Letter from a Stranger (23 page)

“Not physically; she’s a strong woman, like my grandmother. Good genes, I guess. They’re both tough and very resilient. But emotionally Gabri
has
been upset at times, and particularly because family is so dear to her.”

“I realize she must have been unhappy, at a loss, and perhaps not even understanding our absence, why we hadn’t tried to find her. I’m glad she has Anita and you.”

“And my mother when she is visiting. Everyone loves Gabriele, she’s considered special in our family. In fact, she’s a member of our family.”

“She’s always been popular,” Justine murmured, and then picking up the FedEx envelope, she opened it and took out the photograph and Richard’s scribbled note. “Just look at her, Michael, doesn’t she look great in this picture?”

“She does. And you really do have a strong resemblance to her, don’t you?”

“That’s what everyone’s always said, and of course we’re both tall and blond.”

The waiter arrived with the tea tray, and after pouring a cup for each of them he quickly departed.

Michael said, after a few minutes, “I’d better go and see my client, get this over with.” He rose, squeezed her shoulder. “See you shortly,” he murmured, and left.

Justine sipped the tea, and leaning back in the chair, she relaxed for a while. Eventually she looked at her watch and saw that it was just after three o’clock. Eight in the morning in the States. Time to call Richard in Connecticut, and then she would make a call to Joanne after that.

*   *   *

Across the Bosphorus, the two grandmothers were also having tea. This afternoon the two of them were sitting in Gabriele’s garden. Usually they were relaxing on Anita’s terrace, mainly because Mehmet, her chef, wanted to present a traditional English tea every day, but today there was a great deal of activity in and around Anita’s
yali
. Preparations were being made for the dinner party, which Anita had decreed must be festive; Mehmet was in the kitchen making delicious food for the buffet. At this moment two helpers were stringing lanterns around the trees on the terrace, another was placing votive candles in strategic spots, and two tables had already been erected on the terrace, each seating ten.

Gabriele said, “It’s so sweet of you to have a party for Justine, very dear of you, Anita.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, it’s my pleasure. I’m just thrilled she’s here.” She turned to her longest friend, and peered hard at her. “I swear to God her sudden arrival yesterday has taken twenty years off you.”

“Do you know, I feel twenty years younger!” Gabriele exclaimed, smiling.

Anita took a sip of her lemon tea, and went on, “Do you think they’ll get together, Gabri?”

“I do, yes. I saw a spark between them yesterday, and—”

“Only a spark! I’d hoped for a flash of lightning.”

Gabriele chuckled. “It might easily have been a
coup de foudre,
for all I know, and like you, I’m praying it was. They’re ideally suited, as you well know, and I saw Justine looking at him very intently last night. I saw the yearning on her face, and I wanted to weep, it was so real and true.”

“Did you really! That’s wonderful news. Do you think Michael saw it?”

“I don’t know. But the good thing is they’re both fancy-free, as Justine called it yesterday. Aren’t you glad Michael broke up with Vanessa? That he’s free too?”

“You know very well I couldn’t wait for him to realize what she was as a woman. Thankfully, he did.” Giving Gabriele a very pointed look, Anita continued, “I’ve been on tenterhooks for the last few months, although I haven’t said anything to you. I kept thinking she might pull a nasty surprise on him, tell him she was pregnant. But she hasn’t, and I think she’s already in another relationship. What a relief.”

“That wouldn’t happen, Michael getting her pregnant. He’s far too smart for that, darling,” Gabriele pointed out.

“He is smart, and he’s been around the block a few times, but you know what men are like as well as I do. When they get an erection that’s what they’re focused on, and nothing else.”

Laughing, Gabriele simply nodded, and poured herself another cup of tea. “This is what I think we should do … give them plenty of space, let them be alone together as much as possible. Let things take their natural course.”

“Oh, yes, I agree with you about that.” Anita fell silent for a moment, staring out at the garden, and then she said softly, “She reminds me so much of you, when you were her age, Gabriele. I remember once going to tea with you at the Ritz when I was in London, and people just gaped at you, struck by your loveliness. That’s what my darling Max used to say about you,
Everyone’s struck by Gabri’s loveliness.
” Anita sighed, and sat back in the chair. “Well, we’ve had our good times, too, haven’t we?”

“Thank God” was all Gabriele said.

After a few moments, Anita leaned even closer and said, sotto voce, “What did you tell Justine? About the quarrel, I mean?”

“I explained about her mother breaking open my writing case, and finding the marriage certificate, and I told her it was about Indian Ridge, my will, which was more or less the truth.”

“So you didn’t tell her the real truth then? The truth from long ago?”

Gabriele looked at her askance, and her face paled. “Oh, Anita, you know I couldn’t do that! I can’t speak about…” Her voice faltered.

Anita immediately reached out and touched her arm lovingly. “I’m sorry, so sorry, Gabri, forgive me for bringing it up. The past is the past.”

“And so it must remain.”

“I promise it will. It is our secret, Gabri.”

“I trust you implicitly.”

There was silence for a while.

Gabriele was the first to speak, when she said in a quiet voice, “I thought about … the baby, the boy, the other day, Anita. I was so startled he came into my head, and I don’t know why.” She frowned. “I’d had a dream, about … about … those days, and I didn’t really remember the dream, it was so vague when I woke up, and then the baby came into my thoughts.”

She rested her head on the chair back and closed her eyes. “But I’ve had strange dreams off and on, since Auntie Beryl died,” she went on after a moment. “Perhaps because she was my mother’s sister, and the last link I had to my mother. I don’t know the meaning of dreams, and you don’t either … but let’s face it, we
are
strange, us humans, and our emotions are so controlling of us, affect everything we do. So I believe.”

Anita simply nodded, remained silent.

Suddenly, Gabriele sat up straighter in the chair. “We must not think of the past, not the good days nor the bad. We must lift our eyes to the future, and let’s hope that those two can make sense out of what they are feeling.…”

*   *   *

Michael was walking across the terrace toward her sooner than Justine expected. “Here I am,” he said, sitting down, placing the large envelope he was carrying on the table.

“Did everything go all right?” she asked, aware that he appeared more serious than was usual, not his smiling self.

“It’s fine. My client has some concerns about a few things on the overall security plans, and we’ll make a few adjustments. But it’s not a problem, he’s just a bit impatient, I’m afraid, wants it done overnight.”

“Which is impossible?”

“You’ve got it. I’ll straighten it out with him tomorrow.” He looked at her, put his hand over hers. “Shall we have a glass of champagne before heading back?”

“Why not?” she murmured, staring at him, her eyes searching his face.

“What’s wrong? What is it?” He frowned, puzzled.

“You seem suddenly troubled, your face is very grave. Is it business?”

“Not the kind you think.”

“What kind is it then?”

“The business between us.”

She did not respond. Michael signaled to the waiter, who came over at once. After ordering two glasses of pink champagne, he turned back to her, picked up her hand and kissed the palm, closed her fingers over it, and placed it on the table.

After a moment, he went on, “I want to tell you something, Justine, and it’s this … I’m free, not involved with anyone. Didn’t Gabriele tell you I broke off with my fiancée almost five months ago?”

“No, she didn’t.”

“I’m surprised, under the circumstances. They’re very chatty, those two grans of ours. And what about you? Is Jean-Marc Breton still around in your life?”

“No, he’s not, and he never was in my life, actually, Michael. We had a brief, and I do mean
very brief,
involvement last year. But it ended quickly. I just had to stop seeing him for my own good.”

He nodded. “Why? Or don’t you want to discuss it with me?”

“That’s not a problem. I discovered I didn’t like him, and I didn’t want to be with him on a permanent basis. Will you tell me why you broke off your engagement?”

“Pretty much for the same reasons as you. One day I suddenly saw Vanessa as she truly was, and I realized we weren’t right for each other, that it wouldn’t work. We are poles apart.”

The waiter arrived with the champagne and placed it in front of them. Michael lifted his glass; Justine did the same. They clinked glasses, and he said, “To you, Justine.”

“And to you, Michael.”

They sipped the champagne in silence for a moment or two, both of them lost in their thoughts. Justine suddenly remarked, “I believe you’re right about the doting grandmothers. When you were at your meeting a while ago, I remembered Gran asking me
twice
if I liked you.”

“And what did you say?” Michael now asked, a dark brow lifting.

“Yes, I told her.
Yes.
”

He glanced away, looked into the distance reflectively, a smile touching his mouth fleetingly. When he brought his gaze back to hers his face was solemn. Taking hold of her hand, he asked, “And are you saying
yes
to me?”

“I am.”

“I want you to know I’m not playing games, Justine.”

“I realize that, I can tell from your demeanor, the expression in your eyes, and your intensity. And I’m not, either.”

“I’m happy about that, and it’s good to know we understand each other.”

“I know we do, Michael.”

“I realize that some people would look at us askance, say we’re crazy; on the other hand our two doting grandmothers are obviously our gallant supporters, and that pleases me. They’re wise, long-lived, know all about life, its many vagaries. And I, like them, do believe in love at first sight, and I guess you do too.”

“It’s not a fallacy,” she murmured. “Although it’s never happened to me before.”

“Nor to me,” Michael said. “But it
is
wonderful to feel this way. Don’t you think?”

Justine simply nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She was shaking inside, unnerved by him once more.

He said swiftly, taking hold of her hand, “Don’t look so worried. I’m not a lightweight, also I’m almost thirty-nine years old, and I’ve seen a lot, been around the block, and I know what I’m doing. Okay?”

“Okay,” she repeated, at a loss for words. She had never known a man who was so honest, so outspoken about his feelings, and this pleased her. Suddenly, without reserve, she trusted him.

Twenty-three

Sitting back, Justine stared at herself in the mirror and was pleased with the way she looked. She did not usually make this kind of effort with cosmetics. Now she smiled, knowing
why
she had used eyeliner, pale blue shadow, mascara, and blush.
For Michael
. Being a pale blonde, she could so easily look faded, and tonight she wanted him to see her at her best.

Rising, Justine went to the clothes closet and took out a pair of black silk trousers, then put them on. She pulled the tunic over her head, and stepped into a pair of sandals which her grandmother had lent her. Then she left the room, walked down the corridor to see her.

As a child, she had always gone to her gran for an inspection, once she was dressed, and she was automatically doing it tonight. This made her feel suddenly happy, because Gabriele was in her life again, and an old ritual was unexpectedly back in place. It brought back memories.

Tapping on her bedroom door, she opened it and said, “Can I come in, Gran?”

“Of course,” Gabriele answered, and swung around as Justine walked in and closed the door behind her.

“I’ve come for an inspection.”

For a moment, Gabriele couldn’t speak, her throat was tight with emotion. How lovely her granddaughter looked tonight. She had swept her blond hair into a chignon and paid attention to her makeup. Justine stood there smiling at her, so tall and elegant; she was proud of her, and what she had become as a woman.

“You’re not saying anything to me,” Justine murmured, wondering if she had overdone the makeup.

“Because I’m rendered speechless, that’s why. You are beautiful, Justine.” Walking over to a chest, Gabriele picked up a black velvet box and gave it to her. “I was about to come to your room, I wanted you to have these. Trent gave them to me many years ago, and they were always meant to come to you one day. They match the color of your eyes.”

Justine stared at her grandmother, opened the box, and gasped. On the white satin were a pair of square-cut aquamarine earrings surrounded by tiny diamonds. “Gran, they’re just beautiful!” she exclaimed, stepping closer and kissing her. “Thank you so much, I’ll treasure them always.”

“Trent used to say aquamarines were specially created for blue-eyed women, you know.”

Justine put them on and turned to face her grandmother. “They’re perfect, don’t you think?”

“I do, darling. When you go downstairs you’ll knock ’em all dead. Although I’m sure it’s only Michael you want to impress. I’m right, aren’t I? You
have
fallen under his spell, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I have,” Justine admitted. “And so has he. Obviously you and Anita have spotted our attraction to each other.”

“Attraction!” Gabriele gave her a strange look. “What a mild word to use to describe what’s been going on between the two of you. I prefer to call it struck by lightning, a
coup de foudre,
as the French say.”