Madame Couer-Brulant - The Cousins,volume II

Before she left La Bidouze, she was happy to see Pedro and Claire get married. She settled a large tract of land in their names, which included a marble quarry. With his mining degree Pedro would undoubtedly know how to extract the riches out of his mountains.

“I believe that I have made two people very happy,” Madame de Corriero said to herself when she returned to Paris.

Florentine, too, was beginning to notice the raw edges of life.

She still had her affair with Maxim de Berny, but her health was suffering and it seemed as if she was getting worse by the week.

She was about to become thirty years old, and a crisis was quickly approaching.

Her doctor deemed it necessary to tell Julia about her sister's condition. A marriage was an absolute necessity.

“Unless she becomes a mother again, I cannot be responsible for what might happen. She is on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown.”

“And do you believe that motherhood…”

“Maybe not the motherhood itself, but the attempts,” the doctor said, “can be very useful.”

Dorothy put it slightly differently when she remarked, “I have been trying to tell Madame Vaudrez that she needed a good fuck instead of that eternal muffdiving. One of these days she will go absolutely crazy.”

The women decided to get Florentine out of Paris, if necessary by stealth, and to force her to break her relationship with Maxim de Berny. Florentine only stuck to him out of habit. She knew that the young man was whoring around in Paris, but she did not want to admit it.

One day, Julia simply took her sister on a long trip. They went to La Bidouze, and Florentine was enchanted with the old castle, the beautiful surroundings, and especially with Pedro and Claire who had joined them for a happy family reunion. The little Cherub, Florentine's son, was delighted with his big, strong uncle.

Meanwhile, Dorothy had informed de Berny about Florentine's situation and, in her mistress' name, she asked him to give Florentine her liberty. The Count willingly complied, and Florentine received a tender letter, asking her to give Maxim his freedom.

It seemed as if a load had fallen from Florentine's heart. Soon, the widow Vaudrez was her old, happy self again. The color had returned to her cheeks, and though matured by ten years, she matched her sister in beauty.

The summer went by without any adventures worth noting. As a matter of fact, it had become somewhat monotonous. The sisters decided to spend a few weeks on the Riveria before they returned to Paris for the season.

High society from all over Europe gathered annually in St. Jean-de-Luz. The entire world seemed to have made this little town their rendezvous.

One day the two ladies and the little Cherub were strolling through the town, when a voice suddenly exclaimed, “Madame Vaudrez!”

Florentine turned around, “Cherub! Darling!” Then she caught herself and blushed, “Your Highness!”

Gordon, Duke of Herisey, laughed. He looked at Florentine with tenderness in his eyes, and it was obvious that he liked very much what he saw.

“What an extraordinary coincidence! Have you been here long?”

“Only a few days. Permit me to introduce my son, Cherub.”

“Our son Cherub,” Julia said mischievously.

“A beautiful name, Madame. He looks indeed, like a little angel!” And the Duke lifted the little boy high above his head, kissing him upon the forehead when he set him down gently.

“And where have you been all these years?”

Florentine asked.

“In Japan. As you know, my mother always wanted me to travel for at least ten years before I decided to settle down. I am sure that she wanted to keep me out of the clutches of the Parisian ladies. But now I have had enough of traveling, and I am going to settle down as a good solid citizen. I intend to live in Paris.”

“I hope we shall see each other from time to time.”

“Every day, unless you decide to throw me out!” Gordon smiled. “And now, my dearest lady, allow me to spoil little Gordon a little bit,” he looked Florentine straight in the eyes.

“But, please only a little bit. He is spoiled enough as it is, already.”

“He must have inherited that from his father,” the duke answered laughingly.

“And this?” Julia asked, ruffling her hands through the boy's golden burls.

“Those he has from his mother,” Florentine said.

They continued their stroll, meeting Gordon de Herisey at the appointed place. The little boy was even more enthusiastic about his new “uncle” than he had been about young Pedro.

“Ladies,” Gordon said, “I must take leave for the moment. A very good friend of mine is in town, and I promised to meet him at three o'clock. With your permission, I would be honored to present him to you.”

“How amusing to meet a good old friend after so many, many years,” Julia said. “So this gentleman was your famous Cherub?”

“Yes,” Florentine said, deep in thought.

“I wonder to whom he is going to introduce us.”

“Probably to some Oriental he met during his travels.”

That evening brought another surprise. It was not an Oriental to whom the sisters were introduced. It was no one else but Gaston, Count Saski.

He was no longer the dashing, young man of more than ten years ago. Time had weighed heavily upon his shoulders. His temples were gray, and deep lines furrowed his face. The deep-set, dark eyes betrayed that Gaston had suffered much.

For him, too, the times of love and laughter seemed to be over. During several stormy years, he had lost his wife, his children, and most of his fortune. Only Aunt Athena Saska had survived all misfortune, seemingly without bother. She still ate half a chicken daily, washing it down with a bottle of wine. Only her legs bothered her a little bit, and she had given up her habit of a daily hike through the forests.

Julia and Gaston looked at one another during dinner that night. Their emotions were mixed, but they were thinking along similar lines:

“He has suffered a lot…”

“She has cried often…” and… their hands found one another under the table; their fingers intertwined.

“Can you forgive me?” he asked softly.

“I have forgotten,” Julia answered simply.

Six months later, two travel coaches, loaded with luggage, were waiting in the courtyard of Charmettes castle.

Not far from them two gentlemen were giving orders to the servants. One of them was Gordon, Duke of Herisey, husband of Madame Vaudrez since earlier that morning. The other was Count Gaston Saski who had just made Donna Julia de Corriero his wife in a simple ceremony.

And upstairs, on the balcony, two women stood, hand in hand. It seemed as if they were saying farewell.

They were no longer the two young girls, eager to fly out on their own, from the home of their foster mother, Madame Briquart, the Colonel's wife. Time and experience had made them mature.

“Do you remember, Julia,” Florentine was the first to speak, “how once we were so eager to fly toward our happiness?”

“Yes,” Julia answered sadly, “but I will try to forget a lot.”

“We are embarking upon an entirely new chapter in our lives, dearest.”

“I know. But we have weathered the storms of our springtime, and we have survived the thunders of those storms. I am sure that we can handle the coming winds of fall. And I do not want to think, yet, of wintertime.”

The two women cried, embracing each other.

“Let's go,” Julia said, wiping away the tear. “Farewell to the past, good-bye tender youth, wild and passionate nights.” She smiled sadly. “We are like suns, past noontime, rushing toward the evening.”