The Affair - Danielle Steel Page 0,58

It’s obviously a story about lust and not love, and the baby was an unfortunate accident. I want to keep it simple. She’s a movie star, people will forgive her some of it. But let’s not go too far.” She had used a red pencil to indicate where she wanted it cut. The writer looked disappointed but knew better than to argue with her. That wouldn’t have been a smart move, and Barbara Jaffe was ambitious. This was a big break for her. And her enthusiasm had caused her to cross some boundaries that she normally wouldn’t have. She also knew from the grapevine that Nicolas was Rose’s son-in-law, so it didn’t totally surprise her that she was protecting both of them and wanted to trim the piece.

They went over the photographs together then, and Rose couldn’t help noticing Pascale’s flawless body. She circled the friendlier, more casual shots to include in the piece, eliminated the naked ones with a red “X,” and tried not to focus too much on her belly. Nicolas was sitting close to her in several of the shots. They selected one where she was dressed and you couldn’t see her belly at all. They were the most benign, least suggestive shots of the shoot, all in good taste.

The photos she chose would illustrate the story well, but didn’t have the tabloid feel Rose wanted to avoid. She was thinking of both her daughter’s and the magazine’s best interests. She initialed what she had approved and felt sorry for her daughter to have her husband’s affair so blatantly exposed. Rose hoped she would be rid of him soon. The embarrassment and the pain had gone on long enough, and too many people were going to suffer. It had been mentioned in the interview, though, that Nicolas was still very close to his wife and daughters, and planned to stay that way. So he hadn’t betrayed her entirely. All she could hope now was that Nadia would divorce him in the near future. He might not be an evil man, plotting to destroy her with heartless cruelty and premeditated motives, but at best, he was certainly a fool.

Chapter 8

Joe went with Athena in their SUV to pick up Nadia and the girls at LAX when they arrived. He was a big, burly teddy bear of a man, and loved kids. He was the perfect partner for Athena. They looked just right together. Both were tall, heavyset, warm, jovial people who always had a smile on their lips and laughter in their eyes. He knew some of what had been happening to Nadia, but not all of it. Athena didn’t want to give away all of her sister’s secrets and confidences, but he knew enough to strongly disapprove of the mess Nicolas had gotten himself into. Joe had come into the family after Nadia had met Nicolas and was dating him. She had already been living in France for three years. He had been an usher in their wedding, and had always enjoyed being with them. Although he and Athena weren’t legally married, and didn’t want to be, they acted as though they were, and after so many years, Joe had a respected position in the family as her mate. He was five years younger than Athena, and was thirty-eight, four years younger than Nicolas but wiser about life. He’d never been married and had no children. He would have liked to have children, but Athena had been clear from the beginning that it wasn’t what she wanted, and he accepted that. He had enough nephews and nieces and friends’ children to satisfy him, and they had their dogs.

Nicolas was from an aristocratic family, and an only child. He had gone to the best schools in Paris, studied political science at a prestigious university, and had a master’s degree and the means and encouragement to pursue a career as a writer from a young age. He had never had to worry about how he would support himself.

Joe’s origins had been simpler and rougher, and more real. He was one of four siblings. His father had died when he was young. He had grown up in Michigan, had put himself through college, and worked from the time he was a teenager, at rugged jobs since he was big and strong. He had been a lumberjack, a stevedore, drove a truck while he was in college, and had discovered how much he loved to cook. He had gotten