Chapter 42
42
20 DECEMBER
Margaret has her feet up on the chaise in Library Ana?s. From her red-rimmed eyes, it’s obvious she had no sleep after reading Chloe’s manuscript. When she goes to smoke her vape, I yell, ‘ Non, non! One of our guests already set off the smoke alarm, in the early hours.’
‘It’s not smoke, it’s a vape.’
‘ Please .’
She heaves an impatient grunt. ‘Fine. Firstly, this manuscript is dynamite. It’s going to be huge. Chloe’s made careful notes about publishing it according to her wishes and, because you own the hotel and its chattels, that makes you in an enviable position, Anais. What will you do with the proceeds? Because this’ – she waves the precious notebook – ‘is going to be huge. A hundred-year-old literary mystery solved, and the real author of those literary classics that are still studied to this day will get the attribution they deserve.’
‘I’m going to give all the proceeds away.’
Margaret sits up straighter on the chaise. ‘ What? ’
I take a seat in the bergère chair beside her. How to explain just how moved I was by Chloe’s memoir? Because that’s what her last novel is: a story of heartbreak and loss, hurt and pain, until Lily-Louise made a last-minute decision one fateful day to stop at the Chateau Beauchêne when her driver had automobile trouble, because they knew the author Benjamin Marceaux lived there. She’d vaguely known him from various cultural soirees in Paris.
Lily-Louise didn’t factor in meeting his wife, Chloe, and sensing the woman was in trouble. And so began their clandestine communication by letters, which Chloe hid from her abusive husband. And those letters blossomed into love. Where good triumphs over evil and love wins. ‘Why would you give the proceeds away?’
‘It’s not my story, it’s Chloe’s. So what right do I have to profit off her words? I’d be no better than her husband, would I? Noah and I had a long discussion about what to do with it and came up with a plan. We’re in the process of setting up the Chloe Boucher Literary Foundation. A fund that will help and support women and girls with education, books, literary studies.’
‘That’s lovely, Anais.’ Margaret swipes away a tear. ‘This memoir will go to auction, and it’ll generate many offers. Are you sure you’d be happy to give it all away? You could pay off the hotel with what this will earn.’
‘ Oui , I know, but I don’t want that. I have a feeling the hotel is going to earn enough money to pay its own way when the memoir is published. Chloe has left her touch here by keeping suite nineteen, the secret library, a time capsule. I will capitalise on that, not only for financial reasons, but because it’s what Chloe deserves. Awed visitors pulling back a curtain on a hundred years ago and peeking into the place she wrote her memoir. The secret library where she wrote on her MAP typewriter that still sits there today. Visitors will be able to gaze in from the doorway, like they do with Gustave Eiffel’s secret apartment at the top of the Eiffel Tower.’
Margaret raises her hand for a high five.
‘You’re very demonstrative today,’ I say with a laugh.
‘Don’t tell anyone or my reputation will be in tatters. And suite twenty, what will you do with that?’
I flash her a smile. ‘I’m going to make suite twenty available as a guest suite just as it’s been left but with a very hefty price tag for the privilege, and that will help fund another idea…’
‘More brillance from Anais De la Croix?’
‘Well, Noah came up with this one all by himself, so credit should go to?—’
Margaret waves me away. ‘Let’s not be too hasty giving a man too much credit. You’ve seen what it did to your ex-husband. The man, the myth, the legend, all in his dreams.’
I laugh, which soon turns slightly hysterical because, unbeknownst to Margaret or Manon, Francois-Xavier is inside these hotel walls as we speak… And I’m not quite sure how to evict the guy without causing a further scene.
‘Well, we thought we’d name a suite on the second floor the Lily-Louise suite. Her literary patronage provided financial aid to struggling writers from all walks of life, so I’d like to follow in her footsteps and help aspiring writers too. We’ll offer the suite as a Writer in Residence Programme for successful applicants, and we’ll fund this from renting suite twenty as is, for a premium. Writers who stay can help keep the library organised as part of the conditions, and can help with the tours of suite nineteen. We also hope they’ll return one day when their work is published and allow us to host their book launch. All this is dependent on the success of suite nineteen and how many people come to visit the secret library, of course. It might take us a year to formalise, but it’s the long-term goal.’
‘This is far too wholesome for me, Anais. But, wow, it sounds bloody brilliant.’ A small sob escapes, which she tries to disguise with a cough, but I let it go. If Margaret is moved, then the sky is the limit.
‘So, I guess what I’m saying is, I’m keeping the hotel. And I’m going to make Manon’s dreams of becoming a hotelier come true.’