Page 3 of One Summer in Monte Carlo
2
Nanette followed her sister up the stairs, deciding to have an early night herself. Unpacking the suitcase in her familiar bedroom tucked away in the eaves of the farmhouse, she remembered the weeks she’d spent here with Patsy mothering and fussing around her after the accident. An accident that she herself remembered little about. All she could recall was the physical and mental pain she’d suffered on the flight back from Monaco, when both her body and her successful career lay in tatters. Her dreams of marriage and a family were all shattered too.
Vanessa had visited several times. On one visit, a couple of months after the accident, she’d arrived with a proposition.
‘You’re looking better than the last time I saw you,’ she’d said.
‘Considering I was still black and blue and various bits of me were swathed in bandages, that’s not so hard.’ Nanette had smiled. ‘How are the twins? Your business?’
‘Pierre and Olivia are fine and the business is really taking off,’ Vanessa had replied. ‘Mathieu has taken them to Disneyland for a few days. He was a lousy husband, but I have to give him credit – he does try to be a good father. I just wish he hadn’t decided to live in Monaco permanently. It makes access a bit complicated.’ She’d glanced across at Nanette. ‘Have you made any plans for your future yet?’
Nanette shook her head. ‘No. I’m trying to find the courage to face the world again, but I just don’t know where to start. My body has been battered and broken, I don’t have a job and my savings are rapidly disappearing. So, do I get fit before I start to look for a job to get back on my feet? Or do I stay here with Patsy and Bryan and try to find work locally. Or what?’ She’d looked helplessly at Vanessa. ‘On top of it all, I feel such a fool.’
‘Hey, you’re not a fool. You were holding down a very busy and stressful job when the accident happened. If Zac Ewart had an ounce of decency in him, he’d have supported you, made sure you had a job to go back to, not dumped you before the case came to court. Honestly, Nanette, I can’t believe he behaved as he did. Talk about putting the boot in when you were down. You were engaged, for goodness sake. He should have stood by you.’
Nanette had bitten her lip as she’d listened to her friend and vainly tried to stop the tears flowing down her cheeks. It was what she’d expected to happen too. Instead she hadn’t heard from her erstwhile fiancé since she left Monaco. Although she had seen the headlines about the accident, calling him a hero and her a reckless driver.
Vanessa, instantly contrite, had put her arms around her friend. ‘Nanette, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just I get so mad on your behalf.’ There’d been a pause before she’d continued, ‘How do you feel about moving to Bristol and coming to work for me?’
Nanette had looked at her in surprise. ‘You need a PA for the business?’
Vanessa shook her head. ‘No. Caroline is doing a great job. What I need is a housekeeper and someone to help with the twins. I know it’s not what you’re trained for, but maybe a complete change for a while would be good? I have a very busy few months coming up and I need someone at home I can trust to look after the twins and generally take care of things.’
‘You’re not offering me a job out of pity?’ Nanette had asked.
‘Definitely not. I’m trying to juggle home and work and I’m desperate for some help. Being a single mum is difficult enough without trying to start and keep a business afloat. I need you, Nanette.’
‘What happens about getting the twins to Monaco to visit Mathieu? I couldn’t face taking them there. I can’t do the school run either now I’ve lost my licence,’ Nanette had added quietly.
‘Mathieu will have to collect them. We’ll sort something out so you don’t have to go. As for the school run, we’re only ten minutes away. Much better for them to walk anyway. I can’t pay you a fortune, but you’ll have your own room, your keep – although you’ll be in charge of the cooking! I thought it would help us both – you to get back on your feet and recover from recent events, and me, because I will have someone I can trust utterly while I concentrate on this business and make it work.’
‘Maybe we could try it for a couple of months? See how things work out,’ Nanette had said thoughtfully. ‘Have to warn you though, I’m not a brilliant cook.’
‘Great,’ Vanessa had said. ‘School starts next week, so how d’you feel about coming back with me tomorrow? You can settle in and have a few days to organise a routine.’
Patsy had fussed over her like a mother hen for the next twenty-four hours, worried that she wasn’t ready to leave the sanctuary of the farm, but pleased that there was to be some purpose in her life again.
The couple of months’ trial had gone quickly and Nanette, finding she enjoyed a domestic working environment more than she’d thought possible, had happily agreed to stay on permanently. It was certainly less stressful than her previous job as a PA to a Grand Prix racing driver. She adored looking after the twins and running the house, especially when Vanessa was away on one of her frequent business trips. It was like having her own home and children, something she’d always wanted – had imagined having by now, if only things had turned out differently.
Mathieu visited frequently, much to the twins’ delight. Separated and divorced when the children were still tiny, he and Vanessa had managed to remain friends despite their differences and both did their best for the twins. Pierre and Olivia were now so used to the way their lives were divided between both their parents and England and Monaco, they simply accepted it as the way their particular family worked.
Things had, of course, changed when Vanessa met Ralph eighteen months ago, but everyone had been careful to make sure the twins were happy and knew they were loved by both their parents. Today’s marriage ceremony would serve to cement their own happy nuclear family. Nanette loved the three of them and was already very fond of Ralph. He and Vanessa were so right for each other.
The sudden switching on of an outside light, flashing a beam into the room, brought Nanette out of her reminiscing and back to the present. She glanced out of the window to see Bryan, the happy father-to-be, on his way across the farmyard to do his final night-time check of the animals in the barn. Earlier, the twins had helped him fill the hay racks and now, as Bryan opened the barn door, Nanette caught a whiff of the hay and the acetic smell of contented cows chewing the cud.
Thoughtfully, Nanette drew the curtains and went to finish her unpacking. Could she really turn her back on everything Vanessa had done for her and refuse to help out? Besides, if she didn’t agree to take the twins to Monaco, where would that leave her? Patsy, she knew, would welcome her with open arms if she decided to move in and live on the farm permanently with her and Bryan. But soon they would be their own little family unit, and she dreaded the thought of morphing into the aged spinster aunt who just existed without a proper life of her own.
Patsy was right when she said Vanessa treated her like family, but relatives had fallen out over less and Nanette dreaded the thought of losing contact with Vanessa and the twins simply because she refused to go to Monaco and face up to her past.
Nanette sighed. It was such a big unexpected decision to have to take and so little time in which to consider all the options, to get her thoughts in order and to make the right decision. She could only hope a good night’s sleep would help clear her mind and in the morning she would be nearer to having the answer. If she managed to sleep at all that was.
3
The smell of freshly percolating coffee greeted Nanette as she made her way down to the large kitchen on Sunday morning. Patsy was busy pushing sprigs of rosemary and gloves of garlic into a large leg of lamb ready to roast for lunch.
‘Hi. Did you sleep well? The twins are helping Bryan feed the baby calves. Help yourself to coffee. You know where the cereals are. There’s plenty of bread for toast. Can you pass me the pot of honey please? I want to drizzle some over the lamb. I’d offer you bacon and eggs, but I can’t stand the smell of bacon cooking at the moment.’
‘Coffee and toast will be just fine. I’ll do the vegetables for lunch afterwards, shall I?’ Nanette asked as she handed her sister the honey.
