Decision and Destiny (41 page)

Read Decision and Destiny Online

Authors: DeVa Gantt

There was a knock on the door. Yvette jumped up, but her hopeful face dropped when Paul stepped into the room. “Good afternoon,” he smiled.

She grumbled a greeting and trudged back to her desk.

“Good day, Paul,” Jeannette greeted cheerfully.

“I’ve brought you a surprise,” he offered pleasantly.

Yvette looked up in renewed interest.

“A cargo came in from England yesterday with a whole cask of sweets made from the sugar grown on Charmantes. I thought you’d like some.” He produced a paper bag from behind his back and offered it to Jeannette.

She snatched it from him quickly, exclaiming an enthusiastic “thank-you.” Yvette joined her sister to inspect the booty and pick out the choice pieces.

Paul looked to Charmaine. “There were fresh kegs of tea as well. Fatima is brewing some now. Would you like to join me for some on the porch?”

“That would be nice,” she answered, leaving the girls to their plans.

“You were working today?” Charmaine asked once they were sitting outdoors.

“It couldn’t wait. But the cargo was inventoried by early afternoon.”

“The cargo was from the
Falcon
?”

“Yes,” he replied, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Did you see John this morning?” Charmaine asked softly.

“We rode into town together.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

“Not much.” He sighed. “John wanted to go back to Virginia, Charmaine. I don’t blame him. It’s been unbearable here the past few days. He’s neglected a lot the last two months, and at least in Virginia he’ll have the distraction of work.” His voice was sympathetic. “I knew the girls needed some cheering up. They couldn’t have been happy with the news.”

“They did, and the candy helped. It was kind of you to think of them.”

Fatima arrived with the tea and poured two cups.

“How are you faring?” Paul asked. “Any better since Friday night?”

“I’m doing what I need to do to get through the days,” she replied honestly. “I try not to think about it. And still, I curse myself for leaving Pierre that morning.” Tears sprang to her eyes.

“It wasn’t your fault, Charmaine,” he comforted, taking her hand. “It wasn’t John’s fault, either. How many times had you left him to nap or come downstairs at night when you were certain he was asleep in his bed? You only did so knowing he was safe and sound. It wasn’t a lapse of responsibility to do that, Charmaine. Every parent does the same.”

“I know you are right,” she replied, dabbing her eyes. “Still it’s difficult not to think ‘if only I’d done this, or if only I’d done that.’ And it doesn’t help because I miss him terribly.”

“I know you do,” he replied, his warm hand stroking hers. “I do, too.”

They fell silent, sipping the piping hot tea, until Charmaine broached the subject of John again. “John told me everything that morning,” she mused tentatively, a little nervous Paul might grow weary or angry with the topic.

He looked at her, but did not seem annoyed. “But you’re still curious.”

“I’m curious to know how you feel about it. I never imagined you met Colette first.”

He leaned back in his chair and drew another long sip from his tea. “I was not in love with Colette, if that’s what you would like to know. I cared for her as a friend, a friendship that grew deeper with time. When we first met, I was attracted to her. She was beautiful. She knew her way around Paris society and introduced me to her circle of friends. So when John caught her fancy, I wasn’t jealous, not after a while anyway. There were plenty of women to pick and choose from, most of them willing…”

She could feel a blush rising to her cheeks. “But you were so angry at John those first few days after he came home.”

He shook his head. “He was bent upon provoking me. So, in my anger, perhaps I overreacted. Still, I never understood why John took the relationship as far as he did, and I blame him for that. Granted, he was engaged to Colette, and yes, my father should never have interfered. But once Father did, and Colette made her choice, John should have left it alone. Instead, he chose to torment her. He hated our father so much, he drew her into an impossible situation.”

“And Colette had no free will in the matter? John controlled everything?”

Paul massaged his forehead. “Charmaine, neither Colette nor John ever provided me with the details on how their affair started, or how long it lasted. What I do know is John was not lacking for other prospects. There were many women who, at the drop of a coin, would have fallen at his feet, ready and willing if he’d only given them the time of day. So why a love affair with a married woman—no, worse—his father’s wife, when the alternative is so easy and clear? John hurt my father deeply, and not just physically. Imagine how it felt to be cuckolded in his home, by his son, and afterward, wonder how many others in the house knew about the scandal.”

Live by the sword; die by the sword,
Charmaine thought, though she didn’t say so. “But John loved her,” she insisted instead. Fleetingly, she read surprise in Paul’s eyes, as if that possibility hadn’t occurred to him before.

“Then I don’t understand love,” he replied, exasperated now. “Perhaps I haven’t experienced it yet to judge whether one loses his rational mind over it.”

Enormously disheartened, she couldn’t respond, and again they fell silent. But as her distress dissipated, she measured his remark and, for the first time, understood his disdain for John’s actions. Even so, his view of the matter was highly impersonal—that one woman could so easily be replaced by another.

She poured him a second cup of tea, not wanting the conversation to end on this contentious note. “Your father called me to the study earlier this afternoon.”

“The study?” Paul asked quizzically.

“Yes. It looked like he was working there. He’ll be taking charge of the girls on Saturdays from now on. I’ll have that day off,” she finished on a laugh.

Paul was astonished and smiled. “Well, then, I’ll have to work harder during the week so my Saturdays are also free.”

 

Frederic was present at the dinner table that night, and although he worked at being cordial, his efforts fell short. The girls spoke to him, but only to answer his questions, their responses stilted. With a resigned smile, he dropped the artificial repartee, allowing his daughters their melancholy.

Before the meal was over, Yvette asked to be excused, complaining of fatigue and a stomachache. She promised to go straight to her room. But when Charmaine reached the nursery, the girl was nowhere to be found. The week, culminating with John’s unannounced departure that morning, had taken its toll on the headstrong nine-year-old.

After a quick search of the house, Charmaine found her in the stables, sitting on a pile of hay in the corner of Phantom’s stall, clutching her kitten and crying. Her stoic façade had crumbled.

“Johnny took Phantom with him this time, Mademoiselle Charmaine,” she sobbed, rocking back and forth. “That means he’s
never
coming back! Oh God! I want my brother. I just want my brother!”

Charmaine did not offer encouraging words to the contrary. The last time she’d insisted on miracles, disaster had stepped in to laugh at her. She’d stopped believing in miracles, anyway. Thus, she knelt down beside Yvette and hugged her close, allowing the child to embrace her misery and shed her bitter tears.

About the Author

The workday is over, the dishes put away, and the children are tucked into bed. That’s when
D
E
V
A
GANTT
settles down for an evening with the family. The other family, that is: the Duvoisins.

DeVa Gantt is a pseudonym for Debra and Valerie Gantt: sisters, career women, mothers, homemakers, and now, authors. The Colette Trilogy, commencing with
A Silent Ocean Away
and continuing with
Decision and Destiny,
is the product of years of unwavering dedication to a dream.

The women began writing nearly thirty years ago. Deb was in college, Val a new teacher. Avid readers of historical fiction, the idea of authoring their own story blossomed from a conversation driving home one night. “We could write our own book. I can envision the main character.” Within a day, an early plot had been hatched and the first scenes committed to paper. Three years later, the would-be authors had half of an elaborate novel written, numerous hand-drafted scenes, five hundred typed pages, and no idea how to tie up the complicated story threads. The book languished, life intervened, and the work was put on the back burner for two decades.

Both women assert the rejuvenating spark was peculiarly coincidental. Though Val and Deb live thirty miles apart, on Thanksgiving weekend 2002, unbeknownst to each other, they spontaneously picked up the unfinished manuscript and began to read. The following week, Deb e-mailed Val to tell her she’d been reading “the book.” It was a wonderful work begging to be finished, and Deb had some fresh ideas. By January, the women’s creative energies were flowing again.

Unlike twenty years earlier, Deb and Val had computer technology on their side, but there were different challenges. Their literary pursuit had to be worked into real life responsibilities: children, marriages, households, and jobs. The women stole every spare moment, working late at night, in the wee hours of morning, and on weekends. The dictionary, thesaurus, and grammar books became their close companions. Snow days were a gift. No school, no work. Deb could pack up overnight bags, and head to Val’s house with her two children. The cousins played while the writers collaborated.

Wherever the women went, they brought the Duvoisins along. From sports and dance practices to doctors’ offices, from business trips to vacations, an opportunity to work on their “masterpiece” was rarely wasted. One Fourth of July, Val and Deb edited away on their laptops on blankets in the middle of a New Hampshire baseball field while their families waited for night to fall and the fireworks to begin.

Both women agree the experience has been rewarding and unexpectedly broad in scope. Writing a story was only the beginning of a long endeavor that included extensive research, arduous editing, and painstaking proofreading. Next came the query letters sent to agents and publishers, each meeting a dead end. Self-publishing was the only option—a stepping-stone that would enable them to compile a portfolio of reviews and positive feedback. Thus they became adept at marketing their work, all in the pursuit of reaching a traditional publisher. Within two years an agent had stepped in and HarperCollins agreed to publish the work as a trilogy.

Today, the women look back at their accomplishment. The benefits have been immeasurable. Perhaps the dearest is the bond of sister-hood that deepened: they have shared a unique journey unknown to most sisters. Their greatest satisfaction, however, has been seeing their unfinished work come to fruition: the Duvoisin story has finally been told.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

By DeVa Gantt

D
ECISION AND
D
ESTINY

A S
ILENT
O
CEAN
A
WAY

Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Top cover photograph by Jana Leon/Jupiter Images

Bottom Image by Ricky Mujica

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DECISION AND DESTINY
. Copyright © 2009 by DeVa Gantt. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Digital Edition March 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-186724-8

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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