MAËLLE #2
Dagger chuckled. “Surprising.”
“Not really. The following morning, the vineyard manager found a row that was slated for pruning that day already done. Badly, but done, nonetheless.” My mother rested her head on the sofa and drew the blanket up higher. “She had to have gone out at the first sign of dawn.”
“To prove you wrong?” Dagger asked.
“Not so much to prove me wrong as to prove to herself she could do it. Her first memories are likely of her father telling her she couldn’t. Not just prune, but anything to do with the vineyards.”
“Why would he do such a thing?”
My mother shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that all Frenchmen of my husband’s generation are sexist.” She continued when he nodded. “Bertrand would be counted among the many who are.”
“Maelle doesn’t talk about Valais.”
“I would think it would be too painful. When she was young, she loved everything about it. She followed her father through the cuverie, asking how it all worked, what every dial was for. He’d answer for a bit, but then he’d grow impatient and tell her to find something else to do besides bothering him. It broke my heart.”
“Do you think she wanted to run it someday?”
“Oui.”
“Did she tell him?”
“Not that I know of, but if she had, I wouldn’t have been surprised. She’s never had trouble speaking her mind.”
Both of them chuckled.
“Does Bertrand honestly believe she wouldn’t be capable?”
“It no longer matters. Rémy will take over all of it one day. Now, he runs the operations. Bertrand still oversees the vineyards and production, but he relinquished the financial side of the business to Rémy not long after he graduated from university. I wasn’t surprised.
It was the part he hated dealing with the most.”
When the blanket fell to the floor, Dagger picked it up and draped it over my mother’s lap.
“So Maelle made a life for herself away from here, away from us,” my mother murmured.
The last two words hurt the most. As I’d told Dagger on our first night here, the only thing I knew I wanted to do with my life was to get away from Valais. Not from my mother. She became collateral damage, and I hated myself for allowing it to get that bad. Especially now.
What would have happened if I hadn’t come home? She’d told me my father said the illness would pass. Would it have killed her because she wouldn’t seek treatment on her own? At the thought that it would have, a tear ran down my cheek.
When I reached up to brush it away, my mother glanced over her shoulder. “Ma chérie, come and join us.”
Dagger stood when I entered the room. “Madame Valais, I enjoyed our talk very much.”
“You needn’t run off,” she told him.
His eyes met mine. “Actually, I do.” He kissed my cheek as he passed. “I’ll see you later.”
My mother was frowning when I took his seat. “What is going on, Maelle? And do not tell me nothing. Why would your fiancé leave the room as soon as you enter?”
“He knows how much I wanted to spend time with you, Maman. He was being courteous.”
“He’s a good man, ma chérie.”
“I know he is.”
“I saw you, you know? Standing outside the door, listening.”
Heat crept up my neck to my cheeks.
“What were you thinking you’d hear?”
“I don’t know.”
She covered my hand with hers. “Perhaps something that would give you a reason not to marry him.”
“You’re wrong,” I said.
“Very well. There’s something I wanted to discuss with you today anyway.”
“Go ahead.”
“First, find Marthe, and ask her to bring the box in. She’ll know what you’re talking about.”
I found her a few paces away in the hallway and wondered if, like me, she’d been eavesdropping.
“Maman is asking for a box.”
Marthe nodded and walked in the opposite direction. I returned to the solarium.
“While we wait, I want to tell you a story,” said my maman.
When she took my hand again, I feared more tears would fall. “Are you sure you don’t need to rest?”
“Non. This is important for you to hear. It’s about your father and me.”
The muscles in my shoulders went tense. While I didn’t know the details, I’d witnessed enough of his behavior toward my mother when I was growing up. I doubted there would be anything she’d tell me I didn’t already know.
“He was so charming. I fell in love with him almost instantly. When we were courting, he’d send me flowers, write me letters, and bring me little gifts. He was always the perfect gentleman. Perhaps he knew my father would kill him if he wasn’t.”
We both laughed. I barely remembered my grandfather, but from what I could recall, he didn’t like my father much.
“He invited my parents and me to Valais one afternoon. We’d been dating for six months or so.
Marthe had prepared a lovely lunch for us.
Before we were seated to eat, he led me to this same room, got down on one knee, and proposed.
Before I could answer, it began to rain.
Not sprinkles, a downpour. The solarium wasn’t like it is now.
Then, the roof leaked in several places, including right above him.
Rather than stand or move to stay dry, he stayed where he was, waiting for my answer. ”
I smiled, envisioning it. “How long did you make him wait?”
There was a glint in her eye I rarely saw. “Until he was drenched.”
“Was he furious?”
“If he was, he didn’t let it show.”
Marthe came into the room and set a long, narrow box on the table.
“Merci,” I said before she left the room.