Page 18 of Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky
‘I did raise the possibility a few years ago but Oscar was of the opinion that even a no-fault divorce after so many years of separation was unnecessary. We could just carry on as we were. The truth is I expect it suited Oscar to say he had a wife somewhere even if she never put in an appearance. Knowing how difficult he could be, how much paperwork would be generated between French and English courts, I couldn’t summon up the energy to fight him. Now I don’t have to and I’m finally free.’ Agnes smiled before taking a long drink of her wine.
‘Well, whatever happens with this Serge man, you are at least going to finally get some money from Oscar as his widow,’ Francine said. ‘Whether you want it or not.’
‘Talking of Serge, you haven’t opened the envelope the notaire gave you,’ Theo said quietly.
Agnes picked up her handbag from the side of her chair, took out the envelope and carefully opened it.
‘Is it from his mother as he claimed it to be?’ Francine said.
Agnes looked at the signature and nodded. ‘Yes. It’s signed Rachel Cortez.’ Silently she read the short letter before looking up at them. ‘It simply says she wants us, me, to meet her, to talk.’ Agnes folded the letter and replaced it in the envelope.
‘Are you going to meet her?’ Francine said. ‘I’m not sure it’s a good idea – depends on what she wants or hopes to achieve. I’m coming with you if you decide to meet her.’ She held up her hand as Agnes went to say something. ‘That’s non-negotiable.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ Agnes said. ‘We also need to meet Serge himself I think.’
It was Theo who broke the silence that developed after her words.
‘The notaire didn’t mention any other bequests,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘But I’m not sure what happens about clearing the house now. I suspect we need to wait until we learn the truth about Serge and that could take weeks, even months, to discover.’
‘Do you think he is going to want anything – other than his share of the house of course when it sells? What happens if we decide not to sell it immediately? Can we do that? The two of us against him? We could come down for holidays. Use it as a second home. Spend winter down here in the sun. You could even move back down and live in it permanently, Maman, if you wanted,’ Francine said.
‘I have absolutely no intention of staying in, yet alone living in, that house ever again,’ Agnes said. ‘I personally want it on the market as soon as possible.’
‘I can see things dragging on for weeks, in typical French fashion,’ Francine said. ‘I’m not sure about staying down here indefinitely. If we can’t make a start on sorting out the house. maybe we should think about going home and come back down in a couple of weeks. Personally, I can’t just sit around doing nothing.’ She heaved a heavy sigh. ‘Everything has got so complicated with this challenge to the will.’
‘I’m not planning on leaving,’ Zazz said. ‘I don’t have anything to rush back for.’
‘What do you mean? You’ve got a job. Responsibilities. Rent to pay,’ Francine said sharply.
Zazz shook her head and took a deep breath. ‘Not any more. I’ve left my job, given up my flat share and had already planned on spending at least the next nine months to a year down here. If not longer.’ A stunned silence greeted her words.
‘How long have you been planning this for?’ Francine finally found her voice and glared at her daughter. Could this day throw up any more surprises?
‘Since the end of last year.’
‘You didn’t think to mention it before?’
‘I was coming home to tell you my plans, talk it over with you, book my ticket and then Oscar died and everything changed. And don’t worry, I’ll pay you back for my ticket.’
‘That’s the least of my worries,’ Francine said. ‘What are you going to do down here? Where are you going to live? And what about money? It’s expensive to live down here.’
Zazz smothered a sigh. ‘Mum, I’m not a child any more, I do know how to look after myself. I have organised things and I have savings. You know I’ve been blogging for a couple of years now, well, in the last year or so I’ve grown my followers on both the blog and other social media platforms that I’ve signed up to, including Instagram and YouTube. I need to keep up the momentum now and expand with some different interesting content.’
‘You can’t seriously expect to make enough money to live on from social media,’ Francine said.
Zazz nodded. ‘I do but if necessary, I’ll get an extra part-time job over summer for some cash flow.’
‘But where are you going live? Apartments, even studios, down here are silly prices to rent.’
There was a split-second pause before Zazz said, ‘Oscar said I could stay with him for as long as I wanted. I’m hoping that you and Granny,’ she flashed Agnes a smile, ‘will keep to that arrangement – at least until you and now this new relative of ours, sell the house. If not, I’ll find somewhere else.’ She helped herself to a handful of cashews from the dish on the table. ‘I’m meeting a friend later for a pizza, so I’m going to head back to the house now. See you later,’ and she quickly turned and made her way through the cottage and out of the front door.
‘We’ve barely been here twenty-four hours – how the hell has she made a friend so quickly?’ Francine said, glancing first at Agnes who was biting her lip and then at Theo.
‘It’s out of the question her living in Oscar’s old house on her own. And what the hell did she mean about an “extra” job?’ Francine’s shoulders slumped. What was going on with Zazz? And why had Agnes always let her believe she’d divorced Oscar years ago? How many more secrets were going to surface over the coming days?
20
Back at the house Zazz opened up her laptop and tried to concentrate on researching more about the vineyards on the island of Saint Honorat where the monks from the Abbey there made world-famous wines and liqueurs. The history of The Man in the Iron Mask on the other island, Saint Marguerite, was fascinating too. The little information she’d read about both of them in the tourist brochures she’d picked up had sparked a couple of ideas for longer features.
