Chapter 6 #2
“To be honest, I don’t know yet. I was looking for an apartment to buy in Paris, but I didn’t find anything I liked, and then I drove down here on a whim, and fell in love.
It’s a new love affair for me.” She smiled at him.
“And if you’ll forgive me for saying so, I immediately felt at home at the chateau.
At first I thought I’d like to buy it, but knowing more now, I understand your not wanting to sell.
And renting it for a year seemed like an interesting idea.
I think I’d like to stay for a while. I live in L.A.
and I have an art gallery there, but my children all live in other places, and I have no reason to rush back.
” She hesitated and then went on. “I lost my husband a few months ago. I’m still adjusting to the change,” she said, and he suddenly understood the look in her eyes.
She was a young woman to be widowed. She looked tragic for an instant as she said it.
“I’m so sorry. I understand. It must be a very big adjustment.”
“It is,” she confirmed softly, and then smiled at him. “And Arcangues seems like a much gentler place to do it than L.A. It was very sudden. He was ill for three months and then he died, last summer.” So it was very fresh.
“This area is said to have healing properties, and this town in particular, and the church. I always come here when I need to soothe my soul,” Xavier said gently. “I think you’d be happy here,” he ventured to say.
“I think so too,” she said in her soft voice and didn’t push him, and he suddenly liked the idea of her being there, and wondered if they’d become friends.
She seemed very bright and interesting, despite her soft voice and gentle ways.
He could tell that her husband had been a great loss from the way she spoke of him and his sudden death.
“It’s such a beautiful area,” she said, and he smiled warmly as she said it.
“There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world.
Biarritz is fun, and the palace must have been outrageous when it was built.
But there is something very special and unusual about this village.
You said your children live in other places.
Are they in Europe?” He was increasingly curious about her, beyond the rental of his home.
“My children are all over the place now. My son is in London, I have a daughter in law school in New York, and a daughter working for Prada in Milan.”
“My daughter is a nurse practitioner in a refugee camp in Zimbabwe.”
“She must be a remarkable woman.”
“I think so,” Xavier said proudly. “Her mother is a doctor, from a medical family, three generations of doctors. And her maternal grandmother was a nurse. It’s in their blood, though not in mine, I’m afraid.
My daughter hasn’t been home in two years because of the pandemic.
I visited her last year in Zimbabwe. I’m hoping she’ll come for a visit soon, but she loves her work and is very dedicated. ”
“Two of mine are just finishing graduate school, and the one in Milan is in her first job. They’ve all flown the nest. My husband and I were going to travel.
He was going to retire in two years, but all those plans changed.
Now I’m trying to figure out the next steps, without my husband or my kids.
It’s a big change.” Sabrina tried to sound philosophical about it.
“This would be a good place to figure that out.”
“That’s how I felt when I saw it,” she said, looking young and vulnerable. He guessed her to be about ten years younger than he was, but she was forty-eight. And it sounded and looked as though she had been through a lot.
“And you wouldn’t mind my living on the property?” he asked her.
“Not at all,” she said warmly. “This is your home. I’m the intruder, but I’ll try to be a discreet one.”
“I’m an excellent handyman,” he said with a broad smile, and she tried not to notice how good-looking he was.
He was a married man, which she respected, and she wasn’t flirting with him, but it was hard not to notice his looks.
He had noticed hers as well, and thought she looked more European than American.
“Would you like to take a walk in the gardens? There are some secret paths you might enjoy.”
“I’d like that,” Sabrina said shyly, and followed him outside.
“I keep two horses here as well, they’re very old and steady.
You’re welcome to ride them whenever you want.
” He led her to the entrance to the gardens, and along some very pretty hidden paths.
Some had been designed with the house. They sat on a bench in the sun in one of them, and he was surprised by how easy she was to talk to.
She was a gentle person. There was nothing sharp or strident about her.
It struck him how different she was from Brigitte.
Sabrina seemed to be the exact opposite.
Brigitte competed with men, and tried to subjugate and diminish them.
Sabrina had a light, gentle touch that made a man feel strong and want to protect her.
She seemed vulnerable, and kind. She reminded him that there were decent women in the world.
Brigitte had wounded him deeply for years.
They walked slowly back to the house after an hour, and he looked at her as they stood in the main garden. Two gardeners were working nearby. They were Basques and had strong Spanish features and were speaking to each other in dialect.
“Well, Mrs. Thompson, do we meet with your approval?” he asked her, and she looked surprised.
“Do I? I got the impression that you wanted to check me out to make sure I wasn’t some brash American who was going to paint the chateau pink or fly an American flag on the front lawn.
” He laughed because it was true, but she was the opposite of what he had expected.
And she hadn’t complained about the rent.
He was embarrassed now at the price he had quoted the realtor, which he thought was too much and she thought was a bargain. And she hadn’t said a word about it.
“Perhaps we were both being cautious,” he said.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” she said.
“When would you want to occupy it?” It all seemed very sudden and she hadn’t given it any thought.
“I’m staying in Paris now, at a hotel. Soon would be nice, but I understand that this is sudden for both of us. Would two weeks be too soon?”
“I think I can do all the minor repairs I have in mind by then,” he said. “Is that too long a wait for you, staying at a hotel?” he asked her, and she smiled.
“I think I can find some things to occupy me. I’m addicted to museums and art galleries, and there are more than enough to keep me busy for two weeks.
” He suggested the first of February and she agreed.
She inquired about a security deposit, which she expected to be a large amount, and he said one month was sufficient.
He gave her his bank details to wire that and the first month’s rent.
He showed her the simple lease form the realtor had given him.
It was extremely basic, and he asked if she wanted an attorney to review it, and she said she didn’t.
There was no small print, it was straightforward and clear.
They both signed two copies of it, shook hands, and the Chateau de Bonport was her home for the next year, however much she wished to use it.
It was the easiest transaction either of them had ever made.
He walked her to her car, and she slid into the back seat as Xavier leaned down to smile at her and spoke softly.
The driver and Maxime were talking and not paying attention.
“Welcome home, Mrs. Thompson. I hope you’ll be happy here.”
“I’m sure I will, Monsieur de Bonport. Or is it Baron?” She looked confused for a minute as she said it, and he laughed.
“It’s Xavier,” he said firmly, still smiling.
“It’s Sabrina. See you in two weeks, and thank you for trusting me with your wonderful house. I promise I’ll be good to it.”
“I know you will. And you won’t even know I’m here. I will be the country mouse at the dower house. Au revoir, Sabrina, until soon.”
She waved as they drove away. She was smiling.
She had a chateau in France for a year. It was the craziest thing she’d ever done.
The realtor met her at his office and made a copy of the signed lease.
Xavier was paying the commission, and the realtor couldn’t believe how smoothly it had gone.
He shook hands with Sabrina and told her to call him if she had any problems, and then she took off for the airport.
It was already two o’clock, and she had to check in at three.
She had a sandwich at the airport, and boarded the plane.
They landed at Orly at five o’clock, and she was back at the Ritz at six.
She called all the children to tell them what she’d done.
And they thought it was a little crazy too, but they were all so relieved that she was coming to life again and excited about the chateau.
They all agreed to spend their vacation there that summer instead of the south of France.
It was a new adventure that she had embarked on without Malcolm.
It was bittersweet because it was confirmation that he was never coming back.
And she wondered if she and Baron Xavier de Bonport would become friends.
He said he was going back to Paris to work in the coming months, but she got the feeling that he couldn’t stay away from Arcangues for long, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to from time to time.
She’d enjoyed meeting him. He seemed like a good person, and he had thought the same about her.
Brigitte called him that night, wanting to know how the meeting had gone.
“Was she awful?” she asked, curious about Sabrina.
“Not at all. She’s a very polite, proper widow.”
“What does she want with a chateau in the Pays Basque?”