Chapter thirty-three
Feeling like Cinderella arriving for the ball, Darcy reached down and gathered the filmy fabric of her full sapphire-blue skirt in one hand as she mounted the wide stairs to the north terrace. No glass slippers to worry about, but it wouldn’t do to trip going up the stairs, she’d decided.
Only this Cinderella wasn’t travelling alone, she thought; two children flanking her and a burly armed security guard trailing close behind were making sure of that. She glanced to one side, smiling down at Rosie’s diminutive form in her pretty pink organza dress then turned to the other to see Connor tugging at the tie to his formal dark suit.
“You look very dashing,” she said to her son, “but would you stop fidgeting with that tie, please –or at least leave it alone until we get in the door.” They were almost at the terrace, with the wide doors open to the entrance foyer beyond so it shouldn’t be out of the realms of possibility that he’d make it, she thought -or so she hoped.
The chateau had been such a hive of activity all day that Darcy and the children had decamped back to the relative quiet of the stable cottage for a more peaceful time during the daylight hours –with her security detail in tow of course.
Darcy was getting tired of being tailed wherever she went –there’d been no sign of Patrick in the weeks since he’d left her old wedding ring in a bag nailed to her door with instructions that she again wear it and his less than thinly veiled threats about what he’d do if she didn’t comply. With time passing, she was feeling less inclined to believe that he’d even stuck around to see if she’d submitted to his demand.
Life around the chateau had settled back to normal –well, she thought, as normal as it could be with her and the children ousted from their cottage and sharing Gabriel’s apartment. Living in such close proximity to one another was character-building, she was sure, but had been proving increasingly stressful on her and Gabriel’s self-imposed decision to refrain from sleeping together before they were married.
They were the only ones who were unhappy with the current arrangement -the children were having a great time and Halley thought it all rather romantic and wonderful that Darcy was co-habbing with the ‘old boss dude next door’, as she had so amusingly put it. Connor and Rosie were loving living in the rooftop apartment with Halley and Alicia just across the hall – Darcy privately thought that might have a lot to do with having the newly furnished children’s tower play suite with its large screen TV and gaming consoles pretty much all to themselves. Even the animals had settled into their new quarters with few squabbles.
Halloween had come and gone the evening before. The children and she had bought and hollowed out a large pumpkin –carving it into a jack-o-lantern, and they’d hung decorations but it had been a rather low-key celebration. Due to this being France, not America, there had been no trick-or-treating and the day had been a little overshadowed by tonight’s festivities. With the preparations for the ball getting underway during the day -as well as continued construction both indoors and out it had made for a busy time; although Mlle PA-BA had insisted on all work inside being halted at midday the day before to give her teams sufficient time to clean and prepare the chateau for tonight’s party. Seeing what Mlle had achieved in a relatively short space of time, Darcy had been impressed with her organisational skills if not her winning personality.
As they had walked across from the cottage she had noted the regularly spaced lamps along the driveway that were illuminating both the main driveway and their path from the stables to the chateau’s front entrance. It seemed that Mlle paid attention to the smallest detail when it came to event planning. Darcy’s respect for the woman was growing by the minute.
Putting these thoughts aside, Darcy looked upwards to see that every shutter was open and every window was lit. The chateau had come alive for the evening in a way it had probably not seen for much of the past century. Light spilled from the open doors onto the terrace and the smooth strains of a Viennese waltz could be heard from the musicians playing inside.
Gabriel was standing just inside the doors, chatting with his mother between greeting guests, awaiting her arrival. His eyes lit up the moment he saw her outlined against the darkening night sky.
“I was starting to worry that you’d stood me up,” he breathed softly in her ear as he kissed her lightly. The hard truth was, he acknowledged, that every time she was out of his sight these past two weeks he had worried himself silly.
“No chance of that,” she assured him, “we were just having a bit of trouble with a certain tie.”
“Feels like I’m gonna choke,” Connor pretended to gag and took the opportunity to complain yet again, something he’d been doing at regular intervals since the tie had gone around his neck.
“I feel for you, Connor,” Gabriel commiserated. He tapped a finger to his own neatly tied black bow, “but when the occasion calls for it; a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do to look good, doesn’t he?”
And look good, he did, admired Darcy. He carried off the formal black and white attire as if born to it and his black shoes were so shiny she was sure she’d be able to see her reflection in them, should she want to.
Connor smiled back and looked a little mollified by the gesture of camaraderie. Gabriel squatted down to speak to him, “if you don’t like caviar and canapés, there’s child-friendly food and drink that way,” he pointed down towards the kitchen on the floor below, “and there’s a new Wii console with your name on it and games, videos and snacks that way,” now he pointed straight upwards, “so when you’re hungry or you feel like you’ve had enough, you just go where you want to, ok? Oh and I should mention, upstairs is a no-tie zone.”
“Cool,” Connor was thrilled.
Gabriel turned to Rosie, “and who is this beautiful princess that has graced us with her presence tonight?” he poked her lightly in the tummy, causing her to giggle.
“I’m not a princess! It’s me, Rosie!”
“You most assuredly are a princess tonight,” he repeated. “Well Princess Rosie, you might find a little something I left upstairs in a box in the apartment. Just ask the nanny when you get up there.” Rosie’s reply was to fling her arms around him and plant a big wet kiss on his perfectly shaved cheek. Gabriel appeared more than happy with her excited thank you.
As the children hurried away in the direction of the main stairs Gabriel nodded to a couple of additional staff he had hired for the night, who inconspicuously followed in their wake. He spoke to Darcy, “My PA has also hired a couple of nannies for the evening who will keep an eye on things upstairs so you needn’t worry; the children will be well-cared for. They won’t be the only young ones here –all of my nieces and nephews have either arrived or are on their way and several of the other guests have children and babies as well.”
Darcy thought she might have to re-evaluate her appraisal of the PA-BA; –she was starting to like her more and more. She wasn’t so sure about the gifts though. “You didn’t need to buy presents for the children,” she opened her mouth to protest.
Gabriel pointed to a growing pile of prettily-wrapped boxes on and around the large antique marble-topped console table sitting against the wall opposite, “We’re receiving gifts for our engagement, so why shouldn’t they? I wanted Connor and Rosie to feel included in our celebration.”
“Oh,” she thought for a moment, “well, I can’t fault that logic, so thank you.” She reached up to kiss his cheek as Rosie had done, although a little more demurely, before spinning to survey the entranceway. Where before there had been builder’s tools, saw horses, dust and debris, there was now an enormous floral display of blue and green hydrangeas in a large white porcelain vase, twinkling candelabra, swathes of silky fabric and sparkling clean parquetry floors.
I feel like I’m in Versailles, it’s so grand and lovely,” she was astounded with the change from earlier in the day.
“Except you and I know better,” he reminded. They both knew the darkness
outside hid from view the unfinished areas of the garden and that there were stacks of builder’s materials just outside the glow of the lamps. Gabriel acknowledged that he could have waited until the works were complete but he hadn’t been inclined to put off this party a moment longer.
“Bonsoir Darcy,” Diane interjected, greeting her future daughter-in-law warmly, “that colour looks spectacular against your skin. And the bead-work is so you –we made a perfect choice, didn’t we Gabriel?”
Gabriel had noticed Darcy’s gown as she had entered the foyer – contrary to his original plan to buy something couture for his fiancée, once the word was out about the planned ball, his mother, several sisters, Halley and Darcy had collectively decided to make a special trip to Paris to shop for dresses. He had to admit that this choice was as well suited to her colouring and figure as anything he might have possibly found.
The figure-flattering blue gown contrasted delightfully with her titian hair and was cut to showcase her curves to perfection. Ruched at the waist with a twist that created a V under her breasts, it had sheer elbow length sleeves and featured a stunning display of sequins and beaded crystals creating a striking branched pattern in black, white and sapphire over the bodice and sleeves. Having seen several of Darcy’s flower-themed day dresses, Gabriel wondered if she realised that she had something of a predisposition towards the botanical in her choice of clothing. He liked that –it gave her a distinctive style all her own that set her apart from other women.
However, although he realised that it was appropriate to the formality of the occasion, he wasn’t so sure if he liked her hair tonight as much as he did when it was free and wild. Darcy’s wilful locks had been coaxed by the stylist into soft controlled curls caught in a loose chignon at the nape of her neck and pinned with a diamond clip that Diane had loaned her. The style exposed her ear lobes and Gabriel felt an overwhelming desire to nuzzle the bare skin but knew he should show more politesse and restraint in front of the evening’s guests. Instead he put his hand into his jacket pocket and withdrew a flat case.
“You look absolutely enchanting, but I feel there’s one small thing missing.”
Darcy’s face fell, She had put more effort into dressing for this evening than she had into any previous occasion, bar her first wedding so what could possibly be wrong?
Gabriel proffered a flat black velvet box, “for you,” he spoke simply. At Darcy’s bemused expression, he added, “the children have their celebration gifts so surely the belle of the ball should expect something as well?” she made no move so he extended the case further, encouraging her to accept it.
She held the box tentatively, opening the sprung lid as if it might bite. Revealed on white silk cushioning was a pair of halo sapphire and diamond drop ear-rings.
“Ooh, pretty. I like,” Diane’s voice spoke next to her.
“Wow,” Darcy couldn’t think what to say. She was having some trouble catching her next breath.
“And look at that, they match your dress perfectly,” Diane’s tone was full of humour.
Darcy glanced over at her future mother-in-law, “You told him,” she chided gently.
“I plead the fifth,” Diane announced, placing her flattened fingers against her mouth for a second before taking them away again to add, “And if I did happen to mention anything, it was only the bare minimum. After all, there’s no good buying rubies when you’re wearing blue, is there?” she said reasonably. “Now, put those baubles on so we can get on with this party!” she instructed breezily.
Darcy laughed. That sounded more like the Diane she was getting to know and love. Gabriel held the case while she unclipped the ear-rings and put them on.
“Thank you. There,” she turned her head this was and that, “anything missing now?”
“Only this,” Gabriel leant down to place a quick kiss on her lips. When it looked to become more prolonged his mother dug him in the ribs.
“Enough already,” she scolded, merrily. “You’re messing the girl’s lippy, son. Put her down and greet your guests. You can play later.”