CHAPTER 13

        Frannie and Diana were finishing breakfast when Christopher came down with the suitcase ready for the trip to England. He kissed his wife and the girls and he was about to get into the car and go to the airport, but the loud noise made by a sports car stopped him. Everyone turned in the direction from which all that noise came. Christopher shook his head when he saw his nephew getting down from a black Ferrari, walking all full of himself towards the small group. The girls ran to their uncle who leaned down and hugged them, then he said hi to Marie and Christopher. As usual, he didn't consider Isabelle.

"Uncle Chris, have a good trip, and let me know what can I do to help you from our main office," Shawn said shaking his hand. “I’ll go right now to San Francisco. If you need me, you'll find me there.”

“Very well, son. I will keep you informed about everything,” his uncle said and then he got into the car.

              Everyone followed him until the car disappeared on the horizon. Marie hated seeing her husband leave, especially when he had to travel so far away. She hated being away from Christopher, but the technology had always helped them stay in touch. Marie closed her eyes and wished to see her husband and her son again as soon as possible.

“Aunt Marie...”

             Shawn's voice brought her back to reality. She turned and smiled at him.

“Yes, dear, what is it?”

            Once the car disappeared, the girls ran towards the terrace playing catch. Thinking that Shawn wanted to be left alone with his aunt, Isabelle hurried to join them.

"Marie, I'll go to the girls to see what they're up to," Isabelle said softly. “I had prepared some fun games to play with them today and I would like to start as soon as possible.”

"Definitely I think you should go..." he replied, giving her the cold shoulder.

"Shawn, that’s enough!" Marie warned him and he stopped talking to Isabelle. “Dear girl, wait for me right here, we’ll go to the girls together. I need to stay with them, especially now,” Marie stopped her and then dragged her nephew a few inches away from Isabelle. "What's wrong with you, Shawn?" she asked him in a low voice. “Why are you so cruel with this girl?”

          He shrugged his shoulders and put his hands in his pockets.

“Sometimes is getting hard for me to understand you. Whatever... What is it you wanted to tell me?”

“This evening, I want to bring Danielle to ‘Villa Mimosa’. The other day she told me that she really wants to see you again and I invited her to have dinner with us.”

“She wants to see me?!... Come on, Shawn! I don't believe a single word she says,” Marie replied. “It's the coldest woman I've ever seen... Trust me, I've seen a lot in my life. She has only one thing on her mind.”

“Aunt Marie,” Shawn replied, “she is honest about it, about who she really is. She never hides it. I know that she wants me for my money and my name was like this with every woman that crossed my path. I admire her for her bluntness,” Shawn added as he ran his fingers through his blond hair and at that moment, just for a second, Isabelle managed to see the sadness blurring his eyes.

“You're so cynical, sweet boy, you've been like this since that day. I think it’s time to stop. Shawn, at some point, you will have to stop hurting yourself over and over again, you’ll have to stop blaming the world,” Marie murmured. “You were so young and inexperienced at that time... One day of these, you will have to allow this wound to heal. Besides, it's not her death that you can't forgive yourself, it's the fact that she left you before she died.”

                  Shawn stood there in complete silence. But Isabelle could feel the tension in his body even though she wasn't near him. So, there had been a woman in his life, someone that Shawn had loved… Even if he was so cruel to her, he was able to love someone other than himself. This was breaking news! Frannie and Diana called her and, after apologizing to Marie, Isabelle joined them. Oh, how she wanted to hear more about Shawn's past…

“Do you know that there are women in this world who are not gold diggers like Danielle, women who are able to be with a man regardless of his name and bank account?”

“Really? Like who?” he asked his aunt and he looked disapprovingly in Isabelle's direction. “The new babysitter? The one that hadn’t the courage to speak up, to confront her father? Aunt Marie, she is nothing but a frightened little girl. A harsh man, like me, would destroy her in a moment,” he added this last part more for himself than for her.

                 But he decided not to stop his speech here. He wanted to let know to her aunt everything he was thinking about 'la petite' Belle, to let his aunt know that Isabelle’s naivety and sweetness were just a mask, that she was a little snake in the grass.

“I'm convinced that her daddy would be extremely pleased to see her married and... don't you think so too?”

“She is a very sweet, beautiful, intelligent girl. You know, Billy isn't as cynical as you are...” she replied in a very abrupt tone. "So many times, he told me that he was seriously thinking of getting married and that Isabelle seems to him the perfect girl."

“Isabelle Baldwin is a weak person; she has no self-esteem and she has courage. She's not right for Billy, she's not right for anyone," he said sharply. “She isn’t able to stand up to that orc she calls father and who is treating her like a doormat. How can she ever stand up to a man? Are you really asking me to admire a woman like that? Yes, Isabelle is very beautiful, I cannot deny it, but she is a coward. Thank you very much, aunt Marie, but I prefer Danielle. At least with her, what I see is what I get.”

            Marie stared at him for a long time and then she spoke to him in a soft tone.

"It’s true, Isabelle fears her father very much. But the tone he uses when he talks to his daughter has nothing to do with her fear.”

“And what do you know about it, aunt Marie?”

"I'm a woman, Shawn," she replied looking at Isabelle. “I can sense when things are not right.”

“And you also very good in seeing drama when there isn’t,” he murmured looking at Marie with tenderness. “I adore you, aunt Marie. You're the only woman who has never let me down. Well, I have to go to the office. I’ll bring Danielle here this evening. We'll be here around dinner time,” Shawn added and after he hugged her, he got into his car and disappeared in a second.

               Marie followed her nephew's car until he was completely out of sight. He was so different from Billy... She loved her son and her nephew very much, but for some time now, she had seen some disagreements among her boys. Both were excessively stubborn at times, but Billy was always the first who understood when he was wrong and immediately apologized. Instead, Shawn was too hard at times and he was quick on judging people, sometimes without a good reason.

                 He was attacking Isabelle since the first day she started taking care of her granddaughters. He was so determined on categorizing her as a coward and weak person and Marie felt that for now, she couldn't do much to open his eyes. Marie knew it wasn't Andrew's raising voice that scared his daughter, that there was something else underneath all that. That evening, when he and Isabelle had stopped for dinner, she saw Isabelle completely afraid, but when he wasn’t around when she was here with Frannie and Diana, Isabelle was much more relaxed. Lucy had mentioned something about Andrew's behavior towards his daughter, but now that she was having the girl here every day, Marie promised herself that she would help her open up and accept her help. And once Marie Grayson put her mind to something, there was no one in heaven or on earth that could stop her.