The Butler(65)

And then he had turned his attention to the part of the manor that his employer lived in. Some of it was beyond redemption. He put what was too damaged to use in one of the outbuildings and moved things around to compensate for it. He had the maids wax all the furniture and the floors, turned some rugs around, and switched the curtains so the frayed edges didn’t show. By the time he finished, the place had a distinct charm and polished look, rather than the threadbare, filthy appearance when he’d arrived. He put the gardeners to work night and day, and brought three more in to help them, first in front and then all around the property. By the time Joachim had been there a month, it looked like a different home, and Halsey Mount-Williams noticed it and complimented him.

    “You’ve got a magician’s touch. I hardly recognize the place. I think you’re right, and we should raise the tour prices.” Joachim didn’t think they were quite there yet, but the place was looking better than when he’d arrived. And he had spent two days cleaning and repainting his own quarters and they were quite pleasant now. He was very satisfied with the way it all looked. And Joachim had borrowed a horse from the stables a few times to ride around the property. He liked the area and his life there. His mother was pleased for him. She missed him more than she admitted to him. He could hear it in her voice. Her only real pleasure was her work now, which was still rewarding, but with one son dead and the other living far away again, there was a sadness to her life that she couldn’t escape. She had nothing to hope for except the joy she gave others by returning their paintings to them.

Joachim decided to surprise her when he had a weekend off. Mount-Williams was going to a horse auction with friends and told him he was free to go.

He drove to Paris on Friday morning, was comforted to see the same police guard in plainclothes still there, and rang the doorbell when she came home from work. She screamed with delight when she saw him and threw her arms around his neck.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to spend the weekend with you. Get your coat, I’m taking you out to dinner.” She was shaking when he helped her put it on, and he took her to a bistro he knew she liked in the neighborhood, and then they walked home arm in arm, and he told her about his job in Sussex. “It’s a mess, but it’s rewarding putting it to rights again. I have to be resourceful. I think the owner is mostly out of money, and he only spends what he has on his horses, or women. He gambles. He makes a little money from the tours of the house to support the place. It’s not a job I’d have wanted ten years ago, but it’s fine for now. I can do whatever I want, as long as it doesn’t cost him any money.” She looked at him seriously then.

    “He might lose the house one day,” she warned him.

“I don’t care. It’s fun for now, and it’s a decent wage. He’s not a bad man. He’s just irresponsible.”

She thought about something else then and looked at him. “Did you ever put it right with Olivia?” She hadn’t wanted to ask him before on the phone. He shook his head as they walked home after dinner.

“It was too late. I did it badly when I left. What can I say now? We’ve both moved on. I’m sure she has a new assistant, and she’s busy too.”

“It would be nice for her to know you’re not as callous as you must have sounded when you left.”

“I was upset about Javier.”

“That’s no excuse. ‘I’m sorry’ goes a long way, even if you’ve both moved on. Or you could drop her a note.” It was a boundary he didn’t want to cross, but his mother’s words haunted him that night. He stood looking out the window in the morning, while his mother was still asleep, and with a sigh, he picked up the phone and called her. Maybe his mother was right. She often was. And the drama over Javier had begun to fade a little. He had been dead to them before, and now he was again.

    Olivia saw Joachim’s name appear on her cellphone and was surprised. She was at her desk, going over her weekly accounts for Petrov, and answered her phone, wondering why Joachim was calling her. She had thought of him often in the last month, angrily at times, but as he had said, it was just a job, she had no reason to contact him. Their time was past. She had figured out for herself how to manage at the chateau alone. It was hard, but she’d learned a lot in the process.

He heard her voice and felt a pang of guilt again, like a knife in his stomach, and he was sorry he had called her. It was going to be uncomfortable for both of them, and there was no purpose to it, except to apologize.

“How are you, Olivia?” It seemed like a good place to start. He couldn’t think of any other.

“I’m fine. And you?” She was always polite, even when she was angry. He couldn’t tell if she still was. Her tone was neutral, and she was keeping him at a safe distance.

“I’m fine too.” It was as awkward as he had feared.

“Where are you?” she asked him.

“I’m in Paris, visiting my mother for the weekend.”

“Are you working?” She was curious about him.

“I took a job in Sussex. The house is a combination of Downton Abbey and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ mostly the latter. They charge money for tours, and the place is falling apart. Mostly, I’ve been scrubbing floors, waxing furniture, and polishing silver.” She laughed at the way he described it. “What about you? Did you find an assistant?” He cringed when he asked her, fearing the response, if she was doing it all herself.