‘None of that makes you any older,’ Antoine pointed out, still frowning.
‘Surely you should judge me on my actions and not my age?’ Alexandra wasn’t given to feeling sorry for herself but she felt again that she was being treated very unfairly. ‘When I came the children hadn’t eaten, the chateau was freezing, and there was only a bit of stale bread and old cheese to feed them on. There was no housekeeper, no help in the house and no money to feed the children with. I had to buy food at the market with my own money. But I managed.’ She was horrified to hear a break in her voice. I must be tired, she thought. It’s been a long difficult day.
He didn’t respond immediately, but when he did, his manner had softened. ‘I am so sorry, Alexandra. You should have never been put in such a position. You have managed brilliantly. Supposing I had taken on a woman in her thirties, say, who didn’t have your resourcefulness and courage? They could not have managed anything like as well.’ He paused. ‘I just wasn’t expecting you to be an heiress.’
Alexandra took some calming breaths. She’d always taken her potential fortune for granted and felt it was so far out of reach it wasn’t worth thinking about. Although this afternoon had altered that. Her money could be much nearer to her than she had thought. ‘Does it change anything?’
Antoine looked down at something on the floor for a long time. ‘No. It changes nothing. Which is just as well. And I have forgiven you for the exaggeration of your age so I won’t deprive my children of their beloved and responsible companion.’
Alexandra had to sit down. She felt weak with relief.
‘Which is just as well as I will have to go away again fairly soon.’
The bubble of joy that had risen in her for a second burst. ‘Oh.’
‘I came back before my work was finished because Maxime told me how things were here, and how Lucinda was talking about taking the older children away. When I have things sorted out, I’ll have to go back to Paris.’
‘Do you always have to work away from home?’ She wouldn’t usually have the courage to ask this although she’d thought about it for a while.
‘Yes. Unless or until I find a way of earning enough to keep the chateau and the farm going without regular injections of cash.’ He gave her a paternal no-need-for-you-to-worry-about-it smile. ‘Now we should go back to the party, and see how our guests are getting on.’
As they walked back to the terrace together, Alexandra gave a silent sigh of relief. Her fortune hadn’t lost her her job, and her relations had given her permission to stay here until the spring. The thought made her heart lift.
Chapter Thirteen
When Alexandra went into the kitchen, she was pleased to see the very large kettle and another pot sitting on the range for boiling water. The amount the range usually provided was never going to be enough for the piles of washing-up the lunch party had created. She glanced out at the terrace to see David clearing the table, and Stéphie helping. No one else was visible.
The washing-up could take days, Alexandra thought, her spirits suddenly descending into cold water, like the puddle on the floor by the sink. She should get on and start doing it.
But rather than scraping plates and stacking them and generally doing useful things, she sat at the kitchen table. Milou came in, and sensing she was unhappy, came and pushed his face into hers. Ignoring his dog-breath, she put her arm round him. He was so big it was almost like hugging a person.
‘What’s up, chicken?’ said David, coming into the kitchen with a basket full of dirty crockery. ‘Did seeing your illustrious relations make you homesick for Switzerland?’
Alexandra instantly felt better and she laughed. ‘Certainly not! But they were very exhausting and don’t you think it was rude appearing with no notice? And then disappearing off to Aix like that? I felt it was outrageous.’
David shrugged. ‘It was a bit high-handed, I suppose. Although as aunts they were very amusing, almost as good as the aunts in P. G. Wodehouse.’
This made Alexandra smile. Thinking of them like that put them in perspective. ‘They want me to marry Hubert, you know.’
It was David’s turn to smile. ‘I don’t think that will happen.’
‘Why not? I may be wayward but I’m a very lovely girl. I have that on the best authority!’
David shook his head, still amused. ‘Your cousin Hubert bats for the other team: I’d lay folding money on it.’
‘You mean …?’
‘He doesn’t like girls, however lovely or wayward.’ There was a wistfulness to his smile now. ‘If that was all it took, I’d make a play for you myself.’
Alexandra got up and poured a kettle of water into the battered enamel bowl they did the washing up in. ‘You mean a marriage of convenience? I like Hubert, he’s nice and very kind, but marry? Je crois que non.’
‘Well, they’ve gone now.’
‘And they didn’t want to stay the night! Think how awful that would have been!’
‘Are there enough habitable bedrooms?’ asked David. ‘Although bed linen wouldn’t have been a problem.’
He unloaded his basket, presumably so he could go back to the table outside and fill it again.
