Chapter Six
‘Welcome back to Chalet Edelweiss, Catalina.’
Cat was unpacking in the smallest bedroom, a cosy single room in the loft that had a skylight view of the Silberschnee’s peak.
Lumi Kivvi was leaning on the frame of Cat’s bedroom door.
She didn’t often mix with the help, but she did look after them, and she had been devastated for Cat when her beloved grandmother had passed away suddenly, insisting she fly straight home for the funeral and paying for her ticket.
‘How was it?’ she asked, her blue eyes jumping out from the soft edges of an elegant silver-blonde bob.
Cat smiled wanly. Despite the hideousness of having to say goodbye to Abuela, she had caught up with cousins, seen friends she studied with at culinary arts school in Buenos Aires, and sought inspiration in the new restaurants of Palermo, San Telmo and Recoleta, getting fine dining ideas she could serve to the Kivvis (Lumi would appreciate them, even if Viktor and Mika didn’t).
The trip had also been a circuit breaker for Cat.
A chance to draw a line under a toxic affair that had gripped her for most of the past year.
Cat had been thinking of her ex-lover as she idly folded her underwear away.
‘It was OK, thank you,’ Cat was grateful, both for the concern and for the interruption.
‘How’s your mother coping?’
Lumi was a thoughtful boss and a thoughtful mother.
She had been a nurse when she met Viktor in Helsinki twenty-five years ago, and had had three children with him: Aapo was twenty-four and an Olympic fencer who lived and trained in Paris.
Mika was nineteen, and could mostly be found bumming around the chalet getting stoned.
And young Stella, at fourteen, was still boarding at a very exclusive private school on the banks of Lake Geneva.
Three children, all born five years apart.
Lumi had given the past quarter of a century to her family, getting back into the difficult baby years each time just as she thought she was coming out of them.
It was only in the past few years that she had spent more time on philanthropy, putting the interest on her husband’s billions to good use while he continued to take over the planet, one elevator and escalator at a time.
‘My mother is coping well, thank you, ma’am. She was glad to have me home.’
‘Well, it’s good to see you looking so well.
Take your time easing back into things here, although we did miss your summer rolls – oh those rolls!
’ Lumi rolled her eyes heavenwards. Cat was excellent at fusing any cuisine.
Argentinian steak sliced into Vietnamese summer rolls and flavoured with mint and holy basil.
Hearty pork knuckle and cider stews from central Europe given a North African twist with apricots and cinnamon.
French stews and fish soups served with homemade American-style corn breads.
Cat dreamed of food, when she wasn’t dreaming about her lover.
Fortunately, she’d returned to a kitchen that the maid had fully stocked.
‘Is it just you and Mika for dinner tonight, ma’am?’
‘Yes, Viktor’s in Helsinki but he’s flying in late tonight for the Borromeo wedding tomorrow.’
‘Of course.’ Cat folded the remainder of her clothes. ‘I was thinking perhaps steak with salsa verde and truffle-cooked chips. Is that good for you? Or would you like something lighter tonight?’
‘Cat that sounds wonderful – it’s good to have you home,’ Lumi said, as she smiled and breezed away.