Даниэла Стил - The Affair

She left for the airport an hour after the girls. She checked her suitcases. She was bringing presents for everyone. They were going to spend a weekend at Venetia’s, and Nadia couldn’t wait to see how pregnant she was. She was having this baby at forty-two, which Nadia thought was heroic, and Olivia thought was insane. Athena was just happy it wasn’t her. Rose worried about her daughter’s health, and if childbirth at forty-two was dangerous, and kept warning Venetia of danger signs to look out for. Venetia had just had an amnio, and everything seemed fine. She said the greatest risk she had was that Ben would kill her if she got pregnant again. But she had wanted one more child so desperately that he had given in. It hadn’t been an accident. They had conceived it during their week at the château, which seemed a tender way to Nadia to end her own tenure there. A new life conceived at the home she was giving back to Nicolas, after they had been so happy there. But the château was part of his heritage and belonged to him. They had alternated there that summer, but once divorced, she no longer belonged at his family château. He would go there with the girls, and whatever woman was in his life. But Nadia’s days there were over. She accepted it, and didn’t allow herself to look back at the past. She had to look forward now, and was determined to have a good life without him.

—

The flight to New York was easy and she slept most of the way. She had worked so many late nights that she was more tired than she realized, and felt refreshed when she got to New York after the long flight. She was staying at her mother’s apartment while in New York, and Rose was delighted to have her. After Nadia left, Rose was going to Palm Beach for a few days over New Year’s Eve to see friends. The magazine was essentially closed for the holidays, and she needed a rest too.

They hit commuter traffic on the way into the city, and everywhere Nadia looked there were lights and Christmas decorations, Christmas trees in front yards, and lit-up Santa Clauses on top of houses. She loved the kitsch quality of it, and then the more elegant trees that decorated the city when she approached her mother’s address.

Rose was waiting for her at home, and they went to Olivia’s for dinner that night. Harley looked tired and was in the middle of a trial that had just gone to the jury, so he was on call, waiting for the verdict. Olivia was thin and pale too. Nadia had forgotten about the frenetic pace and how ravaged by the winter months people were in New York. The intensity of it was electric. When Venetia and Ben arrived, they were full of life and healthy, and Venetia’s pregnancy already showed. She was wearing a bright red dress and looked terrific. She was blossoming and radiant, and she and Ben were both happy about the baby.

Both sisters observed Nadia carefully to see how she was, and decided that she looked well. She told them about Greg’s house and showed them photos on her phone, and they were vastly impressed by how beautiful it was.

“I know who he is,” Venetia commented. “Ben did a deal with him a few years ago. What about him as a prospective date? I think he’s from Texas, and rich as hell.” Nadia shook her head.

“I know. He’s a terrific guy, and we’re friends. He’s just not exciting. Something’s missing.” He wasn’t Nicolas, but she didn’t dare say it, given how that had ended. “I’m not ready to date.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re waiting for another French cheater to show up,” Olivia said in her usual blunt way.

“Maybe so,” Nadia admitted. “Maybe American men are too wholesome for me.” She was still trying to figure out what was missing for her with Greg, and hadn’t yet.

They spent a warm, cozy evening together, and Will joined them for dinner. He chatted with his uncle Ben and his grandmother, and then left the table before dessert to read in his room.

The evening ended at midnight, and Nadia went home with her mother. The three sisters were having lunch with their mother the next day. Rose was treating them to lunch at La Grenouille and Athena was arriving from L.A. that afternoon. After that they were going to Venetia and Ben’s home in Southampton. Rose was joining them for the weekend, before going to Palm Beach for New Year’s. It was going to be a family-filled week, which is what they all wanted. They never tired of each other. At breakfast the next day, Rose looked at Nadia, and spoke quietly over her morning tea.

“Are you all right? Is everything okay in Paris?”

“I’m fine,” she said softly.

“Have you seen much of Nicolas?”

“Not really. He’s writing a new book, and he picks up the girls downstairs and takes them to his place or out to dinner. We’re perfectly friendly when we meet.” But something in her eyes told her mother that she was not healed yet after everything that had happened. It worried her.

“Does he see the baby?”

“I honestly don’t know. Pascale left him in Brittany with her mother, so Nicolas must not see him often. I don’t know if he goes to Brittany to visit. Maybe he will when he’s older.” She didn’t need to think about it and tried not to. It wasn’t her problem. It was his.

The girls had fun at the luxurious lunch with their mother, and with Athena the night she arrived and the following day, and then they all left for the Hamptons. Nadia was happy to see that her mother was well and looked terrific. Age never seemed to touch her, and she never slowed down. It made Nadia think that she might be fine without a man too. But her mother was thirty years older, and had been widowed at sixty-two. She hadn’t given up on men at thirty-six, so Nadia realized she might be premature in planning a life of celibacy, which Venetia pointed out to her when they all went for a walk on the beach. Nadia loved the Hamptons in winter. There was a rugged beauty to it that suited her mood.

Two days later, Rose left for Palm Beach, the others were planning to spend New Year’s Eve together except Olivia and Harley, who went back to the city for a New Year’s Eve party with friends. The others stayed in the Hamptons and saw the New Year in together with a delicious dinner cooked by Joe and Athena, and excellent French champagne. It was Nadia’s last night with them. She had to fly back to Paris on New Year’s Day, which would land her in Paris late that night so Nicolas could return the girls to her the next morning. She was letting him have them on New Year’s Day. Athena and Joe were staying longer. She was going to tape one show in New York with a famous chef before they went back to L.A.

Nadia was having breakfast with Venetia and Athena in the kitchen on New Year’s Day, before she had to dress for her flight. Olivia called Venetia on her cellphone, and Venetia looked shocked at whatever Olivia had said. She asked a series of rapid-fire questions, and it sounded to the other two as though Will had run away, judging by Venetia’s questions: “When did he leave?…Did you see him go?…Do you know where he went?…” She promised to call Olivia back later, ended the call, and stared at both her sisters in disbelief.

“Olivia had too much to drink last night, and she said that what she told us on the Fourth of July has been weighing on her ever since. She told Harley about Will last night. He locked himself in his study and wouldn’t talk to her afterwards. He was gone when she got up this morning. He didn’t leave a note. She doesn’t know where he went. He left her, and he told her last night he would never forgive her for lying to him about something so important, and for cheating on him….” Venetia looked panicked for her sister, and the other two stared at her, too shocked to speak for a minute.

“Oh my God,” was all Athena could say, as Nadia glanced at her watch.