Danielle Steel - Jewels

“That I’m as crazy as he is.” She smiled.

“It must be genetic,” Sarah said as she stood again, and they walked back to the château. One thing was certain, at least. Her children were never boring.

In September, Xavier left for Yale, as planned, and Julian went to New Haven in October to see him. He was doing well, loved the school, and had two very nice roommates, and a very attractive girlfriend. Julian took them out to dinner, and they had a good time. Xavier loved his American life, and he was planning to go to California to visit his aunt for Thanksgiving.

When Julian went back to Paris he heard that Phillip and Cecily were getting a divorce, and at Christmas he saw a photograph of his brother and his ex-wife in the Tatler. He showed it to Sarah when she was at the shop, and she frowned. She was not pleased to see it.

“Do you suppose he’ll marry her?” she asked Emanuelle when they talked about it later.

“It’s possible.” She no longer had the faith in him she once had had, especially lately. “He might even do it just to upset Julian.” His jealousy for him had never abated, it had grown worse over the years instead of better.

Xavier came home at Christmas and the days flew by, as usual. And when he left to go back to school, Sarah went to Rome, to keep an eye on the store and help Isabelle get ready for the baby.

Marcello was still there, working very hard, as Isabelle prepared to leave. And as it had been from the first, business was booming. Sarah smiled when she saw her daughter, rattling off instructions to everyone in Italian. She looked beautiful, and prettier than she ever had before, but she was absolutely enormous. It reminded her of when she’d been pregnant with her own children, who were always so large. But Isabelle seemed sublimely happy.

Sarah invited her son-in-law to lunch shortly after she arrived. They went to El Toulà, and shortly after the first course, Sarah got to the point. She didn’t mince words with Lorenzo this time.

“Lorenzo, we’re grown-ups, you and I.” He was very close to her age, and Isabelle had been married to him for nine years now. It seemed a high price to pay for a youthful mistake, and she was anxious to help her end it. “You and Isabelle haven’t been happy for a long time. This baby is… well, we both know the situation. It’s time to call it a day, wouldn’t you say?”

“My love for Isabelle will never end,” he said, sounding melodramatic as Sarah made a supreme effort not to lose her temper.

“I’m sure. But it must be very painful for both of you, and you certainly.” She decided to change tack with him and treat him as the wounded party. “And now this terrible embarrassment to you, with the baby. Wouldn’t you think it a good time to make some wise investments, and agree to leave Isabelle to a new life?” She didn’t know how else to say it. “How much” seemed a little blunt, though it was tempting. She was sorrier than ever that William wasn’t there to help her. But Enzo had gotten the point.

“Investments?” he asked, looking hopeful.

“Yes, I was thinking that American stock might be important for you to have, in your position. Or Italian, if you prefer it.”

“Stock? How much stock?” He had stopped eating in order to listen to every word she was saying.

“How much do you think?”

He made a vague Italian gesture as he watched her. “ Ma … I don’t know … five … ten million dollars?” He was trying her out and she shook her head.

“I’m afraid not. One or two perhaps. But certainly no more than that.” Negotiations had begun, and Sarah was pleased with the way things were going. He was expensive, but he was also greedy enough to do what she wanted.

“And the house in Rome?”

“I’d have to discuss it with Isabelle, of course, but I’m sure she could find another one.”

“The house in Umbria?” He wanted everything.

“I really don’t know, Lorenzo. We’ll have to discuss that with Isabelle.” He nodded, not disagreeing with her.

“You know, the business, the jewelry store, it is going very well here.”

“Yes, it is,” she said vaguely.

“I would be very interested in becoming partners with you.” She wanted to stand up and slap him, but she didn’t.

“That will not be possible. We are talking about a cash investment, not a partnership.”

“I see. I will have to think about it.”

“I hope you do,” Sarah said quietly as she paid for the check, he made no move to take it from her. And Sarah said nothing to Isabelle about the lunch. She didn’t want to raise false hopes in case he decided not to take the bait, and maintain the status quo instead. But Sarah fervently hoped he wouldn’t.

The baby was still a month away, and Isabelle was anxious to introduce her to Lukas. He had taken an apartment in Rome for two months, looking into a project there, so he could be with her when she had the baby. And Sarah had to agree with her. She had done well this time. His only flaw was his wife and family in Munich.

He was tall and angular and young, with dark hair like Isabelle’s, he loved the outdoors, and skiing, and children, and art and music, and he had a wonderful sense of humor. And he tried to talk Sarah into opening a store in Munich.

“That’s not my decision anymore,” she said, laughing, but Isabelle wagged a finger at her.

“Oh, yes, it is, Mother, and don’t you pretend it isn’t.”

“Well, not mine alone at least.”

“What do you think then?” her daughter pressed her.

“I think it’s too soon to make that decision. And if you go to open a store in Munich, who will run Rome?”

“Marcello can run it blindfolded without me. And everyone loves him.” Sarah did, too, but opening yet another store was still a very big decision.

They spent a wonderful evening together, and Sarah told Isabelle afterwards that she was crazy about Lukas. She had another lunch with Lorenzo after that, but so far, he had made no final decision. Sarah had asked her discreetly how she felt about their two houses, and Isabelle had admitted that she hated them both, and didn’t care if Enzo took them, as long as she got the escape she wanted.

“Why?” she asked her mother, and Sarah was vague with her. But this time, at lunch, she pulled out her ace card and reminded Lorenzo that it would be grounds for an annulment in the Catholic Church, if Isabelle sought one on the basis of fraud, citing that he had entered into marriage knowing that he was sterile, but having concealed it from Isabelle. Sarah eyed him quietly but firmly, and almost laughed as she waited for him to panic. He tried to deny that he had known, but Sarah held her ground and didn’t let him. She reduced the cash offering from two million dollars to one, and offered him both houses. And he said he’d let her know, as he left her with the check and vanished.

Julian called them every few days to see how Isabelle was and if the baby had come, and by mid-February, Isabelle was going crazy. Lukas had to go back to Munich in two weeks, and the baby hadn’t come, and she was getting bigger by the minute. She had stopped work and she had nothing to do, she said, except buy handbags and eat ice cream.

“Why handbags?” her brother asked her, mystified, wondering if she had developed a new fetish.

“They’re the only thing that fit. I can’t even wear shoes anymore.”

He laughed at her, and then sobered when he told her that Yvonne had called him to tell him she was marrying Phillip in April. “That ought to be interesting in years to come,” he said ruefully to his sister. “How do I explain to Max that his aunt is really his mother, or vice versa?”

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe you’ll have found him a new mother by then.”