‘I think Stéphie wants to sell it. She wants to find a way so Papa doesn’t have to go away to work.’ Alexandra suppressed a sigh. ‘Did you two buy lots of valuable antiques?’
‘I won’t know if they’re valuable until I come to sell them,’ said David, ‘but we have got a lot of things. I may well have to hire a van when I go back to England.’
Alexandra wondered if he’d said ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ deliberately, and fervently hoped he wasn’t planning to leave soon.
‘We also bought lots of very good wine,’ said Jack. ‘We are drinking rosé by the pint and anything else nice that Antoine produces so we felt we should contribute.’
‘Félicité has bought Stéphie a lovely dress,’ said David. ‘She told her mother that Antoine would pay her back for it, but what a nice child she is! So thoughtful, and of course she dotes on Stéphie.’
‘Oh, good for her!’ said Alexandra.
‘But because we didn’t know that Félicité would do that, we bought Stéphie something too. It’s an old doll’s house. It needs restoration but we can do that,’ said David. ‘At least, I thought that Jack might like to do that. But when we discovered that Félicité had bought her a dress we didn’t give it to her – although of course we still can.’
‘Maybe restore it, if you have time, and it’ll be there if you need a present?’ suggested Alexandra, aware her opinion was being sought. ‘I don’t know when her birthday is, for example.’
‘That sounds like a good idea,’ said Jack, ‘as long as her birthday isn’t next week.’
‘Now I’d better make up a bed for Antoine’s business colleague. I do hope he’s nice!’
‘Antoine wouldn’t bring him here and invite him to dinner if he wasn’t,’ said David. ‘Do you want me to help you?’
‘Not at all! I’ll do it now. Do you know when dinner will be?’
‘We’re having a nice bit of pork but it’ll keep if Antoine is late. It’ll be ready in about an hour.’ He glanced up at the old grandfather clock that ticked away in the corner and always struck twice. ‘So about seven?’
‘I’ll find out if the children are starving,’ said Alexandra. ‘Would it spoil it if they ate early? If we don’t know when Antoine and his colleague will turn up.’
‘We can do whatever suits.’ He thought for a moment. ‘We could always eat the pork early and I could make a nice omelette for the boss and shave the truffle over it.’
‘No, you can’t!’ said Jack. ‘If we’re eating the truffle, I want to be there!’
‘It’s Stéphie’s truffle,’ said Alexandra firmly. ‘She will decide. Now I must choose a bedroom for the colleague. I wonder if he needs to be near the bathroom?’
‘I’m afraid I didn’t ask how old he was,’ said David. ‘I don’t know if he might need to get up during the night.’
‘You’re no help!’ said Alexandra, laughing, and left the room.
Alexandra was looking for some sheets in the huge cupboard that was full of ancient linen when Félicité came up behind her.
‘Have you got any more pads? I’d like to have some ready for next month.’
‘Oh! Yes, I have. I’ll go and get them.’
Félicité followed Alexandra to her room. ‘We were in a pharmacy and I started to ask my mother about getting some but she misunderstood and said, “Oh, you’re far too young to worry about things like that,” and then I didn’t feel I could say any more. Henri was there, of course.’
‘Embarrassing,’ said Alexandra, handing Félicité a paper-wrapped package. ‘Although men do have to know about periods, you know. When I lived in London with David, he used to give me a hot-water bottle and a hot drink while I lay on the sofa in front of the gas fire and he cooked me comforting food.’
‘I’m not going to tell my brother about this!’ Félicité held up the packet. ‘I haven’t got used to the idea myself yet.’
‘Fair enough.’
‘And David is a bit different from other men, isn’t he?’ said Félicité.
Just for a second, Alexandra worried, then took a breath. ‘Yes, he is. He explained to me that in the theatre people often share digs with each other – you know, accommodation – and so people weren’t so private about things like that. I think it’s a good thing! But you don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want to. Although I’m glad you told me.’
‘I had to tell someone, and you are my nanny!’ Then Félicité gave a snort of laughter at how ridiculous this seemed and turned to go.
Before she did, Alexandra put a hand on her arm. ‘Thank you so much for buying that dress for Stéphie. It was very thoughtful of you.’
