The Mistress(8)
Despite Gabriel’s entreaties, which Lorenzo had ignored, he died without leaving a will, and by French law, two-thirds of the estate went to Theo as his only legitimate child, and the remaining third to Maylis as his wife. Overnight, she became a very rich woman, particularly with all the paintings he had given her, which formed an important collection. And the rest of his body of work went to Theo, and two-thirds of everything he had in the bank and that Gabriel had invested on his behalf. All of which left Lorenzo’s seven children by his mistresses without a penny from the estate. And after careful discussion with Gabriel, Maylis directed him to cut her financial share from the investments in half, and she gave half of what she had, exclusive of the paintings, to his seven children, who were grateful and amazed. Even Gabriel was amazed by her generous gesture, but she insisted she had enough money, and she knew that several of Luca’s children needed it more than she did. Both she and Theo were set for life, and Theo had twice what she did.
Theo continued his studies at the Beaux-Arts for two years after his father died, and then came home to St. Paul de Vence to live and work. He bought a small house of his own, with a sunny studio. Maylis had moved back into Lorenzo’s old studio and was living in the room upstairs where her son had been born. And the house that Gabriel had convinced Lorenzo to buy for them was standing empty and uninhabited. Maylis said she couldn’t bear to live there without him, in the house where he had died, and felt closer to him in the studio, which Gabriel thought was unhealthy, but he couldn’t convince her otherwise.
Two years after Lorenzo’s death, Maylis was still inconsolable and unwilling to move on. Gabriel came to see her every few weeks. She was only fifty-four by then, but all she wanted to do was stand and stare at Lorenzo’s paintings, and go through them sorrowfully, remembering when he had painted each of them, particularly those he had painted of her when she was young, and when she was pregnant with Theo. It depressed Theo profoundly to see the condition his mother was in, and he and Gabriel talked about it often over dinner at Theo’s house. As a longtime family friend, Gabriel was like a father to him.
Five years after Lorenzo’s death, Maylis was no better, and then finally the deepest part of the wound began to heal, and she started to live again. She had a crazy idea that turned out not to be so crazy after all. She had liked working at the restaurant when she was young, and La Colombe d’Or was a big success. She decided to turn the house Lorenzo had bought for them into a restaurant, and she would show his work there. She had sold only one of his paintings since his death, and had refused all other requests to do so, and didn’t want to let Gabriel sell them at auction. She didn’t need the money, and didn’t want to give up a single one. And for the moment, Theo had no reason to sell his either, so the market for Lorenzo Luca’s paintings was frozen, but their value escalated every year. The refusal to sell increased their worth exponentially, although that wasn’t her goal. But Maylis liked the idea of showing them in their own restaurant, in what had been their home, almost like a museum of his work. And there were six bedrooms she could rent out as hotel rooms, if she ever wanted to, to special people in the art world.
It sounded like an insane idea to Theo when she told him about it, but Gabriel convinced him it would be good for her, and help her get back to an active life again. She was fifty-seven years old and couldn’t mourn Lorenzo forever.
The restaurant did for her what Gabriel had hoped it would. It gave Maylis a reason for living. It took a year to make the needed changes in the house, build a commercial kitchen, and create a beautiful garden for people to dine in during the summer. She hired one of the best chefs in Paris, although she hated going to Paris as much as Lorenzo had, and all the chefs she was interviewing came to see her in St. Paul de Vence. She hadn’t been to Paris in nearly thirty years, and had never seen Gabriel’s gallery. She was happy in St. Paul de Vence, and she let Gabriel stay in one of the rooms in the house on his frequent trips to check on her and advise her about the restaurant, which she called Da Lorenzo, in honor of the only man she had ever loved.
The restaurant was an astonishing success the first year, with reservations booked up to three months in advance. Sophisticated art lovers came from everywhere to see Lorenzo’s work and eat a three-star meal, rivaled only by La Colombe d’Or, who were as surprised as everyone else by what Maylis had done. She hired an excellent ma?tre d’h?tel to oversee the dining room and garden and a top-notch sommelier, and with his help they filled their wine cellar with remarkable wines, and they became one of the best restaurants in the South of France, frequented by lovers of art and gastronomy. And Maylis presided over all of it, talking about Lorenzo, and seeing to the clients, as she had with Lorenzo’s artist friends long before. She was the keeper of the flame, and a charming hostess in one of the best restaurants in the area. It was a talent no one had suspected she had, and Gabriel often told her how proud he was of her. They had always been good friends, but had grown even closer in the years since Lorenzo’s death, as he continued to advise and help her, particularly after she started the restaurant.
It was two years after Maylis opened the restaurant when Gabriel took his courage in his hands, and told her how he had felt about her for years. He was spending more and more time in St. Paul de Vence, staying in one of the bedrooms over the restaurant, for weeks at a time, supposedly to counsel her, when in fact he just wanted to spend time with her, and be near her.