A Bordeaux Dynasty: A Novel (69 page)

Believing they still had a few weeks before the delivery, Jules and Laurène still hadn’t come up with a name. But Jules didn’t have to think to come up with a response.

“Lucie-Malvoisie Laverzac,” he said.

Auber and Varin gave each other a puzzled look.

“Malvoisie?” Auber said. “What kind of name is that?”

Louis-Marie laughed and said, “It’s the name of a Greek wine. Soft and sweet.”

He slapped his brother’s shoulders.

“Malvoisie!” he said. “It’s a great name! I love it! Besides, she’ll have the same initials as mine,
L
and
M
. Laurène is okay with it?”

“I’m going to ask her right now,” Jules said, setting his glass down.

“Out of the question!” Dr. Auber snapped. “Let her sleep. She needs it.”

Dominique had remained at her sister’s bedside, having decided to keep an eye on the newborn until the nurse arrived, supposedly the following morning. Clothilde fell asleep in a sofa in the twins’ bedroom. They too had managed to fall asleep, even after being so worked up while their aunt gave birth.

Auber finished his glass of champagne and begged Jules to finally let him get a bit of rest. Louis-Marie showed him and Varin to the bedrooms Fernande had set up for them and then went back down to the library, certain that Jules wasn’t sleepy. And, sure enough, his brother was waiting for him, sitting on the sliding ladder’s rung. He’d tossed a few more logs into the fireplace and opened another bottle.

“It’s still snowing out there,” he said to Louis-Marie. “The roads are going to be a huge mess tomorrow. If need be, I’ll ask Bernard to get the nurse. I’ll tell him to put chains on the Jeep’s tires. … Dominique can go with him to pick up whatever Auber says we need for the little one at the drug store. …”

Jules spoke with a dreamy look on his face, planning the day to come for his wife and new daughter.

“Are you happy?” Louis-Marie asked him.

“Yes. I really am. Did you feel the same when Esther was born?”

“The same? Meaning? I do remember this one amazing moment when I was filled with pride and gratitude and … joy.”

He sounded bitter, cynical. He added, his voice low, “I would’ve liked more children. A single child seems kind of sad. But Pauline didn’t want to.”

He poured himself some champagne and gulped it down.

“You see, my first reflex tonight was to call and give her the news of your daughter’s birth … but I didn’t do it because I imagine she’s in bed with Robert right now.”

Empathizing with Louis-Marie, Jules remained silent.

“This situation doesn’t make me sick anymore, I’m past that. I know Bob, he wants her so badly, at any price. … And Pauline, she’s so …”

He didn’t finish his sentence, knowing that Jules understood what he meant. He drank some more, set on getting hammered.

“It’s ten years of happiness I’m leaving behind,” he said. “Of torture, too. … I’m not going to be worried all the time anymore. But I’m never going to be happy again, either. …”

“You don’t know that,” Jules said.

“How could I ever replace her? You know, Pauline is a one in a lifetime kind of woman. And yet at the same time, there’s nothing extraordinary about her!”

Jules left his ladder and went over to Louis-Marie to grab him by the neck affectionately.

“You still love her,” he said. “That’s the problem.”

Louis-Marie shook his head and said, “I don’t want to spoil the evening for you. I’m being ridiculous.”

He straightened and smiled at his brother.

“You’re going to flip out the first time she calls you Dad,” he said.

“And I’m going to feel old.”

“No way. Lucie-Malvoisie is going to make us all feel young again.”

“I don’t have many memories of our own mother. But you must have a few. … Was she nice?”

The question took Louis-Marie by surprise.

“She was … Yes, she was nice. Soft-spoken. She had to be, in order to put up with Dad. I know that you considered him some kind of god but, between us, he was a handful. I was heartbroken when she died, but Aurélien didn’t do or say anything to console me. He was very demanding. …”

“He was also very giving!”

“In your case, yes. And it wasn’t spontaneous. You practically forced him to love you. You were like a puppy with him, Jules. …”

Louis-Marie smiled, amused by those memories. He’d never had jealous feelings toward the little “Gypsy.”

“Alex was really affected by your arrival, you know. Don’t forget about that too much. And please do what Auber asked you to. Go see him. …”

Jules lit a Gitane. He knew he’d have to do it sooner or later, and that he didn’t really have a good excuse to postpone the inevitable face-to-face any longer.

“I’ll go see him,” he said simply.

Jules was always true to his word, and Louis-Marie sighed with relief.

Laurène was on cloud nine. She couldn’t take her eyes off her baby. After giving her the bottle, the nurse wrapped the little one in a heavy blanket before resting her on her mother’s shoulder. Jules came by for a half-hour in the morning, quietly sitting on the edge of the bed, not moving. Laurène had to grab his hand and set it on the newborn herself. Before leaving the room, Jules promised Laurène that he’d get Marie, in spite of the snow. The nurse had patiently waited in the hallway, and she gave Jules a large smile when he stepped out of the room.

The weather wasn’t any better, quite the opposite. Overnight, the wind had picked up. Jules decided to forget about his usual tour of the vineyards and went over to the stable. It took him a good fifteen minutes to fit cleats under Bingo’s horseshoes, and then he led him to the field, where the horse ran around with glee.

Wearing the heavy boots that Lucas had lent him, Louis-Marie joined his brother by the fence.

“I suppose there’s nothing to be done today in this lousy weather, right?”

“Not outside no, but you can come down to the cellar with me a bit later on. I’m going to inspect the barrels. And then I’d like to look over something in the database with you. And then …”

“Stop it! What an insane workaholic you are. I want a day off. Just one!”

“Okay. You’re going to get Christmas off.”

He smiled but was only half-joking. Then he went back to the field to get Bingo.

“He’d go nuts if I left him in that box of his for more than a day or two,” he told Louis-Marie. “Give me five minutes to settle him back in there, and then you and I can go to Mazion to pick up Marie.”

“Mazion? Are you out of your freaking mind?”

“Bernard made it all the way to Bordeaux, didn’t he? You wouldn’t want that kid to put us to shame, would you?”

Louis-Marie accepted, grudgingly, to go along for the ride. It took two hours for them to finally reach the Billots’, where Marie greeted them with open arms. She insisted that Jules go up to see her mother-in-law, who wanted to congratulate him on her great-granddaughter’s birth. Going up the stairs, he ran into Antoine, who stood in his way.

“Where are you going?”

His words were harsh, almost hostile.

“To say hello to your mother, Antoine. But hello to you, too. …”

He’d used the same tone, and Antoine became downright angry.

“You have no business being in my house,” he said. “The last time I was at Fonteyne, I wasn’t made to feel very welcome if I remember correctly.”

Jules made a final effort to keep the encounter from turning into a fight, saying, “Laurène had her baby last night.”

“I know. Marie told me about it.”

“Would you like to come over to Fonteyne to meet her?”

“No. You’d have to be as crazy as you are to be out on the road in weather like this.”

Jules felt anger rise inside him, and he stifled a sigh of exasperation.

“Marie is eager to get going, and Laurène can’t wait to see her mom,” he said.

As Antoine was still blocking his way, Jules decided to turn around, giving up on the idea of seeing Mrs. Billot.

“Wait!” Antoine said. “What were you up to yesterday in Pessac? Someone told me you were having lunch with your brother’s lawyer at
La Réserve
. Is that true?”

Jules slowly turned around to face Antoine and glared at him with deliberate insolence.

“I don’t believe I have to justify myself to you in any way,” he said.

“You’re my son-in-law! Your brother is my son-in-law! The Laverzac boys swooped down on my daughters like there weren’t any other women in the entire region. And now …”

Jules went up a step to look Antoine right in the eyes.

“And now,” he said, “you should thank heaven for that.”

“You’re just like Aurélien! It’s almost like you were actually his son. …”

“Don’t say another word or you and I will never speak again,” Jules warned him. “I have to show you respect because you’re Laurène’s father, but as a man I think you’re mediocre at best. Is that clear?”

Antoine took a deep breath. He was afraid of Jules, and this made him even more livid than what he’d just heard.

“Get the hell out of here!” he screamed. “Out! I kicked Aurélien out of my house once, now it’s your turn!”

Jules calmly went down the steps. Marie was waiting for him downstairs, looking worried.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Antoine showed up in the kitchen.

“I don’t want you to get in a car with those two maniacs!” he told his wife, aggressively pointing at Louis-Marie.

“Come on, Antoine …”

Louis-Marie glanced at Jules and could tell right away that his brother was on the verge of exploding. He went over to Antoine.

“How are you doing?” he asked, with a polite smile.

His attitude destabilized Antoine, leaving him speechless.

“Your granddaughter looks like a little angel,” Louis-Marie continued. “As for the roads, don’t worry. We put chains on the tires, and we’re driving very slowly.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Antoine shrugged and decided to go along with the line Louis-Marie was throwing him.

“Be careful out there,” he grumbled.

He stepped out of the house and slammed the door. Slipping on the yard’s icy snow, he almost fell.

And that’s it,
he bitterly thought,
the baby’s name is Laverzac, just like the twins’. And all my descendants will bear that name. There won’t be any more Billots. My land will be sold. My entire life will have been for nothing. …

He took refuge in his cellar and began pacing in front of the barrels. He didn’t like Jules and he didn’t like Fonteyne. Fonteyne was exactly what he’d dreamed of having, but this dream would never come true. He was startled when he heard footsteps behind him. Jules was coming his way.

“Antoine,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want to come along with us?”

Jules’s tone was friendly, but Antoine only shook his head, saying nothing.

“I could bring you and Marie back this afternoon,” Jules added.

He seemed on the verge of leaving but then hesitated. He put his hands in his pockets and looked straight at Antoine.

“I wanted to say … I apologize for what I said just now.”

Jules left the cellar with his usual quick strides, and Antoine watched him go.

The problem with that kid is that he can be so incredibly likeable when he wants to be. …

Antoine listened to the sound of the engine, then the chains crushing the hard snow as the car took off. He smiled at the thought of Marie’s joy when she’d see the baby. His wife adored babies, especially little girls.

In Paris, the snow had melted, and everything was dirty and sinister-looking. Pauline was really beginning to worry, as it was only a few days away from the holidays. Esther had been pouting for weeks and shut herself in her bedroom as soon as she returned home from school. And when Pauline tried to talk to her about Robert, she was downright insolent.

Pauline was anything but a good mother, but she loved her daughter in her own way. She ended up offering Esther the opportunity to leave for Fonteyne earlier than planned. Delighted at the thought of joining her dad and her cousins, missing the last few days of school before the holiday break, and taking the train by herself, Esther immediately jumped on it. Pauline phoned Louis-Marie, who accepted her decision with his usual calm. She was calling him three times a week, but hung up each time feeling perplexed. Louis-Marie had agreed to a reflection period, while knowing that Pauline would have to come up with a decision before the holidays. Robert was no doubt getting very antsy and pushing her.

Pauline distractedly folded Esther’s skirts and sweaters, then stuffed them into a travel bag. Sitting at her desk, her daughter seemed absorbed in the book she was reading. It depressed Pauline just to think of the food they’d be having that night for dinner—hamburgers and fries. It was the only meal that made Esther happy. Then, after a quick goodnight kiss, she would put her daughter to bed.

“I’m putting your blue sneakers in here,” Pauline said, not expecting a response.

That a nine-year-old girl could impose her foul mood on others like this suddenly seemed quite wrong to Pauline. Before Louis-Marie had decided to play the part of a hermit over at Fonteyne, he and Pauline went out almost every evening. Pauline felt no guilt whatsoever to put Esther in the hands of some babysitter. Now, she made an effort not to leave Esther too often, turning down half of Robert’s invitations.

“I also want my red wool cap,” she said. “The one Dad sent me for my birthday.”

“You could at least say ‘please’!”

“Please, mom,” the girl said, without lifting her eyes off the book.

Annoyed, Pauline stuffed a scarf in the bag and angrily tried to close it, but the zipper got stuck. She tried to get it unstuck but only managed to break a nail. Running out of patience, she stormed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, only to find the table still littered with the crumbs from breakfast. She sat on one of the tall stools at the counter on the verge of tears, her nerves frayed. Suddenly she felt like going to Fonteyne herself. She longed for a Christmas where Dominique, Fernande, and Clothilde would take care of everything, while she could simply chill out. Why did she have to choose now and turn her entire life upside down?