him as she boarded the plane two hours later, and he sent her a text from his meeting. “A bientôt. Je t’aime.” See you soon, I love you. It was all she needed to know.