Chapter 13
John had been restless on the plane, and being with Isabelle soothed him. They made love in the plane’s bedroom and he calmed down after that. Little by little, he relaxed and seemed like himself again on the flight.
The plane landed in St. Barth at midnight.
The crew met John and Isabelle and took them to the boat.
And at one in the morning, they were drinking gin and tonics in the warm night air, sitting on the deck of Lady H, and life seemed sane again.
Isabelle wondered if she should have waited a few days before joining him, to see if things calmed down.
But he had been so upset over the article that she couldn’t have reasoned with him.
He just wanted to get away. He felt safe on his boat and he thanked her several times for coming with him.
He seemed like a normal human being again.
And he didn’t want to talk about the article.
She still hadn’t read it, since he was always around, but she had it in her suitcase, and intended to read it sometime when he went ashore.
She was sure it wasn’t as bad as he feared.
She suspected he was overreacting. He had a dramatic side that was new to her.
“As long as they fire that bitch, I’ll be satisfied and I won’t sue them. Someone must have paid her off,” he said to Isabelle. “The whole article is full of lies. I’m glad we’re here.”
“So am I.” She smiled at him, but it had been a turbulent exit from New York. She had a dozen appointments to reschedule now when they went back. But he had been so frantic, she thought it best to go with him.
“I may have to go back a little earlier than you do,” she said as she set down her empty glass after the light meal they had eaten when they arrived. “I canceled some important appointments and I’m missing a board meeting,” she said gently.
“It means a lot to me that you came to St. Barth with me.” John smiled as he looked at Isabelle. He seemed normal again once on the boat.
They went to bed in the opulence of his cabin. It all felt familiar to her again. She hadn’t been on the boat since Helen died, but she knew the boat so well, it felt like home. It only felt a little strange now to be in the owner’s cabin with him and not in a guest cabin.
John told her to take over any of the closets she wanted.
He said that all Helen’s clothes had been put away.
It made Isabelle sad to hear it, but she was happy with him, most of the time anyway.
He was more erratic and needed more attention than she had realized before their affair.
He was impulsive and anxious, his temper needed taming, he had trouble controlling himself when he was angry.
He had reacted violently to the article.
They were all traits that Helen had never complained about and Isabelle hadn’t seen before.
They were still adjusting to each other.
She hadn’t invited him to move in with her yet, because of his behavior.
She wanted more time of adjustment. She and Steve had been much more in harmony, and they were both easygoing people, which John was not.
He was surprisingly high-strung, and Isabelle thought he acted like a child at times.
She wondered if the sudden flight to St. Barth hadn’t been part of that behavior, and unnecessary, but now they were there, and there were worse places to wait out the storm.
And once he calmed down after their arrival, he was an excellent host and attentive to her as always.
—
When Charlotte landed in Paris, she had a text from Gabby Williams, thanking her for being so kind to her friend, and one from Angela, thanking her for lifting a terrible burden off her heart.
She said she felt avenged and washed clean.
Charlotte was very touched by both texts, and felt that the ruckus with John Williams over the article was worth it if it had healed Angela’s broken heart.
She had another text from Hugh asking her if she was already in Paris and what she was doing there.
It was hard to put it all in a text and she was going to call him when she got to the hotel.
Her plane had arrived at noon local time.
She had slept for the whole flight, and arrived at the hotel at one-thirty in the afternoon.
After she dropped her bags in her room, she walked along the Faubourg Saint-Honoré and the rue de la Paix and looked in all the shops.
Then she walked around the Place Vend?me.
Paris had never looked better to her and suddenly she didn’t care about the magazine or the article or John Williams and how crazy he was.
She was just happy to be there on a beautiful spring day.
She had two weeks in Paris to do all the things she never had time to do when she was there for work.
Being there was an incredible gift. She wanted to take full advantage of it.
She called Hugh when she went back to the hotel and explained the situation to him in a modified, less explosive version. She simply said that a disgruntled interview subject was acting out, and her two weeks in Paris were just a generous precaution on the part of her employer.
“Do you think you’ll be safe when you go back?” Hugh asked, worried.
“I do. I think he’s just a spoiled, self-indulgent, somewhat crazy guy who thinks he can control the world and do a lot of rotten things to people and not be accountable.
I think he’s a bad guy, but I don’t think he’s going to shoot me.
He can’t even sue the magazine. We have all the corroborations for everything we said.
We had more, but we didn’t use all the material.
We had enough. He’s a terrible person. His own daughter doesn’t see him, and she was very restrained about him with me.
He raped her best friend when she was fresh out of college. He’s a monster, a really evil guy.”
“Well, steer clear of him when you go back, and have fun in Paris,” her son said to her. “Have you called Ben yet?”
“No, I haven’t but maybe I will when I go back. I’m thinking about it.”
She didn’t have to make the decision. Ben called her on her cell the next day. He had read the article, and decided to call her. “I can’t believe the list of all the awful things he’s done. I never liked him, but he’s worse than I thought.”
“It was upsetting writing it. How are you?” she asked him. She was happy to hear him.
“I’m okay. Where are you?”
“I’m in exile in Paris. The Witness Protection Program.” She laughed.
“What do you mean?”
“John Williams wants me fired and was going to sue the magazine. He got pretty heated the day it came out. So the magazine has sent me to Paris for two weeks while it cools off. I’m on the way to the Louvre. This is a pretty terrific place to be in exile.”
“You make me wish I was there,” he said wistfully. “I’ve missed you.”
“I miss you too, every day. Do you have a new Miss Universe?”
“No, I’m on sabbatical. I thought I’d join a monastery.” She laughed at the idea.
“It wouldn’t suit you. What else have you been doing?” She missed talking to him, and loved hearing him now.
“I’ve been developing new products. It’s what I do best. What about you?”
“Writing profiles. I was supposed to interview a movie star, but they sent me to Siberia, so it’s been postponed for a few weeks.”
“Can I see you when you get back?” he asked cautiously, fearing her answer.
“I’ve been thinking about it. My son thinks we should see each other. I got a whole lecture about it from him.”
“I knew I’d like him,” Ben said with a smile.
“He just signed up for another year in Dubai, and he has a girlfriend there now. I hate having him so far away,” she shared with Ben. He could hear the sadness in her voice.
“I hate having you so far away. When are you coming back?”
“I just got here yesterday. They think it’ll calm down in two weeks, or probably less, but I have the two weeks off.” It was a rare and extreme occurrence.
“That sounds like a long time. I could come over if you want, it’s only a six-hour flight.” He sounded hopeful.
“Maybe we should think about it,” she said softly.
“I think about you all the time,” he said tenderly.
“Yeah, me too,” she admitted. “Maybe we could have dinner when I get back, when all this craziness is over.”
“I’d like that a lot,” he said, sounding dreamy. “I’ll call you again if that’s okay.”
“It’s okay,” she said, and after the call, she walked to the Louvre and spent three hours there, and enjoyed it more than she ever had before. Her exile to Paris was turning out to be a blessing, and she had loved talking to Ben again. Hugh was right.
—
Once they were on the boat, John calmed down and seemed normal again, except when he mentioned the article.
It had done him good to get away, and the boat had restored him to sanity.
Isabelle had always loved the time she spent on the Lady H with him and Helen.
It was a treat to be pampered, although it was a little less fun without Helen.
John spent a lot of time on the phone and sending emails to his office.
He talked to his lawyer, Martin Schultz, the morning after they got to the boat.
Martin advised John not to sue the magazine.
Even if inaccurate, as he claimed, it was best not to react or reply.
And the magazine claimed they had backup for everything they’d written and Martin told John he believed them.
They were absolutely firm in their claim of accuracy from research and interviews.