Chapter 50
He looked at Colette and waited for a reaction. When he hadn’t gotten one, he continued.
“Nicole and I had always known that we would marry. And so, when the time was right, we did. We rode off to the monastery and were married by Father Thomas. We didn’t want to upset anyone, Colette, especially you.�
“I do love you, Colette, in my own way. I can only believe that you are behaving this way just to get back at me for leaving you and running off with Nicole. I wish you would let me know, Colette. If you don’t want to tell me in front of your friends and relations, then tell me in private.�
“But I am straying from the topic for which I gathered all of you together. And I made a promise to myself to tell Danielle about her mother. And I must keep that promise.�
“Your mother, Danielle, was a wonderful woman. She died very young and she made me promise that I would tell you all about her. This is why she kept this journal, to let you know all about her. She wanted me to give this to you and so I will.“
Auguste handed the book to her and continued his story.
“Nicole was the daughter of the Count and Countess Henri de Lancret. We grew up together and loved each other secretly. We tried to hide from everyone by meeting one another at the ruins of Amboise. It was quiet and secluded and out of the way. We stopped seeing each other for a while. Nicole moved to Paris to study and did not return until she was seventeen years of age.�
“Papa,� Danielle asked, “were you ever betrothed?�
Auguste shook his head. “Yes, Danielle, I was to the Lady Rodmilla le Pieu, cousin to Pierre le Pieu, the royal armorer, but she ran off a Baron Jean de Ghent. They have two daughters now according to the King, Marguerite and Jacqueline. They are about your age, Danielle. Marguerite would be eleven and Jacqueline about nine.
“Anyway, I did tell her about Nicole and I and Rodmilla is a vain and proud woman. It wouldn’t have worked out between us at all.�
Colette entered my life in the middle of all this, when I was sixteen. She was also Lady, but had been living with Nicole’s parents for as long as she could remember. We did start off as friends, and I enjoyed her company quite a lot, but not enough to fall in love.
“She introduced me to her cousin, Nicole, and not realizing until later that we had known each other as children. I fell under her spell and now, two years later, at age eighteen. She captivated me, I could think of no one else but her. She remembered that we had known each other and I was fascinated that I did not remember and she had. She had changed that much.â€Â?
“We saw each other when we could, meeting secretly down by ruins, for six months before deciding to marry one another. I had to tell Colette, but on a return trip from the ruins, she was at the stables with another boy, my brother Antoine. I did not say anything, but I concentrated all my time and energy into Nicole.â€Â?
Auguste was looking at Colette, waiting for some kind of rebuttal, but again, all was silent. It was as if it was the calm before the storm.