Jewels (59 page)

“I’m sure. But it must be very painful for both of you, and you certainly.” She decided to change tack with him and treat him as the wounded party. “And now this terrible embarrassment to you, with the baby. Wouldn’t you think it a good time to make some wise investments, and agree to leave Isabelle to a new life?” She didn’t know how else to say it. “How much” seemed a little blunt, though it was tempting. She was sorrier than ever that William wasn’t there to help her. But Enzo had gotten the point.

“Investments?” he asked, looking hopeful.

“Yes, I was thinking that American stock might be important for you to have, in your position. Or Italian, if you prefer it.”

“Stock? How much stock?” He had stopped eating in order to listen to every word she was saying.

“How much do you think?”

He made a vague Italian gesture as he watched her. “
Ma
… I don’t know … five … ten million dollars?” He was trying her out and she shook her head.

“I’m afraid not. One or two perhaps. But certainly no more than that.” Negotiations had begun, and Sarah was pleased with the way things were going. He was expensive, but he was also greedy enough to do what she wanted.

“And the house in Rome?”

“I’d have to discuss it with Isabelle, of course, but I’m sure she could find another one.”

“The house in Umbria?” He wanted everything.

“I really don’t know, Lorenzo. We’ll have to discuss that with Isabelle.” He nodded, not disagreeing with her.

“You know, the business, the jewelry store, it is going very well here.”

“Yes, it is,” she said vaguely.

“I would be very interested in becoming partners with you.” She wanted to stand up and slap him, but she didn’t.

“That will not be possible. We are talking about a cash investment, not a partnership.”

“I see. I will have to think about it.”

“I hope you do,” Sarah said quietly as she paid for the check, he made no move to take it from her. And Sarah said nothing to Isabelle about the lunch. She didn’t want to raise false hopes in case he decided not to take the bait, and maintain the status quo instead. But Sarah fervently hoped he wouldn’t.

The baby was still a month away, and Isabelle was anxious to introduce her to Lukas. He had taken an apartment in Rome for two months, looking into a project there, so he could be with her when she had the baby. And Sarah had to agree with her. She had done well this time. His only flaw was his wife and family in Munich.

He was tall and angular and young, with dark hair like Isabelle’s, he loved the outdoors, and skiing, and children, and art and music, and he had a wonderful sense of humor. And he tried to talk Sarah into opening a store in Munich.

“That’s not my decision anymore,” she said, laughing, but Isabelle wagged a finger at her.

“Oh, yes, it is, Mother, and don’t you pretend it isn’t.”

“Well, not mine alone at least.”

“What do you think then?” her daughter pressed her.

“I think it’s too soon to make that decision. And if you go to open a store in Munich, who will run Rome?”

“Marcello can run it blindfolded without me. And everyone loves him.” Sarah did, too, but opening yet another store was still a very big decision.

They spent a wonderful evening together, and Sarah told Isabelle afterwards that she was crazy about Lukas. She had another lunch with Lorenzo after that, but so far, he had made no final decision. Sarah had asked her discreetly how she felt about their two houses, and Isabelle had admitted that she hated them both, and didn’t care if Enzo took them, as long as she got the escape she wanted.

“Why?” she asked her mother, and Sarah was vague with her. But this time, at lunch, she pulled out her ace card and reminded Lorenzo that it would be grounds for an annulment in the Catholic Church, if Isabelle sought one on the basis of fraud, citing that he had entered into marriage knowing that he was sterile, but having concealed it from Isabelle. Sarah eyed him quietly but firmly, and almost laughed as she waited for him to panic. He tried to deny that he had known, but Sarah held her ground and didn’t let him. She reduced the cash offering from two million dollars to one, and offered him both houses. And he said he’d let her know, as he left her with the check and vanished.

Julian called them every few days to see how Isabelle was and if the baby had come, and by mid-February, Isabelle was going crazy. Lukas had to go back to Munich in two weeks, and the baby hadn’t come, and she was getting bigger by the minute. She had stopped work and she had nothing to do, she said, except buy handbags and eat ice cream.

“Why handbags?” her brother asked her, mystified, wondering if she had developed a new fetish.

“They’re the only thing that fit. I can’t even wear shoes anymore.”

He laughed at her, and then sobered when he told her that Yvonne had called him to tell him she was marrying Phillip in April. “That ought to be interesting in years to come,” he said ruefully to his sister. “How do I explain to Max that his aunt is really his mother, or vice versa?”

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe you’ll have found him a new mother by then.”

“I’m working on it,” he said, trying to sound light-hearted, but they both knew he was still deeply upset about Yvonne and Phillip. It had been a terrible blow to him, and a terrible slap in the face from Phillip, which was really why he’d done it. That and the fact that Julian’s wife had literally driven him crazy. “He must have always hated me a lot more than I realized,” he said sadly to his sister.

“He hates himself most of all,” she said wisely. “I think he’s always been jealous of all of us. I don’t know why. Maybe he liked having Mother to himself during the war or something. I just don’t know. But I can tell you one thing. He’s not a happy person. And he’s not going to be happy with her. The only reason she’s marrying him is so that she can be the Duchess of Whitfield.”

“Do you think that’s really it?” He wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse, but at least it was some explanation.

“I’m sure of it,” Isabelle said without hesitation. “The minute she met him you could hear bells going off that this was the big time.”

“Well, he’s getting a great piece of ass anyway.” He laughed, and she chuckled.

“You sound like you’re feeling better.”

“I hope you feel better soon too. Get rid of that baby,” he teased her.

“I’m trying!”

She did everything she could. She walked miles with Lukas every day, she went shopping with her mother. She did exercise, she went swimming in a friend’s pool. The baby was three weeks overdue and she said she was going to go crazy. And then finally, one day, after an endless walk, and a bowl of pasta in a trattoria, she started to feel things happen. They were at Lukas’s place, where she was staying. She hadn’t even spoken to Lorenzo in two weeks and she had no idea what he was up to, nor did she care now.

Lukas made her get up again as soon as she said something to him that night, and made her walk around the apartment, insisting that it would get things going. She called her mother at the hotel, and she came over in a taxi, and they sat around until midnight, drinking wine and talking, and by then Isabelle was starting to look distracted. She wasn’t laughing at their jokes, or paying much attention to what they said, and she started getting irritable with Lukas when he asked her how she was feeling.

“I’m fine.” But she didn’t look it. Sarah was trying to decide whether to go or stay, she didn’t want to intrude on them, and just when she had decided to leave, Isabelle’s water broke, and the pains suddenly got much worse. It made Sarah think of the past and when Isabelle herself had been born with such force and such speed, but she had been Sarah’s fourth child, and this was her first. It wasn’t likely to be as speedy.

But when they called the doctor at the Salvator Mundi Clinic he said to come then, and not wait much longer. And as they all left for the via delle Mura Gianicolensi in Lukas’s car, Sarah looked at her daughter with excitement. She was finally going to have the baby she had wanted for so long. She only hoped that one day she would have Lukas too. She deserved him.

The nurses at the hospital were very kind, and they settled Isabelle in their birthing room, which was all very modern. It was a big, friendly suite, and they offered Sarah and Lukas coffee while they got Isabelle settled. Isabelle was feeling very uncomfortable by then, and an hour later she said she was feeling terrible pressure. And through it all, Lukas talked to her, and held her hands, and wiped her forehead with damp cloths, and her lips with Chapstick. He never left her alone or stopped talking to her for a moment, as Sarah watched them. It was wonderful to see them so close and so much in love, and once or twice, he almost reminded her of William. He wasn’t as distinguished, or as handsome, or as tall. But he was a good man, and a kind, intelligent one, and it was obvious that he loved her daughter. She liked him more every time she saw him.

And then finally, Isabelle began to push, as she crouched on the bed with Lukas holding her, and then she lay back again and he held her shoulders and rubbed her back. He was tireless, and Sarah felt useless, and then suddenly Isabelle worked even harder and the whole room seemed to buzz with action and encouragement, and then they saw the head. Sarah saw the baby come out herself. It was a little girl and she looked just like Isabelle, as Sarah began to cry, and looked at her daughter. Isabelle had tears of joy streaming down her face, as Lukas held her and she held her baby. It was a beautiful sight, an unforgettable moment, and when Sarah went back to her hotel at dawn, she felt bathed in love and tenderness for them.

The next morning when she called Lorenzo and asked him to come to see her, she resolved to pay him anything he wanted. But he had gotten the point at their last lunch. He wanted both houses, and they settled for three million dollars. It was a high price to pay to get rid of him, but Sarah didn’t doubt for a moment it was worth it.

She told Isabelle that afternoon when she went back to the hospital, and a huge grin of relief broke out on her face. “Do you mean it? I’m free?” Sarah nodded as she bent to kiss her. Isabelle said it was the best gift she could have given her. And Lukas smiled at her as he held their baby.

“Maybe you’d like to come back to Germany with me, Your Grace,” he said hopefully, and Sarah laughed.

Lukas extended his stay in Rome by another two weeks, but then he had to go back to Germany and attend to his business. Sarah stayed until Isabelle came home from the hospital and helped her find a new house. And Sarah fell in love with the baby. Her two latest grandchildren had been a huge hit with her, she raved to Emanuelle, little Max was the cutest thing she’d ever seen since Julian was running around, and little Adrianna was a real beauty.

And this year, on Sarah’s birthday, there was a most interesting group present. Isabelle came alone with the baby. And Julian with Max. Xavier was in Africa again for the summer, but he had shipped home two extraordinary emeralds for her, with exact instructions about how to cut them. They were going to make two huge, square rings, and he thought it would be fabulous if she wore one on each hand. She explained the whole idea to Julian when she showed him the stones and he was impressed. They were beauties.

Phillip came with Yvonne, which wasn’t easy for Julian, but they were married now. And Sarah sensed that there was a certain meanness which made Phillip come to the château with her, and shove it in Julian’s face. But Julian handled it very well, as he did everything. He was such a decent person that it would have been hard for him not to. And interestingly, Yvonne showed absolutely no interest whatsoever in the child she had borne die year before. She never even looked at him while she was there. She spent most of her time getting dressed and putting on her makeup, and complaining about her room, it was either too warm or too cold, or the maid hadn’t helped her. And she wore an inordinate amount of jewelry, Sarah thought, which was intriguing. She was obviously making Phillip spend his pennies on her, and she made everyone call her Your Grace, constantly, which amused them, especially Sarah, who called her that, too, and Yvonne seemed not to notice that everyone was laughing, even Julian.

But as usual, it was Isabelle who really surprised her, as she and Sarah played with Adrianna one afternoon on the lawn. She was six months old and just crawling, and she was very busy trying to eat a blade of grass when Isabelle told her mother that she was pregnant again, and the baby was due in March this time.

“I assume it is Lukas’s baby, isn’t it?” she asked calmly.

“Of course.” Isabelle laughed. She adored him, and she’d never been happier. He was spending about half of his time in Rome and the other half in Munich, and it seemed to be working out pretty well, except for the fact that he was still married, though barely.

“Is there any chance he’ll be getting divorced soon?” her mother asked, but Isabelle shook her head honestly.

“I don’t think so. I think she’s going to do everything she can to resist it.”

“Does she realize he has a family somewhere else? With two children? That might get the point across.”

Isabelle nodded. “Not yet. But he says he’ll tell her, if he has to.”

“Isabelle, are you sure?” Sarah asked. “What if he never leaves her, if you’re alone with these children forever?”

“Then I’ll love them, and I’ll be happy to have them, just like you when you had Phillip and Elizabeth, and Daddy was away during the war, and you never knew if you’d see him again. Sometimes there are no guarantees,” she said wisely. She was getting smarter. “I’m willing to accept that possibility.” Sarah respected her for it, her life was certainly not conventional, but it was honest. And even Roman society seemed to have swallowed what had happened. She was back at the shop part-time, and designing jewelry, too, and things were going extremely well. She was still talking about a branch in Munich. Maybe if she ever married Lukas they would open a store there. There were some very knowledgeable people there and a real market for good jewelry.

Her divorce was due to come through by the end of the year, which meant that this baby would not have Enzo’s name, which was another obstacle for her to overcome, but Isabelle seemed ready to face it. Sarah wasn’t worried about her when she flew back to Rome with Adrianna. And after they all left, she found herself thinking, as she often did, what interesting lives they led. Interesting, but not easy.