After a moment, Penelope said, ‘I expect you feel a bit lonely, sometimes.’
Alexandra appreciated this disregard for conventional conversation although it was rather unexpected. Penelope had a reputation in the family for formality, but she seemed to have softened lately. She looked younger, as if a light had gone on inside her.
‘David and I are very old friends and he’s great company but I do miss my female friends sometimes. We were all on a cookery course together and they shared my house in London.’
‘Why don’t you ring them? Would that be possible? A long chat on the telephone can be very restorative.’ She handed Alexandra an antique sauce boat with mayonnaise in it. ‘For the eggs,’ she said and then looked at Alexandra, waiting for an answer.
‘I hadn’t thought of it, to be honest. And of course I wouldn’t want to run up Antoine’s phone bill.’
‘I would consider the occasional call home to England one of the perks of the job.’ Penelope smiled. ‘Sometimes English slang comes back to me. I am sure Antoine wouldn’t begrudge you a phone call.’
‘And I could always make a note and pay him for it.’
Penelope laughed. ‘If you insist, but I doubt he’d want recompensing. How are the children’s lessons going?’
‘Well! I really admire the way David and Jack manage to turn everything into a lesson. They’re helping with the renovation of Stéphie’s doll’s house and it’s amazing how much maths is required.’
‘This is how the school Antoine wants to send them to works, I gather. Lucinda is very opposed to it. She wants them to go to school in England, make influential friends and possibly be very unhappy. They’ve had such an unconventional beginning; I don’t really think that’s the answer.’
‘I went to boarding school having had a very different upbringing from my classmates. Once I stopped trying to fit in and was just myself it was fine, but it took a certain amount of nerve.’ Alexandra felt a bit awkward talking about schools with Penelope as she didn’t really think it was her place. She changed the subject. ‘This is delicious mayonnaise. Mme Wilson, who taught me and my friends cooking in London, would be very impressed.’
Penelope was not to be diverted. ‘I don’t like to think of my grandchildren being so far away, in England, in places where they may not understand them. And Stéphie is far too young to be sent away.’
‘Would you never go back to England to live yourself?’
Penelope’s shrug made her look very French. ‘Well, possibly. I would prefer not, really. I have my friends here, my house. I am accustomed to the way of life now.’ She paused and Alexandra thought she looked a bit embarrassed. ‘What about your friends? Would they consider staying in France?’
‘I can’t answer for Jack, I don’t know him very well, but David might easily. He could travel to and from England to do his antiques stall and I know he’d like to specialise in French antiques. I’ll miss him when I go back to England myself.’
‘You’d go back to England? Why would you do that?’ Penelope obviously felt this was a very eccentric idea.
‘I’m English! I live in London! I’m only here temporarily.’
Penelope leant forward and put her hand on Alexandra’s. ‘It’s up to you. When you find the one you love, do not run away because you fear they may not love you. Don’t make the mistakes I made.’
But it wasn’t the same for her, Alexandra thought. She might be in love with Antoine but he wasn’t in love with her, and although she could hang around for months and months if she really wanted to, it wouldn’t necessarily change anything.
Penelope seemed lost in her own thoughts and Alexandra didn’t like to interrupt them. Eventually Penelope said, ‘It’s a funny thing but it seems to me that one gives advice to others that really you should be taking for yourself.’ She sighed and smiled and then changed the subject. ‘We have a couple of meringues for dessert. Having Lucinda here, who disapproves of anything she considers fattening, has made me want to eat sweet things even more.’
‘She does have a lovely figure,’ said Alexandra.
‘So have you, but you don’t wear a girdle or refuse to eat anything sweet. I’ll make some tea. No one here appreciates tea. It’s pleasant to share it with someone who does.’
As she was crossing the town square on the way to the chemist, Alexandra considered Penelope’s words to her, repeated as she was leaving the house. Summed up, they were: don’t turn your back on love; talking things over with an old friend is helpful; and, finally, don’t be afraid to use the telephone, even for a call to England.
The doll’s house seemed to be the focus of everyone’s attention when she got back, and because of this, Alexandra was able to find some time to telephone her friend Lizzie. She really hoped that her friend would be able to have a chat.
Apparently she’d picked the perfect moment. Lizzie, being seven months pregnant, was perfectly willing to abandon her housework to talk to her friend. Alexandra made herself comfortable at the desk in Antoine’s study and opened her heart.
When she finally went to the kitchen to make dinner she found Stéphie already there. Alexandra had left the study door open but she hadn’t heard her pass. Still, she seemed happy enough, although she gave Alexandra a slightly strange look.
‘I’m missing Papa,’ said Stéphie a bit later as they ate the chicken casserole Alexandra and David had created. ‘I want him to come home!’
‘He’s coming home for Christmas,’ said Félicité.
‘I want him home now!’ said Stéphie.
‘Oh, Stéphie!’ said Henri. ‘We can’t make him come home now. He’s working! You know how it is.’
