Даниэла Стил - The Affair

Venetia texted her mother too, Rose was still promising to try and come on Friday night, and arrive on Saturday.

Everything was in place for an all-girl family weekend. They had nothing special planned. It wasn’t a holiday in France. Nicolas had called the girls and told them he was in Saint-Tropez for the weekend. Nadia tried not to think about it. She didn’t want anything to spoil her weekend with her sisters. It had been years since they’d had a girls’ weekend like this. It had taken a crisis to inspire her to organize it and make it happen.

Venetia’s flight was uneventful, and she had a text from Olivia when they landed, telling her that she had just arrived at the château and they were having breakfast on the terrace in the beautiful weather. The car picked Venetia up on schedule. She had gotten her bag quickly, so there was no delay getting on the road.

Olivia was lying on a lounge chair, sunning herself, when Venetia arrived, and Nadia was in the kitchen, talking to the housekeeper about lunch. Venetia could see her nieces playing with a ball in the distance on the lawn. It was a beautiful old property, which Nicolas took great pride in when his parents left it to him, and he and Nadia had restored and renovated it. Nadia loved it too, and they spent frequent weekends and summers there. It had been in his family for generations. There were well-manicured gardens and well-tended orchards of fruit trees surrounding it. Nicolas and Nadia put in the pool, which everyone loved. It was a wonderful place, and Nadia was trying not to think about the possibility that it might be her last summer there, if they got divorced. It already felt different to her. She felt a little like a guest, but she was grateful that Nicolas was still letting her use it, since they weren’t officially separated. It hadn’t been tainted yet, since Pascale had never been there. Nicolas had promised that to her. As it was a family property, which he had inherited, Nadia had no shared ownership of it. It belonged entirely to him, and would belong to their daughters one day.

Nadia saw Venetia chatting with Olivia when she came back to the terrace. Venetia was sitting on the end of the lounge chair and jumped up to hug her sister.

“I always forget how beautiful this place is until I see it again.” Nadia nodded and hugged her sister.

“How was your flight?” she asked Venetia, as the two girls bounded up to the terrace to see their aunt. They were wearing matching pink shorts and T-shirts, and they looked adorable. They kissed Venetia and then ran off again, Laure tugging at Sylvie’s shirt as they went back to the garden. She looked puzzled when she whispered to her sister.

“Why did all our aunts come and not bring our cousins?” They’d never done that before, and Laure had sensed that she shouldn’t ask her mother. There seemed to be a lot of secrets these days. Their mother stopped talking on the phone now when they came into the room.

Sylvie measured her words carefully before she answered. “I think Mama and Papa are a little mad at each other, and the aunts came to tell her how not to be mad at him anymore.” She had sensed the tension between her parents more than her younger sister had.

“Why is she mad at him? Do you know?” Sylvie shook her head. She’d been trying to figure that out herself.

“My friend Marie-Claire asked me if they’re getting divorced, and I said no. People only get divorced if they hate each other, and they’re not that mad, they still talk a lot. But Mama is mad at him about something. I think that’s why he’s in Saint-Tropez a lot these days.”

“I thought he was there to write,” Laure said pensively, as they sat down on a log to discuss it. They were far down the garden, where the grown-ups couldn’t hear them.

“I think he’s there to see friends, and until Mama stops being mad. I hope it’s soon. I miss him. He’s been out a lot lately, and he said he’s not coming to the château for two weeks.” Laure considered the answer and nodded. It sounded complicated to her.

“I’m glad our aunts came. But I wish they’d brought our cousins. It would be more fun,” Laure said wistfully.

“Mama said they might come back in August, with the kids.”

“With Papa too?” Laure asked, with huge eyes.

“I don’t know,” Sylvie said. Most of what she knew she had overheard. Her mother was sharing very little with her these days. But she did know that her mother was angry at her father. She had heard her say it several times to their aunts, and their grandmother. “Grandmama might come this weekend too,” Sylvie added, and Laure’s eyes grew even bigger.

“Then Mama must be very, very mad at Papa, if it takes so many of them to make her not mad.” Sylvie nodded and had nothing more to say.

But they could both see that their mother looked happy when their aunt Athena arrived before lunch. They were all sitting on the terrace of the château, talking and laughing. Their mother poured wine for her sisters and helped herself to a glass. They were all wearing shorts, except Athena, who was wearing a big white dress to cover her size. Laure thought she was pretty anyway. She had a beautiful face and laughed a lot. Laure was disappointed to see that she hadn’t brought any of her dogs, not even the two tiny ones, which sometimes traveled with her. She said they hadn’t come this time because she wasn’t staying long, and it was too big a trip for them.

They had lunch in an outdoor dining room they used in the summer, next to the pool, and after lunch they all went swimming. Then the grown-ups went for a walk, and the housekeeper kept an eye on Sylvie and Laure at a table near the pool.

“Do you think they’re talking about how mad she is at Papa?” Laure whispered to Sylvie, as she scribbled in a coloring book, and Sylvie shrugged.

“Don’t tell Mama I told you that, or she’ll get mad at me,” Sylvie told her, wishing that she hadn’t, but she knew that Laure was worried too. Their father seemed to be away a lot these days. He never did that except when he was helping to make a movie of one of his books, and he wasn’t doing that at the moment. He said he was going to start another book, but he never went anywhere and hardly left the house once he did, so they knew he wasn’t writing.

“The girls seem to be doing okay,” Venetia commented as the four sisters walked down one of the tree-lined paths on the grounds. There were tall shade trees overhead. The women were relaxed after their lunch and a swim afterwards.

“I think they feel that something is off, they just don’t know what it is,” Nadia said quietly. “Nicolas is gone most of the time now. I think Sylvie suspects something.”

“He should be gone all the time,” Olivia said through pursed lips. “He should move out.”

“That’s a big statement to the kids,” Venetia said cautiously. “I think you’re right to take it in stages,” she said moderately.

“Why? Why drag it out?” Olivia countered, then turned to Nadia. “He’s involved with another woman, they’re having a baby. He doesn’t belong in your home anymore.”

“Maybe not for me. But he’s still their father. It’s going to be a huge change for the girls when he moves out. Laure is only seven, and they worship him. And no matter what he’s done now, he’s still a wonderful father.”

“They’ll have to get used to it.” Olivia wouldn’t temper her position. “They’re old enough to understand. They must have friends with divorced parents, even in France.”

“I want to make this as easy as I can for them,” Nadia said, and Olivia looked at her sharply.

“For them, or for yourself? Are you just trying to leave the door open so he can come back if he breaks up with the girl?”