Follow Your Star, Jennifer Bohnet [best fiction novels to read txt] 📗

time I was here. It was a lot smaller than this one.’

‘Come on then, I’ll show you around.’

The apartment with its five bedrooms, numerous bathrooms, large sitting-room with doors opening out on to the balcony was as sumptuous as any Nanette had ever been in. Fleetingly she wondered how Mathieu could afford such luxury, but maybe Jean-Claude, who she knew ran a successful business, had helped him out.

Her own room was charming – a mixture of French Provençal furnishings and modern pieces; it had its own balcony with a sea view and an en suite bathroom in marble.

‘It’s a very grand apartment,’ she said slowly.

Jean-Claude smiled. ‘I have a feeling having the twins living here for a few months will turn it into more of a home. Now, I’m sure Florence will have tea and biscuits ready on the balcony. Shall we join the twins?’

‘Who is Florence?’ Nanette asked, as they made their way back to the sitting-room.

‘Mathieu’s housekeeper.’

Nanette turned and looked at Jean-Claude in surprise.

‘But that’s partly what I thought I was here to be. Mathieu doesn’t really need me if he’s already got someone.’

‘You’re here simply to look after the twins – organize them when they are not at school.’

‘But that’s going to leave me with an awful lot of time on my hands,’ Nanette protested. ‘With nothing to do.’

Jean-Claude didn’t answer. He simply raised his eyebrows at her quizzically.

‘I’m sure you’ll find plenty to do once you’re settled in. Thank you, Florence, we’ll manage now.’

Absentmindedly, Nanette accepted the cup of tea Jean-Claude handed her.

‘I take it Vanessa and Ralph got away all right yesterday?’ Jean-Claude asked.

Nanette nodded, forcing herself to concentrate.

‘The twins and I went to Heathrow to wave them goodbye at the crack of dawn. They should be sleeping off their jet lag right now. Vanessa said she’d phone tonight to make sure everything was OK this end.’

‘Nanette, Pierre wants to play with his computer game and I want to watch television in my room,’ Olivia said. ‘Can we?’

‘Half an hour then it’s bedtime,’ Nanette agreed, and smiled as the twins dashed away.

‘I have to talk to you,’ Jean-Claude said.

Nanette looked at him in surprise as he hesitated.

‘Nanette, can I be honest with you? I obviously didn’t want to say anything in front of the twins, but I think you have a right to know. It’s extremely unlikely that Mathieu will be here tonight.’

Nanette waited as a clearly agitated Jean-Claude ran his hands through his hair.

‘I’ve spent most of this afternoon with my lawyers,’ he said, ‘trying to sort things out, but.…’ and Jean-Claude shrugged unhappily as he looked at her.

There was a pause before he added, ‘You see, Nanette, Mathieu hasn’t been delayed by business: he’s been arrested.’

CHAPTER TWO

Nanette was enjoying a coffee and a croissant early on Saturday morning at one of the cafés that edged the small Monaco flower and vegetable market, when her mobile rang.

‘Hi, Patsy. Everything all right?’ she asked quickly, seeing her sister’s name on the screen.

‘Yes. Just wondering how you are, as I haven’t heard from you and I was worried,’ her sister said.

‘Everything’s fine here now,’ Nanette said.

‘What do you mean now?’ Patsy demanded. ‘What’s happened? Are the twins all right? Are you?’

Nanette hesitated. ‘Mathieu wasn’t here when I arrived. He’d been arrested.’

Quickly, before Patsy could draw breath, Nanette continued, ‘He’s out now. They kept him in for twenty-four hours before releasing him on bail. He has to report back once a week.’

‘What’s he done?’

‘I don’t know exactly. Something to do with his business,’ Nanette said. ‘Apparently all he said to Jean-Claude was, it’s nothing to worry about and that he’d get it sorted.’

She didn’t add that Jean-Claude was furious with his son for not asking him to put up the bail money. Instead an unnamed foreign business associate had stood surety.

‘I’m sorry I haven’t rung you before, but as you can imagine, trying to occupy the twins and keep the news of their father’s arrest from them hasn’t left a lot of time for anything else. Thankfully, Mathieu has taken them to Marineland today to give me a couple of free hours. And Jean-Claude is organizing a computer for them so they’ll be able to follow Vanessa and Ralph’s progress from this weekend.’

‘Have you heard from them?’

‘Only that they arrived safely in Brazil and are enjoying themselves. Their honeymoon will be over next weekend when they meet up with the documentary team and they begin work.’

‘When do the twins start school?’

‘Monday, so that’s something else we’ve been busy doing: sorting clothes, buying books and stationery and back-packs big enough to carry everything. Honestly the amount of stuff they have to carry on a daily basis is unbelievable.’

‘And you?’ Patsy asked. ‘How are you coping with being back in Monaco? Met up with anyone from your past yet?’

‘If you mean, have I seen Zac the answer is no,’ Nanette said. ‘How’s your morning sickness?’

‘Slowing down, thank goodness,’ Patsy said. ‘I’d better go – Helen is about to arrive and if she realizes I’m on the phone to you I shall get a lecture about wasting Bryan’s hard-earned money on foreign phone calls!’

‘I’ll ring you at the weekend,’ Nanette said laughing. ‘Take care.’

Thoughtfully she put the phone in her bag and looked around her at the colourful scene. Local housewives and Filipino servants with raffia baskets were busy doing their daily fresh vegetable shop and even at this early hour the walkway up to the palace was crowded with tourists.

It was hard to believe she’d been back in Monaco for nearly a week. If someone had told her last year that she would once again be living here, her immediate reaction would have been outright disbelief. The scars were still too sore to even contemplate returning.

But, having settled in, and despite the problems of the last few days, Nanette was beginning to enjoy being back.

She hadn’t told Patsy, but last night Mathieu had taken her out to dinner, partly to apologize for not being there when she arrived