Alexandra stood even taller than usual and lifted her chin. ‘If you’ve seen everything you want to see, can I show you out? As I said, I have a lot to do.’
Watching Lucinda walk away a few minutes later Alexandra realised she wasn’t quite sure who’d won that argument. But on balance she felt that she had been the more dignified, which definitely scored points.
One of the many things that had been worrying Alexandra in a low-level way was the mural in the orangery. Félicité was painting it, and sometimes Jules, her boyfriend, helped her. Alexandra had promised not to go and look at it on her own and Félicité seemed very secretive about it. But Alexandra really wanted to see it while there was still time to paint over it and do another one. She knew Penelope had said she wanted to inspect the orangery too and she certainly didn’t want her walking in to see something outrageous.
When she went into the kitchen for a snack a few days after Lucinda’s visit and saw Félicité spreading butter on a bit of bread, Alexandra decided that now was the time.
‘Félicité,’ she said, sitting down opposite her. ‘The mural. I need to see it. Your grandmother wants to come and show the orangery to her caterers. I don’t want her to see it before I have.’
Félicité chewed agonisingly slowly. ‘’K,’ she said. ‘It’s not finished but it’s near enough.’
‘You’ll let me look?’ Alexandra hadn’t realised until now quite how much she’d been worrying about it. In the scheme of things it was a tiny issue, but the orangery was the heart of the wedding for Penelope and it had to be right.
‘Yup. But not on your own. I’ll come with you. When I’ve finished my breakfast.’
‘No hurry,’ said Alexandra. ‘I want something to eat myself. Is Antoine still at the farm?’
‘Yup. I don’t want him seeing it until it’s done.’
‘Fine.’ Alexandra took the end of baguette that Félicité had left and buttered it. ‘When it’s finished we should have a grand unveiling.’
‘Could we invite Jules’s parents?’
Alexandra nodded. ‘I’m sure you could.’ She paused, waiting for Félicité to explain why she wanted this.
‘They don’t believe he’s been helping me. They think he’s been getting into trouble with the other boys, on their mobylettes, down by the river. They’re talking about making him stay at school at the weekends.’
‘I see.’
Félicité chewed for a while. ‘They’re probably just being nosy.’
‘Honey, many of us are nosy a lot of the time, and that includes me.’
Half an hour later, Félicité unlocked the door to the orangery and Alexandra went in.
She felt her throat catch with unexpected emotion. One wall was entirely taken up with a picture of the chateau with the woods and mountains behind.
The chateau had roses climbing up it which weren’t there in real life and, in front of it, stood the open carriage they’d found in the old stables, a dapple-grey horse between the shafts. Milou and the kittens played by the carriage. Although in real life they were young cats, here they were still small. One of them was swinging on Milou’s tail.
Next to the animals was Antoine, his two older children alongside him. In front was Stéphie. She was holding a bunch of flowers and offering it to Alexandra, who was instantly recognisable in her boiler suit and scarf. Félicité had added her big pearls.
‘Oh, you put me in!’ said Alexandra. ‘You shouldn’t have! I won’t be here for much longer.’
‘But you were here,’ said Félicité. ‘And I can always paint you out and put in another woman if Papa gets married again.’
Alexandra had to laugh. She really liked Félicité but she had her mother’s sometimes acerbic tongue. Still, as her use of it was always funny as well as cutting, Alexandra couldn’t hold it against her. Now she put an arm round the girl. ‘That’s very true. But I must say, you could have put me in wearing something a bit nicer than my work clothes.’
Félicité shrugged. ‘It’s all you ever wear these days.’
‘You sound like your mother,’ said Alexandra before she could stop herself. These days, she never criticised Lucinda in front of her children. ‘I mean, she said something like that to me.’
‘Well, she’s right.’
‘I’m too busy to pay attention to what I look like. Now, let’s go back to the mural. How near finished are you?’
‘You can see that a lot of the greenery is just sketched out and needs to be painted. I want to put a bit of the lake in if I can.’ Félicité paused. ‘I wonder if Papa would let me carry it on to another wall. Then I could paint us all skating.’
‘Maybe after the wedding? It would be a shame to have to rush it. I love your style. It’s very clear and a bit naïve like Rousseau – remember? The tiger in the forest?’
