Chapter Twenty-Two

He sat on my bed, lying on his side in only his breeches as he watched me pace back and forth in my nightgown, tiredly recounting the whole story of Constanze and her little interrogation.

“I always find out, Madeleine,” I mocked. “Ugh, such threats! What a horrible woman!”

“Yes, Constanze is a piece of work, all right.” He patted the mattress softly. “Stop pacing and come to bed. You drive me mad sweeping the floor like that.”

“I’m sorry. I just…something happened. Colette and Étienne have done something—something distasteful, obviously. It got around town, obviously, and I don’t know one thing about it. I have no clue what is going on.”

“Perhaps you do not want to know. Come on, Madeleine.” He pulled back my coverlet and linens. “I will not take ‘no’ for an answer. In.”

I frowned, reluctantly doing as he said. I climbed into the bed beside him and cuddled into him, letting my head rest on his shoulder. “Do you think she actually knows anything?” I asked softly.

He sighed heavily, his chest heaving with me on it. “I don’t know, my love. I don’t think so. If anything, all she has are assumptions, and if you know the Vicomtesse, you know she has thousands of assumptions about many different people every minute.”

“I suppose it would be best if you didn’t come by during the day for a while, again,” I said, my fingers running along his skin as I frowned.

“Perhaps.” He let his head rest against mine. “Think about it. We only have to make it another month. After your birthday celebration, we can just announce it and act as we normally do. Have you received word of when your father is going to return?”

I nodded, rolling on my back as I pulled the linens up. He turned and leaned over me. “Mid-August, probably around the seventeenth. I plan on writing him a few days before we tell everyone else. Just so he knows before they do or in case the letter is late. What of your grandma-ma?”

“I hoped we would tell her together. Have supper at my home? Something intimate, though I am sure once she knows, she will want to throw some grand soiree in your honor.” He smiled, brushing my hair off my face.

“Do you think she will like me?” I looked into his eyes, biting my bottom lip.

“Of course. She loved you before, when you met her some years ago.”

“That was years ago. I am sure she does not remember me,” I shook my head.

“You would be surprised with what she remembers.” He laughed lightly. “I am not worried about it. I think she will be thrilled that I have someone. Her health is not as it once was…she worries that I will suffer from loneliness if she were to pass on before I found someone.”

I looked to his shoulder. The tips of his hair brushed against it. “I keep forgetting she is not well.”

“She has lived a long life and done many great things,” he said, kissing my cheek.

“Including raising you?” I smiled, my hand coming to his arm.

“Ha,” he scoffed. “What a job she did, hmmm? Known throughout the land as the ‘Recluse’.”

I frowned. “I do not like that name, but I can think of the more terrible names they will have for me once we come out with it.”

His brow dipped down, looking my face over. “Why would you think such things?”

“Because they will. Constanze will be the first with some slurs for me.” I pointed at him.

He buried his head into my shoulder as he groaned. “Not more about Constanze!”

“She is a terrible person, though!” I smiled as he looked up to me.

He smiled devilishly as he grabbed hold of me, lying on top of me. “I am not going to hear one more word of her.”

I giggled as I pointed to the locked door the boudoir. “Oh! We must be quiet, or Colette will hear!”

“Hmmm.” He leaned down and kissed my neck, trailing kisses up to my cheek and then to my mouth where he took his time, breathing me in, as always.

* * * *

Rose and I sat in the parlor. Colette was off with Étienne around the grounds, probably watching the workers as they labored tirelessly to finish the monstrosity of the Marquise’s.

I had a book before me, one that Lucien had brought me the previous evening. It was work by Voltaire—something he had been discussing with Armand in the times of late.

As it was now Monday, I hadn’t seen Lucien during the daylight hours in nearly three days, and it was a number that was sure to grow. I appreciated the very smell of Lucien coming off the book and found myself rarely reading from it. I just appreciated how close it brought me to him, though he wasn’t really there.

Rose sat on the sofa, myself seated to her right on the armchair. My eyes came up as she batted her eyes at me and leaned across the sofa. Toulouse beside her doing the same.

“Yes?” I smiled.

“How are things with the Comte?”

She stroked Toulouse as he put his head down on the sofa.

I looked over her extremely light green gown. A dark curl over her shoulder looked glossy and soft. “They are good.”

“No one is the wiser? What of Constanze and her little episode on Friday evening?”

I looked back down to my book. “I think it is as Lucien said. Constanze was just assuming, just as she normally does nearly 100 times a day.”

“Hmmm,” she hummed, turning on the sofa and leaning back on it. “What if your little secret gets out? Becomes obvious?”

“How so?” I said, barely looking up from my book.

“Oh, come now, Maddy darling. You two are wrapped up in each other so often that a little trouble could easily come about.”

“By that do you mean an unexpected pregnancy?” I asked, my eyes firmly on the pages before me. I had read the same sentence three times and could not get any further.

“Well, to be quite frank, yes. Not that you and Lucien wouldn’t make an adorable little creature that would probably be loved by all, especially me.” She stroked Toulouse’s head.

I tried to hide a little smirk. “We are careful. He is quite capable of preventing such a thing.”

“Oh?” She smiled devilishly, leaning forward once again. Toulouse jumped down and walked slowly out of the room. She finally got what she wanted out of me. “Where did he happen upon that information?”

I sighed and smiled lightly, my eyes looking up over my book. “He has a friend who had some, shall we say, libertine tendencies in the past.”

“Oh!” She smiled widely. “Anyone I know?”

I rolled my eyes, nearly laughing. “No, no names. His friend, who is in fact a man, just provided the answers necessary. I am quite confident that as long as you keep what you know to yourself and Armand of course, no one will be wiser to us.”

“So, you will forever run about in secret?” She pouted.

I looked up to her, my book falling away from me and slipping back in my hands. “No…I would hope not. Truthfully, I wish Lucien and I could just be as we always are in our own little world, but it is hard. I am sure it is probably easier to just bear the criticism than sneak about. I am always afraid he will tire of it, and me, and move on to one of those social climbers and make a public spectacle.”

“He would never do that, darling. He really loves you. You might think you have everyone fooled, but you can see it in the way he looks at you. No wonder Constanze assumes. Nothing but love and pure adoration shines out from his eyes, which are usually on you.” She leaned forward and grabbed a little cake off a silver platter. It had light green icing on it, just the same color as her gown.

I smiled lightly. “I suppose I look like a lovesick fool?”

“Oh, of course darling, but it suits you.” She winked. “You should invite Lucien to one of my private parties. Just the two of you, and you can have a little romp somewhere, undetected.”

“Oh, Colette would love that, wouldn’t she? Going to a party without her. Lucien taking the invite instead of her,” I scoffed.

“She goes places without you, doesn’t she?” She bit into the cake.

“Oh, well yes, but that is completely different from if I want to go somewhere without her, especially as I am in her home.” I finally gave up on the book, closing it and letting it rest on my lap.

“Well, that is no good. Where has Armand been lately? I haven’t seen him in a while,” She shifted on the sofa, turning toward me.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He will be by tomorrow, though. He is always by on Tuesdays.”

“Lucien? Will he be by as well? You have been unbearable without him here during the day to keep you company.”

“No. We decided that it is best for him to just come see me in the evenings, like usual.”

“Yes.” She pointed to me. “How does that work? How do you run about undetected?”

I smiled. “I meet him at the servant’s entrance. We run up the stairs and into my bedchamber. We try to be as quiet as we possibly can. It is actually rather easy, though I had to take to locking my doors.”

“Oh, and I bet Colette just loves that, doesn’t she?” she bit into the cake, again.

I shrugged. “I don’t think she knows. She only tried the once, and I was able to fib my way out of that…I dislike lying to her.”

“Why? She lies enough to you, doesn’t she?”

“What does that mean?” I asked defensively.

“Well, she isn’t being honest with you, Maddy darling. You asked her of this whole Étienne situation, and she just brushed it off. What of Armand?” she asked, popping the last piece of the cake into her mouth.

“That is her most hated question. I don’t know. I suppose that is why our relationship has been so strained lately. I have come to the realization that Colette is not as versed and respected as I once thought. If it’s possible, she is the most talked about in Paris, all because of her attitude of wanting what she wants and wanting it right at this moment.”

“The Chevalier…let us not forget about that little incident,” she scoffed, sitting up straight and grabbing her cup of tea.

“You know, I think she has been holding a correspondence with him. She gets letters, like I do from Lucien. She will not say who they are from.”

She frowned as she looked to me, holding her cup and saucer in her hand on her lap. “That could be a possibility. Maddy darling, listen to me,” she said as she turned to me, placing her cup and saucer down on the table. “Things are strained right now, as you said. Colette is going through things, with not only getting over the Chevalier, but she also is dealing with gossip, with Étienne, and with Armand. I admit, he is a handful. Especially with the way his mood changes.”

“Why is that?” I asked, sitting forward on the chair. “Colette says he blows hot and cold.”

She nodded. “Yes, he gets distracted. Being that he is musically inclined, he listens to everything. He knows the gossip around her. He does not want to get involved, but he cannot fight his feelings. Think of how hard that has to be. He is convinced of his love for her until he hears something about her. Then, he finds himself shaken. Like most men do in such a situation.”

I looked down at the book, running my hand over it. “I see.”

“That is not my point, though. I just want you to know, darling. If you ever need someone or a place to go, my little pied-a-terre is always open to you.” She sat forward, grabbing my hand and holding it in hers.

I smiled. “Thank you, but I am sure that things could not possibly go that far.”

“You would be surprised,” she sighed, “but I put it out there, so you know.”

I nodded, holding onto her hand. “Yes, I do, and I thank you.”

We decided on taking a turn around the grounds, as it was now a bearable temperature outside. Walking out arm-in-arm toward the hedge maze, we stopped as Colette and Étienne stumbled out of it. Colette was straightening her hat on her head and kicking at her skirt of her orange gown as she saw us. Her face was flushed and red as she stopped, and she hit Étienne on the shoulder.

“Rose, Maddy. What are you two doing?”

Rose looked to me before she looked back to them. “It is a lovely day, and we thought a turn around the grounds was the ticket. What were you two doing?”

Étienne cleared his throat, looking to his feet as Colette straightened her shoulders out. “We thought the same. Just taking a turn around the maze.”

Rose looked back to me, again. Her right eyebrow rose quite high as she smiled, looking back at them. “Well, isn’t that nice? Great minds think alike. Come on, Maddy darling. I think it best we see about the construction.”

She pulled on my arm, turning me around and back the way we came. We walked past the fountain and down the path toward the construction, where the shell of the structure was already up. Three steps led up into the pavilion. Eight columns were set up, and that was it. As I heard, the Marquise had changed her mind and said she wanted a roof on it—a domed, ugly thing that quite matched the chapel.

Rose stopped and turned to me. “Please tell me you saw that they were doing a lot more than walking around that maze.”

I nodded. “They were up to something. What did you hear? You have to have heard something. What was Constanze going on about on Friday?”

A few workers walked past us. All of them acknowledged us before they continued on.

She licked her lips. “Well, word is that when Étienne visited Colette a week ago, they were found in the games room by one of the servants, and Colette was not in the best position.”

My eyes were wide with shock. “They were…they were—”

“Yes.” She nodded. “She was apparently on her knees. He was leaning against the table, and she was…apparently well skilled with her mouth. At least that is what the servant was blabbering about.”

“What servant?” I asked, thinking of who would possibly do that to Colette. Most of the servants would. After all, she had thrown china at them and verbally lashed them on several occasions.

Rose shrugged. “I don’t know. No names. They were always referred to as ‘the servant’ and just that.”

“Do you think it is true?”

“Well,” she looked around once again, “what did you hear that night?”

I bit at my thumbnail and my face turned scarlet. “I was busy with Lucien.”

“Oh.” She smiled, shaking her head. “That’s unfortunate. Perhaps Constanze wasn’t fibbing as much as we think.”

“If she wasn’t? What business is it of ours?” I asked, crossing my arms. “I must admit, I am not exactly in the position to pass judgment, as I have been sneaking a man into my bedchamber, a man I am not even married to.”

“I suppose my record is not squeaky clean, either,” she said, kicking at the ground and looking at her foot. “It is actually out right filthy.” Her eyes flashed at me, smiling wickedly.

I laughed lightly, shaking my head. “Who cares if she has been with Étienne? What does it really matter?”

Rose nodded. “Yes, I know. You are right. Enough of this. Let us go back to the house and get you a macaron or two.”

I nodded, turning with her as she grabbed hold of my arm and linking it with hers. We made our way back to the house. As we walked into the salon, Colette stood from the table, Étienne nowhere in sight.

“I know what you are thinking, and it’s—”

“None of our business,” I finished her sentence. “We are going back up to the parlor and perhaps play a game of Piquet.”

We stopped in front of her. Her face was in utter shock. She had, no doubt, made an entire speech on her privacy and doing whatever she pleased.

“Oh,” she said finally, looking down at the table.

“Has Étienne taken his leave, already?” Rose asked.

Colette nodded slowly. “Yes, he has.”

“Hmmm, too bad,” Rose hummed, turning to me. “Let us start that game, shall we?”