Page 45 of Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky
‘You also have a great-niece,’ Agnes said. ‘Francine has a daughter, Jasmine, known to everyone but me as Zazz.’
Sitting outside on the terrace in the warm night air, listening to the cicadas chirping away, enjoying the food and champagne Denice had provided, Agnes could see her sister was still very much the same person she’d known growing up. Whatever life had thrown at her, she’d been strong enough to retain a sense of her own self-worth.
Inevitably talk turned to the past. Childhood memories were dug up, shared, dissected and put away again with a different slant on them. It was a slightly tipsy Denice who stood up at the end of the evening as Agnes and Theo prepared to leave and put her arms around Agnes and gave her a serious look.
‘I’m sorry that our parents took my departure from their life so seriously that they took it out on you by completely controlling your life. Forcing you to marry that evil man,’ Denice shook her head. ‘If it helps, I did, and still do, feel guilty for leaving you to cope with them alone. Please forgive me.’
‘I forgive you but it wasn’t all your fault. It was my fault too for not being brave like you. I should have stood up to them. I didn’t. Luckily, I had Theo in my life. Without him I think Oscar would have destroyed me completely, if not killed me.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Denice said.
Agnes gave her a smile. ‘Let’s look to the present and the future, forget the past as much as we can. We’re back in each other’s lives now. We need to fix a date for you to meet the rest of the family. Francine, Jasmine, and Edwin, Francine’s husband. I’ll give you a ring soon, okay?’
‘Make sure you do. And we need a sisterly chat about you and Theo. You are so perfect together. I can’t understand why you didn’t divorce Oscar and marry Theo years ago.’
‘It’s a long story,’ Agnes said. ‘One day I’ll tell you all of it.’
* * *
Agnes was quiet on the drive home, lost in thoughts about Denice and the way her life had turned out. It seemed that it had been a question of surviving in a somewhat hostile world for both of them. The two of them had faced unexpected difficulties that they could never have imagined growing up. Denice leaving home in the way she did had created her own problems but she’d also left Agnes to carry the burden of problems instigated by her absence. Their father’s determination to make Agnes obey him and live her life the way he deemed to be suitable had taken Agnes’s freedom away. Her life had changed irrevocably because of her sister’s somewhat selfish behaviour. But it was impossible to hold a grudge against her sister. She had done the only thing open to her at the time. Agnes could only wish that she’d possessed half of Denice’s courage – and had defied her father by refusing to marry Oscar Agistini.
Denice’s words about her and Theo being the perfect couple as they were leaving sprang into her mind. Dear Theo. He’d always been there for her. More of a husband to her than Oscar had ever been, protecting her, taking care of her and loving her down through the years despite being unable to be with her. He had been the one who finally enabled her to leave Oscar for a different, safer, life far away from his violence. The memory of that event totally engulfed her as she sat silently in the passenger seat while Theo drove them back to Cannes…
Francine had been at school one September morning and Agnes was at home alone when Theo arrived back from a tour. He’d been gone three months this time, leaving shortly after the film festival incident where she thought she’d seen Denice. Those three months had been hard. Pleasing Oscar had been difficult. Everything she did was wrong and she’d felt his fist more than a few times although he was usually careful to hit her in places she could cover up. Until the last incident three days ago when he’d pushed her so hard she’d lost her balance and fallen down the stairs, bruising her face on the banister and breaking her right arm as she landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.
Oscar had leapt into solicitous husband mode, driving her to hospital, explaining how she’d tripped on the rug at the top of their stairs to the nurses and doctors, and generally being seen to be a caring husband. Despite the pain in her arm, Agnes was secretly delighted when the lovely African nurse sternly told him to leave and go and wait in the relatives’ waiting room. The last time Agnes had come in with bruises having ‘walked into the kitchen door’, that particular nurse had told her in no uncertain terms to leave the bully, that there was help available. But she had nowhere to go, so she’d stayed.
Theo, when he’d walked in that morning, had taken one look at the technicolour bruise on her face, the plaster cast on her right arm and had demanded the truth. Agnes told him. ‘He pushed me down the stairs.’
‘Where’s Oscar right now?’
‘Monaco for a business meeting.’
‘Let’s get you out of here then. Can you pack a few essentials for you and Francine? If you can’t pack much don’t worry, we’ll buy whatever you need. When you’ve done that, we’ll go and collect Francine from school. You are leaving here today. I can’t bear to see you in this state.’
Agnes nodded mutely. She knew it was time. She couldn’t take any more. And it was not good for Francine to grow up in such a toxic environment. She had no idea what Theo was planning but she trusted him implicitly. She’d do whatever he told her to do.
Thirty-six hours later, after the first flight for both her and Francine had passed in a blur, they’d landed in the UK. Theo had then driven them down to the West Country, telling Agnes that he was taking her somewhere he knew she’d be safe and away from Oscar. The final part of the journey had been on the Higher Ferry crossing the river to Dartmouth. Agnes, standing on the deck of the ferry, had looked at the small riverside town nestling near the mouth of the River Dart and had felt an easing of the tension that had settled in her body over the last few days. Somehow she knew that she would heal in this place. That she and Francine would be safe here.
For the next few days they’d stayed at a small B & B on the main road, whilst Theo sorted out a permanent place to rent, finally deciding on a furnished cottage in one of the lanes around the town. When Agnes protested she had no money to pay him back with, he hugged her and told her not to worry for now. Things would come right in the end and they’d discuss it then. She promised him that she would pay him back every penny as soon as she could. Theo went to the school to help her register Francine. He also introduced her to the English wife of an old musician friend of his who had settled in Dartmouth when his own band had disbanded. If she ever needed help with anything, Sylvie Aubert was the first person she was to go to, Theo said.
Both she and Francine were bereft when after ten days Theo had to leave them but he assured them he’d be back for Christmas. And he was – and for every following Christmas…
Theo noticed her wet cheeks when they arrived back in Cannes but didn’t say anything until they were indoors when he took her in his arms and held her tightly. ‘Was today too difficult? You must be happy that you and Denice have started to build bridges back together,’ he asked, studying her face.
Agnes gave him a weak smile. ‘It was a little difficult but so lovely seeing Denice again. Hearing her talk about how she survived stirred up my own memories of you rescuing me and taking us to Dartmouth, I owe you so much. I doubt I would ever have escaped from Oscar without your help. I know I’ve paid back the money you lent me down through the years but I can never repay you for your love, care and kindness to both Francine and me.’
‘You’ve been in my life for over fifty years,’ Theo said quietly. ‘And that’s the very least of what I dreamed of and always wanted – the love of my life, in my life even if it was difficult at times,’ and he pulled her closer before bending his head and kissing her. As she kissed him back Agnes felt the happiness rising inside her.
39
There was a message from Suzette, the notaire’s property manager, on the house phone when they reached home that evening asking if she could come and take photos and measurements the next day and suggesting an open morning some time before the festival finished. ‘It is short notice but we already have clients on our books who have expressly asked us to look out for this type of property for them and who are currently in town. Once the details are on the website I am confident there will be a big surge of international interest, particularly from the Americans.’
Agnes rang the property manager early the next morning, agreeing to her suggestions. Francine, when she called her, immediately started to make plans.
‘We’ll need to style the house. Make it look as attractive as possible. We haven’t got time to do any decorating so we’ll just clean the place up as best we can. The day of the open house we’ll put flowers in every room, coffee in the kitchen, no clutter anywhere. At least Zazz did the courtyard the other day. And we’ve already cleaned the bedroom that Oscar had let go. We’ll make the bed up in there too.’
Agnes laughed. ‘I don’t think we need go overboard. The notaire clearly thinks whoever buys it will want to renovate and modernise, knock walls down and do other things.’
