Inside was a set of doll’s house drawing-room furniture, elegant Louis Quinze style, with gold trim and velvet covers.
‘What my friend is trying to say’, said Jack, ‘is that back at the chateau is a doll’s house that we’ve been renovating for you. It’s a bit of an antique, rather like its donors.’
Stéphie had some really lovely things and Alexandra was getting anxious about her present, as she hadn’t seen it. It didn’t need to be the best present the little girl received, but it had to be good enough.
It was a toy bakery. It opened out into a shop with shelves and for the shelves were a plethora of plaster cakes, baguettes, loaves, gateaux, croissants, everything a good boulangerie would sell.
‘Lexi! Thank you!’ Stéphie rushed in for a hug.
‘I’m so glad you like it,’ said Alexandra, returning the hug. ‘David chose it. I didn’t know about your birthday until too late, but it is lovely, isn’t it? We can have a lot of fun playing with it together.’
‘I am so sorry that I won’t be able to play post offices with you,’ said Véronique, apparently suddenly aware that playing with a child was something you were supposed to do. ‘But I will be with your papa, on important business.’
Antoine came and crouched down, to inspect the bakery, which was already having its shelves filled with tiny meringues. ‘When I come back, Stéphie, we will play together more. I promise.’
Stéphie looked around at the adults, who were all looking at her as if she were the main performer at a circus, and began to whisper in her father’s ear. While she was telling her father what she needed him to know, she kept glancing at Alexandra. When finally she’d finished, Antoine said, ‘It’s simply not possible. I am so sorry, little one.’
Alexandra was convinced she had been the subject of the conversation and then was equally convinced she was being neurotic.
Lucinda had apparently become bored with not being the centre of attention. ‘Maxime? Take me out to dinner, please. I find children’s parties so exhausting.’
‘It’s too early for dinner,’ said Penelope to her daughter. ‘And I’m surprised you have found the occasion so tiring. You didn’t involve yourself in the preparation.’
‘Children are so overindulged these days. I’m sure I never had such extravagant gifts when I was that age.’ She gave Stéphie, who was now selling croissants to Jack, a critical look. ‘Of course I understand that you are all over-compensating for the fact that the child has no parents.’
Alexandra found herself confronting Lucinda, not quite sure why she was so outraged but before she could think of something cutting to say, Lucinda turned her disdain on to her. ‘As for you, the nanny, I hope you don’t think anyone believes those enormous pearls to be real. They are quite obviously not!’
Secretly delighted to have this insult to repel, Alexandra pulled out the end of the pearls. ‘David? How much did you pay for these?’
He shrugged. ‘They were part of a job lot of things I bought. A couple of francs, maybe?’
Alexandra took one of the pearls between her teeth and scraped, pretending to look for the gritty feel she knew would not be there. ‘You were robbed! They’re fake!’
Everyone laughed, enjoying the way Alexandra had turned the situation. Then Maxime took her arm and separated her from the group. ‘Lucinda will scratch your eyes out if you’re not careful. She is not a woman who likes other women, especially those who make jokes at her expense. Now what was it you wanted to talk to me about?’
It took Alexandra a second to remember. ‘It’s a legal matter. I have some papers from my family in Switzerland and I can’t understand a word of them.’
‘I’m sure I can help. Would you like to bring them to me? Or shall I collect them?’
‘I’ll bring them,’ said Alexandra. ‘I have some errands to run in town anyway. And Maxime?’
‘Yes?’
‘It will all be confidential, won’t it?’
He was offended. ‘But of course! Totally confidential.’
Alexandra gave him an extra warm smile to placate his wounded feelings. ‘Thank you.’
Eventually, the party began to draw a close and Alexandra turned her mind to where she should put Véronique. She went into the hall so she could think and, to her surprise, Antoine followed her.
Partly because she was embarrassed to be on her own with him, Alexandra spoke quickly. ‘Do you think, as it was short notice, Véronique would sleep in the little room beside yours?’ she asked. ‘It’s got clean sheets on the bed, and—’
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘Véronique cannot stay with us. She can spend another night with her friend. I can pick her up from here perfectly easily.’ He walked back into the group.
Alexandra watched his retreating figure as if he was a hero about to rescue a dog from a burning building.
‘What did you say to Papa at the party that was so secret, Stéphie?’ asked Félicité, when at last everyone was in the car (the children in the back this time) and they were finally on the way home.
