The Butler(67)

“Perfect, and tell her thank you.” He did, and his mother smiled from ear to ear.

“What are you scheming about?” he asked her, suspicious.

“I am not scheming. I want to meet your friend. I always did when you were young.”

“I know. I hated it. I felt like you were checking up on me.”

“I was. I still am.” She laughed, and he shook his head, but he was happy to be able to see Olivia again, and grateful to his mother, although he didn’t admit it to her.



* * *



—

Olivia arrived promptly at four, with a small bouquet of white roses and a box of chocolate éclairs, which she knew he liked and hoped his mother did too. Joachim thought she looked beautiful. Thinner, but healthy and energized and her eyes were bright. He thanked her for the éclairs, and walked her into the living room, where his mother was sitting on the couch. She smiled and stood up when Olivia walked into the room, and Olivia greeted her warmly, and sat down next to her. The two women never stopped talking for the whole hour Olivia was there. Liese told her about the Monet she had found, and how the process worked, and Olivia was fascinated. She told her stories about Joachim as a boy too, and some of the sweet things he did, and a mischievous story or two.

    “This is embarrassing, Mother,” he reminded her. “I worked for Olivia, as a grown-up. She didn’t adopt me.”

“No, but you two are friends, I think. That includes how naughty you were as children, and how sweet. I’m sure Olivia got up to mischief too.”

“Never, I was perfect. Except when I borrowed my mother’s favorite sweater and loaned it to a friend and forgot to get it back, or when I stole her new high heels and broke one…and locked myself in the bathroom at five and the fire department came and had to remove the door. Stuff like that.” She laughed, and got up to leave, and thanked Liese for the visit. “It was a great honor to meet you, Mrs. von Hartmann. I’ve been a great admirer of yours from a distance ever since I met Joachim.”

“I admire you too. Thank you for being a friend to him, as well as his employer. We all need our friends.” Olivia nodded, touched, and a look passed between the two women that only they understood. “Thank you,” Liese said again, they kissed on both cheeks, and Olivia left. She thanked Joachim again at the door, and they didn’t kiss, but a warm look passed between them. And Liese was eating one of the éclairs when he came back into the room. She looked up at him with a grin. “I don’t know if you’re in love with her,” she said, licking the chocolate off her fingers delicately, “but I am. What a lovely woman she is. And she is your friend, whether you know it or not.” He nodded, not sure what to say.

He sent Olivia a text an hour later. “Thank you for making my mother so happy.” And she responded immediately.

    “I’m in love with her. You’re a lucky man.”

“I know,” was his response, and he wondered when he would see Olivia again. Probably not for a while, but the air had been cleared, and he was happy the two women had met.

Olivia thought about Joachim and his mother that night. He was a complicated man, with an unusual background. A war criminal grandfather, a drug lord identical twin brother, a father he never knew, an extraordinary mother, and all of it had made him who he was. Her history was much simpler. A father pretending not to be, a mother who had given up her life for a married man. Her mother had taught her everything she didn’t want to be, including being dependent on a selfish, dishonest man. They had both been weak, selfish people. Joachim had terrible people in his history, and also a mother who was a shining example of everything one should be. She had been the greatest influence on him of all.





Chapter 17


Just as Olivia had hoped, the chateau was finished right on time, in less than the eight months she’d allowed for. She had done it by sheer grit, determination, and hard work. She had the whole place cleaned, the gardens were as beautiful as Nikolai Petrov had hoped. She completed the interior installation in three days of nonstop work, curtains, paintings, furniture. It was a showplace beyond the owner’s wildest dreams, and hers. She took photographs of it for Nikolai and herself and emailed a set to Joachim too. He texted her that he was stunned at how beautiful it was and what she had done since he’d left.

She waited for a response from Nikolai Petrov and got none. She emailed him again, and still no response. He had transferred all the money she needed for final payments, and paid her fee, but there was no letter, no email, no text, no call. It didn’t make sense to her and she called Audrey Wellington in New York to ask her to check with her original contact if everything was all right. Audrey sounded shocked to hear from her.

    “You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what? Did someone kill him?” It was the only thing she could think of to explain his silence, now that he was the owner of such an exquisite property and home. It almost did look like Versailles and every inch of it gleamed. Olivia had been waiting for him to arrive so she could show it to him, and how all the technology worked. Even that had been installed on time. Even the pool was complete. It really was a miracle. She’d never worked so hard on anything in her life. She’d been too busy to read the papers and see it.