Chapter 51
NOW
Time passed in a flash. The next day was spent rehearsing, standing on the podium that had been erected in the event room, in front of the screen which scrolled through images of the hotel, the biographies of key players, the wider Parisian setting.
At five o’clock she finally made her way to the door; there was just enough time to go home, shower and change, then return.
Bella had bought a black, elegant dress especially for the evening and she was quite excited about getting dressed up, about everything she’d worked for over the past few weeks coming to fruition.
She was exhausted, spent from cleaning, from worrying, from rehearsing so much her throat felt a little sore. But the exhilaration and adrenaline she felt raised her above this, and she was almost buzzing as she walked along the road to the house she’d begun to think of as home.
It was only when she rounded the final corner and the house came fully into view that she realised something was different.
At the bottom of the steps leading to the front door was a woman wearing a long white dress, enormous boots, a light jacket.
Her hair was loose and glistened in the sunshine.
And as she looked towards Bella her face split in a wide smile.
It couldn’t be.
‘Juliette!’ she called, running towards her.
‘Ma chérie!’ her friend replied, laughing and opening her arms.
Bella flung herself at her old friend and, once she was wrapped in her embrace, felt a weight she didn’t know she was carrying slip from her shoulders. ‘With everything going on, I forgot you’d said you’d come!’ she said.
‘This is the welcome I get, after travelling for almost four hours?’ her friend replied with an arch look.
‘I’m sorry.’ Bella stepped back and looked at Juliette as if to check whether she was really there. ‘It’s wonderful, it really is. Only it nearly didn’t happen, the presentation. I was sort of fired. And there was a fire. And… but it’s all fine. Don’t worry. Honestly. And you’re here.’
‘Yes,’ Juliette said drily. ‘I am here. And I’ve brought you something for tonight.
’ She stood and for a moment Bella thought her friend was reaching forward to hug her.
Instead, she fastened something around the back of Bella’s neck.
Bella’s fingers flew to her throat. ‘Oh, your lucky pendant! I can’t. ’
‘No,’ Juliette said, showing Bella the pendant she still wore at her own neck. ‘This one is yours.’
Bella’s fingers touched the tiny four-leaf clover. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Say thank you. And go and show those delegates what you’re made of. Then come and tell me all about it.’
* * *
An hour later she was ready. Odette had helped her to create a half-up, half-down do with her hair, which was now past her shoulders.
Juliette made her up, using some of the posh cosmetics she swore by.
And it had been hard not to notice Brad’s eyes widen when she’d stepped into the kitchen earlier for a quick drink of water before setting off.
It was still light, the June evenings were stretching towards the longest day, but cloud cover had given the light a muted tone.
It seemed to Bella as if she were looking at the sky through a pair of thin sunglasses, a faded vignette at the edges of her vision.
She was suddenly aware of time passing, slipping through her fingers like sand.
She’d been in Versailles for almost three months, but it almost felt like a lifetime.
And everything she’d done had been building up to this, this special night.
Once she’d stepped out of the taxi a couple of streets away from the hotel, she stood for a moment, looking up at the sky, beyond the buildings and the lamp posts and the visible signs of the city.
She focused on the golden sheen of evening on the edges of the clouds, the still deep blue of the sky beyond.
Closing her eyes momentarily, she tried to steady herself before everything started to move in fast forward again.
When she opened her eyes, as if she’d conjured it, she noticed a small, white feather a few paces in front of her, moving slightly along in the evening air.
She picked it up, swallowing back the tears that threatened almost every time she thought about her mother.
The only person in her life who’d been able to quiet her just by being there, at whose side she’d felt completely protected.
She knew it was an illusion; something from childhood.
That her mother had just been a woman, not a superhero.
But she still craved that sense of sanctuary.
So much was riding on tonight, not for her as much as for Claudine.
She knew how much her boss, her friend, needed this to work.
Claudine would be doing the lion’s share of the presenting, but Bella had her part to play too.
And the rooms, the brochures, the slides that would appear on the PowerPoint were all hers.
‘Here we are,’ she said to herself as she started down rue des Arbres.
H?tel Benjamin was visible, halfway down.
The flowers Bella had asked staff to place outside the entrance were there, gorgeous greens and whites in ceramic pots.
The door was open, throwing a little yellow light out into the early evening air.
As she neared, she could hear music – the string quartet had already arrived. She picked up the pace.
Inside, everything looked perfect. Wait staff moved silently among the guests with silver trays laden with champagne or elderflower fizz; delicious-looking finger food was arranged on small tables scattered through the room.
At the front, there was the stage and behind it, a screen where the presentation would take place.
Claudine was at her side immediately. ‘Bella!’ she said. ‘You look amazing.’
‘Thank you. You too.’
Her friend looked at her for a moment, her eyes full of something Bella couldn’t read. ‘We will speak more tomorrow,’ she said. ‘But I wanted to say that I’m sorry. For doubting you.’
‘Claudine, I burned down your Superior rooms.’
‘Yes, but look what you were able to achieve in such a short time. I should have always given you that chance.’ Claudine flicked at the corner of her eye, swiping away a threatening tear.
‘But I must stop. I will cry. And it will not be good for business.’ She took a deep breath, then smiled. ‘Ready?’
‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’
There were around thirty people in the room – alongside the Hotel Club representatives, there were friends of the H?tel Benjamin, local business delegates, some representatives from the mairie.
The men wore muted, corporate suits, but the women in dresses or wide-legged trousers were a riot of colour.
The sound of laughter and chatter filled the air.
They made their way up to the back of the stage and began running through their lines one last time. Then Claudine gripped Bella’s arm. ‘This is it,’ she said.
Bella felt her stomach constrict. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘This is it.’
Ten minutes later, she was seated on stage, watching Claudine deliver the presentation seamlessly. Her own introduction had been fine – she’d stumbled a little over her words but overall felt pretty pleased with what she’d achieved. Not bad for a dropout.
With no more lines on the script for her and the audience watching Claudine, seemingly rapt, she allowed herself to relax a little.
After they got off this stage, she’d reward herself with the first glass of fizz she’d had all evening, try to enjoy the party a little more in the knowledge that whatever was decided, she’d done the very best she could.
And then her eyes caught his.
It was surreal seeing him in this context and so unexpected that she was momentarily dazed. What was he doing here? Why was he dressed like this?
Why hadn’t he said anything?
She almost didn’t recognise him in a neat corporate suit, buttoned waistcoat, white shirt. His hair had been professionally styled, combed back with some sort of product making him look a little as if he’d stepped out of a Brylcreem advert from the fifties.
He was sitting with a group of much older men, holding a leaflet on his lap. But while everyone else’s eyes were fixed on Claudine, his were focused on her. Henri. Was it her imagination, or did he, briefly, give her a wink?
She thought about when he’d met her for lunch at the hotel, about how he’d told her about his father’s wealth and position, but never details of his business.
She remembered now how he’d told her he’d promised his father he’d attend an event.
She remembered the moments when he’d hesitated, shaken his head, decided not to speak.
An older gentleman whispered something in Henri’s ear and Henri nodded. And as the realisation dawned, she didn’t know whether this was terrible or the best possible news: Henri’s father was Michel Martin, the head of Hotel Club.
Her hands had begun to sweat, and she shifted in her seat. She tried to take in what Claudine was saying, to fix a smile on and pretend to be as impressed and rapt as everyone seemed. But she had a horrible feeling that with Henri involved, things might be about to get personal.
* * *
The moment the applause died down, the delegates began to stand and mingle, and Bella flew to Henri. ‘Henri!’ she said. ‘I—’
He gripped her arm and shook his head, a warning look in his eyes. ‘No,’ he said, ‘not here.’
He led her by the elbow out of the room into the corridor carpeted in reds and browns.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ she whispered, not wanting to be overheard.
‘Why do you think?’
‘Your dad is Michel Martin.’
‘The very same.’ He smiled. ‘The worst of the corporate monsters. Swallowing up little hotels into his great conglomerate. Like… like the old lady with her fly.’
‘What?’
‘You know, like in the story. She swallows a fly, then a rat, then a hare… she cannot stop the greed.’
‘I don’t think that’s what that poem is about. Anyway, aren’t you a literary scholar? Is that the best reference you can think of?’ she grinned.
‘OK, my father is Ebenezer Scrooge.’
‘Before or after the haunting?’
‘What?’
‘Well, are you saying he’s mean? Or just a rich businessman?’
‘I feel as if we’re going off track.’
‘Maybe a little.’
Henri gave a self-conscious smile. ‘After the haunting. My father is not a monster. But still, he is very rich and successful and seems never to want to just stop and enjoy what he has built.’
‘That’s so sad.’
A few people left the room, laughing, walking in the direction of the loos.
Henri pulled Bella into a locked doorway, out of sight.
‘For what it’s worth, I tried to tell you, once I realised the connection.
I was worried when I thought you were an intern at the hotel.
Because it might look… underhand to have a girlfriend in the business.
But then you were no longer my girlfriend. ’
She nodded, feeling slightly awkward.
‘Then there was the disaster with the fire, and I found out the truth of what you were doing.’ He shook his head.
‘And I didn’t know what to do. That’s why I couldn’t help with the rooms. Because my father, he wants me to make this decision.
It is his way of forcing me to participate.
And I cannot tell him about you because he might feel he has to withdraw altogether. ’
‘Oh! Don’t do that. I can quit! This is Claudine—’
He put a finger on her lips. ‘Shh. I know. I will not. And from what I have seen – when I try to look without prejudice – I think this is a good hotel, that it would be a good addition to the group. But… I have to know, Bella. Do you really think this is a good place? Because so much is based on how things appear. It looks good, but behind the scenes…’ He ran a hand through his hair.
‘I love my father. I do not wish to steer him wrong.’
Bella opened her mouth to say yes. Then paused. Thought. Finally, she nodded. ‘Henri, I really think this is a great place,’ she said. ‘Claudine is very passionate about it, and I know that she wants to work very hard to build things… I don’t think you’d be making a mistake.’
He nodded. ‘Thank you. And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.’
She laughed. ‘And yours is safe with me!’
‘My secret?’ He looked confused.
‘You know, the fact your father doesn’t know that you don’t want to go into business with him anyway!’
He put a finger to his lips. ‘It is between us.’
She smiled.
‘And thank you.’ He looked at her, his expression softening. ‘I know that I paint my father in a bad light, but I love him. I need to know that the organisation, the people he will be investing in won’t let him down.’
‘I understand. And I’m sorry,’ she added. ‘I’m sorry that I lied, that I hurt you. I never meant to…’
‘Oui, it is OK.’ Henri gave her one, brief nod and turned back into the party. Moments later, Bella followed.
Neither saw the silver-haired man standing in the shadows a little farther along the corridor.