Jezebel

by K Larsen

  “I will of course send you a list of possessions that he has willed to other employee’s who he was close with. Those will be theirs to take. The value of the house, land and stables is to be split between the two of you. You may choose to sell but it is not a stipulation in the will.”

  Celeste blinked hard, squeezing her eyes closed tightly before snapping them back open. The entire estate? That was worth more than her family was. An unfathomable amount, even at only half. She didn’t want it. She didn’t want any of it without Dr. B around to enjoy it with. “It’s too much,” she said quietly. Her breath caught in her chest. Matteo nodded in agreement. She squeezed his hand hoping it would quell the tears streaming down her face. He squeezed hers back. It didn’t stop the floodgates.

  “It is indeed a lot, but it is also his final wish,” Taylor stated.

  After working through a hefty pile of paperwork, Celeste and Matteo left in daze. They parted ways with a hug and a promise to meet at Dr. B’s the following day; they needed to pull some boxes down from the attic for some of the other employees. Celeste was overcome by the irrevocable loss of such a wonderful man. She longed for the warmth of her bed, the smell of the flowers outside her window, the feeling of beauty that used to ooze from her every pore. Everything felt dark and cold now. She couldn’t wrap her mind around Dr. B’s parting gift; granted he had no one else to leave his fortune to but a charity would have benefitted greatly from his wealth. Even dividing his assets among his employees would have greatly enhanced many lives.

  Her heart felt heavy as she schlepped her way to her car. She wanted the comfort of her husband’s arms around her. She wanted the comfort of his soft voice in her ear, consoling her. She popped in at home to call her mother and father. She would need a good lawyer to handle the wealth she was about to come into and her parents employed only the best. Her mother’s calm voice aided in settling Celeste down and making her feel more composed. By the time she hung up with them she almost mustered a smile. Knowing that Gabriel would likely be working late she decided to drop in at the lab and see him. She craved the solace his embrace evoked. With a clear mind, she changed her clothes, ran a brush through her hair and touched up her make-up. Then she climbed into her car, headed for her husband.

  Chapter 33

  Annabelle

  “Wish the best for you. Wish the best for me. Wished for infinity.”

  ~ Infinity, The XX

  “Gabriel is going to lose his shit,” Annabelle laughed. “All that money, he’s going to flip.”

  Jezebel gave her a curious look. “Do you think so?” Jezebel asked.

  She took a sip of water from the glass set out for her before answering. “Yeah, I mean he wants globs of it and the notoriety that comes with it and here Celeste is about to go and give it to him and he doesn’t even have to put in the work. She’s about to make him the happiest man alive,” she explained.

  Jezebel studied her cuticles for a moment before bringing her gaze back to Annabelle’s. Shrugging she said, “Sometimes, it isn’t the money people dream of but being recognized for something that brings money with it.”

  “So he’s going to be mad?” Annabelle asked.

  “Not at all. I’m sure he wouldn’t have been,” Jezebel answered.

  “What does that mean? He either was or wasn’t,” she said, pushing Jezebel for an answer. Jezebel stroked the chain of her necklace softly. She looked at Annabelle but she didn’t think she actually saw her. Her eyes were fixated on something far away.

  “I think our time is up for today,” Jezebel said.

  Annabelle made a face and looked at the clock. “We have thirty minutes before I have to leave,” she volleyed back.

  “I have an appointment dear, have to cut our visit short,” Jezebel said.

  Annabelle watched her stand up and rummage through a drawer mumbling to herself. Irritated at Jezebel’s clear dismissal she stood and scooped up her purse while jamming her feet into her shoes.

  “Whatever, I’ll see you next week,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Yes, yes kiddo, next week,” Jezebel called over her shoulder without looking at her. Annabelle rolled her eyes and stomped out of the suite and down the hall.

  “Whoa!” Mark said and caught her by the arm as she attempted to stomp past him. “What’s the issue?” he asked.

  “Jezebel,” she grumbled.

  Mark laughed loudly, “What did she do this time?”

  Annabelle shrugged. Nothing, she’d done nothing, not really. Annabelle was in a rotten mood in general and even her visit with Jezebel hadn’t helped relieve that today. “Nothing. She did nothing,” she said. Her shoulders slumped. Mark stuck his arms under her limp ones and lifted up and down. She pouted as he flapped her arms like wings.

  “What are you doing?” she squawked.

  “Making you look like a fool.” She scrunched up her nose and stared at him, arms still flapping. Looking left, then right, she noted she did look like a fool. In the middle of the hall her arms flapped loosely and Mark stood facing her moving her arms like it was nothing. She tensed her arms and bore down trying to stop the movement but Mark was stronger. She gave up trying to push down as he thrust upward. Her arms jerked up and she squealed as her purse flew off her wrist. Mark raised one eyebrow at her. She wanted to scowl but he looked so adorable and she . . . she looked, so . . . ridiculous.

  Annabelle let a huge grin consume her face and laughed. They stood there together flapping their arms and laughing until she couldn’t breathe and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. In her peripheral vision she noticed Jezebel’s head poking out from her room watching them with a grin.

  ~***~

  Brant,

  Hate to be the bearer of bad news but our mom is an asshole. I’m angry. I’m hurt. I’m about a thousand things that I can’t even begin to express but I’m all of them. She left. Did you hear me . . . SHE LEFT!

  She wrote Dad a note. A NOTE. Me too, actually. It pretty much said nothing. It just said-nothing. I’m sure the death of your child will drive you to do crazy things but seriously-eight freakin’ years later? Why not right after you were taken from us? Why not that first year? Why try for so long only to give up and bail. What was the point of the last eight years?

  I hate you right now, too. I hate you for leaving me here alone to deal with this. I hate . . .

  As the sun finally sank over the horizon Annabelle was bored and restless. She sat cross-legged on her bed with her laptop open on her legs. She closed her computer and lay back on her bed. Emptying her mind, she slowed her breathing and focused only on the beating of her heart. It struck hard, almost audibly. She breathed deep again but the pounding only grew louder. Groaning she raised a hand to forehead and called out, “Go away!”

  “Belle, love, it’s me, can I come in?” her father said in his most ingratiating voice. Of course it was him, who else would it be? Her mother? she scoffed silently. What a joke.

  “Why?” she answered. She heard him try to laugh but the sound didn’t come out quite right.

  “Belle, yes or no? Are you decent?” Annabelle laughed, low and throaty, at his question.

  “Yeah Dad, I’m decent,” she called out and promptly rolled her eyes.

  The door yawned open and her father stepped over the threshold. She tilted her head to the side and her dark hair fell over her forehead, veiling her eyes. Annabelle looked at her father. Disappointment was more and more etched onto his face as time passed and her mother didn’t return. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking very much like a boy who’s just had all his fun spoiled. A cold, hard fist of anguish in the pit of her stomach made her cringe. She rolled over on her side so he could no longer see her face.

  “Belle . . .” he started. She felt the mattress shift as he sat on the bed.

  “Uh huh?” she offered.

  “I thought, maybe, we could do something?” he said softly. Annabelle rolled over to face him.

  “Do something?
”

  “Yes. See a movie? Go to dinner?”

  “Why?” she asked. Her father sighed and dragged a hand down his face.

  “We should try Annabelle,” he said.

  “Try what?” she answered.

  “Try to be a family,” he said. One hand absent-mindedly clenched and unclenched at his side and she wondered if he truly wanted to try or was just doing so because it was expected?

  Annabelle thought about his offer, his suggestion. Did she even want that anymore? In two months she would be packed and moved into her dorm at college, free to turn a new page and be the kind of person she wanted to be. Happy, free, grounded in the present instead of trapped in the past.

  “Maybe tomorrow,” she answered.

  Her father stared at her a beat before standing and nodding. He heaved a sigh, and left her room, shutting the door quietly behind him. For a brief moment something like guilt hit her but it passed quickly. Madison was due to arrive with pizza any moment. Cracking her neck, Annabelle yawned and pushed herself from the bed to head downstairs.

  ~***~

  “Hey,” Annabelle called as she stepped through the threshold into Jezebel’s suite. Music was cranked up loud and Jezebel stood at the window watering her plants and swaying her hips in time with the rhythm.

  Jezebel whipped around, shook her shoulders and grinned at Annabelle. “Hey is for horses,” she said. Jezebel crooked a finger at her and beckoned her over. Annabelle rolled her eyes before casually making her way to the window. “Look at that,” Jezebel sighed, pointing to the view from her window.

  A lush garden in all its summer splendor bloomed below in the courtyard. Bright reds, oranges and purples, and lush greens filled the space symmetrically.

  “It’s pretty,” she said.

  “It’s pretty?” Jezebel mocked indignantly.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “That’s it? Look at those colors . . . the symmetry. The way the sky looks impossibly brighter blue against the flowers.”

  “Alright, it’s beautiful. Better?” Annabelle asked giving Jezebel a lazy smile.

  “You. Are. Hopeless,” Jezebel answered as she walked to the stereo and turned the music to a low din before sitting in her chair and sweeping her hair up into an effortless loose bun. Annabelle rolled her eyes at the woman before following her lead. “How was your week?”

  “It was good. Madison came over a couple of times. I cooked dinner for Mark one night. He met my dad, finally,” she said.

  “Oh? How was that?”

  Annabelle tucked herself comfortably into her chair. “Good, I think. I mean Dad asked all the perfunctory questions, Mark answered, and we ate,” Annabelle said.

  “That sounds promising.”

  “Oh! And, weird, Dad asked me if I wanted to do dinner and a movie with him. Alone. Together,” Annabelle blurted.

  “Why do you say that as if it’s strange kiddo?” Jezebel gave her a curious look.

  “Because it is.”

  “You won’t know that until you actually do it,” Jezebel answered.

  Annabelle shrugged. “I guess, but we haven’t done anything together in years.”

  “You haven’t been happy in years either, do you think it’s strange to want that?” Jezebel asked.

  “No. Point made,” she said before lifting her hair from her neck and securing it in a ponytail. “Do you have any random appointments today that will cut our time short?” Annabelle snickered.

  “Touché dear. No. I do not.”

  “Good, then let’s get crackin,’” Annabelle replied. She settled back into her chair and waited.

  “Very well. Paris, nineteen ninety-four,” Jezebel said. Annabelle studied Jezebel as she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before diving in.

  Chapter 34

  Celeste

  Paris 1994

  April

  Celeste headed to Gabriel’s favorite café. She wanted to tell him about the meeting with Taylor over delicious food. She parked a block away from the café, the closest spot she could find, and walked briskly to her destination mulling over the absolute craziness of her morning. Who the hell was Dr. Basle? For a man she thought she knew, knew well, she was beginning to think he had a lot of secrets.

  Her breath caught in her throat as she entered the cafe. A hollow feeling overcame her.

  “We need another sample,” Monique said as the two of them waited in line to place their lunch orders. Celeste stayed put just behind the display case that blocked her from her husband’s view.

  “Shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll bring one in tomorrow,” Gabriel answered casually.

  Celeste watched. They stood close. Too close. Something in Gabriel’s smile announced his intentions, and Monique responded in kind with a bright smile, her cheeks rosy as she laughed at something he said. La vérité va sortir (the truth will come out), Celeste thought. Monique’s belly was swollen just enough to notice. Gabriel’s hand reached out, his fingers spread wide, feeling his very single assistant’s pregnant stomach.

  Celeste turned on her heel and bolted from the cesspool of activity without being noticed. Her heart splintered as she sprinted to her car. If she had known she was about to enter the gates of hell she would have chosen to remain blissfully unaware. But like the inescapable pull of gravity, there was nothing she could do about it now. Perhaps it wasn’t what it looked like. Perhaps, Monique was dating someone and Gabriel was merely excited to somehow be a part of a pregnancy. Any pregnancy. Her heart and throat constricted painfully as she slid into the driver’s seat. Slamming the car door shut she cranked the engine and peeled out of her spot needing the comfort of her home.

  She had watched the sky change from the yellow cheer of afternoon to the soft oranges of dusk and into a cool navy night. The key made a turning sound that echoed severely in the silent house. It was nearly midnight. She peeled her heavy body from the restraints of her refuge and walked down the stairs. It felt like the longest journey. What would he say when she told him?

  Gabriel’s eyes never left her, his feet rooted to the floor of the foyer, his face drawn tight, lips flat as he watched her approach.

  “Where have you been?” Celeste asked. Her heart thumped, kicking her ribs as her fingers gripped the polished rail secured to the stairs. Gabriel swallowed and took a breath. She took a step forward, thinking if she could touch him, if she could reach him, if only—but Gabriel took a stride backward, keeping the distance between them. Her hand fell and hung limply at her side. There it was. Clear as day. Muddy and cold and rotten—like his deceit.

  Gabriel’s expression softened. “Work, as always.”

  She laughed then, loud and punitive. Celeste knew every curve of this man’s lips, every expression of his face, and the moment she laid eyes on him tonight, she had known. It was in the tilt of his head, the angle of his shoulders. Before, she had been living with eyes wide open but somehow fast asleep; not anymore. He was lying to her. She wanted to hide, to turn away, to run . . . but something held her there, something kept her from running.

  “Gabriel . . .” her voice faltered. “I stopped by the café to pick up lunch for us. You were already there though.” The planes of the face she loved so much sharpened as quickly as they’d smoothed, and he spun abruptly and walked into the kitchen without a word. Celeste closed her eyes as her pain stretched out before her in agonizing silence.

  Unable to quell her anxiety or face her husband, Celeste walked ten steps forward, yanked the door open and walked through it. She jumped in her car at just past midnight and drove out to her former employer’s home. Not a light was on as she approached, and a fresh wave of grief engulfed her. Too many thoughts and emotions competed for her attention but she shoved each one away, unwilling to face any of them. How had her life been turned so upside down? How would she get through this? Would he go to Monique now seeking solace-a shoulder to cry on? Would he worry about her and stay put?

  The thought of Gabriel’s infidelity ma
de it hard to breathe. She couldn’t get air. He’d refused to admit verbally to anything but she didn’t need him to. She could see it written all over his face, pronounced in his posture. Her heart was alone, shrouded in darkness as she pushed through the kitchen door of Dr. B’s house and let the tears come. Silently walking to the study she let her thoughts wander dangerously. She entered and stood stiffly, taking in the mess that needed to be cleaned up before the funeral and subsequent gathering here.

  “My God, what has happened to my life?” she sobbed and collapsed into one of the stately wingback chairs adorning the room. She looked up to the ceiling and said a silent prayer that the baby wasn’t Gabriel’s. She could overlook his betrayal, his infidelity-but she couldn’t overlook a child. Gabriel was her sun. Her gravity. She’d thought she was his as well. The pain cut deep, a dull knife dragged through the very core of her.

  Alone in a safe place she let the tears come. She hung her head and cried for her marriage. For Dr. B. For the dreams and hopes that somehow slipped through her fingers.

  “Cece, fiore mio, I’m right here, you’re not alone.” Matteo’s deep soothing voice cut through the silence. Celeste turned her head marginally. “What’s got you so upset?” he asked, kneeling beside her. She stared into Matteo’s handsome face and felt a tug in her chest. Her Matteo. Always there. Always true.

  “Gabriel, he . . . today . . .”

  Her voice faded. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words aloud. She didn’t want to make them true. She didn’t want any of this. “What are you doing here?” she asked instead of saying those dreadful words poised too closely at the tip of her tongue.

  Matteo sighed and rubbed the top of his head. “I’m having trouble sleeping. I thought I’d get a head start on making this place presentable.” She wanted Matteo to wrap his arms around her. She craved comfort.