All That the Heart Desires (33 page)

The morning in Paris was cold, foggy and gloomy; everything that the Cote d’Azur wasn’t. I realised quickly I hadn’t dressed warmly enough. It was seven o’clock when I parked in the company garage. Anne-Marie was true to her word and she did call me three times during the night. At midnight I told her to go to sleep. Her sons would need her in the morning.

Just before entering Paris, a text had come from Harry, instructing me to go directly to the company office and not to the apartment. I knew he had spent the whole day and night there. It was about time to think about putting an end to his insomnia. I hoped he’d let Irene go home the day before.

He didn’t. She was behind her desk and I told her to go home. She tried to refuse but I showed her the door. Harry was impossible every time he buried himself in his work and that was most of the time.

Irene looked back from the door.

“Merci.”

I nodded in acknowledgment and she was gone.

I went to Harry, grabbed him under his arms and forced him to go home. He was as tough to convince as Irene, but in the end he did what I told him. All I wanted was for Harry to get some sleep.

Those four hours after I almost locked him into his bedroom, and the company working hours began, I thought I would go insane. Before I managed to answer one phone call, another one was waiting or as soon as I put the phone down, it rang again.

I wrote down almost five pages of messages for Harry. At that point I was sorry I didn’t know exactly what was going on in the company. If I had, I could have helped much more. I hadn’t a clue. However, I knew one day of Harry’s absence would not bankrupt the company.

At two o’clock in the afternoon Harry was out of his bedroom. He was refreshed and freshly shaven too. All I could do was hope he had slept during those four hours. He came to the sitting room and placed his hands on my shoulders.

“Thank you,” he said and kissed me on my head.

I smiled.

“Anytime.”

“You know that means you will need to move back to Paris,” he laughed. I sighed and nodded. I knew it meant that.

“You don’t need to, if you don’t want to. What’s this?” he asked when he saw all of my scribbled notes.

“Messages for you.” He looked surprised.

“My phone didn’t ring.”

“It couldn’t,” I smiled in reply. “I had your calls redirected.” He looked at me in astonishment.

“Now what was so important that I needed to get back to Paris?” I asked him. He went to the windows and looked out.

“On Thursday you are going to Monza.” He didn’t need to say anything else. I knew I would have to take on the role of ‘delivery boy’.

Tuesday was ours and I was pretty sure Harry would work most of what was left of the day. But he didn’t. He didn’t even cast an eye over the notes and messages I’d taken. I didn’t want to irritate him with them. No one really called after I told several department managers to solve matters on their own (that was actually the reason they had their jobs). I wondered if there would be any rebellion the following day.

Later, we went to get some lunch, but as the old
auberge
with outstanding food and wine turned out not to be in the city, it took us a good hour to get there. In the end, it was more of an early dinner than an actual lunch. But I didn’t mind; we were alone again. Some time had passed and we were relaxing, talking about things before both our lives had become too complicated. Harry told me some stories from my childhood and it was reassuring to hear his memories again. We’d spent too long caught up in tragedy, rather than remembering the good times.

Returning to the city, the Eiffel Tower was already illuminated and I tried to look at it with the same admiration as the first time that I’d seen it lit up. I acknowledged that it was really something special, an engineering wonder from the nineteenth century and still standing. I managed to put my personal tragedy behind and look at the tower without feeling sorry for myself.

It was late evening when we came home. I hadn’t realised that the whole afternoon Harry had left his mobile at home and it rang the moment we entered the apartment.

“I’m sorry,” he apologised and went to his room. All that was left for me was to guess who had called him. I was in the sitting room when he came back out of the study. The clock started to strike ten and I was finally reading the book I’d borrowed from Anne-Marie.

“The House of Dame still stands?”

He smiled and nodded.

“The papers will be ready tomorrow afternoon. The jet will wait for you on Thursday morning. You will leave for Monza immediately and stay there until Crest gives everything back to you.”

“Why?” I wanted to know.

“You agreed,” he said. I knew that, but I wanted to know everything. Why a jet? Why I needed to stay there until.

“I’ll go by car,” I said. Harry shook his head.

“No. Crest is sending his jet. The documents you will be carrying are very important.”

“You’re just playing with me,” I said angrily. “If you’re trying to get me back together with Lorcan, you won’t succeed. He found a new toy.”

“You left him. Remember?”

I didn’t answer. He was right. I’d told Lorcan my story and left. What was I expecting? That he’d run after me? Did I really expect that? He was a five times Formula 1 World Champion. His sixth title was not that far away from him.

“It was better for both of us.”

Harry stood up, came to me and kissed me on my forehead.

“Just keep telling yourself that, my dear sister,” he said, and left me alone in the sitting room.

The next day I tried to reason with him but Harry stayed firm in his and Crest’s decision. On Thursday I was supposed to leave Paris and fly to
Milano
by private jet. My thoughts about it all being a massive waste of money fell on deaf ears.

When Harry came home, he handed me a briefcase. Although I knew what was in it, I asked him about the contents. He rolled his eyes, took the briefcase from my hands and went to the sitting room. I followed him.

One by one he took out all of the documents and explained them to me. Finally he showed me the itinerary. I was supposed to go to Le Bourget airport where the plane would wait for me and afterwards I would return the same way.

Luckily Harry didn’t realise that I was only half listening to him. By the time he finished with all the instructions, I’d already made my plans.

The next morning we parted. It was quite a different morning than the day before. No fog, just a clear sky; quite rare during the autumn in Paris. The Eiffel Tower bathed in the rising sun.

At first Harry insisted on escorting me to the airport, but I refused. After a few minutes of arguing, Harry finally decided to go straight to the office and I – supposedly—to the airport.

Before we said farewell, he gave me a pile of magazines. I looked at him as though he’d escaped from an asylum.

“So you will have something to do on the way,” he explained.

“Yeah, right,” I answered and threw them on the back seat of my car.

“Call me,” were his last words. All I did was nod and he was gone. But only when his car vanished behind the first corner did I finally allowed myself to sigh with relief. I got into my car and drove off.

In an hour I was out of Paris and on my way to
Milano
. I wondered how much time would pass before they realised I wasn’t coming to the airport.

Although the road was busy, the drive was uneventful. Checking the car clock, I saw I’d been on the road for three hours and yet there were still no phone calls. It was already an hour after the scheduled take-off of the plane, but my phone was silent.

After some time, I decided to make a stop and stretch my legs, get some coffee and fill the car with petrol. After doing this, I checked my phone. It was dead. On one hand I was glad, on the other, I knew Harry was probably freaking out in Paris not being able to get me on the phone.

Searching the car, I found that I didn’t have my car charger with me. I realised nothing could be done until I got to Monza, where I would then be able to call him from the hotel.

Arriving in Milano, the day was slowly drawing to an end. I went straight to the Hotel Aurora where they’d booked me a room. Although The House of Dame was in the fashion business, this was my first visit to Milano. Luckily my Tom-Tom navigation knew where I should go and I was not lost in the streets of the city.

When I booked in and collected my card key from the receptionist, she gave nothing away about what was waiting for me in the room. Upon answering my question regarding any messages that may have been left, she stated that there were none, and that in itself was truly strange, knowing I had a mobile with no battery.

Unlocking the suite, I closed the door behind me and stepped into the living room. The room was in half shadow but nonetheless I spotted three silhouettes—two of them sitting in the armchairs and one standing by the window.

Startled at first, I knew exactly who they were. I stood where I was, without saying anything. Three pairs of eyes were watching me put my suitcase down. The silence would have continued if someone’s mobile hadn’t rung.

As soon as Daniel Crest had silenced his mobile, Harry spoke very calmly, although it was clear he was seething.

“Have you really lost your mind?!” I felt the storm was rising.

“I’m twenty-five. I can make decisions on my own. What the hell are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here!?” he couldn’t hold back any more. “What am I doing here? How do you think I felt when Daniel here called me to tell me that you didn’t show up on the plane? I’ve been trying to reach you on your mobile, it was off…”

“The battery is dead…” I said. I didn’t want to fight with him in the presence of his business partner and my … ex-lover? Ex-boyfriend? A friend with benefits? I lost myself in my own thoughts so I missed half of the lecture from Harry.

“ … I’m going back to Paris. You will follow me on Sunday afternoon.” He was now standing in front of me.

“Right,” I said with no real knowledge of what he was talking about. “See you on Monday.”

“Monday? You said Monday?” he asked surprised. Crest and Lorcan had remained seated. No one moved, no one commented.

“Yes, it took me nine hours to get…”

“You’re going back by plane. As it was arranged from the beginning.” I was completely lost. What was he talking about? I came by car and I would leave by car.

“But…” I started, but Harry stopped me.

“Oh, be quiet! Your BMW is already on its way back to Paris.”

“What?!” But Harry wouldn’t listen to me anymore. He turned around and spoke to both men in the room.

“Will you explain to her and put some common sense into her head?” Harry turned back to me, briefly hugged me and kissed me on my cheek.

“See you in Paris.” A few moments later, he was gone. All I saw was the closed door.

Daniel Crest stood up. He came closer and smiled at me.

“I believe this is for me,” he said and took the briefcase from my hands.

“Yes, it is.”

“It’s really nice to see you again. But boy, you’re giving your brother a hard time.” I looked at him as though I didn’t understand what he was saying.

“I’ll leave you two and be on my way.”

And there we were again, alone in the room. I didn’t know what to say. It looked like Lorcan was speechless too. After a while, I went to the nearest armchair and sat down, not saying anything.

“Would you like something to drink?” Lorcan asked me quietly. All I did was nod. When he offered me a glass, I took it without thinking or looking at him. He sat down across the table and didn’t say a word. He waited for me to say something but nothing smart came into my mind.

“Why did you drive here?” I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m not good at taking orders.” And we were silent again. When only a sip stayed in the crystal glass, I started to play with it, rolling the liquid around.

“Don’t you need to be somewhere?” I asked him suddenly and looked straight into his grey eyes.

“No. Not tonight. Tomorrow is just…”