A Bordeaux Dynasty: A Novel (20 page)

He left his brother, showered, and then went down to Aurélien’s office where, for once, he got there first. He thought long and hard about the ridiculous reasons that had prompted him to invite Camille to dinner twice that week when he was bored to tears in her company. And he wondered if Robert’s behavior—trying to forget about Pauline by going out with a slew of other women—wasn’t more logical than his.

When Fernande walked in with the breakfast tray, he was sitting down, brooding and worried.

“Is everything okay, kiddo?” the old lady asked him as she poured him some coffee.

He came out of his reverie and smiled at her, but gave a bizarre answer, “No. Your husband is giving me all kinds of grief these days. I don’t know what’s with him, but tell him to quit it. …”

Fernande immediately looked worried. She’d feared a comment like that for the past few days. She was about to reply when Aurélien came in, and she left the office immediately. Jules greeted his father and tried to concentrate solely on Fonteyne.

Laurène hadn’t stayed in Mazion and had come back to work for Aurélien, but every afternoon she got away from the office to visit her father at the hospital. He was slowly getting better. Antoine never asked her about Jules, having decided not to get involved in such matters anymore.

Each morning, Alexandre left for his father-in-law’s estate and seemed happy to be in charge. The few days of sun that everyone had hoped for finally arrived. Louis-Marie took advantage of a fleeting inspiration to isolate himself in the afternoon and write. As for Pauline, she jumped in the car and, on some vague pretext, headed for Bordeaux, leaving Esther more and more in Dominique’s care.

Jules tirelessly surveyed the vineyards, doing his work on top of Alexandre’s. He kept a close eye on Lucas at all times. Still obsessed with Laurène, he forced himself to spend the majority of his time away from the house.

And it was only by chance that he ran into Robert and Pauline as they walked out of a hotel in Bordeaux. Everyone was so stunned that they looked at one another for a good while, speechless. Pauline was the first to break the silence.

“You keep catching people with their hands in the cookie jar. I’m really very sorry about this. But if you weren’t always everywhere at the same time … Please, Jules, don’t tell anybody. Not Louis-Marie anyway. … Leave him alone. …”

Jules had never seen such a grave expression on her. Embarrassed, he glanced at Robert, who hesitated to come closer to his brother. Traffic around them was heavy, and Jules thought the pedestrian going by must have thought it odd for them to be planted there, looking at one another without moving. He took a step in his brother’s direction, but Pauline grabbed his arm.

“Can’t you forget about this, Jules?” she asked.

Robert came toward him, and there was a moment of extreme discomfort. Jules then said to Pauline, “I’m not interested in what you guys are doing. Of course, I haven’t seen you. …”

He would’ve given anything to be elsewhere at that moment. He took out his car keys and fiddled with them before turning to his brother.

“You’re completely insane,” he said. “You’re going to end up getting what you want. One of these days, we’re all going to be at one another’s throats.”

Robert’s eyes were glued to the pavement. Jules started to walk away but came back.

“Louis-Marie is waiting for me at the stationary store, on the other side of the square.”

He left them without adding anything else, in a hurry to pick up his other brother and get back to Fonteyne. Robert remained frozen in place, still aghast, and Pauline had to drag him to the Porsche. They got inside the car in silence. Robert started the engine, took off, made a U-turn, and drove the full length of a one-way street. He waited until they were out of Bordeaux to mutter anything.

“Jesus! Imagine? What if Louis-Marie had seen us?”

Pauline was relaxing, relieved that they’d avoided a catastrophe.

“I don’t really care about Louis-Marie,” Robert said. “But what about you and him? What are we going to do?”

Pauline turned away from him and cracked her window open.

“What are we going to do?” she said. “Nothing. Except hurry so we get to Fonteyne before them.”

Robert said nothing. He accelerated, driving faster than usual to grant Pauline’s wish.

I asked for it,
he thought.
Jules must think I’m a pig. I can’t explain to him. …

He realized that he would’ve preferred running into Louis-Marie than Jules.

But why? The conflict wouldn’t have done me any good. Pauline will never leave Louis-Marie. Never. …

He was only thinking about himself, convinced that Pauline felt nothing but some kind of retrospective pain. He was upset with her for not taking his side, if only momentarily—although it was true that she hadn’t lied to him since that first afternoon they’d spent in the hotel room.

So why is she sleeping with me, then?

He’d have been better off wondering why he was taking her to a hotel, since there was absolutely no future possible between them.

“There’s nothing we can do, Bob. …” Pauline said.

She’d fished a small mirror from her handbag and was fixing her makeup.

“I have to go back to Paris,” he mumbled. “Or things are going to end up badly. Jules is right.”

“Yes, he should know!” she said, brazenly.

They remained quiet until they reached the garage, and she ran to the house. He stayed behind, smoking a cigarette, trying to make up his mind. When he joined the family in the main living room, he admired Pauline’s composure. She’d changed and wore a peach-colored satin dress that was barely decent. She was talking with Aurélien and greeted Robert as though she hadn’t seen him all day. Louis-Marie was serving cocktails, and Robert turned down a glass of wine for a tumbler of whisky, which he drank quickly. Setting down his glass, his eyes met Jules’s. He found no trace of contempt or animosity.

“How can you stand the sight of me?” Robert asked his brother between his teeth.

“It had been so long since you’d come home to screw everything up that I’d forgotten what it looks like. …” Jules said.

He then turned his back to Robert and listened to Pauline on the other side of the room. She was complaining about Louis-Marie working while they were on vacation, and that she was tired of being all alone. Though Jules was well aware of Pauline’s natural ability, he was stunned she’d had the nerve to say it. Then he thought he might burst out laughing, so he walked out of the living room. He giggled in the hallway, happy to let off some steam. He thought that Robert would come over to join, but it was Aurélien that appeared.

“You look like you’re having a good time,” he said.

Aurélien jutted his chin toward the library.

“Come with me,” he said, “I have a bit of news that you won’t like.”

Jules followed his father and closed the door behind them.

“Laurène told me that she was going home after the harvest. For good. Did you know that?”

Jules took a few steps, not knowing what to think.

“No,” he finally said. “Antoine needs her?”

“I’d be surprised!”

Aurélien’s voice was harsh. Laurène’s decision had him extremely upset.

“She thanked me for training her, but she says her family needs her. What the hell?”

“There’s been a lot of upheaval in Mazion. …”

“Yes, but to the point that she decided to just pack up and leave? Here, she earns a salary. Antoine can’t afford to pay a secretary, we all know that.”

Aurélien seemed to expect explanations, but his son remained quiet, obviously bewildered by the news.

“Why is it that your shenanigans have to interfere with our business? You’re not going to tell me that you have nothing to do whatsoever with Laurène leaving?”

Jules wasn’t listening to his father, instead wondering how things would be in the house without Laurène around. The very idea of her being gone made him desperate.

“I’m talking to you!” Aurélien said.

In a hollow voice, Jules replied, “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to stop screwing things up!” Aurélien screamed.

Jules seemed to snap out of his torpor and shot Aurélien a sharp look. He was genuinely convinced that he had nothing to do with Laurène’s decision. Each time she talked to him, she was unpleasant. He dismissed out of hand the blame that Aurélien was putting on him. He knew that he was looking for a fight, but he felt he had to speak up.

“Maybe she got tired of your stifling protection,” he said.

Aurélien was blown away by the enormity of Jules’s insolence. He had to get ahold of himself before saying, “She’d have left us a long time ago if I hadn’t kept her out of your reach. I was responsible for her in lieu of her father, even if you think that’s laughable. You have no morals! Your attitude toward women has always been revolting! I didn’t want Laurène to wind up in your bed, that’s true, but only because it’s not a stable place. You’ve been sleeping with women for fifteen years, and you’ve never fallen in love with any of them!”

Aurélien stopped, out of breath. Jules was looking at him, stunned. He’d expected an outburst, but never a speech like that. His father took a few steps forward, and Jules, instinctively, backed up toward the bookcase.

“You’ve always tried to be like me,” Aurélien said. “But my life is behind me. I had a wife and children. I had passions and heartbreaks. Now I’m satisfied with the occasional mistress, it’s normal. But you? What the hell’s wrong with you?”

Deeply moved by what he’d just heard, Jules spontaneously blurted out, “I love her!”

Just by the way Aurélien was smiling, Jules understood that he’d fallen into the trap. He couldn’t back pedal, and so he continued.

“I love her and you’ve known it for a long time. You thought she was too young? Well she doesn’t agree with you. She’s an adult and she can live without your blessing. Or mine! She can pick whoever she wants. …”

“But not you?”

Aurélien’s surprise was obvious, and his anger seemed to be dissipating.

“In Mazion, she’ll have peace and quiet,” Jules muttered.

Aurélien didn’t want to explain to Jules that it was Antoine’s intolerance that caused Laurène to leave home, two years earlier. He was troubled by Jules’s confession. And so Laurène had preferred Robert? He thought that was odd. Once again, he set eyes on his son, and thought he looked pitiful.

“You really think I’m some kind of egotistical monster?” asked Jules. He was now leaning against the sliding ladder, the way he always did.

Aurélien wanted to do or say something comforting, but he was held back by uncertainty.

“I often … But I never talked to you about them. … It’s true, it was never with her. …”

Unable to formulate coherent sentences, Jules was trying to justify himself, and Aurélien stopped him.

“I just wanted to shake you up!” he said. “To make you angry. I don’t usually like heart-to-hearts, but your false indifference these past few days got on my nerves. I do hope that you get married someday, Jules. … If Laurène doesn’t want you, you’re more than justified to look for someone else.”

Aurélien was embarrassed. The way he’d attacked Jules was nothing more than the result of the confused feelings he still had for Laurène. He was well aware of that and felt ashamed. He’d taken advantage of the usual ambiguity of their rivalry to link a serious love affair to their inconsequential flings. He did that knowingly and had no excuse for it.

“You and I are too close,” he said. “And we’re always together. It’s not right. No wonder we get into these messed-up situations. It’s my fault. …”

Jules straightened and said, “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to chase you away from Fonteyne. Even though I am still sending you to England!”

Jules didn’t laugh. He examined his father’s face. Aurélien gave him a tender look.

“Listen, cowboy,” he said. “You know what we’re going to do? Next time we hire a secretary, we’ll make sure she’s ugly!”

He walked away, turned off the lights, and opened the hallway door. He noticed that Jules still hadn’t moved.

“Are you coming?” Aurélien asked in a soft voice.

From his bedroom window, Louis-Marie spotted Robert and Pauline walking side by side in the alley. It was at least the third time they’d gone past the castle. Bob seemed to be listening, head low, while Pauline made her usual hand gestures as she spoke. Louis-Marie didn’t suspect that his wife was cheating on him. He’d noticed the way Robert looked at Pauline at times, but figured it was due to some nostalgic impulse. He guessed that his brother wasn’t completely over Pauline. And he understood perfectly. As for his wife, he knew her to be naturally flirty. The way she toyed with all the men she came across amused Louis-Marie. He had no doubts about the love Pauline felt for him and that, he thought, was enough to keep her away from temptations. Their age difference could be a source of worry, but he’d convinced himself that Pauline needed him, his liberal and protective attitude, his forty-year-old maturity. Pauline wasn’t a great mother or a great wife; she was just happy to be herself, and Louis-Marie adored that about her.

He took advantage of his stay at Fonteyne to write and send articles to the various magazines he contributed to. Louis-Marie worked very hard, as he had to finance an extravagant lifestyle. But he loved his life and wouldn’t have had it any other way. He had no taste for his father’s stern existence, and that’s why he’d left Fonteyne to begin with. Robert had done the same thing, but Alexandre remained a prisoner of the place. Poor Alex, devoid of talent and passion! Sometimes Louis-Marie felt sorry for him. Just as he at times wondered about Jules’s stability. That a man like Jules, with a strong personality, could cohabitate with both a tyrannical father and a mediocre brother left Louis-Marie perplexed. Without thinking about it and maybe without even realizing it, he’d always admired Jules. Because of his adopted brother, he was certain of Fonteyne’s future welfare, without having to participate in it. Jules, more than Aurélien, was what still connected Louis-Marie to Fonteyne.