Brilliance (39 page)

It was early one morning when the post brought a letter from Joanna that had the devastating effect of shattering Lisette’s tranquillity completely. She was so totally unprepared for what she read that her hands began to shake uncontrollably.

Stunned, Lisette lowered the letter to her lap. Joanna would never have written in that vein unless she truly believed that Daniel had turned seriously to someone else. In the past it had sometimes crossed her mind as to whether he was ever unfaithful to her on his business trips, no matter how much he loved her. But she had always dismissed the thought, totally sure of him and deliberately ignoring the fact that there were so many pretty young women wanting to act in animated pictures these days. Yet it had to be admitted that Daniel, with the luck of so many men, had become even more attractive and handsome in maturity than he had been in his youth. Now an older and obviously experienced woman had manipulated her way into his life. And perhaps his heart!

She heard a low, tortured moan of pain and realized that it came from herself. She recalled now that Joanna had once advised her never to let the Bellecour house become too important in her life. Although she had smiled away the advice at the time, just as she had ignored Joanna’s good sense on other occasions, it was what had happened and she had let it shut out her marriage. Never again! Whatever happened she would sell the house. It belonged to the past. Not to a future with Daniel if that could still be saved!

Delaying no longer, she jumped to her feet, and went to tug a bell pull. A maidservant appeared almost at once.

‘I’m returning to England!’ Lisette exclaimed. ‘Today! Now!’

‘What shall I pack, madame?’

‘Nothing. Just get my cream silk travelling clothes ready.’

Had that happened only this morning? It seemed a lifetime ago, as if she was already too late to win Daniel back from this unknown woman who had filled the gap that her own absence had created. She had travelled non-stop from Lyon to Paris and then changed trains to continue on to Calais and take the Channel crossing.

Now here she was in a cab being driven home through the night traffic. The sun had set and the London streets had become lamplit. Ahead lay the daunting task of seeing if she could still salvage her marriage from whatever had taken place. During these past months she had forgotten that she still loved Daniel with all the force and power of their early days together. Joanna’s letter had jerked her back to reality and fired her up in a determination to banish this other woman from his life and to try to mend all that had caused them to drift apart. If only she was not too late! She thumped her fists on her lap in frustration at every slight delay whenever other traffic slowed the cab down.

Finally the cab drew up outside her home where lights were glowing in most of the windows. As she stepped out of the cab she let her gaze roam over the house. How could she have stayed away so long! It was as if she had awoken from a dream only to find herself in a nightmare. She pushed open the ornamental iron gate and went up the path to ring the doorbell, even though she had a latchkey in her purse. She had no wish to burst in upon Daniel and this unknown woman without warning, which could be acutely embarrassing for all three of them. At all costs she wanted to retain her composure and her dignity. A manservant whom she did not know answered the door.

‘Is Mr Shaw at home?’ she asked.

‘Yes, madam. Whom shall I say wishes to see him?’

‘I’m Mrs Shaw,’ she said, entering and ignoring his glance of surprise. ‘You’re new here. What happened to Richardson?’

‘He retired, madam. My name is Jenkins. Shall I announce you?’

‘Yes, Jenkins. Where is Mr Shaw?’ She discarded her gloves and removed her hat as a gesture of having returned to stay.

‘He’s with a guest in the drawing room.’

She steeled herself. ‘Is that the lady who is staying here?’

‘Yes, madam.’

Glancing in the hall mirror, she automatically touched her hair back into place where her hat had flattened it. So it was just as Joanna had written and Daniel had moved his mistress into the house! Fury threatened to choke her. As soon as she had challenged them and could estimate the damage done, she would banish the woman from the house and establish herself once more in her own realm. She could not believe that Daniel, seeing her again, would have forgotten how he had always loved her. If all that had been between them failed at this crisis in their lives she would let her heart break, but not yet. Not now. Her whole future was at stake!

She followed the footman to the drawing room where he opened the door and announced her.

She had a lightning image of the scene before her. The woman, clad in a crimson velvet gown, was sitting opposite Daniel with her back to the door as they played chess at the games table. They both looked up simultaneously as Lisette was announced, the woman startled and turning pale as she glanced over her shoulder. Daniel sprang to his feet with a wide grin of total delight illumining his whole face at the sight of Lisette framed in the doorway.

‘Darling! You’re back again! Why didn’t you let me know? I would have met you!’ He swept forward to seize and kiss her before spinning her round to face the woman who had risen from her chair. ‘Look who is here, Lisette!’

Lisette caught her breath in astonishment. It was Josephine de Vincent, whom she had not seen since their farewell at the convent so many years ago. Then suspicion and anger soared in her again at this betrayal by someone who had been her friend. If Josephine had shown any pleasure at the sight of her then she could have dismissed all suspicion, but that was not the case. The woman, her face wracked by guilt, was in total distress

Lisette drew in a deep breath. ‘I’m very surprised to see you of all people, Josephine,’ she said coldly, detaching herself from Daniel’s arms.

‘I’m sure you are, Lisette,’ Josephine replied in a shaking voice, gripping the back of the chair as if needing support at this climactic moment. ‘I was planning to come to you in Lyon and tell you everything that you should know, but now you are here instead.’

‘How did you meet Daniel?’ Lisette’s voice rasped.

‘When I was looking for you after my arrival in England. Having seen you on the screen I had recognized you instantly and went to the Shaw Studios. That was three weeks ago. Daniel kindly offered that I should stay here instead of in a hotel and I accepted gratefully. You and I have much to talk about, but how it will affect our friendship I do not know.’

‘I thought friendship meant trust and contact, but you abandoned the nuns at the convent even as I believe you have betrayed me.’

‘How could I keep in touch with them when any contact with the convent would have reminded me constantly of the worst mistake I have ever made in all my life? I wanted to try to forget and to make amends in whatever way I could.’

Lisette sank down on to a nearby chair. ‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ she said in angry bewilderment. ‘You were a benefactor at the convent and they always spoke most highly of you.’

‘They never knew how bitterly I regretted being instrumental in the adoption of your baby.’

Lisette’s face drained of all colour and she sat very still. ‘Are you telling me that you were responsible for my baby being taken from me?’ she uttered in a horrified whisper.

It was Josephine’s turn to look puzzled. ‘Isn’t that what you were talking about when you spoke of betrayal? I thought you meant that at some time you had guessed what had happened.’

Suddenly Lisette realized that this was all about the adoption of her baby at the convent and not the possible ensnaring of her husband.

‘What are you trying to tell me?’ she demanded, reaching for Daniel’s hand and finding his warm, reassuring clasp.

Josephine pressed her palms together and linked her fingers nervously as she prepared herself for what she had to say. ‘First of all it is a terrible confession that I have to make to you. I knew the couple, Arnaud and Rose Dubois, who adopted your baby. They were good friends of mine.’ She paused. ‘No doubt you will hate me for the rest of my life, but it was I who recommended your baby to them, knowing how desperately they had always wanted a child. They were already in their late forties and had never been able to have any children of their own.’

‘How could you have been so cruel to me?’ Lisette burst out in torment.

‘I did it in all innocence!’ Josephine exclaimed, lifting her linked hands up and down in anguish at what she was confessing. ‘The abbess had mentioned to me that little Marie-Louise was to be adopted and I thought immediately of my friends. I knew that with them your baby would have a good home and be cared for with love.’ She paused, looking in appeal for understanding at Lisette’s stony face. ‘Then, when you recovered from the aftermath of the birth, I learned that you had intended all the time to keep your baby, but it was too late for me to do anything about the adoption. The abbess had arranged it and my friends had already sailed for the States where Arnaud was taking up a diplomatic post at the French Embassy in Washington. It is where they began a new life with your daughter.’

‘Did you ever have news of her again?’ Lisette implored, hardly able to endure what she had been told.

‘Yes, I went to live in New York for some years where I married and was widowed again in a very short time. I visited Arnaud and Rose quite often in Washington and was able to see how Marie-Louise was growing up to be a lovely girl and very like you, Lisette. Sadly, Arnaud died some years ago and then when Rose was taken very ill I went to be with Marie-Louise and help her with the nursing. It was after her adoptive mother’s funeral that Marie-Louise found the documents showing her true parentage.’

‘How did she react?’ Lisette’s voice was barely audible, and she closed her eyes in fear at what she might hear, tightening her grip on Daniel’s hand.

‘At first in dismay that she had never known she was adopted,’ Josephine continued. ‘Then, when I explained that I had been instrumental in her adoption, she began questioning me about her true parentage. She wanted to know everything about you both. I told her the whole story.’

Lisette looked at Josephine with the first faint light of hope in her eyes. ‘You know where she is?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Do you think she would let me write to her?’

Josephine exchanged a meaningful glance at Daniel, letting him reply.

‘There’s no need to write,’ he said, joy in his voice. ‘She’s here. In our home. Reading in the library. If you hadn’t come home as you have done you would have found us on your Bellecour doorstep next week.’

Lisette dropped her face into her hands, overcome momentarily by all she had learned during the last few minutes. Then, raising her head again, she stood up.

‘Come with me, Daniel,’ she said.

‘Wouldn’t you like to meet her on your own as I did at Josephine’s suggestion?’ Lisette shook her head. ‘No, we are a family now. That’s how I want to welcome her.’

At the library door Daniel turned the handle and opened it for Lisette to enter first. Their daughter was curled up in a wing chair, her kicked-off shoes left on the carpet, her dark curls bent over the book that she held.

‘Marie-Louise,’ Lisette said softly.

The girl looked up quickly. A lovely young nineteen-year-old with lustrous blue eyes in a finely boned, expressive face, her chin touched by a tilt of determination inherited from her natural father. Never taking her gaze from Lisette she put the book aside before she unfolded herself and rose to her feet. She and Lisette were of similar height. Neither made any move. In the long look they exchanged much passed between them. Then the girl spoke.

‘
Maman
Lisette,’ she whispered emotionally.

Lisette nodded, beyond speech or action in her joy. It was as if all the love she had felt when seeing her daughter for the first time had flooded back into her heart with abundance, filling at last the hollow that had been there all through the years. Then simultaneously she and Marie-Louise moved towards each other, smiling and then embracing, both in happy tears. For Lisette all the years fell away. This was a new beginning.

Daniel left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He knew from a long talk he had had with Marie-Louise that she wanted to stay with them. Although the bond she had had with her adoptive parents would always remain, she was already at ease and contented in his company, as she soon would be with Lisette.

Josephine left for France the next day, having made her home there again, and when she went it was with Louise’s forgiveness.

Daniel was glad that he would not be leaving Lisette on her own when his military duties took him away from her. With war threatening to break out at any time he had already been contacted by the Ministry of Defence to become a newsreel cameraman at the battlefields. He had also been given the responsibility of recruiting a team ready to film whatever this war should bring about. Jim would have been the first to volunteer to accompany him, but a foot injury some years ago would keep him out of uniform. It meant that Lisette would be in charge of the studios with Jim as her right-hand man.

Daniel was sure he would get leave home from the war sometimes and then he would be able to sort out any problems that might arise, although he was confident that Lisette would be able to cope with anything that came along. After all, entertainment would be needed as never before to lift the spirits of servicemen on leave as well as those of anxious civilians at home.

Then a short while after Lisette’s reunion with her daughter and far away in Sarajevo a fanatic shot an emperor in his carriage and it was the spark that plunged Europe into war. Flags flew, marching bands played and recruitment sergeants ignored the age of volunteers and signed up every one of the men who queued to enlist, even the still growing boys whose mothers thought they were at their lessons in school. Lisette received a letter from Maurice telling her that he had enlisted with the French Flying Corps and she said prayers for him.