Chapter 10 #2
Justin was impressed by the chateau as soon as he saw it, and stood admiring it for a minute while they stood outside.
It was elegant, and beautifully maintained, surrounded by beautiful gardens.
He could see immediately why she loved it.
It made perfect sense. There was no madness there, and she could afford it.
It was a little bit of a folly to rent a chateau in France, it wasn’t something she “needed,” but if it got her out of her depression over losing her husband, Justin could see no harm in it.
She had the right to indulge herself, and the money to do so. She wasn’t depriving anyone.
As soon as they stepped inside, he understood it even better.
The chateau wasn’t small, but the rooms were well proportioned, handsomely decorated, and warm and welcoming.
There was just enough patina from being well-worn and not totally perfect to make each room feel livable and inviting.
He had seen a similar look in some of the English homes and manor houses Arabella had taken him to in England.
It was the hallmark of centuries of aristocracy and good breeding.
He could see instantly why his mother loved it and was happy there.
She had set out a silver tray with some meats and cheeses, a fresh baguette, and a fine bottle of wine, if they were hungry after the flight.
She showed them their bedroom and Arabella loved it, with a canopied bed in pale blue brocade worthy of Marie Antoinette.
Justin needed no further explanation as to why his mother had rented the chateau.
He would even have understood if she wanted to buy it, although the location was a little remote for someone who lived in Malibu.
An apartment in Paris would be easier to get to.
But the Chateau de Bonport had far more charm.
It was a special place. She told them some of the history of the chateau while they shared the food she had set out for them, including the story of Xavier’s grandmother rescuing Jewish children and hiding them in the tunnels and passages under the chateau, which Arabella thought was very exciting.
“So where are the children?” Justin asked her, as he poured himself a second round of the wine he had opened. “Did they go back to the convent?”
“Not yet. You’ll meet them tomorrow, they’re asleep.
” She didn’t say anything more about them, and the three of them had a lovely evening in her new surroundings.
She had promised to show them the area the next day, and was planning to take them to Biarritz, around the Basque countryside, and to the Chateau d’Arcangues.
Justin and Arabella met Elodie and Luc the next morning.
The children were eating Sabrina’s famous Mickey Mouse pancakes when they walked into the kitchen.
Justin smiled as soon as he saw the familiar pancakes, and the children politely shook hands, with chocolate sauce on their faces.
And Arabella spoke to them in French, since she was fluent, and they became instantly animated while talking to her.
In spite of himself, Justin admitted to his mother that they were adorable.
“I was worried when you told me about them,” he confessed. “They’re hard to resist. What happened to their parents?” Just looking at them tugged at his heartstrings.
“The father died of Covid at the beginning of the pandemic, and their mother went to Spain two years ago to find work. San Sebastian is only about thirty-five miles from here and a fairly big city, and she disappeared. There’s been no trace of her, and they haven’t been able to locate the children’s grandmother yet.
As long as there’s hope of finding their family, they won’t be adopted.
And the nuns want to keep them together.
There are a lot of stories like theirs now.
Most of the time, the church can find a relative somewhere, but not always.
They’ve been staying with a kind neighbor for the last two years, but she moved to England.
So I’m a temporary solution, probably only for a few weeks, until two beds open up at the monastery.
” It all made more sense to Justin now that he could see the children, and they were so sweet and well-behaved that he would have understood if she wanted to adopt them, but he didn’t say it, and didn’t want to encourage her.
He thought she needed a free adult life now, not to start all over again with young children at forty-eight.
“Would you like to meet the owner of the chateau later?” she offered Justin while they ate a breakfast of croissants and coffee and the children went outside to play. “He can tell you more about the history than I can. He lives on the property, if he’s here this weekend.”
“That might be interesting,” Justin said, and Sabrina called Xavier after breakfast. He answered on the first ring.
She told him that her son and his girlfriend were there, and she invited him to dinner.
He was pleased to be asked, and accepted immediately.
She hadn’t spoken to him all week. She had seen his car, but he had been meeting with the contractor at the hotel every day once he got back, and hadn’t called her.
His spirits had been dampened after his encounter with Brigitte.
But he was curious about Sabrina’s son, and eager to meet him.
—
Sabrina drove Arabella and Justin all around the area, and they loved it.
They walked down the beach at Biarritz, wandered through the lobby of the H?tel du Palais, and visited the Chateau d’Arcangues.
They found the Basque country beautiful and the history and landmarks interesting.
Sabrina had left the children at the convent for the day and picked them up on the way home, and Justin and Arabella played with them before dinner, after which Sabrina gave them a bath and put them to bed.
Xavier arrived while she was bathing them, and he chatted with Justin and Arabella until Sabrina came back downstairs.
The two men got along well, and Xavier showed Justin some hunting trophies, and told him stories about his ancestors while Sabrina got dinner ready.
She had roasted a chicken again and made a big salad, with foie gras for their first course, and Xavier had brought pastry from the local bakery and two bottles of excellent wine from his cellar.
They sat around the fire after dinner, talking, and Xavier asked Justin about his studies and the jobs he was interviewing for in London, and was very impressed by him. He kissed Sabrina on both cheeks when he left, and Justin couldn’t wait to talk to Sabrina about him.
“What a great guy, Mom. He really loves it here. He knows everything about its history, and the area.” Justin could sense that his mother was in the right place for now.
And he could see that the change of scene had done her a world of good.
She was still sad about their father, but at the same time she was thriving, and had come alive again in a whole new environment that suited her.
He was reassured, and happy for her. Even the two foster children didn’t concern him as much as when he first heard about them, and they seemed to fit in.
His mother was good at managing them, and she was realistic about the fact that they would go back to their family one day.
It was a good deed, an act of compassion, which was good for her too.
It was hard to be sad with the children around.
They were a good distraction, and kept her company in an otherwise empty house.
And Justin intended to say as much to his sisters.
There was another subject that Justin wanted to discuss with his mother.
It was the real purpose of his trip to Biarritz.
He didn’t want to spoil his weekend with her, so he and Arabella had agreed to leave it until the last day, and there had been so much to see and talk about before that.
Justin gave Arabella a meaningful look when the children went outside to play in the garden after breakfast on Sunday, and she nodded agreement.
He looked at his mother across the table and dove in.
“Mom, there’s something Arabella and I want to tell you,” he said, in the body of a man, but to Sabrina, he was still a boy.
He was twenty-five and still had a lot to learn about life.
He had been protected all his life by devoted parents.
Arabella was in fact more mature than he was, and only a year older at twenty-six.
There was nowhere to go to hide from the subject, except to tell her what they had come to say.
He didn’t want to tell her on the phone, and he was sure she would have strong opinions about it.
“We’re pregnant,” he said solemnly, as Sabrina felt her stomach tighten and a viselike grip on her heart.
It was precisely what she did not want to hear from him, and had hoped she wouldn’t for another ten years, until he was married.
She looked him straight in the eye and didn’t speak for a moment.
“Do you know what you’re going to do about it?” she asked her son. He was shocked by the question.