The Last Princess (50 page)

The room was utterly still. Then, Harry erupted. “It’s that man, that Jean-Paul Duval! He should be shot—”

Lily held up her hand. “Just a minute, Harry. The truth of the matter is that Melissa herself doesn’t want the baby. I know it’s unbelievable, but she says that she has no maternal feelings about her at all.”

“She’s very young, of course,” Ellis tactfully hastened to say. “I’m sure it would be different if she were older.”

“Well, be that as it may, she’s absolutely determined.”

“So what are we going to do?” Harry cried. “Isn’t there any way we can force her to take it?”

“Would that really be the best for the baby? A mother who doesn’t want her?”

“But we can’t allow her to be given away, Lily!”

“I know.” She hesitated, then blurted out, all in a rush. “The truth is that I want to adopt her myself.”

“What? Lily, that’s insanity!”

“I’m not letting that baby go,” she said, determination in every word. “There’s no way on earth I’ll give my granddaughter away to strangers.”

“You’re going to raise a child all by yourself—at your age?”

“I’m not that old, Harry. And I’m perfectly able—”

“But we’re divorced! No court is going to give you custody.”

Lily’s eyes narrowed. “Well, that’s what I’m getting around to. I was wondering if you would consider putting off our divorce until I’ve gotten legal custody. The divorce papers aren’t final yet.” She looked away. “I haven’t signed them.”

Ellis, watching silently, had to bite his lip to keep from crying out in protest. He had waited so many years for Lily to be free from Harry, and now this.

But Harry and even Lily seemed oblivious of his inner turmoil. And through the years they’d come to rely on Ellis on every major decision. It seemed only natural that they turn to him for counsel.

“Do you think it will do the trick, Ellis?” Lily asked.

Startled, Ellis said, “You mean concerning the custody question?”

“Yes, of course.”

Frowning, he shrugged. “I really can’t say. One thing you need to bear in mind is that Jean-Paul Duval is French. The courts here may be a little reluctant to give a child born to a French father on French soil to a pair of Americans.”

“Oh, no!” Lily cried. “I hadn’t thought of that!’ Turning to Harry, she appealed, “What are we going to do?”

Harry’s brow furrowed. Suddenly he said, “I have an idea! Lily, what if we pretended that this baby is our child? If we could only get her back to America somehow and keep you out of sight for a bit, we could tell people that we’ve reconciled and are expecting a child. Then, in a few months, we could announce the birth of a baby girl.”

Ellis was stunned. This was the wildest scenario he had ever heard, wilder than anything that had ever come out of Harry’s pen. But Lily, though a little taken aback, quickly turned pragmatic.

“Do you really think it would work?”

“Why not?’ Harry asked, eyes suddenly ablaze. “It would solve all our problems. The baby would be with us, it would be legitimate in the eyes of the world—and there’s something else. Lily, that baby looks so much like you, especially with her red hair, no one will ever doubt you’d given birth to her …”

His voice trailed off, but Ellis could have finished the sentence. “… and you and I will be together again.”

Ellis turned away to hide the bitterness he was sure was evident in his eyes. It was as if the gods were conspiring against him. Just when he thought that he was about to triumph, Harry had once again pulled a rabbit out of a hat. A baby—the one thing Lily couldn’t resist. How was he to compete with that? It seemed he and Lily were doomed never to be together.

“Ellis?” she asked. “What do you think?”

Ellis shrugged. He knew when he was beaten. “It doesn’t matter what I think. But you’ll have a heck of a time getting the baby out of the country without a passport.”

“They can be had, for a price,” Harry said flatly. “We’ll get hold of one.”

The rest of the evening was hell for Ellis, as he was forced to sit silently, listening to Harry develop his plans. He could barely be civil. As soon as they had eaten, he claimed he had work to attend to and excused himself.

Back in his suite, he didn’t turn on the light. Instead, he walked to the window and looked down at the Seine. At that moment he would have liked to wring Harry’s neck. His anger was the closest thing to pure hatred he had ever felt. The thought of losing Lily yet again made him sick with rage—and despair.

T
HE NEXT MORNING ELLIS
flew home. Lily no longer needed him. And with the way he was feeling, it would not be good for either of them if he stayed. Meanwhile, through one of Lily’s French cousins, Harry got the address of a swarthy little man who knew the ins and outs of document forgery. By the end of the week, Harry was in possession of a false birth certificate and American passport for a Miss Susan Kelly of Baltimore. He hired a French girl to fly the baby to the States; there could be no connection between the infant and Harry and Lily Kohle.

Upon the baby’s arrival in America, the bogus documents would be burned and the mysterious Susan Kelly would disappear forever.

After all was ready, Harry went back to New York. He had never told Lily about his hospitalization, but it was obvious to her that his lungs were not what they once were. When it became clear he wasn’t getting better, Lily grew concerned.

“Go see a doctor, Harry. See if he can’t give you something to get rid of that terrible cough.”

Making light of it, he shrugged. “I may drop in on Doc Simon once we get back. But I know what he’ll say. ‘Cut down on the smoking.’”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” was her reply.

After his departure, Lily moved from the George V to a charming, light-filled pension just off the Avenue Victor Hugo. It was walking distance from the hospital. She was able to visit Melissa several times a day.

Conversations with her daughter were strained. They avoided talking about the baby and about Jean-Paul. Duval had apparently come to see Melissa and had then gone off to ski again. Melissa said little about his visit.

Lily was glad that her path had not crossed his; she knew that if she had seen him she would not have been able to control herself.

The baby, by contrast, was pure joy, fostering happy daydreams of the time when she would take her home.

In the long hours away from the hospital, she began to rediscover the Paris of her youth. Her old friend Colette came in from Lyon, where she lived with her banker husband and three teenaged children. Colette was as lighthearted and entertaining as ever, and as they lunched and shopped, chattering away about old times, Lily felt the warmth of their old friendship even more than she had in the past.

Several days later, she regretfully bid Colette adieu at the Gare de Lyon. Lily realized how much she had missed having a close girlfriend over the years. Much as she knew Colette had her family to go back to, she wished she could return with her to the States, if only for a time. Then again, Lily reflected, she herself had a family to think of now, too.

Finally the long-awaited day came. The baby was released from the incubator and Lily held her in her arms for the first time. Tears flowed down her cheeks, but they were tears of joy. Never had she felt anything quite like this, even for her own children.

“Cadeau,” she whispered softly. “I’m going to name you Cadeau. In French, that means ‘gift’—and that’s what you are—my gift from God.”

It was another two weeks until tiny Cadeau was released from the hospital. The plan went into action then.

They had anticipated no problems at Orly, as the nursemaid boarded holding the baby, but throughout the long flight over the Atlantic, Lily couldn’t help but worry. What would happen if the baby’s passport were questioned? Suddenly, it seemed so many things could go wrong.

But the first thing she saw as she stepped off the plane, with Françoise and Cadeau three or four people behind her, was the two men in her life, Harry and Ellis, standing together and waving. Her spine stiffened with resolve. She would carry this off—she
would!

At Customs, Lily answered their question, “Do you have anything to declare?” with outward calm, though she felt dangerously close to hysteria. If only they knew!

She turned and saw Françoise surrendering her passport and the baby’s for inspection. Her heart beat faster as she looked on. But the moment passed with incredible swiftness as she saw the official glance cursorily at the documents, stamp them, and hand them back.

When Françoise joined them in the waiting car, Lily reached out for the baby. “Cadeau, darling Cadeau,” she cried breathlessly as she cradled the baby in her arms. “I love you, my sweet baby.”

Harry reached over and stroked the baby’s downy head with gentle fingers. He had never felt such an overwhelming sense of joy. He, Lily, the baby … on their way to The Meadows to start a new life together. No scene could have held greater joy for him than this.

Both Kohles smiled involuntarily as Cadeau opened her rosebud mouth in a tiny yawn.

At the wheel, Ellis was aware of a feeling of bitter irony. From the disaster of Cadeau’s unwanted birth, all, it seemed, had achieved their heart’s desire—all except him.

N
OT A NEWSPAPER IN
the country, from Boston to San Francisco, failed to print the item Ellis had circulated to the effect that a reconciliation had occurred between Mr. and Mrs. Harry Kohle. It was rumored that they were enjoying a second honeymoon at their country estate, The Meadows.

But the next news to hit the columns was even more of a sensation: Mrs. Harry Kohle was expecting a baby. Although she was middle-aged, with a nearly grown-up daughter, such miracles had been known to happen before. They had given the servants, except for Mary and Joe, the month off and had arranged for them to leave before Lily’s arrival with the baby. They simply told their friends Lily was confined to bed rest. It seemed their secret would be safe.

Lily hadn’t known quite what to expect from Harry—how they would deal with each other after the long separation—but they settled into their lives at The Meadows with surprisingly little difficulty. It was almost as if they had just been apart for the weekend and now were back together again, so settled was the routine they soon found themselves in.

The only difference was that they had separate bedrooms now. And also this: Despite the long years together, and despite the fact they now shared the same roof over their heads, the two had little emotional involvement. It seemed as if they were polite acquaintances. And Lily was determined to keep it that way.

Harry was not writing. He’d finished
The Sod
six months before, but had not started another project since. His lung problems seemed to improve along with the weather, but he seemed content to do nothing except sit in the warm sunshine playing with Cadeau as Lily spaded in the garden.

From time to time, she would look over and smile. It was wonderful to see him holding the baby, shaking the silver rattle at her or talking to her in his own bumbling version of baby talk.

Much as the scene moved her, she couldn’t help thinking,
Why couldn’t he have been like this for our own children
? They had needed his love and attention every bit as much as Cadeau. If only he’d taken a more active role in fathering them. But Harry simply hadn’t known how to be close to them. When his own children were little, they had simply gotten on his nerves.

Now, Harry was a changed man. This was the Harry she had always wanted—a companion and friend, a devoted father. Ruefully, Lily thought, if he had always been like this, there never would have been the resentment, the quarrels, the estrangement.

But if he had subjugated himself to her needs so totally, would he have become a world-famous writer? Or would he still be struggling along in poverty and obscurity? Or worse yet, cursing her for limiting his potential?

Strangely, she could view the question dispassionately. For now she still felt detached from matters which should have troubled her deeply. The hard shell she had built around her heart in the wake of the separation still remained. The intense love she had felt for him throughout their long marriage seemed to have gone forever, and Lily neither mourned it nor wished for its return. Her only wish was for these peaceful days to continue. Then she would be content.

As the time came closer for Cadeau’s “birth” to be announced, Lily began to breathe more easily. The deception that they were perpetrating on the world still troubled her a little. It would be easier for her to accept once she could drop the charade of being pregnant. The “birth” announcement would bring relief.

Then, the bombshell broke: Edward R. Murrow, host of a famous television show, one of the most popular shows in the country, had called Ellis. He wanted to come to The Meadows to interview the Kohles as they awaited the birth of their fifth child.

“No, Harry! Absolutely not!” Lily was adamant. “I’m not going on camera in a live interview with a pillow tied around my middle!”

“Lily, don’t you see?” Harry expostulated. “It’s our golden opportunity! Who will question the date of Cadeau’s birth when they have seen you, obviously pregnant, on TV?”

“Oh, Harry!” she cried helplessly. “How far can this deception go?”

“It’s for Cadeau’s sake, Lily. Isn’t that worth a little deception?”

Lily had to give in. “Of course. When you put it like that, anything is worth it.”

Still, she was nervous beyond words the day the crews arrived and began bustling around the vast drawing room, setting up their cameras and dollies. Meanwhile, Edward R. Murrow and Harry sat together chatting, entirely at ease as they each lit one cigarette after another.

And then, suddenly, they were in position. The director said, “Lights—camera—action!” and the cameras were rolling as Murrow began. “I am here at the beautiful estate of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Kohle. He is, as you all know, the world-famous Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
The Wars of Archie Sanger
,
The Genesis
, and the soon-to-be-published
The Sod
. Now I take you to their drawing room. Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Kohle!”