Chapter 10 - René's struggles

Laura applied some makeup from her toiletry bag which was always ready packed for emergency trips, before settling down to enjoy the lunch, which Josephine had brought her in the meantime. She lifted the lid off the ceramic bowl and the aroma of its contents was overwhelming.

It smelled delicious!

It was some kind of chicken and mushroom casserole. To accompany this, there were two croissants and small containers with butter, cream and strawberry jam on the tray. There was also some yoghurt with whole strawberries in a glass on the serving tray. Apparently Rene had remembered that she loved strawberries!

Then she noticed that there was a separate tray with coffee, cream, sugar and chocolate biscuits. Rene remembered everything she loved.

"He must have told Josephine to prepare this. Why doesn't Blake remember what I like?" she thought to herself.

But, instead of wondering about this, she decided that she needed no further invitation to plunge into her meal.

Laura only then realized that she had not eaten the previous night either.

After her lunch, she got into the pretty turquoise swimsuit which she had found in a drawer in the bedroom earlier, while searching for something to wear. This was before she had her bath. Rene always kept clothing items in his guest bedrooms, as a form of courtesy.

It was a very hot day. Laura looked around and still there was no sign of Rene. She took a towel and went out onto the patio with Monique.

There she played with her daughter for only a short while, before she allowed the doting Josephine to take her in for her afternoon nap.

Laura plucked up her courage and asked the housekeeper where Rene was, to which Josephine replied that he had to go out on a business errand. He was not expected back until the early hours of the morning, two days later!

"Oh, no, I thought that we were going to chat and catch up on each other's news," Laura exclaimed on the inside.

Rene had however asked Josephine to make Laura and her daughter feel very welcome.

There was a maid who did the household chores, so Josephine was free to play hostess. She also acted as a second mother to Rene and his younger brother Gregory.

She had been their nanny from birth, until their early adulthood. Their mother did not mind sharing the glory though.

Laura felt slightly disappointed to know that Rene was not going to spend the rest of the day with them. Not even a small part of it. She did admit to herself however, that she had slept for considerably longer than Rene had. So that even if he had wanted to tell her about his plans for the day, she would have been fast asleep at the time.

So, Laura swam for a while and then walked in the beautiful rose gardens, breathing in the beautiful fragrances.

Afterwards, she went to find a book in Rene's library.

She quickly found what she liked and walked back to the garden.

She read for the rest of the afternoon, while she sat in the shade of a lush oak tree, on a garden bench.

The book was a bizarre story about magic and she enjoyed the escapism for a while. Certain aspects of the book led her to wonder whether people could actually be bewitched in real life.

Laura pondered upon this strange phenomenon as she watched the brilliant pink sunset.

After the sunset she physically shook off the feeling of being under a spell herself and quickly went back inside the house. The warm light inside and her baby's chuckles, made Laura feel certain that she was back in the real world again.

She had a shower and gave Monique a quick bath, before getting dressed up for dinner.

This was Rene's custom with all his guests, even when he was not there himself.

Laura fed Monique the supper which Josephine had thoughtfully and lovingly prepared for her separately. She somehow still could not bring herself to think about Blake. Somehow she just wanted to be carefree.

A few minutes later though, Laura realized that she would need a letter from a doctor, declaring her to be ill.

She needed this so that she could hand it in at work and explain her absence. Otherwise she would be in trouble and she could lose her job.

She had never done something like this before, though.

Rene's brother Gregory joined Laura for supper, which was served formally in the dining room. Monique was whisked away by Josephine again, for some playtime before her bedtime.

For the first time that day, Laura felt really guilty about not trying to contact Blake.

"What if he is really in trouble?" she wondered.

He did not usually act like this. Maybe he needed her tonight?

"But why did he get drunk?" She asked herself this continuously.

She had however, promised Rene that she would give him her cooperation by not fretting at all.

So, she was not going to be worried, or stressed for the following twelve hours or so.

Laura told herself this with determination.

Rene's brother was rather different from him. He was an academic. A Physics PhD graduate. There were times when he loved to discuss his work in a serious light, but for the most part, Gregory chose to prank around and make all sorts of jokes. He then appeared to have never outgrown his youth.

Laura simply never understood this personality of his, with its contrasting moods.

Tonight he seemed to have something on his mind though, because he did not say much after enquiring about her wellbeing.

Opera music played in the background, so they both listened to this during their dinner of beef lasagna and roast chicken.

This was followed by a chocolate chiffon pudding, served with vanilla ice-cream.

Laura allowed herself to be spoilt before she could resume worrying about Blake.