The Affair - Danielle Steel Page 0,65
got on the phone.
“Of course he loves you, silly.” She tried to keep it light, but Sylvie sounded more serious and suddenly very grown up. She had been catapulted into instant adulthood by the past twenty-four hours’ revelations.
“Papa says he doesn’t want a divorce.” Sylvie sounded as though she was his emissary. He didn’t want a divorce, just a mistress and a baby and a wife.
“Why don’t you forget all that right now, and enjoy your time with Papa.”
“Are you going to divorce him?” She was pressing for answers now. Her whole world had come apart, and she wanted to put it back together as quickly as she could.
“We haven’t figured any of that out yet. Nothing is going to happen right now,” not with her attorney on vacation for all of August. Nadia was frustrated about that. She had missed her appointment with him on the last day before his vacation. But her kids had been hysterical and she had no sitter. Now Nicolas was telling them how much he didn’t want a divorce, so she would end up being the bad guy, and he the victim, in their eyes. “I want you to have fun with Papa for the next two weeks. Try to forget all the rest.” But Sylvie couldn’t, any more than she could.
Nicolas got on the phone after Sylvie finished talking to her, and Nadia spoke to him in a low angry growl.
“If you try to blame me for this, and make me look like the bad guy here, I swear, I will never speak to you again. This is all your doing, even yesterday, because you were never honest with them. You clean this up now, and don’t try to blame me. Is that clear?”
“Yes, of course, I’m sorry, I just thought…”
“Good. I’m glad we understand each other,” she said and hung up on him. Enough was enough. She was fed up with his self-indulgence, cowardice, and games.
Chapter 9
While Nicolas was at the château with the girls, Paris in August was peaceful and almost deserted. Everyone was gone. Stores, restaurants, and businesses were closed. It was a skeleton city. Nadia hadn’t been there in the heart of the summer for a long time, and she liked it. She walked everywhere. She went to her office and caught up on her files. Factories were closed, so nothing could be ordered, but she felt as though she were cleaning up her life and getting control of it before the fall, after three months of madness since May.
Most of all, she was trying to decide what she wanted to do. She spoke to her sisters regularly. Olivia continued to tell her to divorce Nicolas. Venetia told her to fight for him if she still loved him. Athena told her that she would be fine even if she wound up alone. She hadn’t spoken to her mother as much recently. Rose was up to her neck in the October issue. The September issue was due out at the end of the month, and Rose was still upset about it. For the first time, she wasn’t looking forward to it. All she could think about was the cover feature, with the joint interview and photographs of her son-in-law and his pregnant mistress. She wished they hadn’t done the story, but it couldn’t be avoided, and she dreaded Nadia’s reaction to it, even though she had sweetly agreed to it and said it didn’t matter.
Nadia missed her children for the two weeks they were at the château with their father, but it was also a relief not to have to be responsible for anyone, eat at set times, come home on time from the office, and make sure they were happy, safe, fed, and entertained. She had been bracing herself for when they would hear about their father. Now the news was out, and there was nothing she could do about it. It was up to him now. He had to clean up his own mess with them.
In the middle of the month, there was a change of shifts at the château. Nicolas left the day before Nadia’s sisters and their families were due to arrive. Nadia planned it so that she would miss him. The housekeeper spent the afternoon with the girls after Nicolas left for Saint-Tropez in the morning. Nadia arrived at dinnertime. Sylvie and Laure were thrilled to see her, and she was equally so to see them. They didn’t mention Pascale and the baby