Triangle, p.20
Triangle, page 20
“I can’t remember,” she said, and Olivier laughed. Her domestic skills had not improved in his absence.
“Can we come over? I’ll bring you something to eat.” Pascal showed up half an hour later with Delphine and they brought crepes, omelets, pizza with an egg on it, some bread and cheese, and two steaming cups of cappuccino. Olivier ate as though he’d never seen food before, and Amanda ate the crepes and the omelet, and drank the cappuccino. Delphine had nearly fainted when she saw the blood on the rug and the mattress. Olivier and Amanda were still feeling shaky, but better after they ate. They sat at the kitchen table in their hospital pajamas and put the puzzle pieces together again for Pascal and Delphine. There were still things they didn’t know, but they knew more than they did before. Tom was obviously psychotic and a potential killer. It reminded her of the end of the book he had described to her that he was so pleased with, where the hero kills the woman he loves. It had been a preview of things to come, and she didn’t know it. She didn’t realize then that the message and the ending were meant for her.
Pascal and Delphine stayed with Amanda and Olivier until the police detectives arrived to question them further. They had new information from Interpol, some of which Tom had admitted to them himself. The detectives’ assessment was that he was deeply psychotic. He wasn’t on sabbatical, and he was no longer a partner in the law firm. He had attacked his wife with a knife in a jealous rage and had been committed for a year to a hospital for the criminally insane. He was convicted of a felony, so he was disbarred, and had recently been released from the psychiatric hospital. He had admitted to the police that he had come to Paris to find Amanda because his wife was divorcing him. And he had started stalking her when he saw her with Olivier. He had broken into her apartment twice, the night before being the third time, and he intended to kill her then, after he raped her, and he said she deserved it. And Olivier had ruined everything. Tom was going to be charged with two counts of attempted murder and one of attempted rape and go to prison. And the police assured them both that he would serve a very long sentence in France. He was showing no remorse for what he’d done, and only expressed regret that he hadn’t killed them both. It made Amanda shudder just hearing about it. But she was safe now. Her stalker had been apprehended. He couldn’t hurt her again.
She and Olivier signed their statements, and the police thanked them and left. The medical team came shortly after and checked their dressings and their vital signs, were satisfied with their condition, and promised to come again the next day. Not surprisingly, they found that Amanda’s heart rate was rapid, and Olivier’s blood pressure was low from shock and loss of blood, but they were in surprisingly good condition given what they’d been through.
Amanda covered the mattress in towels after that, and made the bed with clean sheets. She was going to order a new mattress the next day, but they had to make do with it for tonight. She was going to try to have the rug cleaned. It was an antique Aubusson, and she wasn’t sure they could save it. It seemed unimportant compared with all the rest. She and Olivier had survived, which was all that mattered.
Olivier called Stephanie to let her know that he was all right. He didn’t want to worry her, so he didn’t tell her what had happened or where he’d been.
“Did you get in touch with your friend?” she asked him.
He smiled when he answered. “I did.”
“Was she pleased with the news?” He smiled at Amanda as he answered.
“I think so.”
Pascal called later to check on them, and sent them dinner. He was so grateful they hadn’t been killed.
Amanda and Olivier lay in bed together that night, thinking back on everything that had happened. She wondered if Tom had even written a book. Maybe all he’d done was plot to kill her, and nothing else.
* * *
—
It took Amanda and Olivier several days to recover from the trauma they’d been through, and to start to make plans for the future. They had a future now, and a life, which seemed infinitely precious. More than ever before.
“Do you want to move in with me?” Amanda asked him after he discussed the details of his divorce with her. They were going to sell the house, once Stephanie was fully recovered. She didn’t want to be disturbed by potential buyers until she was well.
“Do you have room for me, like enough closet space?” Olivier asked her. She had only given him a very small closet before.
“No,” she said cheerfully. “But I can make some.”
“I’d like that,” he said quietly, grateful for every moment with her. Stephanie’s revelations had taught him how little one knew about people sometimes, even those you knew well. But nothing he had seen of Amanda worried him or made him feel uneasy.
* * *
—
Tom Quinlan signed a full confession and was sent to prison. He got life imprisonment for two counts of murder, since attempted murder carried the same weight in France. The attempted rape was added as an aggravating circumstance. And the attempt to murder Amanda was premeditated. His attorney estimated that he would serve twenty-five to thirty years. Twenty if he was exceptionally lucky, to be decided by a committee in later years. Olivier told Stephanie the story and she was shocked, and so relieved that he hadn’t been killed.
It was another month before Stephanie was out of the wheelchair and on crutches. And at the end of another month, she was riding again. She wasn’t ready for the shows yet, but Valerie, Veronique, and Lizzie had signed up for several and she was going to travel with them until she was fully recovered.
Before the four women left on the show circuit, they all had dinner together, with Olivier and Amanda. She told Stephanie about meeting her and Lizzie at the Hermès show, and Stephanie remembered.
Their divorce had already been filed, and Olivier and Stephanie had told their sons about it. They weren’t surprised, and Stephanie had not told them yet about Lizzie. She was planning to in the coming months, and wanted to give them one big piece of news at a time. But both sons had said that their parents hadn’t gotten along for all of their lives and hardly saw each other, so it wouldn’t be a big change. Their mother marrying a woman would be a much bigger one. Amanda had a feeling they’d get through it, and Olivier was going to make it clear to them that he supported it, and thought their mother was very brave to be so honest. They still had to meet Amanda too, which compared to the rest would be a nonevent.
* * *
—
“Things move fast in your life,” Pascal commented when Amanda talked to him about it. He was mildly surprised when she told him about Stephanie and the reason for the divorce, but they agreed that life was like that, full of surprises that no one could ever have predicted, and Stephanie and Olivier would set the tone, which hopefully would make it easier for their sons to accept.
* * *
—
The divorce was final in eight months, because there were no points of contention. Olivier and Stephanie agreed to an amicable settlement. They were going to divide the proceeds of the house sale in half, and Stephanie only wanted a very small spousal support to help defray the cost of the upkeep of her horses, which Olivier was happy to pay. They were fair with each other in the end, even if they had gotten off on the wrong foot at the start. They had been too young to know how to deal with the hand they’d been dealt. Stephanie had to come to terms with who she was, and Olivier had to be brave enough to want more out of life than he was getting. Amanda had shown him that. And in the end, Stephanie and Olivier had wound up with the right partners for them.
Amanda and Olivier went to Deauville and saw Stephanie ride in her first jumping competition when she was fully recovered. She won first place. She was back!
By the time the divorce was final, Guillaume and Edouard had been told about their mother and Lizzie. She chose the Christmas holidays to tell them, which wouldn’t have been Olivier’s first choice, but it was Stephanie’s decision. Guillaume took it better than Edouard, who was more traditional, but in the end they agreed that it was their mother’s life and her right to make the choices that suited her. And fortunately, they already knew Lizzie well and liked her a lot.
Amanda was easy for them when they met her. She brought no baggage to the table, and didn’t interfere with their time with their father. She and Olivier took them on a skiing holiday in Verbier and spent the whole time enjoying each other and seeing friends. Amanda met the men at the bottom of the ski slope every day in her perfect après-ski outfits. Olivier was thrilled to see her. And she was easy and relaxed with his sons, who found her easy to relate to.
Amanda was young enough to be fun for them, and old enough to handle their family situation and complications with poise and delicacy. She was there to make things easier for Olivier, not more difficult. She made few demands on him. She was exactly what she had appeared to be from the beginning, an independent woman with a fine mind and a big heart, who loved him. He had everything with her that he’d always hoped for and never had, and she provided a warm home for him and his sons, which was more traditional than the scenario provided by their mother, who was happier now, at ease in her own skin, and better able to love them as a result.
Chapter 16
It was a beautiful balmy June day at the chic, perfectly tended, very social Paris Polo Club. It was where all the polo games were held, and Olivier’s son Guillaume played there often when he was in Paris. The boys had grown up there, and it held warm memories for them. Their mother had carefully chosen the location.
There were eighty places set in the clubhouse restaurant, which had been taken over for the private event. Women in elegant hats arrived, mostly from Stephanie’s riding club. Her parents would have approved of the choice of venue, or their chateau outside Paris, but the Polo Club was chic and fun, and very exclusive.
A makeshift altar had been set up with a lavish arch of white flowers, mostly orchids and lilies and white roses, with sprays of lily of the valley, and the arrangements on each table matched it. The crystal and silver gleamed, and the polo field was quiet. The officiant was a minister from the American Church in Paris. Stephanie had had a Catholic church wedding the first time, and was divorced, not annulled, so they needed a Protestant minister this time, and one who was comfortable marrying them.
Guillaume and Edouard were their witnesses and were honored to be asked. They stood tall in dark gray suits, their hair a little longer than their father would have liked, but looking neat and proper with shined shoes, new white shirts, and blue ties from Hermès.
Olivier walked the brides down the aisle, with one on either arm. The brides were both wearing white Chanel dresses. Stephanie’s was a very simple white lace suit with an ankle-length skirt, and matching shoes, and Lizzie’s was a short white satin jacket with a white tulle skirt that made her look very young and like a Degas ballerina. She had toned down her usual stilettoes for white satin ballerina flats in honor of the grass in the ceremony area. Olivier led them to the waiting minister and left them with him under the white floral arch. Both women were wearing short white veils and carrying bouquets of lily of the valley. It was a very proper wedding, with traditional vows. Everything about it respected time-honored customs familiar to all. The only thing missing was a groom, but no one seemed to mind.
And once he had left the brides at the altar, Olivier took his place in the front row next to his wife, Amanda, who was three months pregnant, a surprise baby having been conceived on their wedding night. It didn’t show yet, and they were hoping for a girl, due in December. They had gotten married as soon as the divorce was final. Stephanie and Lizzie had waited a little longer, to fit the wedding into their show schedule.
The ceremony was solemn and respectful, the text only slightly adjusted for the circumstances and the homily a serious one. The brides walked down the grassy aisle after the ceremony, beaming, holding hands, wearing narrow gold wedding rings from Cartier. There had been no engagement rings. Their engagement had lasted twenty years and had already withstood the test of time.
The reception was jubilant, the champagne flowed, the music was joyous, there was dancing, and Olivier led his wife onto the dance floor with their baby between them. She had worn a pale blue dress with a matching hat and coat from Dior, and she looked radiant. They danced a slow waltz halfway through the afternoon and smiled.
“Happy?” he asked her.
“Perfectly. Exquisitely.” And then she whispered to him. “Our wedding was more fun.” They had been married at the American Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity on the Avenue George V in Paris, by the same minister. Their reception for a hundred and fifty with a black-tie dinner was held at her gallery, and the guests danced all night to a band flown in from London, and a DJ that followed them. The wedding had been more formal and very elegant, and it suited them. Pascal had been best man, and did double duty and walked Amanda down the aisle. Stephanie’s was more serious, to balance the social shockwaves caused by the fact that she was marrying a woman. Edouard and Guillaume were at both weddings, and were happy for their parents.
Olivier smiled as he looked at Amanda. “If anyone had told me twenty-six years ago that I’d be dancing at this wedding today, I’d have laughed at them.”
“It’s a pretty wedding, though, the girls did a nice job.” Veronique and Valerie were the matrons of honor and had guided the caterer with an iron hand. Each of the two weddings was perfect for the people getting married.
“And now a new baby,” he reminded her, and she blushed. Amanda was still embarrassed about being pregnant at forty.
“People will think I’m her grandmother,” and she could have been, but in her heart she was still a young mother, and a bride three months earlier.
“It shows how unexpected life is. You never know what’s going to happen, or who it will happen with. When I met you at that boring dinner party with the accordion that we both hated, who knew that I would marry you, or that I’d be standing here at my ex-wife’s wedding to a woman. It’s what makes life interesting,” Olivier said. And no one who saw any of them would guess what they’d been through, the changes, the terrors, the heartbreaks, the disappointments, the joys, the things that seemed so important when they happened and were forgotten a few years later.
All that mattered was what was happening in that moment, that one shining instant when two people were joined in a private union shared with close friends who were there to support them, whether two women were marrying, or a man and a woman. They were two hearts fluttering through the stormy skies of real life, looking for the rainbow at the other end. Stephanie and Lizzie and Olivier and Amanda had found it. It was everything one could ask or hope for. They had found the right path for them, and the right person. And what anyone else thought of it didn’t matter at all.
About the Author
DANIELLE STEEL has been hailed as one of the world’s bestselling authors, with a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Joy, Resurrection, Only the Brave, Never Too Late, Upside Down, The Ball at Versailles, Second Act, Happiness, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Expect a Miracle, a book of her favorite quotations for inspiration and comfort; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children’s books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.
daniellesteel.com
Facebook.com/DanielleSteelOfficial
X: @daniellesteel
Instagram: @officialdaniellesteel
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Danielle Steel, Triangle
