Thurston House (1983)

by Steel, Danielle

  Is there something I can do for you? She smiled at him and he looked at her. He seemed surprised, and then amused, and when he spoke, she noticed that the accent was French.

  Mrs. Harte? She nodded and he smiled.

  I am Andr+! de Vernay, a friend of Mrs. Goodheart in New York. I believe she wrote to you. For a moment her mind was blank, and then she remembered the letter from Amelia weeks before, and she laughed up into his eyes, almost the color of her own.

  Please come in. She held open the gate for him, and he stepped inside, looking at the gardens that extended for almost a full block toward the house. I almost forgot' that was weeks ago. '

  I was delayed in France. He was terribly polite and he looked terribly elegant and clean as Sabrina led him toward her house, while he apologized for not having called her first, and then he couldn't help asking her, Do you do all of this yourself? He looked shocked and she smiled.

  Everything. There was a certain pride in it, but it had been easier when she didn't do it all. I suppose it's good for me. She laughed. Builds character. She pretended to flex a muscle at him and he laughed. Biceps too. I can live without both. She dropped her jacket on a chair and looked down at the ridiculous pants she wore and laughed again. Maybe you should have called after all. He laughed too. Would you like a cup of tea?

  Yes. No ' I mean ' His eyes seemed to burn into her. It was as though he had come all this way just to talk to her, and she was amused by him. He was so electric, so intense, so obviously excitable. He was exploding with his idea and he wanted to share it with her. He sat down on a kitchen chair as she made tea for them both. What I want from you is advice, madame. Madame Goodheart tells me that you know this area better than anyone, the area of Napa. He said it as if it were a part of France and Sabrina smiled.

  I do.

  I want to grow the finest of French wines there.

  She smiled gently at him as she poured him tea and sat down across from him to pour her own. I used to want to do that.

  And what changed your mind? He looked concerned, and she looked at him, wondering why Amelia had really sent him to her. He was a very striking-looking man. Handsome, tall, aristocratic, obviously bright, but there was a strange sense as he sat in her kitchen drinking tea, as though there were a reason for his being there, a reason she didn't yet know, and she was searching for it as she talked to him.

  I didn't change my mind, Monsieur de Vernay, I just did other things. There was a terrible blight in the valley several years ago, and it spoiled all of our vines, and then Prohibition came, and that made it pointless to even think about growing grapes for fourteen years, and now ' my land is so overgrown, and ' I don't know ' it's too late for me. But I wish you luck. She smiled at him. Amelia says you want to buy land. I should try to sell you mine. He raised an interested eyebrow and set down his cup of tea but she shook her head. I wouldn't do that to you. It's so overgrown, it would take dynamite to clear it again, I'm afraid. My interests in Napa were in mines for many years. I'm afraid my vineyards suffered because of that. I never had time to do what I wanted to do. I made a few nice little wines, but nothing more than that.

  And now? There was something so dynamic about the man and he expected everyone else to be too.

  She smiled and shrugged. I've sold the mines, those days are gone.

  What kind of mines? He was intrigued. Amelia had told him something about her, but not enough. She had almost been mysterious with the introduction she made. She's a fabulous girl, and she knows everything anyone could possibly know about that valley. Talk to her, Andr+!. Don't let her get away. It had been an odd thing to say about her, and yet he could sense something elusive about her even now, as though she were hiding from everyone. What kind of mines did you have, Mrs. Harte? he pressed on.

  Quicksilver.

  Cinnabar, he said with a smile. I know very little about that. Did someone run them for you? Obviously they had, but she laughed and shook her head, and she suddenly looked very young. She was a pretty woman, even in her gardening disarray, and it was difficult to tell how old she was and Sabrina was having the same thought about him.

  I ran them myself for a while. For a little more than three years when my father died. Andr+! de Vernay was impressed. That was no small feat for a woman to accomplish. Amelia was right. She was a fabulous woman and she might well have been a fabulous girl. He could sense it about her even now. And then my husband ran the mines for me after that there was a sudden sad cast to her voice until he died, and I wound up with them again, and his as well. I've finally sold them all in the past few years.

  You must miss the work.

  She nodded, admitting it easily to him. I do.

  He took another sip of his tea and then he smiled at her. When are you going to show me your land, Mrs. Harte?

  She laughed and shook her head. Oh, no, I wouldn't do that to you. But I'll be happy to tell you who to see up there about buying some good vineyard land. There should be a fair amount of it for sale. Her face grew serious as she looked at him. People are hurting economically here.

  They are hurting everywhere, Mrs. Harte. Things were no better in France. Only in Germany, under Hitler's regime, was there a show of improvement in the economy, but God only knew what that lunatic would do. Andr+! didn't trust him, no one did, even though the Americans thought he would do no harm, he didn't agree. But I have wanted to do this for many years. For me, the time is now. I've just sold my vineyards in France, and I want to start new ones here.

  Why? It seemed a remarkable leap to her and she couldn't help but ask.

  I don't trust what is happening in Europe now. I see Hitler as a real threat, although very few people agree with me. I think we're heading for another war, and I would rather be here.

  And if there's no war? You go back again?

  Perhaps. Perhaps not. I have a son, and I would like him to come here too.

  Where is he now?

  Skiing in Switzerland. He laughed. Ah, the difficult life of youth! And Sabrina laughed too.

  How old is he?

  Twenty-four. He has been working with me at the vineyards for two years. He went to the Sorbonne, and then he came back to Bordeaux to work with me. His name is Antoine. He seemed proud of his son, and Sabrina was touched.

  You're very fortunate. My son will be twenty-one this year, and he's in college in the East, and I seriously wonder if he will ever live in San Francisco again. He seems to be in love with the East.

  That will pass. Antoine was that way about Paris at first, and now he argues with me that Paris is a dreadful place, he's much happier in Bordeaux. He's so provincial that he wouldn't even come to New York with me. They all have their own ideas, but eventually, he grinned, they become human again, more or less. My father always said that he enjoyed his children very much ' after they turned thirty-five. We still have a few years to wait. She laughed and poured them both another cup of tea, and then suddenly she had an idea, and she looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. He saw her do that and was suddenly concerned. Am I keeping you from something, Madame Harte?

  Sabrina, please. No, not at all. I was just thinking that maybe we have time to drive up to Napa now. I'd like to show you some of the areas myself. How is your schedule today?

  He looked touched. I would be very pleased, but surely I must be keeping you from something else.

  Only from trimming the hedge, and I haven't been in Napa for a while, I'd really enjoy going with you. And she could at least do that much for her father's old friend. Amelia had been so kind to her for so many years. How is Amelia, by the way? She put their cups in the sink, and Andr+! walked into the main hall with her.

  Very well. Getting older and a little more frail of course, but considering that she just turned eighty-nine, she is remarkable in every way. Her mind is as sharp as a fine blade, he laughed, I always enjoy arguing with her. I can never win, but it's a challenge I have always enjoyed. We have very different political ideas. He smiled at Sabrina. ' He b
lushed and she smiled.

  I think my father was always secretly in love with her. And she was very dear to me as I was growing up. She was like a mother to me in some ways. My own died when I was a year old. He nodded, taking it all in, and she excused herself and went upstairs to change, and when she came down she was wearing a pretty gray and blue tweed suit, with a sweater the color of her eyes, and comfortable flat shoes. Her hair was pulled back, and she had a certain innate style about her that struck him at once. She looked very different than she had only a few minutes before, and the term fabulous girl flashed through his mind again. Amelia was right. She always was. About everything ' except politics, he grinned to himself as he followed Sabrina outside. The garage was concealed by trees and hedges near the main gate where he had come in, and she took a six-year-old blue Ford out, opened the door for him, and locked the main gate behind them once she had driven out, and she looked at him in amusement as they headed north. And here I thought I was going to trim my hedges today. Instead, she was delighted to be going to Napa with him.

  THEY reached St. Helena two and a half hours after leaving San Francisco, and Sabrina took a deep breath of the fresh air, looking at the brilliant green on the hills, and she felt a renewing that she hadn't felt in a long, long time. Since she had sold the house and the mines, she hadn't come to Napa at all, and now she realized how much a part of her it was, and how good it felt to be back. She felt Andr+! de Vernay watching her, and she turned to him with a sigh and a smile. She didn't need to say anything, he seemed to understand perfectly.

  I understand how you feel. I feel precisely that way about Bordeaux ' and the Modoc' . It meant everything to him, and this valley meant a great deal to her. It had been an important part of her life for such a long time. It was exhilarating just driving along, and she pointed things out to him as they went' Oakville ' Rutherford ' some of the new vineyards that had sprung up. She pointed to the hills where her mines had been, and then after turning off the Silverado Trail, she stopped the car, and pointed to a vast expanse of land. It was dense and overgrown, and nothing had been trimmed or planted in years. There was a FOR SALE sign that had been knocked down. She hadn't pursued selling it, and she didn't know what to do with it now. She had once had such rich dreams for this land, for the grapes she would grow there. She turned and looked up into Andr+!'s deep blue eyes, and shrugged apologetically.

  It was beautiful here once. She waved a hand, defining the different vines she had grown, and told him more about the blight, how Prohibition had completely shut them down. I don't suppose I'll ever do anything with it now. She had two thousand acres of land sitting there, and more vineyards farther on, and Andr+! said little. They walked into the fields, pushing branches from their faces, as he looked at what she had, stooped more than once to feel the soil with his hands, and then he looked up at her with a serious face, and he sounded terribly French, which made her smile.

  You have a gold mine here, Mrs. Harte. He was serious and she shook her head.

  I might have once, but not now. Like everything, it's less valuable than it once was. She was thinking of the mines she had had to close, and once these vineyards had been so well kept. They were barely recognizable now, and it saddened her to remember what had once been. It was a double-edged sword coming here, it fed her soul to return to the land she and her father had loved, yet it reminded her of all that was no more; her father ' John ' even Jonathan was almost gone. She felt her lost youth weighing on her as they walked slowly back to her car. She was suddenly sorry they had come. What difference did it make? What point was there coming back to cry over the past? I really should sell all this one of these days. I never come up here anymore, and the land is just sitting here.

  I would buy it from you he held the car door open for her but it would be like stealing from a child. I don't think you really understand what kind of land you have, my friend. It was like the rich soil of the Medoc, and he knew instinctively from the climate and the warmth, and the feel of the soil, the look of the overgrown vines, he knew that he could produce wonders there. I want to buy land here, Sabrina' . His eyes narrowed as he looked out over the hills. It wasn't Bordeaux, but it was beautiful and he could be happy here. If Antoine would come, and a few of their best men, they could do wonderful things, but first he had to find some land.

  Are you serious about this? She could see in his eyes that he was, and she had offered to help him after all. He wasn't pressing her for her land, and she knew everyone around. She took him to the best office of agricultural real estate, and he talked to several men, and discovered that there were more than three thousand acres for sale next to her land. The price was low, and there was a great deal of work to be done, but Andr+! was anxious to see it before dark, and Sabrina drove him there. They had been there before, but they hadn't known about the acreage for sale, and now they drove past her property and he seemed to walk miles by himself, out in the fields, looking around, feeling the soil again, breaking vines, touching leaves, he almost looked to Sabrina as though he were sniffing the air. And she was suddenly amused by him as she watched from the road. He was so intense about everything he did, so quiet and serious, and yet when she talked to him there was almost something mischievous in his eyes, but not when he discussed vines with her, or his recolte, or the land they were standing on as they drove back to the real estate office again, and when they got back to the office, he turned and smiled at her. He looked enormously pleased, and his excitement was contagious as she watched the spark in his eyes.

  What would you say, Sabrina, if I asked you to sell me yours?

  Instead of what we just saw? She looked surprised.

  In addition to that and I have a better idea still. She waited to hear as he went on. We could be partners you and I. I will cultivate your land for you as well. It would give us an incredible vineyard, and for a moment, Sabrinas eyes danced. It was what she had always wanted to do. But now?

  Are you serious?

  Of course I am. And with that the salesman returned to them and in the blink of an eye, Andr+! negotiated the price, and settled the deal, much to the man's relief. His family would be eating well now on the commission he was going to make, and he had four children to feed at home.

  Andr+! turned again to Sabrina then. And what about you?

  There was an endless pause, as they both held their breath and she felt a thrill she hadn't felt in a long time. The excitenent of business, of industry, of ownership, buying and selling. Solemnly, she shook her head. I won't sell to you, Andrg.

  Instinctively, he had expected that. Will you let me cultivate your land and become partners with you? Together, they would have six thousand acres, an enormous chunk, and now she nodded her head, her eyes ablaze like his.

  I will. He stuck out a hand, and they shook hands, as the salesman watched, feeling somehow that history had just been made, and he wasn't far off. A moment later, Andr+! wrote him a check as a deposit on the land he had just bought. And it was only then that it occurred to him he needed a house.

  He hadn't even thought of that, and he looked at her in surprise now. He needed a place for himself and his son to stay, but they didn't need much, he could rent something small at first. He was leaving a small, elegant chateau in France, in the M+!doc, on the terrains he had now. But he was willing to leave everything. Every fiber in his soul told him that Europe was heading downhill. And this was a new country, a new world, a new opportunity for him. It was far more exciting than sitting comfortably in a well-carved niche, long since established for him. And this would be exciting for Antoine too. They stopped at a roadhouse for something to eat shortly after eight o'clock, and they were both ravenous as they ate hamburgers and drank beer, and she told him about the Napa Valley of long ago, as best she remembered it.

  I was born here, in St. Helena, in my father's house.

  Do you still own it now?

  I sold it she looked at him honestly, she had nothing to hide to put my son through school.
When the stock market crashed in '29, he was fifteen, and three years after that I sent him to college back East. I was losing the mines, I lost all of my investments in the crash, and I didn't need the house in Napa anymore, we've been living in town for years. She wasn't too proud to admit her problems to him. He was a very unassuming man, and since they had shaken hands on the vineyard land they would annex and cultivate, she felt a peculiar bond with him. It was as though instantly they had become friends, and because of Amelia she trusted him. I still have to get my son through one more year. And then, she heaved a small sigh of relief, at least I'll know he had the best I had to give.

  And you? What does he give you? She wanted to say love, but she wasn't always sure of that. He gave her something, she supposed, a sense of comfort when he came home, a feeling that there was someone who loved her somewhere in this world, but he certainly never expressed it that way. He was more interested in what she could give him.

  You know, I'm not sure, Andr+! I'm not sure children give one anything, except the joy you have just knowing they're yours.

  Ah. He nodded his head, looking very French again. He smiled at her and set down his glass. Give him a few years. She laughed, remembering some of the run-ins they had had.

  It may take at least that long. Now, what about that land, what do you think you're going to do? She was fascinated by the earnestness he showed every time they spoke of it. He was determined to leave Bordeaux and move here. Do you really think things will get that bad in France, Andr+!?

  Worse. I am absolutely certain of it. I argued about that with Amelia all night in New York. She says the French are too smart to ever be pulled down, but I think this time she might be wrong. Politically, we're sick, economically, we're not strong, and there's that madman to the east, waving his Nazi flag at us. I sincerely think it's time to leave, at least for a while. But she wondered if he was panicking. Perhaps it was his age. He had told her earlier that he was fifty-five, and John had gotten more conservative too around that time, and far more worried about politics than he had been before. Suddenly, for a time, he had seen doom everywhere, and she remembered that her father had been that way too, so she didn't put much stock in what Andr+! said, but he was looking at her now pensively, and over coffee, he began to speak hesitantly. You know, Sabrina, perhaps you think I'm mad, but I keep thinking about that piece of land. Yours and mine. It is perfect for what I want to do, and you mentioned that you were interested once in your vineyards too. Rather than my just leasing it and cultivating it for you, could you not be an active partner and start the business with me?