The Seven Turns of the Snail's Shell: A Novel (18 page)

C-C took off his coat, hung it on the rack with hers, and held her chair. He looked at her admiringly. “You have not changed a bit, Anna. Chic, as always.”

He, on the other hand, looked haggard, as if the weight of the ten years had taken its toll. He seemed harder, too. She could hear it in his voice.

“Do you live in those doctor clothes? I would have thought that you might have had at least a chance to change.”

“I am actually officially still on call tonight.” He held up his pager. “It’s my life.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of it? The life, I mean?”

“Do you ever tire of writing?”

“Sometimes.”

“To your book.” He held up his glass of wine. “May you sell many copies in France.”

She clinked hers to his. “
Santé
.”

They ordered
fromage fondue raclette
and
fondue Bourguignonne
. A rowdy group of young people was seated at the next table. It was hard to talk without shouting.

The waiter delivered two fondue pots, one filled with boiling wine, the other with melted cheese. Next came a platter of beef chunks and assorted sauces, and a basket of crusty chunks of baguette. They each speared two or three of the beef chunks with long slim forks and set them cooking in the pot. Anna speared a piece of the bread and swirled it in the melted cheese.

“Where are you living now, C-C?” she shouted. To her relief, the noisy group of young people finally got up to leave.

“I moved back to Elise’s apartment building recently. I like the location. Do you remember the Russian lady downstairs from my old apartment?”

Anna nodded and laughed. “
Madame
Russe? Of course. She was a real character.”

“I inquired about the apartment building recently, and Elise told me that apartment was vacant, so I moved in. It’s much bigger and has a double balcony. Elise takes good care of me, like always, even though I’m not home much.”

“Elise didn’t tell you I had been to see her in September…looking for you?”

C-C was silent for a minute. “Well, she did, actually. I hadn’t thought about it until just now.” He cleared his throat. “She said something about seeing you, but at the time I thought it was just age talking, that she had mixed up the years, as she sometimes does. It never occurred to me that it was a recent visit.”

“Not even when I had left my card at your hospital?”

“I have been very occupied these past months.”

The waiter refreshed their glasses of Beaujolais Nouveau. Anna took a sip. “How did you come to know Elise, C-C? Originally, I mean.”

“My grandfather knew her husband, Ferdinand, when he was alive.” Anna suddenly recalled that Guy de Noailles had mentioned Diamanté’s dead brother by the same name, whose wife was still living in Paris. It hadn’t crossed her mind at the time that Elise had referred more than once to her departed husband, Ferdinand. Another piece fit into the puzzle.

“Have you seen your grandfather in Alsace recently, C-C?”

“Not for some time. He is very old, almost ninety. He doesn’t travel much anymore. I’m sorry you never met him.”

“Oh, but I did. Not deliberately. It was purely coincidental. You see, my grandfather and my grandmother passed away a couple of months ago. They were killed, actually, in a horrible car accident.”

“I’m sorry.” He seemed genuinely sympathetic.

“Yes, they were parents to me. It has been hard for me to realize they are gone. Sometimes I just think I can phone them and they’ll be on the other end as always.”

“That’s how I felt about my mother. Even though she died two years ago, I still sometimes think of her as alive.” They were both silent, then C-C’s eyes locked on hers. “But, I’m confused. What is the connection to
Grand-père
? You said you met him?”

“My grandfather left some personal items that I sorted through. Among them was a Christmas card that was sent in 1950. It was signed Guy de Noailles and Nathalie. No address, except that the envelope was posted in Strasbourg.”

C-C dipped a piece of cooked meat in a sauce. “That would have been when my mother was very young. How did your grandfather know
Grand-père
?”

“During the war. My grandfather was a flier. He was shot down over France and rescued by the members of the Résistance. I didn’t know the connection to Guy de Noailles. He never discussed the war.”

“Then, how?”

“It’s a long story. I thought that maybe Guy de Noailles would be able to help me resolve a question regarding something my grandfather had told me, so I visited him in late November, not knowing at all that he was your grandfather. He was so warm and wonderful and welcoming, C-C. He introduced us,” she hesitated, “ah, I mean me, to Maria and Jean-Paul. He remembered my grandfather and showed me photos of the old Résistance group. I didn’t have a clue that he was your grandfather until practically after the whole visit was over. I should have seen the resemblance…in looks, though. Actually, he’s a rather ancient version of you.” She gave him a playful look. “C-C, he even told me the story of the astronomical clock in the cathedral.”

“But, this is extraordinary, Anna.”

“Yes, isn’t it? And there’s more. That question I mentioned that I was trying to resolve?”

Just then C-C’s pager went off.

“Excuse me. It’s too noisy in here. I need to phone the hospital.” He got up from the table and went outside to use his cell phone.

Anna took a sip of wine and set some more meat cooking. A new group of university-age young people had filled the empty table next to them. They were celebrating something. Anna couldn’t quite make out what, but they were toasting and congratulating a young woman who looked to be about twenty years old.

C-C returned and sat down. “It’s an emergency. I’m sorry, Anna. I will have to return to the hospital. I’ll take you back to rue Beaujon.”

They motioned to the waiter, paid the bill, donned their warm coats, and left the restaurant. Anna was still on hold with her story.

“Tomorrow is Sunday. I will not be at the hospital or on call,” C-C was telling her. “Then it’s night duty for the next week.” They reached the car. He held the door for her. “Would you take a drive with me, Anna? Ten years is a long time. We have a lot of catching up to do.” He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“You haven’t seen your father for sometime, then?”

“Not since my mother’s funeral.”

“Then I want us to drive to Rouen. It’s high time that you two made up.”

“I’m not sure, Anna.”

“I’m not listening. I have made up my mind, C-C. If I was the cause of your falling out in the first place, then I want to get that resolved. Anyway, there’s something I need to tell you on the way. It’s too long a story for tonight. It has to do with a discovery I’ve made.”
And
, she thought,
I may need some information from Jacques to help me find Diamanté.

C-C reached over and touched her hand. “I think whoever is in love with Anna is a lucky man.” He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it.

CHAPTER 31

M
onique had waited up for Anna. The apartment felt warm and smelled of a wood fire.

“Georges went to bed,” she said. “He is coming down with a cold or something, poor darling. He wasn’t feeling very well, so we came home from the dinner party early.” She handed Anna an envelope. “A letter arrived for you today. I forgot to tell you that I had left it on the table in the hall.”

Anna took it, noting that it was postmarked from Obernai. It was from Guy de Noailles.

Monique poured two snifters of cognac and handed one to Anna. “So-o-o? How did it go with C-C? I’m listening,
mon amie
. Come into the salon. I’ve got a fire going. It’s cozy.”

“Let me open this first. It may have some news.”

The letter was handwritten in blue ink on white vellum stationery in the old man’s carefully formed script. He had enclosed in it a card wishing her a
Joyeux Noël
.

First of all, ma chère Anna, I must thank you and Mark for the wine that was sent from California. I have not had California wine and was surprised to find out that it is very, very good.

Maria was thrilled with the souvenir Hollywood scarf that arrived during the past week from Mark’s office in Los Angeles. She hasn’t taken it off, as far as I know, a day since it arrived. She sends multiple big kisses (to Mark, especially) for such generosity. Finally, I must tell you that I have not yet heard from Diamanté, but I will not be very concerned about that unless Christmas comes and goes without word from him. I promise to let you know immediately if I hear anything of his whereabouts.

“He’s such a sweet old man,” Anna remarked to herself, thinking that she would have to tell Mark about what a hit the scarf had made with Maria. She put the cognac on the coffee table. “I’m going to bed, Monique. C-C had to go back to the hospital. His pager went off. An emergency, I guess. The plans are to drive to Rouen tomorrow. I’ve got to get a spot off my charcoal turtleneck sweater, or I’ll have to wear the same thing I’ve got on tonight.”

“Come sit and have a sip of cognac. It will do you good. You can borrow one of my sweaters for tomorrow. But why drive to Rouen?”

Anna picked up the snifter and sat down on the gold brocade sofa, hugging a throw pillow to her chest. “I should have said maybe we’ll drive to Rouen. C-C was noncommittal. He seems distant. He still is estranged from his father. Something has happened to him. He was watching behind him all the time, as if someone were following us. In the car, he kept looking in the rearview mirror. And he’s smoking.”

“He always did. Quite a lot, if I remember.”

“It’s not how I had imagined, seeing him again, I mean. It just seems like our lives have taken separate turns. He seems to be so dedicated to his work. He has no family. He didn’t mention having ever been married, and he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. In a way, I feel sad for him. I owe it to him to help him straighten out whatever caused the estrangement with his father. He seems to think it had something to do with me. Or at least he hinted at that. Besides, his father is the last one who may have seen Diamanté. I need to talk to that man somehow about that.”

Monique gave her a knowing look. Anna had told her about Diamanté and what she had learned from Guy de Noailles. “Did you tell C-C about Diamanté?”

“No. I told him about the visit to see Guy and the surprise when I found out that he was his grandfather. But I didn’t have time to get into the rest of the story.”

“Do you have a plan to tell him tomorrow, then?”

“Yes. I need to enlist his help in my search for Diamanté. Come to think of it, I wonder if he knows Diamanté.”

“Here’s to your mission!” Monique held up her snifter in toast.

“And here’s to you and Georges and your new
bastide
in Provence!”

“Yes, it’s all set. We are leaving next weekend.”

And I
, thought Anna,
where will I be?
She shivered though it was not cold in the room. In reality, she dreaded the turn of events that tomorrow might bring.

CHAPTER 32

I
t was early Sunday morning. Anna, not wanting to wake Monique and Georges, quietly closed the door to the apartment and quickly descended the dim stairway. The air was cold and damp, and the dark street looked as if it had rained during the night. The green Renault was parked next to the curb.

“Did you get any sleep?” Anna asked C-C as he held the door for her.

“Only a little. You might have to keep me from falling asleep at the wheel.” He grinned and closed the door, positioning himself behind the steering wheel. As he put the car in gear, he looked over in her direction.

“To Rouen? Are you sure?”

Anna noted that he had shed his doctor’s coveralls and was wearing a heavy, navy blue mock turtleneck sweater and gray trousers. He was clean-shaven and smelled of soap. There were dark circles under his eyes.

“You look tired,” she said.

“I’ll be okay.”

“Then to Rouen.” Anna directed. “I’ll keep you awake. En route, I have a story to tell you…an amazing but true story…a story you won’t believe. I only told you half of it last night: the part about visiting Guy de Noailles and coincidentally discovering that he was your grandfather. There is another coincidence in this story. Did you know that your grandfather, my American grandfather, and my Corsican grandfather all knew each other during World War II?”

“What do you mean, your Corsican grandfather? I didn’t know that you were part Corsican.”

“I’m half Corsican, just like you, C-C.”

One of C-C’s eyebrows lifted in a question mark.

“I didn’t know it either until recently. Remember I said last night that there was a question I was trying to resolve?”

He nodded.

“Well, when my American grandfather was dying, he told me this incredible story about a French man who was his friend during the war.”