Chapter 10
W hen Ashley arrived at La Belle Florence the next morning, Marie, the housekeeper, had just arrived.
She was tidying the kitchen, and Ashley waved as he rushed past and raced up the stairs.
Marie didn’t try to stop him.
He was a regular fixture, and she was sure he was welcome upstairs in Oona’s room.
They seemed very much in love to her.
He opened the door silently, closed it behind him, and tiptoed into the room.
Oona was still sound asleep, naked under the sheets, as he took off his clothes and slipped gently into the bed beside her, admiring her beautiful face as she slept.
And then, sensing him, she opened an eye and smiled, and he kissed her, and she put her arms around him, and they made love again.
It was as passionate as the night before, and infinitely tender, and she lay in his arms afterward, at peace, as he rolled onto his back next to her, with a sated smile and a blissful expression.
Making love to her was as wonderful as he had thought it would be.
She had touched him to his very soul the night before and had just done it again.
“Did Marie let you in?”
she asked him, lying on her back, and he grinned.
“She had the front door open, and she was in the kitchen.
I think she had just let Florence out.
I was in a hurry to come upstairs.”
He smiled at her, and propped himself up on one elbow, to admire her more closely.
“I may have destroyed your reputation,”
he said sheepishly, and she laughed.
“I don’t think she’ll be surprised.
You’re here all the time.
And she likes you.”
He had signed autographs for both of Marie’s sisters and a cousin.
“What are we doing today?”
she asked him, and stretched, and he leaned down to kiss her.
“There’s a brocante I thought we could go to.
It’s going to be so strange being back in the States, without you,”
he said, momentarily sad again.
“It will be sad here too,”
she said, and sat up in bed, admiring him, as he got out of bed and walked around her room naked, admiring small antique objects and some rose quartz obelisks that belonged to the owners, and photographs of her children she’d put on the mantel.
He had a spectacular body, toned to perfection.
She put a robe on and came up behind him and put her arms around him, and he looked over his shoulder at her and smiled.
“I’m giving you fair warning, Oona Kelly,”
he said.
She had decided over the summer to go back to her maiden name, once she had made the decision to get divorced.
“If you don’t come to L.A.
soon, I’m breaking their quarantine, and coming to New York to kidnap you.
Just so you know what will happen if you don’t come to California soon.”
“I promise I will, as soon as I get things taken care of in New York.
I want to look at the house in East Hampton too.
I think Charles and I should either sell it and split the money, or rent it out.
Half of New York has moved to the Hamptons because of Covid.
We could probably get a good rent for it, if Charles is willing.
I don’t know if he wants to use it or not.
I asked him, but he hasn’t answered.”
They shared a shower then, dressed for the brocante, went downstairs, and made breakfast.
Ashley had a hearty appetite after the night’s exertions, and Oona had coffee and a slice of toast, as usual.
Florence appeared when they sat down at the breakfast table, and begged Ashley for something to eat since he could never resist her and always gave her a treat.
“You’re bringing Florence home, aren’t you?”
he asked her, as she set a plate of fried eggs in front of him.
“Of course.”
She had fallen in love with her little rescue dog.
All her curly fur had come back in the bald patches, and her coat was thicker than ever.
She looked healthy and a little rounder than when she arrived.
Marie always spoiled her with extra portions and she looked like a little curly white ball now.
“I’ll bring her to California with me.
I don’t want to leave her in New York.”
New York still seemed so far away and her life there, and the people in it, so unreal, like the distant past.
She’d had emails from some of her colleagues at work.
It sounded like everyone she knew had fled from the city to the country, to stay with their parents or at their own weekend homes.
The city was said to be a ghost town, and crime had increased on the streets, with robberies, muggings, and looting.
Some of the luxury stores in Soho had been robbed repeatedly.
Gail had told her that it was scary being a woman out alone at night now.
And Ashley said he’d heard the same about L.A.
People were hungry, angry, and out of work.
And in California, they were letting looters and petty thieves have open season, stealing whatever they wanted.
No one was going to argue with them, not even the police, since many of the looters were armed.
When Ashley and Oona finished breakfast, they went back to the chateau.
The children were just waking up, and he made pancakes for them.
Simon sat on Oona’s lap while he waited for his breakfast.
He was wearing his pajamas, and Alana arrived at the table in jeans and a Minnie Mouse T-shirt and red sandals.
She looked adorable and had her father’s knack for looking stylish whatever she wore.
Ashley told them about the brocante and they agreed to go if they could swim when they got back, and Ashley and Oona agreed.
It was an easy negotiation.
They took off for a neighboring village later that morning, and the kids followed them around the brocante , bored with the vintage and antique objects that fascinated their father and Oona.
Ashley had spent half an hour going over eighteenth-century miniatures painted on ivory, many of them of the members of the court of Louis XVI, while Oona had fun at a stand with vintage hats and bought two, one of them a very chic black hat from World War II made in Paris, and a beautiful romantic straw hat from the nineteenth century, with pale blue satin ribbons.
She looked wonderful in hats, and Ashley took pictures of her with his phone.
“Did you buy something?”
Oona asked him when she saw he was carrying a small package.
“A miniature of a general from Louis XVI’s army.
I thought it would be fun to have,”
he said nonchalantly.
And he had bought a pair of very handsome dueling pistols that were purely decorative and no longer worked, and Oona was carrying her hats.
They left after an hour when the kids complained that they were bored, went back to La Belle Florence to swim, and spent a lazy day at the pool, and then Alana and Simon watched a movie in her theater, while Oona and their father sat in the living room and talked.
They spent as much time together as they could that week, doing all the things they most enjoyed.
There was a feeling of fleeting moments as the time sped by.
Both Oona and Ashley were acutely aware that their time together was running out, and there was a bittersweet tenderness to it.
The kids caught them kissing several times, and Simon guffawed when he saw them, and asked Oona the question again that he had asked in the beginning when he arrived.
“Are you my dad’s girlfriend now since you kissed him?”
“Yeah, Simon,”
she responded with a smile, “I guess I am.”
He seemed satisfied with the answer, and Alana gave a knowing smile.
They both liked the idea, and Ashley looked pleased when she said it.
“So will you come to L.A.
with us now?”
Simon asked her with a pleading look.
“I’ll come soon, I promise.
I have some things I have to do in New York.”
He liked the first answer better than the second.
Whenever they were sure that the children were asleep, or out riding with the stable hands, they found a place and time to make love, in the pool cabana and once in her bedroom with the door locked.
The days went by too quickly, and Oona had a rising sense of panic as the day for their departure approached.
Ashley had a feeling of dread about leaving her, particularly after Claire’s death nearly three months before.
But Oona was in good health and didn’t have Claire’s pathology, which had made her high risk and more vulnerable to the virus.
He kept urging Oona to be careful after they left.
He didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone in France, although she had been there for three months before she met him and had gone through the first lockdown alone.
There was talk of another one coming as the numbers began to rise through September.
As the weather began to cool, the second spike of the virus rose to alarming heights, and confinement seemed inevitable.
Ashley and the children were leaving in time, and Oona began to plan her own departure.
She had rented the house until October, with the possibility of extending it if she wished to.
After staying for so long, she had begun paying a nominal rent again for the house that summer.
The owners had been very generous with her, and she didn’t want to take undue advantage of it.
They said they were grateful that the house was occupied, and all the reports they’d had indicated that she was an exceptional tenant, so they were grateful she had stayed, and she to be there in the house she’d come to love.
She knew she would always be grateful for the time she’d spent there, and the relationship with Ashley that had begun there.
He was planning to return whenever possible to stay at the chateau again, and he hoped that next time Oona would stay there with him, if they came alone, or had been together for longer so as not to shock his children.
He even liked the idea of renting La Belle Florence if it was available.
They both loved it and had a strong sentimental tie to it now.
Simon and Alana seemed very comfortable with their father’s blossoming relationship with Oona, but it still seemed too soon after their mother’s death for Oona to stay with him openly now, and Oona particularly wanted to remain circumspect around his children.
They were very young, and Ashley had never had women stay with him when they were around.
He and Oona were in agreement on that.
She had made the adjustment well from friend to lover, and was thriving on the love they shared and were able to give full expression to now.
It hadn’t hurt their friendship, and had only deepened it, and they were closer than ever.
On their last night, she helped the children pack and close their bags.
Ashley had packed all the treasures and mementos he had purchased at various brocantes, and the children had a few as well.
Ashley and Oona shepherded the children into bed early, since they had to get up before dawn to leave the chateau at six-thirty A .
M .
to check in for their ten A .
M .
flight to L.A.
There were two Air France flights a week to Los Angeles, and they were flying almost empty with Americans, spouses of Americans, and permanent resident foreign green card holders returning to the States.
It was never enough to fill the plane, but enough to continue to fly the route from Charles de Gaulle airport.
The children knew they would have to wear masks for the entire eleven-hour trip. Oona had bought children’s masks for them. Simon’s had Mickey Mouse on them and Alana’s were rainbow colored.
They were asleep when Ashley checked at nine-thirty, and he and Oona went quietly to their favorite guest room on the upper floor, which had become their secret love nest since they had become lovers.
Ashley lit a candle and they made love by candlelight, with the moonlight shining through the windows.
Oona looked beautiful in the soft light, and they couldn’t get enough of each other.
Ashley wanted to take her with him.
He was desperately afraid that he would never see her again, that either she wouldn’t come home or something untoward would happen to her, and he’d be too far away to help her.
“Promise me that you’ll be careful—the numbers are getting worse.”
But they were even worse now in New York and she was planning to go back.
The world was fraught with dangers now, for all of them, even Simon and Alana.
Children got the virus too.
“You too,”
she reminded him.
“The set we’ll be working on sounds like a hospital the way it’s run,”
he reassured her, and then they made love in the moonlight again.
Oona had blown out the candle—they didn’t need it—and they were still awake before the dawn when they had to wake the children.
They were going to tell the children she had come early, so she could spend the last hours with him.
She’d asked Marie to feed the dog before she left and when she arrived the next morning.
Marie knew what that meant and promised to take care of it.
Oona knew that Florence would sleep on her bed and be safe at home.
There were too many places for her to get lost at the chateau.
Ashley kissed Oona for a last time before they left the room.
“Don’t forget how much I love you,”
he said to Oona.
“Don’t forget this,”
and there was no way she could.
It seemed like a miracle to both of them that they had found each other.
He went to wake the children then, and she waited for him downstairs in the kitchen, and started making breakfast for them.
It was ready by the time they came down.
Simon looked sleepy-eyed, and yawned, and Alana looked tidy in her traveling clothes.
The children ate quickly and went upstairs to brush their teeth, and after they left the kitchen, Ashley put a small package in her hands.
He was smiling when he handed it to her and looked pleased with himself.
He had meant to give it to her the night before and had forgotten in their shared passion, which took precedence.
She kissed him even before she unwrapped it and thanked him, and he gave her a lingering kiss and then waited for her to open it.
They had wrapped it at the brocante in a piece of bubble wrap and gift paper, and as she carefully undid it, she found herself looking at a delicately painted oval miniature on ivory of a beautiful young girl with blonde curls peeking out from under a pink silk bonnet, with a little dog in her arms who looked like a distant relative of Oona’s Florence.
The pretty young girl was smiling and looked directly into one’s eyes as one looked at her.
“Oh, she’s lovely, Ash.
She’s so pretty—did they know who she is?”
It didn’t really matter.
She had so much charm and spirit she almost seemed alive as they gazed at her, as Oona carefully held the miniature that was about the size of the palm of her hand, in a delicate gold frame.
“It’s Florence de Montmarrin,”
Ashley said victoriously, “the great love of the last king of France, whom the house is named after, and her little dog looks a lot like your Florence.
I was drawn to it immediately at the miniature stand at the brocante the other day, and I couldn’t believe it when they said who it was.
You were meant to have it, Oona.
You can see why the king loved her—she jumps right out at you, doesn’t she?”
Oona had tears in her eyes as she looked at her and then at Ash.
“It’s the most beautiful gift I’ve ever gotten,”
she said, unable to stop looking at the girl.
She looked as though she was about to speak to them.
“And her little dog looks just like Flo, that’s so odd, isn’t it? Thank you, Ash, I love her.
I’m going to put her somewhere very special.
I think she’s the godmother of our relationship,”
Oona said in a tone of awe, for him, and the priceless gift he had given her.
She wrapped the delicate miniature up again carefully, and kissed Ashley again, just as the children came back into the room.
It was almost time to go.
They were excited about the trip, although they were sad to leave Oona and the chateau.
“We’ll come back here again one day,”
Ashley said in a serious tone, “and we’ll remember the good times we had here too.”
He looked at Oona as he said it and she nodded, and a minute later the car arrived, and she sent the children to the bathroom before the trip and went to check their rooms to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything, while Ashley did the same in his own room.
When they met on the stairs on the way down, Oona was carrying a small, bedraggled brown teddy bear she’d found in Simon’s bed and Ashley rolled his eyes.
“Oh, Lord, you found Mr.
Bear—Simon would have been devastated if we forgot him.
You just saved the day and the entire trip.”
Oona handed the little bear to Ashley, and he tucked him into the travel bag he had slung over his shoulder.
Ashley was wearing a black leather jacket, a black T-shirt, black jeans, and cowboy boots.
He looked every inch the star he was.
He had a certain air about him that attracted attention immediately and told you he was someone special.
He put dark glasses on, which instantly made him look even more like a movie star, and Oona smiled.
“You look amazing,”
she said to him, and he grinned with the whitest, widest smile in the world.
There was no hiding who he was, and he didn’t try to.
He straightened Simon’s jacket and tucked in his shirt.
Both children were wearing jeans and their Euro Disney T-shirts and running shoes.
And they each had a bag of things to do on the plane.
Ashley told Simon he had Mr.
Bear safely tucked into his own bag.
“Oona found him in your bed,”
he told the boy, and Simon looked at her with huge brown eyes of gratitude.
“Thank you, Oona,” he said.
“He didn’t want to miss the trip,”
she told him.
They left the chateau, piled into the van Ashley had arranged, and set off on the trip to the airport.
They were right on schedule.
Oona and Ashley sat in the row behind the driver, with the children behind them.
The drive went smoothly, and Simon fell asleep.
Alana played a game on her iPad, and Oona and Ashley held hands for most of the trip.
She felt peaceful sitting next to him, and wished she was going with him, but she still had a few more weeks in her time there, before she went back to the States too.
She didn’t know yet when she would be going to California, but she hoped it would be soon.
She had to work out the dates with Will too.
They checked their bags at the airport, but Oona couldn’t go into the terminal at Roissy with the new Covid rules.
They lingered on the sidewalk for a little while and then a member of the ground crew came to get them.
They were all wearing their masks, and Oona had packed extras for them for the trip.
Mickey Mouse for Simon, the rainbow one for Alana, and Ashley was wearing a black mask he always wore.
He pulled Oona aside when the moment came to enter the terminal, held her in his powerful arms, and looked into her eyes, and everything he felt for her was in the way he looked at her.
He took off his mask and hers and kissed her.
“Remember how much I love you,”
he whispered.
“I’ll be waiting for you, Oona.
Come soon.”
“I love you, Ash,”
she whispered.
“Thank you for everything, and the beautiful little portrait of Florence.”
“Just take care of you, and get home safely.
I’ll call you when we land,”
he promised, and they put their masks on and walked back to the children.
“Ready to rock and roll?”
he asked them, and Simon nodded, then wrapped his arms around Oona’s waist and squeezed her tight.
“I love you, Oonie,”
he said, with his face buried in her sweater, and his voice muffled.
“I love you too, Simon,”
she said, fighting back tears, and kissed the top of his head, and then she hugged Alana.
“Call me whenever you want,”
she reminded her.
“Nail polish consultations at any hour.”
She had given her three shades of pink polish for her toes.
Ashley squeezed her hand and hugged her one last time, with his mask on, and led the children away, into the terminal.
He turned back in the doorway and their eyes met, and he touched his heart, and she touched hers, and then they were gone.
She watched them through the glass door until they disappeared into the terminal, and what she had feared would happen already had—he had left with her heart, just as she knew he would, but it didn’t seem so scary after all.
And he had left his with her.
The driver took her back to Milly-la-Forêt and the trip seemed longer on the way back.
Oona looked out the window and thought about Ashley and the children.
And as they drove up the driveway to La Belle Florence, she looked at her watch, and it was the exact moment they would be taking off if they left on time.
She heard a ping on her cell phone that indicated she had a text, and looked at it.
It was from Ashley, and a big red heart appeared, flying into the sky.
She smiled and put her phone back into her pocket, praying for their safety, walked into the house, and went to look at the beautiful miniature he had given her.
That she was alone again hit her like a wrecking ball as soon as she walked into the house.
But somewhere in the sky over Paris was a man she loved, and who loved her.
And one day, if all went well, she would see him again.
The portrait of Florence de Montmarrin looked at her from her hand, smiling and full of joy as she held her little dog. She looked to be about eighteen in the delicate painting. She was a woman who had been passionately loved by a king. Oona could feel her spirit around her like a blessing on her union with Ashley, and a promise that they would be together again.