Jewels (8 page)

“I’ll have to throw myself overboard if you two wipe me out.” The two women laughed, and the two young men nearby glanced at Sarah, one of them with considerable interest. But she turned away and began to stroll down the promenade deck with her father. As they talked, Edward Thompson was impressed by how much his daughter knew of world politics. She had apparently spent her time well of late, reading newspapers and magazine articles, and learning everything she could of the situation in Europe. He was reminded of how intelligent she was, how astute, and really was amazed at how much she knew. This was no ordinary girl, and she hadn’t just been wasting her time while she was hiding. She talked about the Civil War in Spain, Hitler’s annexation of Austria in March, and its implications, as well as his behavior two years before that in the Rhineland.

“How do you know all that?” her father asked, looking vastly impressed. She was wonderful to talk to.

“I read a lot.” She smiled shyly at him. “I don’t have much else to do, you know.” They exchanged a warm smile. “And I find it fascinating. What do you think will happen, Father? Do you think Hitler will declare war? He certainly seems to be gearing up for it, and I think the bond between Rome and Berlin could be very dangerous. Particularly given what Mussolini is doing.”

“Sarah”—he stopped and stared at her—“you amaze me.”

“Thank you.” They walked on for a time, talking in depth of the danger of war in Europe, and he hated to stop walking with her an hour later. There was a side to her he had never seen, a side that had clearly been wasted on Van Deering. They continued to talk animatedly over tea, as Edward expounded on his theory that the United States would never be involved in a war over there, and expressing the view that Ambassador Kennedy had already shared with his intimates, that England was in no position to engage in a war in Europe.

“It’s a shame we’re not going to Germany,” Sarah said, surprising her father. “I’d love to get a feeling for what’s happening there, or maybe even talk to people.” Listening to her made her father very glad they weren’t going there. Having Sarah delve into dangerous world politics was not in his plans for her. Being interested in what was happening in the world, being knowledgeable and informed, even to the degree she was, which was certainly rare, especially for a woman, was one thing, but going there and testing the water implied a danger he would never agree to.

“I think it’s just as well we’re staying in England and France. I’m not even sure we really should go to Rome. I thought we’d decide once we were in Europe.”

“Where’s your spirit of adventure, Father?” She teased, but he shook his head, much wiser than she was.

“I’m too old for that, my dear. And you should be wearing beautiful gowns and going to parties.”

“How dull.” She pretended to look bored, and her father laughed.

“You certainly are an unusual girl, Miss Sarah.” No wonder her marriage to Van Deering had been a disaster, and she had gone into hiding on Long Island. She was far too intelligent for him and most of the young men in his circle. And as they came to know each other better on the ship, her father came to understand her better.

By the third day out, Sarah seemed completely at ease walking around the ship. She still kept to herself, and had no particular interest in the young men aboard, but she ate with her parents in the dining room, and on the last night, she dined with them at the captain’s table.

“You’re not engaged to anyone, Miss Thompson?” Captain Irving asked with a twinkle in his eye, as her mother held her breath as to what she would answer.

“No, I’m not,” Sarah said coolly, with a faint blush on her cheeks, and a hand that trembled as she set down her wineglass.

“How fortunate for the young men in Europe.”

Sarah smiled demurely, but she felt the words like a knife to her heart No, she wasn’t engaged, she was waiting for her divorce to come through in November, one year after the hearing. Divorce. She felt like a ruined woman. But at least no one here knew, that was a blessing of sorts, and she was grateful for it. And with any luck at all, no one in Europe would know either.

The captain asked her to dance, and she looked beautiful in his arms, in an ice-blue satin dress her mother had had made for her before her wedding to Freddie. The dress had been part of her trousseau, and she felt a knot in her throat that night as she put it on. And another when a young man she had never met asked her to dance with him, immediately after the captain. She seemed to hesitate for a long time, and then nodded politely.

“Where are you from?” He was very tall, and very blond, and she could hear from his accent that he was English.

“New York.”

“Are you coming to London?” He seemed to be having a very good time, he had been watching Sarah for days, but he had found her to be very elusive and a little daunting. She had offered him no encouragement at all, which he found somewhat dismaying.

Sarah was intentionally vague with him. She had no interest in being pursued by anyone, and in an odd way, he reminded her a little bit of Freddie.

“Where would you be staying?”

“With friends of my parents,” she lied, knowing full well they had reservations at Claridge’s, and would be in London for at least two weeks, but she had no desire whatsoever to see him. And mercifully for her, the dance ended quickly. He attempted to hang around after that, but Sarah offered him no encouragement, and a few minutes later, he took the hint and went back to his own table.

“I see young Lord Winthrop is not to your liking,” the captain teased her. He had been the prize catch on the ship, and all the marriageable young ladies seemed determined to pursue him. All except for the extremely aloof Miss Thompson.

“Not at all. I simply don’t know him,” Sarah said coolly.

“Do you wish to be formally introduced?” the captain offered, but Sarah only smiled as she shook her head.

“No, thank you, Captain.” She danced with her father after that, and the captain commented to Victoria on her daughter’s intelligence and beauty.

“She’s an unusual girl,” he said, clearly in admiration of her. He had enjoyed talking to her, almost as much as her own father had during the five-day crossing. “And so pretty. She seems remarkably well behaved for someone so young. I can’t imagine you have any problems with her at all.”

“No.” Victoria smiled, proud of her youngest daughter, “except that she’s a little too well behaved.” Victoria smiled in spite of herself, dismayed by Sarah’s total indifference to young Lord Winthrop. It didn’t bode well for the rest of the young men in Europe. “She’s had a great disappointment in her life,” she confided in him, “and I’m afraid she’s been withdrawn from everyone for some time. We’re hoping to bring her out of herself a bit in Europe.”

“I see,” he nodded, understanding better now. It explained her total lack of interest in Phillip Winthrop. “She won’t be an easy young woman to find a man for,” he said honestly. “She’s too intelligent, and too wise, and she doesn’t seem to be interested in much in the way of nonsense. Perhaps an older man.” He liked the girl, and he found himself pondering the problem, and then smiled at her mother “You’re very fortunate. She’s a beautiful girl. And I hope she finds a wonderful husband.” Victoria found herself wondering if that was how it looked to all of them, that they were coming to Europe to find a husband for Sarah. Sarah would have a fit if she thought that even for a moment. Victoria thanked the captain, then had one last dance with him, and went to find her daughter and her husband.

“I think we should go to bed at a decent hour, you two. We have a big day tomorrow.” They were getting off in Cherbourg and going directly to Paris. Sarah had never been there, and they had a heavy sightseeing schedule, with a driver and a car that had been arranged for them by the hotel. They were staying at the Ritz, and after a week there they were moving on to Deauville, and Biarritz, to see friends, and then a week on the Riviera, in Cannes, and a few days in Monte Carlo with an old friend. And after all that, they were going to London.

The ship docked in Cherbourg at eight o’clock the next morning, and the Thompsons boarded the boat train in high spirits. Edward shared a list of places with them that he thought Sarah really should see, among them the Louvre, the Tuileries, Versailles, Malmaison, the Jeu de Paume, the Eiffel Tower, and, of course, Napoleon’s tomb. At the end of the recital, Victoria Thompson raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t hear the house of Chanel on that list … or Dior … or Balenciaga, or Schiaparelli. Did you forget them, dear?” Violet and mauve were “the” colors in Paris that year, and Victoria was anxious to shop for herself and Sarah.

“I tried to, my love.” He smiled benevolently. “But I didn’t think you’d let me forget for long.” He enjoyed indulging his wife, and was looking forward to indulging his daughter. But he also wanted to show her the more important cultural sights, some of which he began pointing out to her as they rode into Paris.

Their rooms at the Ritz, when they arrived, were absolutely beautiful. This time Sarah had a suite entirely separate from theirs, with a view of the Place Vendôme. She had to admit to herself as she stood in her room that there was something bittersweet about being there alone, and it would have been infinitely more enjoyable if she could have been there with her husband.

She sighed and went to bed alone in the enormous bed, under the down comforter, and in the morning, they went to the Louvre, and spent hours there. It was a very gratifying day for her parents, as was the rest of the trip. She was no longer resisting them, and in Paris they only had one friend, an old friend of Edward’s mother, and she invited them to tea on the rue Jacob. But there were no social events for Sarah to avoid. She could just enjoy the museums and the cathedrals and the shops, and the time she spent there with her parents.

Deauville was a little more strained, because the people they visited there insisted on forcing Sarah to meet their son, and did everything possible to provoke some interest between them. He was very interested in her, but Sarah found him unattractive, uninformed, and incredibly boring. She spent their entire stay there doing everything she could to avoid him. Likewise, the two brothers that were forced on her in Biarritz, and the grandson pressed on her in Cannes, not to mention the two “charming” young men introduced to her by their friends in Monte Carlo. By the end of their stay on the Riviera, Sarah was in a black mood, and barely speaking to her parents.

“Did you enjoy the Riviera, dear?” Victoria said to her innocently as they packed, preparing to leave the next day for London.

“No, I really didn’t,” Sarah said bluntly “Not at all”

“Really?” Her mother looked up in surprise, she thought she had been having a lovely time. They had been on several yachts, had spent a good deal of time on the beach, and had gone to several really splendid parties. “How disappointing.”

“I want you to know something, Mother.” Sarah looked at her squarely, and put down the white blouse she had been packing “I have not come to Europe to find another husband. I might remind you that, until November anyway, I am still married. And after that, I hope never to be married again. I’m sick and tired of everyone you know trying to force their idiot sons on me, or their illiterate grandsons, or their moronic cousins. I haven’t met a man here yet whom I can talk to, let alone want to spend as much as an hour with. I don’t want another man in my life, and I don’t want to be dragged all over Europe, shown off like some sort of backward girl, desperately in need of a husband. Is that clear?” Her mother looked stunned as she nodded. “And by the way, do any of these people know that I’ve been married before?”

Victoria shook her head. “I don’t really think so.”

“Well, maybe you should tell them. I’m sure they’d be far less enthusiastic about throwing their little idiot darlings at me if they knew that I was a divorced woman.”

“That’s not a crime, Sarah,” her mother said quietly, knowing full well how Sarah viewed it. To Sarah, it was a crime. An unforgivable sin she could not forgive herself, and she didn’t expect anyone else to either.

“It’s nothing to be proud of. And most people would hardly consider it an asset.”

“I didn’t suggest that it was, but it is not an insuperable affliction. There are people you’ll meet who will know, and who won’t mind. And when the time is right, with people who don’t know, you can always tell them, if you feel you have to.”

“Yes, it’s rather like a disease. One owes it to people to warn them.”

“Of course not. Only if you want to.”

“Maybe I should just wear a sign. You know, like a leper.” She sounded angry and bitter and sad, but she was sick of being paired off with young boys who held absolutely no interest whatsoever for her, and almost tore her clothes off. “Do you know what that de Saint Gilles boy did in Deauville? He stole all my clothes while I was changing, and then came in and tried to rip off my towel. He thought he was incredibly amusing.”

“How dreadful!” Her mother looked shocked. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I did. To him. I told him that if he didn’t give me back my clothes at once, I was going straight to his father, and the poor thing was so frightened, he gave me everything back and begged me not to tell anyone. He really was pathetic.” It was something a sixteen-year-old would do, not a man of twenty-seven. And they had all been like that so far, immature, spoiled, arrogant, ignorant, uneducated. She couldn’t bear it. “I just want you and Father to know that I am not here in Europe to look for a husband.” She reminded her mother again, as her mother nodded, and Sarah went back to her packing.

Victoria mentioned the incident to her husband that night, and told him about the young man in Deauville, and he thought the prank was stupid, but certainly harmless.

“The real problem is that she’s more mature than all of them. She’s been through a lot too. She needs someone older, more mature. These boys have no idea how to handle her. And given how she feels about getting involved with anyone again, they only annoy her. We have to be careful who we introduce her to in London.” The idea was not to turn her away from men completely, but at least to find one or two whose company she might enjoy, to remind her that there was more than solitude in life. But the boys she had met so far only made solitude look more appealing.