The Happiest Day (28 page)

David laughed.  “I
doubt that you do, but there’s plenty of time to fill you in on our complicated
family history.”

Lily turned around
and sat, turning her attention to Lorraine.  “What do you like to do?  Do you
like dolls?”

Lorraine smiled
gently at the enthusiastic young girl.  “I like to read.”

Lily’s face fell. 
“Oh.  Well, so do I.  I just like dolls better.”

David snorted a
little and looked out the window.  Lorraine’s eyes fell on him and she studied
him closely.  Rachel felt a thread of discomfort run through her body.  She
wasn’t sure how she had known, but she had felt that the young teen girl would
be attracted to David.  She didn’t know why it bothered her so much, but she
didn’t want Lorraine to be fascinated by David.  David, for his part, didn’t
seem to pay much attention to the girl.

The whole family
settled their private car and Rachel was suddenly overwhelmed with the fact
that her family had grown from four children to seven.   As usual, Peter
handled everything with cool precision and called a porter, ordering a quickly
served dinner for everyone.  The children ate ravenously then the two younger
boys immediately fell asleep.  Rachel was touched to see how Lorraine watched
over them, covering them both with blankets and stroking their hair.

“You should get
some sleep, too,” she said to the girl, indicating another berth.  “We’ll
travel the night.”

“Could I sleep
with Teddy?” she asked.  “He’s been having nightmares.  I wouldn’t want him to
wake up and be scared.

“Of course,”
Rachel answered.

“I’ll sleep in her
berth then,” Lily said, clapping her hands excitedly.  Peter had rented a
second sleeper car to accommodate everyone but Lily was loathe to be separated
from her new sister.

“Only if you can
be quiet,” Rachel admonished.  “Adrian and Teddy are exhausted and they need
their sleep.”

“I promise.”

Peter lowered his
head and kissed her.  “I’m going to go next door and the get the boys settled. 
I wish we could sleep together.”

“We have seven
children now,” she answered.  “There’s no time for each other any longer.”

He swatted her
bottom.  “Bite your tongue, woman.  Maybe I’ll sneak over here in the middle of
the night for a rendezvous.”

Lorraine was
watching them with wide eyes.  David noticed the expression on her face and
touched her elbow lightly.  “Don’t let them bother you.  They talk to each
other like that all the time.”

“They love each
other,” she noted.  “I think it’s nice.”

He grinned a
little.  “So do I; I just wish they would be more private about it.  Hey, I’m
sorry about your mom.”

Pain was evident
in luminous eyes.  “I don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

“How will you
know?”

“The letters she
promised will not come.”

David didn’t know
what to say.  He wished he could help her but admired her strength and maturity
in travelling halfway around the world with her two younger brothers.  He
nodded and said, “Well, good-night.  I’ll see you in the morning.  We’ll be
home tomorrow and things won’t seem so frightening for you.”

“Thank you,
David,” she said formally.  “
Bonne nuit
.”

“
Bonne nuit
,”
he said in return.  He bid his sister and his mother good-night as well and
joined his younger brothers and father in the adjoining car.  The two younger
boys settled into their berths and fell asleep almost immediately, but David
felt wide awake.  “Hey, Dad?”

“Yes, Dave?”

“What was it like
when Mom and Uncle Laurie came to live with you?”

“They were
frightened.  Their parents had been murdered and, even though they knew Norris,
they had never met the rest of us.  I helped your mother out of Norris’ car and
she was this scared little girl in a white nightgown.  Her hair had come loose
and was covering her face, with these beautiful eyes peering out.  She wrapped
her legs and arms around me and she was shaking.  I could barely loosen her
enough to hand her over to our nanny.”

“That’s why you
call her Spider.”

“Yes.”

“Lorraine doesn’t
seem scared, just sad.”

“Those children
have been through a lot already with the war.  If Martine has been sick for a
while, I’m sure that Lorraine has had to grow up quickly.  Your mother was a
child but Lorraine is already a young woman.  She reminds me of her own
mother.  Very quiet, very strong.  She doesn’t look like she would back down
from much if she was protecting someone she loved.”

“I’m glad that we
agreed to take them.”

“I am, too, son. 
Ultimately, it was your mother’s decision and I knew she would make the right
one.  She’s quite a woman.”

“Was she very
upset when you got to France and she found out the truth?”

“Sad, angry,
hurt.  All the things she should have been.”

“Dad---I mean,
Theo---wasn’t nice to her after you came.  He blamed her for how things
changed.  He called her a liar.”

“I’m sorry,
David.”

“It’s not your
fault.  It’s just that, how could he be so mean to her when he was lying to her
about what he was doing?  I mean, Lorraine is thirteen.  I was only a baby when
he must have started seeing her mother.  That was long before he found out you
were my father.  It just seems….I don’t know….”

“Hypocritical?”
Peter supplied.  “I agree but Theo isn’t here to defend himself or to explain
his actions.  I don’t think it’s beneficial to judge his actions any longer. 
We should just move forward and try to make his children as comfortable and
secure as we can.”

David nodded. 
“All right.”  He settled back in his berth.  “Was your family nice to Mom and
Uncle Laurie?”

“No.  Well, my
mother wasn’t, at least.  She was resentful of things.”

“Mom told me that
Laurie was really Norris’ son.”

Peter looked up in
surprise from where he was going through his overnight bag.  “She told you
that?”

“Yes.  I guess
that’s why your mom wasn’t nice to them.”

“I guess you’re
right.”

“But Mom is being
really nice to Lorraine and her brothers.”

Peter had to
smile.  “Your mother is the best woman I’ve ever known.  She’s good-hearted and
kind and has never forgotten what happened to her.”

“Did you always
love her?”

Peter was
surprised at the personal turn the conversation had taken.  “I loved her like a
sister, like a friend for many years.  I didn’t fall
in
love with her
until many years later.”

David nodded.  He
grew silent and Peter thought that he had fallen asleep until he heard him say,
“I’m glad you fell in love with her.”

Peter chuckled
silently.  “I’m glad, too.  Good-night, David.”

“
Bonne nuit
,
Dad.”

In the adjoining
car, Rachel watched over the three children.  They could have represented
Theo’s infidelity, his faithlessness, but instead all she saw was their
mother’s strength and determination to hold onto her family as long as she
could.  What incredible love she had for them to know when to let them go. 
Just days later, Paris fell to Nazi troops.

The children
settled in better than Rachel could have hoped for.  Adrian and Teddy chose to
share a room while Lorraine took the room next to Lily.  Since it was the
summer, they didn’t have to worry about school yet.  They had time to get to
know each other and settle in at the estate.  The boys were in awe of the
expansive home and grounds as well as the stable full of horses.  Lorraine was
more reticent but couldn’t hide her gasp of pleasure when she saw the library.

“Am I permitted to
borrow books?” she asked Rachel, her eyes wide with longing.

“This is your
home.  You can read whatever you like.”

Surprisingly, she was
almost as impressed with the chapel as she had been with the library.  “You
have your own chapel?” she asked.

“My first husband,
Norris Thornton, was a deeply religious man,” Rachel embellished.  “He enjoyed
having a quiet place to come and pray.”

“I think I would
like that, too.”  She turned an expressive gaze on Rachel.  “If I may?”

“Of course you
may,” Rachel said gently.  She looked at her watch.  “I’m sorry to leave you,
but I have to get to work.  Will you be all right?”

“I’ll be fine.  I
think I’d like to stay here for a while.”

“Certainly.”  She
laid a tentative hand on the girl.  “We’re all praying for your mother.”

“Thank you.”  She
inhaled sharply as if suddenly nervous.  “My mother explained everything to me
before she sent us to you.  I…I…you are very gracious to welcome us here,” she
said in a rush.

Rachel felt tears
stinging her eyes and her throat tightened in emotion.  “Do you remember your
father?”

She nodded.  “I
do.  He wasn’t with us a lot, but we were always so happy when he was there.”

“I’m glad.”

“Do your children
know or should we keep it a secret?  I know Lily said that I’m her big sister
now but I wasn’t sure if she was just being friendly or if she knew the truth.”

“They know.”

“So, we really are
to be brothers and sisters?”

“You are.”  Rachel
didn’t know why this girl touched her so, but she felt an overwhelming need to
cry.

“It feels good to
have a family.”

“We’re very glad
you’re here,” Rachel said in a rush before she made a fool out of herself.  “I
have to go now.  Let Smythe know if you need anything.”

Lorraine nodded
and made her way to the front of the chapel, sitting in the first pew.  Rachel
watched her for a moment, and then left the chapel quietly.  She ran into
Peter.

“Hey, babe, we’re
running late.  You ready to go?”

“What are the boys
doing?”

“They’re fine. 
Two of them are playing chess, two of them are getting ready to go outside and
ride bikes, and your daughter is aggravating the other one.”

“In what manner?”

“She wants Adrian
to help her set up her dollhouse.”

“Should we…?”

“No,” Peter said
firmly.  “We should let him figure out how to handle a pesky little sister. 
Let’s go.”

The summer flew by
and they all returned to school in September.  By this point, her own children
had become very protective of Martine’s children and didn’t allow any teasing
or questions to occur.  Bert’s own Alan and Rose, now eighteen and sixteen,
took the younger children under their wing as well and the months flew by
happily.  In January, they received word that Martine has passed peacefully in
her sleep and Peter suggested that they hold a memorial service for her in the
chapel.  The children, who had been thriving, suddenly were thrown back into a
maelstrom of emotions.

Laurie performed a
modified funeral mass for Martine.  When it came time for a reading, David
stood and made his way to the front.  Rachel was so proud of how tall and
handsome her son was.  The maturity he displayed was breathtaking.

“A Reading from
the Book of Ecclesiastes,” he began, his voice deep and solemn. “There is an
appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.

A time to give birth, and a time to
die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.  A time to kill, and a
time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.  A time to weep, and a
time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.  A time to scatter stones,
and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from
embraces.  A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to
cast away.  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time
to speak.  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of
peace.  The word of the Lord.”

“Thanks be to
God,” they all responded.

David bowed at the
altar and returned to his seat.  Laurie continued the mass and afterwards,
Peter ushered everyone into the dining room for a late lunch.  Rachel spoke
with the staff briefly, instructing them to begin serving, then returned to the
dining room.  A quick head count showed that two were missing.  David and
Lorraine.  Rachel’s stomach clenched.  Over the past half year, she had
purposely tried to keep the two apart from each other.  She slipped from the
room and headed back to the chapel.  She was quiet as she peeked inside, worried
about what she might see.

She found Lorraine
still sitting in the pew, her head bowed.  David crouched in front of her,
holding one of her hands between both of us.  He was talking quietly to her.

Rachel stared at
them, not seeing David and Lorraine any longer, but herself and Peter from
almost three decades earlier.  Again, she felt suddenly and uncontrollably
emotional and left the doorway of the chapel, standing against the outside
wall, holding her hand over her heart. 
What was wrong with her?
she
thought to herself.  They were just talking.

Suddenly, there
they stood, David’s face quizzical.  “Mom?  Are you all right?”

“I…I’m fine,” she
stammered.  “Lunch is waiting.”

“We’re coming.”

She talked to
Peter that night about her strange reaction.  “When I saw them like that, I was
suddenly so sad and so scared.”  She stood next to the bed, twisting her
hands.  “I felt like such a loon.”

Peter was already
in bed and he held out a hand to her.  “Come here, my loon.”

She crawled into
bed and curled up in his arms.  “What do you think is wrong with me?”

“Maybe a couple of
things,” he mused.  “First off, he’s your first-born and he’s growing up. 
He’ll be seventeen in a few months.  Today, he looked like a man.”

“Even more, he
acted like a man,” Rachel added.

“True.”  He
cleared his throat a little.  “Rae, be honest with me.  Do they remind you of
us?”

“Yes,” she
answered.  “When I came across them in the chapel, suddenly I only saw us, not
them.”

“Is that what’s
bothering you?  Do you fear history is repeating itself?”

She nodded her
head, tears slipping out of the corners of her eyes.  “Peter, we went through
so much pain before we were finally together.  I don’t want that for David.”

“Rachel, there are
some pretty big differences.  Norris spun a web of lies around us that caused
one tragedy after another.  We’ve been nothing but honest with all of the
children.  Have you considered that, if they do have feelings for each other,
that this is the new and improved version of us?  What we could have been without
all of the deception and wrong choices?”

“That’s a nice way
of looking at it,” she admitted.

“Also,” he gave
her a little squeeze.  “I think you’re jumping the gun.  You came across them
talking quietly in the chapel and suddenly you’ve envisioned this whole future
for them.  David has aspirations, you know.  He wants to go away to college,
experience life, before he settles down to work at the newspaper.”

“I didn’t know
that.”

“I’ve also talked
to Lorraine.  She wants to become a nurse, did you know that?  She is very
focused on her future.”

“Look at you,
showing me up again,” she sighed dramatically.  “When do you find the time to
talk to the children?  You must not have enough to keep you busy.”

He tilted her chin
up and smiled down into her eyes.  “Why don’t you give me something to fill my
time?” he said suggestively, his hand sliding down her back and curving over
her bottom.

“If it were up to
you, we’d never get out of this bed.”

“I haven’t heard
any complaints from you, woman.”

“You’ll never hear
me complain.  I waited twenty-eight years for you.  I won’t nearly have my fill
of you for at least that long.”

He flipped her
under him, his intent obvious.  “At least that long,” he repeated.  “I never
want to be apart from you again.”

“We have years and
years ahead of us,” she promised, wrapping her legs around him and receiving
him into her body.  “We may have a lot to make up for, but we’ve got plenty of
time, and then some.”