Beautiful Beast(16)

Monsieur Chevalier is leaning against an old wall, smoking a cigarette and waiting for us. He drives us back to Saumur in good spirits. The men talk in their own way with hand gestures and half-understood French, and I hang my head out of the car and breathe in the scent of France.

Who knows if I will ever come back here again?





Fourteen


SNOW

We agree to meet in the great Salon at seven. I have an hour to soak in the bath and dress. I get into a two-piece dark grey cocktail dress. It has a high scoop neckline with cut-in shoulders. The crop top is encrusted with floral beading with a keyhole opening at the back and a scalloped trim along the midriff. The short flaring skirt is layered with organza fabric and stops just below the knee. I slip into beaded high heels and pull my hair into a knot at the nape of my neck. I line my eyes, brush the mascara wand a couple of times over my eyelashes and color my lips a deep red.

The effect is sophisticated and sleek.

Feeling nervous and excited I go down to the salon. Shane is already there. He must have heard my footsteps on the marble floors because he is standing by the window, a glass of some amber liquid in his hand, looking at the entrance. I stand at the doorway for a second. Both of us drink in the sight of the other. This is the first time I have seen him dress up and he is, well, there is no other way to describe it, breathtakingly, extraordinarily handsome.

‘Will you walk into my parlor, said the Spider to the Fly,’ he says.

‘Oh no, no, said the little Fly, ‘for I’ve often heard it said, they never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!’

He walks up to me. ‘I promise I’ll eat you and you’ll live to see the day,’ he murmurs, his breath whispering into me.

I find myself blushing. He touches my cheek and my throat feels suddenly parched.

‘What will you have to drink, pretty little fly? Vodka and Orange?’

‘No,’ I say. ‘I’ll have a glass of wine.’

‘We’re having a Beaujolais with our starter. Want a glass of that? Or would you prefer champagne?’

‘The Beaujolais sounds lovely.’

‘Make yourself comfortable,’ he says and disappears out of the room. I walk to the window he had been standing at and look out. It faces the side I have not explored. An open meadow borders a forest. I wonder if that is where the wild boars live.

I hear him come up to me and I turn around to face him. He holds out my drink.

‘Thank you,’ I say softly.

He lifts his glass. ‘Here’s to the fireflies.’

I lift mine. ‘The fireflies,’ I repeat, looking into his eyes and knowing that we are not drinking to the fireflies.



First course is Madam’s famous Soupe à l’Oignon Gratinée made to a century’s old recipe. As the dish with a thick golden crust is put in front of me, Shane explains the laborious technique that Madam used to make it.

‘Baguette toasts, half an inch thick, are spread with butter and layered with grated Emmental cheese, sautéed yellow onions, and tomato purée. Over this construct she gently pours salted water. The dish is then simmered for thirty minutes and baked uncovered for an hour at 350 degrees.’

‘No wonder it looks almost like a cake,’ I say.

‘Bon appétit,’ he says.

‘Bon appétit,’ I reply and dip my spoon into it. The inside is so thick and thoroughly amalgamated it is impossible to discern the cheese from the onion or the bread. I put it into my mouth and catch Shane looking at me.

He raises his eyebrows and waits for my verdict.

I exhale and widen my eyes. ‘It’s to die for.’

He grins, happy, wholesome, irresistible. ‘That’s exactly what I think.’

When the soup bowls are cleared away, Madam serves pineapple tartare, finely diced raw pineapple mixed with salt and a hint of chili. It is the perfect palate cleanser after the richness of the starter.

Outside it gets dark and Madam lights candles. I notice that no lights have been turned on anywhere in the house.

‘Is there no electricity this evening?’ I ask.

‘Lights affect the fireflies. It interferes with their mating process so we keep it to a minimum during this season.’

In the flickering candlelight the dressed up Shane seems like the perfect host, sophisticated, charming, and urbane. A beast that can only be admired from afar. I almost wish for the Shane in the T-shirt and jeans that was just good fun.

A spruced up Monsieur Chauband wheels in the main course. ‘Gigot d’Agneau Pleureur,’ he announces proudly.

‘It translates as a crying lamb gigot because the meat is cooked in an oven, slowly, on a grill, with sebago potatoes and vegetables placed on a rack underneath it. The meat’s juices, the tears, fall on the vegetables and cook them,’ Shane explains.

I bite into a piece of meat and it is tender and succulent.

‘Tell me about your father. You never talk about him,’ Shane invites as he pours red wine into fresh glasses from a bottle of Merlot that Monsieur brought in.

I pick up my glass and take a sip. The wine is robust and fragrant. ‘I told you a lot about my family and my childhood, but you told me nothing about your family or your childhood. What was it like being from two different types of gypsies?’

He spears a capsicum on his fork. ‘I actually know very little about my Romany heritage. My mother doesn’t speak much about her family. All I know is when she fell in love with my father, she had to elope because my grandfather was so furious with her. Not only had she chosen someone outside the clan, but she had chosen a well known gambler. On the day she got married he disowned her. She could never again go to see her family. Even when her sister died a few years ago her family were forbidden to tell her.’ A shadow of sadness crosses his face. ‘I know my mother misses her family very much, but there is nothing anyone can do while he is still alive.’

‘That’s so vindictive. Didn’t you say your father has already passed away?’

‘My father was murdered, Snow.’

My eyes widen in shock. ‘Your father was murdered? How horrible!’

His face tightens with an old anger that cannot be forgotten. ‘Yes, he made the stupid mistake of stealing from his boss. Unfortunately he was not just any boss, but a mean gangster. So Jake, being the oldest, was forced to go and work for the man who slit our father’s throat from ear to ear, and pay off the debt.’

‘Oh my God,’ I gasp.

‘Yes, it was a very traumatic time for us, our family fell apart after my father’s death. For a very long time Jake was lost to us. He put food on the table and paid all our bills, but everyday he became colder and more unreachable. I think he hated himself and what he was being forced to do. My poor mother used to cry at night when she thought no one could hear, and my brother Dom became an angry rebellious stranger. Only my sister Layla, because she was so young, remained mostly unaffected by our tragedy.

He pauses and takes a sip of wine.

‘Then one day for no reason, Dom turned over a new leaf and that made my mother a bit happier, but things really turned for the better when Jake was nineteen. That was when he fought back and took over the organization. Once he had done that he streamlined everything, moved away from all the illegal aspects of the business, and concentrated all his attention on gambling dens and strip clubs. He started to make a lot of money, and I mean really a lot.’ He pauses and smiles, a clean, gorgeous, heart-throbbing smile. ‘That’s when he got both Dom and me in to act.’

‘So you got into strip clubs and gambling dens too?’

‘Not gambling dens. Not even Jake does that anymore. Our family invests mostly in property and aspects of the entertainment sector: restaurants, gentlemen’s clubs, and normal clubs.’

‘Hmmm … so you must meet a lot of beautiful girls.’

‘Yes, I do,’ he says with a cheeky grin. ‘But when you own a candy store you don’t actually eat all the sweets in it.’

‘This reminds me of a joke,’ I say so lightly, it trips off my tongue.

‘Yeah?’

‘A woman treats her husband to a strip club on his birthday. At the club the doorman says, “Hey, Jim. How are you?” The wife looks at Jim and asks, “How does he know you?” “I play football with him,” he tells her. Inside the bartender asks, “The usual, Jim?” Jim turns to his wife, “Before you say anything, dear, he’s on the darts team.” Next a stripper comes up to them and touching herself sexily says, “Hi, Jim. Do you want your special again?” In a fit of rage the wife storms out dragging Jim with her and jumps into a taxi. And the taxi driver says, “What’s up with you, Jimmy Boy? You picked up an ugly one this time.” Jim’s wife gave him a very nice funeral though.

Shane throws his head back and laughs and I do too, a little, but when the laughter dies down, he looks at me teasingly. ‘You won’t have to give a nice funeral, Snow.’

‘Don’t worry, I’m not holding it against you, but I could tell the moment I laid eyes on you that you’re a playboy.’

He fixes his gaze on me. ‘I’m not going to pretend I’m some saint. I’m a man and I have needs, and sure, there are always women willing to satisfy them, but I happen to want you.’