The Seven Turns of the Snail's Shell: A Novel (29 page)

One day in the midst of yet another argument over wedding planning, Mark had asked her, “Were you with your freakin’ French boyfriend that weekend in December when I couldn’t reach you?”

She had never told him where she had been.

“It was a college affair, a decade ago, Mark. We saw each other again briefly in December. Yes, it was that weekend when you were trying to reach me. He had seen in the newspaper that I was doing book signings. We had dinner. The next day we took a drive into the country. That’s all. It’s over. I haven’t heard from him since. I don’t even know where he is, and that’s the truth.”

“Christ, Anna. Do you still love him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you love me?”

“Yes, I guess.”

“You can’t have two lives, Anna. You have to make a choice.”

She had hesitated at that comment, knowing he was right.

“Maybe we should break off the engagement for a while,” she had finally said, not believing her own words.

He had looked devastated.

“Oh, shit. Anna, I’m sorry,” he had said, pounding the table with his fist. “If it means postponing the wedding for a while, I won’t rush you. I love you too much for you to be unhappy with me.”

“I need to be sure,” she had told him, after which he had thrown up his arms in frustration and stomped out of the room.

Then the letter from Guy had arrived with the confirmation that Diamanté had been Elise’s “
admirateur
,” and she was on her way to Castagniers to meet him, finally. And there would be C-C. He had actually called her in December? Anna searched her soul. Would it have turned out differently had she still been in the apartment that day when he called? C-C had always been like a magnet, drawing her back to him, even when she hadn’t heard from him. In many ways, she had to admit, she was no less attached to C-C for having met and fallen in love with Mark, but Mark’s presence, all-embracing as it was, couldn’t make up for C-C’s absence.

“This time,” she said to herself, “I know the reason C-C didn’t try to contact me. This time it was Monique who told him not to, not his father.” What must he have thought? Guy de Noailles’ letter had provided the only information about his whereabouts since then. She was crazy, she told herself, to believe that there would be any chance of the relationship working this time. For all she knew, he had found someone new. Heaving a huge sigh, she climbed back into the small car, put it in gear, and wound her way toward Castagniers.

CHAPTER 52

A
lthough Anna had researched it on the Internet, she was still unprepared for how lovely the small village was. The information on the Web site had been brief: population 1226, three hotels, two restaurants, a single
boulangerie
, and a
chocolaterie
in the Abbaye Dame de la Paix Cisterciennes’ convent. There was a photo of one of the two restaurants. She had wondered if it was the Ajaccio. Well, she would soon know.

It seemed different, so remote, this world. In the center of the sun-drenched square was an elegant, stone fountain crowned by an artichoke and surrounded by flowers. At one end of the square was the
mairie
, the eighteenth century town hall, with the French flag flying over the front entrance. The café was directly across from it. A green awning on the old building looked new, “Bar Tabac Restaurant Ajaccio” printed in bold, white letters on its overhang. It was indeed the restaurant she had seen in the photo on the Internet. Several patrons were seated under the shade of umbrellas at outdoor tables. Anna parked the car in the velvety shade beneath a plane tree. She took a deep breath and got out. The scent of herbs and olive oil coming from the restaurant struck her immediately. Lively folk music blared from loud speakers.

Elise was outside, arranging small bouquets of bright gold sunflowers in blue glass vases for the tables. Her vivid blue eyes sparkled, and she looked ten years younger. “
Oh là! C’est
Anna! Guy!
Lobo
!” She called inside as she hastened towards Anna, her arms wide. “I knew you would come. I told Guy you would come.”

Anna smiled. “Elise, you look wonderful.” The two women embraced, kissing each other on both cheeks.

Guy came from the restaurant. He was speechless. When he took his turn embracing Anna, his eyes were moist with emotion.

“I received your letter.
Merci beaucoup
for letting me know, Guy.”

He found his voice. “I’m so happy you came, Anna. I was hoping you would. Elise and I both were.” He nodded to a beaming Elise.

Behind Elise stood a man with dark, piercing eyes who appeared to be in his seventies. A deep scar extended upward from his right temple and disappeared under a black beret. It was unmistakably Diamanté. He came forward with a shy smile on his face. “I appear to be the only one around here who doesn’t know you,” he said in a thick accent as he offered his hand. “I am Diamanté Loupré-Tigre.
Enchanté
. It seems that your grandfather,
enfin, c’est moi
.”

Anna’s eyes teared. She wanted to hug him, but she held back, not knowing how he would feel about her. Instead, she embraced his hands gently.

“I have come for your wedding. I am so happy for you and Elise.”

C-C had arrived on the other side of the square just in time to watch the scene unfolding at the café. He could only see her from the back, but he knew at once that it was Anna. He sighed, unable to move; his heart pounded. She was tan; her hair was longer than when he had last seen her, pulled back at the nape of her neck. She wore a short summer sundress in a soft tangerine color with matching high-heeled sandals. He studied her figure: the soft shoulders, the long legs, the sensuous area of her bare back.

Elise spotted him next to the fountain. She lightly touched Anna’s arm and pointed toward C-C.

Anna glanced from Elise to Guy and then to Diamanté. Each of them nodded their head in C-C’s direction. Holding her breath, she turned and walked slowly toward the man whom she had feared she would never see again. He didn’t move as he watched her coming toward him.

She stopped within a few feet of the fountain. “Hello, C-C,” she said, studying him. He was dressed in a light shirt and casual beige trousers. His head was cocked sideways, and his arms were crossed in front of his chest. The gray hairs at his temples radiated in the sunlight. “I came for the wedding. Guy wrote me that you were living here. I brought your mother’s tin box.”

“I’m sure everyone is pleased that you have come, Anna.” His voice was cold, his demeanor removed.

“Yes. Yes, they seem to be.” Anna crossed her arms in front of her and looked around at Guy, Elise, and Diamanté, who were all watching her.

C-C dropped his eyes and kicked at the ground with one foot. “Monique told me that you became engaged.
Félicitations
.”

Anna uncrossed her arms and took a few steps closer to him.

“C-C, I didn’t know where you were until the letter from Guy came about the wedding. I only learned today why you didn’t call or write during the past eight months. At least I think it’s why you didn’t try to contact me,” Anna corrected herself, hesitating. “Monique told me what she said to you. I never knew that you had called the apartment the day I left. She never told me. It was hard for her to admit her deception to me. She feels terrible.” Anna yearned to put her arms around C-C’s neck, but he still didn’t move. He continued to look at the ground. “I’m not engaged, C-C. Not anymore anyway.”

He looked up. His hands dropped to his sides, and his shoulders relaxed. There was a flicker of a smile in his eyes. “I read all your letters…and your book, too.”

“You should have thrown the letters away.” She shook her head. “Anyway, what did you think of the book?”

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “You lied. I was in it.”

She laughed nervously, remembering the scene in the bookstore.

“Everyone sees themselves in my books.”

“Your letters inspired me to write to you. I wrote you once a month. Unlike you, however, I didn’t mail anything.”

She grinned at him. “I hope you saved those letters.”

He nodded. “Are you sure you want them?” She thought she saw a slight blush. “They were love letters.”

Suddenly, nothing mattered to her. She wanted only to be in his arms again. “At this moment, I have never wanted anything more in my life, C-C,” she said as she moved closer to him.

C-C embraced Anna, catching his breath at the scent of her.

Anna ran her fingers affectionately through the hair at his temples. “You’re turning gray,” she whispered with a smile.

“From missing you,
amour
.”

Their lips met; the world around them disappeared.

The crowd of people in the outdoor café, who had been watching the couple intently, erupted into wild applause and cheers at their tender embrace.

The uproar brought Jacques out of the Ajaccio’s kitchen. Knitting his eyebrows into the deep furrows of his forehead, he gave Guy de Noailles an inquisitive look.

“Our Anna has arrived just now,” Guy explained with delight. “It would appear that Charlie is very happy to see her.”

Martine stood behind Jacques, her arms crossed, her brassy-colored hair redder than ever in the sunlight. “Humph,” she grumbled, “that’s why I couldn’t get him to sleep with me. And I’ve been trying for at least six months, too. I thought he was joining the convent.” Swirling around expertly on her four-inch-high red stilettos, she went back to waiting on tables.

Jacques chuckled and glanced at Diamanté standing with his arms around Elise as they watched the young couple’s prolonged kiss in the sun-drenched square. The wide smile on his face was one that Jacques had not seen for a very long time.

“This is embarrassing. What are we going to tell them?” Anna whispered, all of a sudden self-conscious. “Oh God, your father is standing there.”

“He will be all right. He knows now what he didn’t know before.”

“That will make a difference?”

“
Beh, oui
. You are Diamanté’s granddaughter. You won’t have to explain. It has all been discussed. He will accept you now.”

“Do you want him to accept me?”

He nodded.

“There is no one else then?”

“Only you.” He kissed the back of her hand.

Shoulders touching, they turned and walked together toward the Ajaccio.

CHAPTER 53

A
nna had frequently practiced telling Jacques off over the years. She told herself that she wasn’t going to be easy on him. If she ever saw that man again, she would let him have it for all he had done to destroy a relationship in which he had no business interfering. Now she stared at the old man as he took her hand and kissed the back of it. All that she could have said came out in a simple greeting: “
Bonjour
,
Monsieur
Gérard.” The transition from words you say to yourself to those you speak aloud isn’t always straightforward.

“Welcome to the Ajaccio,” he said in thickly accented French. After years spent in northwestern France, his Corsican lilt had taken on a Norman accent. “My father-in-law tells me that he and Elise have been conspiring to get you to Castagniers for the wedding.”

“I am happy to be here for it. I have wanted to find Diamanté for some time.” She looked over at Diamanté and Elise.

“I think this reunion calls for a toast. Uncork the champagne, Martine,” Jacques yelled toward the zinc bar. He looked over at his son and nodded. C-C smiled at him and then at Anna.

Anna left C-C’s side and went over to Diamanté. Not knowing how he would react to her, she offered her hand.

“Where do we begin?” she asked cautiously, wondering how one launches a relationship such as this.

He accepted her hand and touched his lips to it in a gentlemanly gesture.

“We begin with today,” he replied with warmth in his raspy voice.

Anna saw in his black eyes the look that had been described to her many times. What was the word C-C had used? Vulpine. Yes, they were vulpine, but there was something more there. She had wanted to meet him, but now, she yearned to understand him.

“May I call you
Grand-père
, then?”

“If you wish. It would be nice, I think.” The old man’s face flushed slightly. He looked suddenly shy, speechless, self-conscious.

Elise, Jacques, C-C, and Guy had watched their exchange. Elise came to Diamanté’s rescue, touching him gently on the shoulder. In an amused voice that showed love and understanding, she said, “My
Lobo
is not used to being called
Grand-père
, especially by such an attractive creature. It will take some getting used to.”

Martine arrived with a tray of crystal flutes filled with sparkling pink wine and passed them out. The crowd on the terrace watched, their faces quiet in anticipation.

Guy was the first to toast. “To Anna’s arrival!
À la vôtre
!”

“
À la vôtre
!” They held up their glasses to Anna and took a sip.