Chapter 10
After Mother Regina gave her approval, Sabrina went to an art supply store she had noticed in Biarritz and ordered all the colors of paint she would need.
Some had to be sent from Paris, and she needed large quantities, particularly for the ark.
She was planning to mix the blue herself, to get it just right.
She was going over her list of the colors she had ordered when Justin called her from London that night.
Elodie and Luc were already in bed. She had shown them a sketch, and explained with gestures that she was going to paint it on the wall and they could help her, and they loved the idea.
She sounded upbeat and cheerful when she answered her cell, and Justin was pleased to hear it. She’d been sounding better lately, ever since she moved into the chateau several weeks before. He still didn’t know about the children. Sabrina wasn’t sure how he and his sisters would react.
They chatted for a few minutes, and he said that he and Arabella had both been busy.
Sabrina liked the fact that she had met her on her quick visit and could visualize her now.
She had made a good impression, as long as they didn’t get too serious or move too fast. Justin was still young and had his whole future in front of him, and Arabella had serious career goals too, which pleased Sabrina.
She came from a good family, and she wasn’t some scheming girl trying to find a husband to support her.
“I called because we’ve got a free weekend and we need a break from work and school and the dreary weather in London.
It’s been freezing here. If it’s all right with you, we’d like to come for the weekend.
I was so swamped when you were here a month ago, I thought we could make up for it with a few days at the chateau with you.
And I’m dying to see it.” He knew it had to be pretty fabulous if his mother was so happy there.
She had sounded like a different person since she’d moved into the chateau.
Like the old person, with something new added.
His sisters had noticed it too, and mentioned it when they talked.
And they wanted him to go and check it out.
This was the first chance he’d had since she’d moved to Arcangues.
“That would be wonderful!” Sabrina said, ecstatic.
She was excited about seeing him and getting to know Arabella better.
They had had so little chance to talk when she met her.
And Arcangues was the perfect place to relax and spend time together.
She couldn’t wait to show him around. And she realized that this was the perfect time to mention Elodie and Luc.
He would see them anyway when he arrived.
“I’ve done something a little unusual,” she said, opening the subject.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” he said with a smile. “You’re selling paintings by your artists on your front lawn?” he teased her.
“Not yet, but that’s a terrific idea. I’ll have to try it.
Kind of a high-end artistic yard sale. Actually, it’s something quite different.
There’s a wonderful monastery here, with an orphanage of sorts run by nuns.
The children aren’t all orphans. Some still have families who can’t take care of them.
In any case, they’re full to the gills, still with a lot of children who were displaced by Covid for various reasons.
They’re way beyond capacity, and I’m hosting two of their children at the chateau.
They’re very sweet, and it’s only for a short time until they free up two beds for them.
You’ll meet them when you come.” She said it as though it was the most normal thing in the world for her to be housing two orphans, and Justin was startled at first.
“Are you adopting them, Mom?” he asked, worried. He wondered if she was going off the deep end since his father’s death. She had been so distraught that anything was possible. And now she sounded slightly euphoric, given what she had just told him.
“Of course not. I suppose technically I’m fostering them. They’re basically little houseguests and they’re very sweet and well behaved, and they go back to the convent every day for school. They just sleep here.”
“How old are they?” He hoped it was as simple and straightforward as she said, but he wasn’t sure.
She was unpredictable sometimes, especially lately, staying in France and renting a chateau.
That was not the pied-à-terre that he knew his father had intended for her, and that he and his sisters had encouraged her to buy.
At least she hadn’t bought the chateau. Justin imagined an enormous old drafty castle, although the photographs had looked nice enough.
But he wondered if her judgment was clouded now by her grief, if she was taking in orphans at the chateau.
“They’re five and seven,” Sabrina said blithely.
“Who takes care of them?” he persisted, trying to get the full picture.
“I do. It’s not complicated. Breakfast, dinner, bathtime, and bed.” He knew his mother hated to cook so that in itself was strange. They had always had a cook when they were growing up so she didn’t have to. And his father didn’t like to cook either.
“That sounds like a lot of work. Are you sure you want to get involved in something like that?” And what if she got attached to them, adopted them, and brought them home? What would she do with two very young children? He couldn’t imagine it, at her stage in life, at forty-eight without a husband.
“You’ll see them when you come. And it’s not a lot of work at all. The monastery is searching for their grandmother, and they’ll have beds for them at the monastery long before that.” She sounded confident.
“What made you want to volunteer at an orphanage?” he asked. It gave him a deeper insight into how lonely she must be without their father, and how much she missed her own children. It made him sad for her.
“It’s nice doing things for other people,” she said simply.
“It gives purpose and meaning to one’s life.
” She had always been deeply compassionate and charitable, which usually meant giving large donations and writing checks, not fostering orphans in her home.
But life as a widow was going to be very different.
This was his real view of that, living far from her, in a different city and country, and busy with his own life, which she never complained about, even now, alone.
He respected his mother deeply, he just didn’t want her to do something crazy, like adopt a bunch of orphans.
And she’d barely been there a month, and had two children living with her.
“When were you thinking of coming?” she asked him, and after what she’d told him, he thought it had better be sooner rather than later, to make sure she wasn’t doing something foolish.
He decided not to say anything to his sisters about his concerns.
He was sure they’d be upset about the two children staying with her, and he wanted to check it out for himself before he told them.
They were likely to get wound up and panic about it.
“What about this weekend?” he asked her. It was only Tuesday so it gave them three days to get organized and for her to prepare, if she had no other plans. But she didn’t know anyone there yet, so she wasn’t likely to have a social schedule.
“That will be wonderful,” she said enthusiastically, and meant it. “I’ll be all set and waiting for you.” There was a plane from Gatwick to Biarritz, so it wasn’t complicated.
They hung up a few minutes later, and Justin sat thinking about it for a minute, wondering what he and Arabella would find. And at her end, Sabrina made some notes of things she wanted to buy that Justin liked to eat.
“We’re going to Biarritz this weekend,” Justin said to Arabella at dinner that night, and she nodded. He had said he would arrange it. They had an agenda of their own.
“Was she all right with it?” Arabella asked, concerned.
“She was delighted,” he reassured her. “She’s doing something a little odd, and I’m concerned about it. She’s taken in two orphans from a local monastery that runs an orphanage.”
“Is she adopting them?” Arabella was surprised, just as he had been.
“I asked her and she said she isn’t. She’s just helping out the nuns, they’re short on bed space.”
“That’s very sweet of her,” she said.
“It is, but it still worries me.”
“She must be very lonely without your father,” she said. Even more than he had realized. And taking in two orphans to live with her told him just how much lonelier she was than he had ever understood, or could begin to imagine.
—
Justin and Arabella arrived right on time, at eight o’clock on Friday night after a short flight, and were met by a car and driver Sabrina had arranged through the concierge at the H?tel du Palais.
He had been very efficient at organizing everything.
And she had bought all of Justin’s favorite foods, and some very nice bottles of wine.
She had picked a very pretty room for Luc and Elodie next to hers.
And she had given Justin and Arabella some distance, so they wouldn’t hear Elodie and Luc playing in the morning, and the children wouldn’t wake them.
They were at the chateau by nine since they had only brought carry-on, and Sabrina was eagerly awaiting them.
She came out of the chateau as soon as she heard the car arrive, and hugged them both.
Arabella was wearing jeans and a warm red coat, and Justin was wearing a down jacket and jeans, and carrying a leather backpack.
They looked like what they were, affluent, well-cared-for young people with wealthy parents.
All of their accessories were of the finest luxury brands they normally wouldn’t buy themselves.
Sabrina had bought Justin his at Hermès, and he had bought Arabella’s at Louis Vuitton.