A Sudden Change of Heart by Barbara Taylor Bradford Page B

Laura.”
    “No, we don’t,” Laura agreed.
    “You can say that again,” Doug said.

7      
    N atasha could see her father standing on the far corner of the place de Furstemberg, and she ran across the square to join him.
    “Hello, Natasha,” he said when she drew to a standstill in front of him, and hugged her to him.
    “Hi, Dad,” she responded, hugging him back, and when they drew away, she went on. “Let’s go somewhere else for coffee, not the café on the corner, and then maybe we can go for a walk.”
    “But your mother …” he began, and then stopped, peering at his daughter, his dark eyes suddenly worried. “Won’t she expect you home soon? Within the hour?”
    “Oh, no, it’s okay, Dad, honestly,” Natasha reassured him. “I told Mom I wanted to have a longer visit with you today, and she said it was all right.”
    Philippe Lavillard continued to regard his daughter for a moment, assessing what she had just said. Although he did not know her as well as he wished he did, he was, nevertheless, quite sure she would not say anything to him that was untrue. Claire had brought her up well.
    “All right,” he said at last. “Since you say your mother’s agreed, let’s walk for a bit and find a place for breakfast. I haven’t had any yet, have you, darling?”
    Natasha shook her head, smiling up at him. She tucked her arm in his and they set off at a brisk pace. Natasha loved her father, and she did not think he was the ogre her mother constantly made him out to be. And she was baffled by her mother’s perpetual anger, and the fact that she would never discuss her past relationship with Philippe. But then, she was often baffled by adults, whom she considered to be very strange at times, to say the least, and most especially when it came to relationships.
    “I’m planning to leave Africa,” Philippe announced out of the blue.
    Taken by surprise, and startled by this statement, Natasha exclaimed, “Why, Dad? I thought you enjoyed working there.”
    “I have enjoyed it and I’ve done some good work there, but I want to get out now. I’m tired, Nattie. Anyway, I want to be near you, able to see you more frequently. Would you like that?” he asked, and was suddenly filled with trepidation. He had always believed she felt the same way he did, that she loved him in return, and now he hoped he had been right in this assumption.
    When she did not immediately respond, he asked, “Well, how
would
you feel if I were around more?”
    “I’d like it, I really would,” Natasha said, meaning this. “And I think Mom would let me see you more often, wouldn’t she?”
    “I’m sure of it, Natasha. Your mother is angry with me, not you, and if
you
ask her, then I know she’ll agree.”
    “Why is she angry with you, Dad?” Natasha asked, voicing a question that had nagged at the back of her mind for the last couple of years.
    “She thinks I let her down, I suppose that’s it.”
    “Did you?” the fourteen-year-old asked, gazing at him, her eyes questioning.
    Philippe sighed. “We let each other down in so many ways, and you suffered as a result.” He glanced at her and smiled ruefully. “It’s children who always suffer in a divorce.”
    “I guess.” Natasha hesitated, and then blurted out, “Is it true what she says? About other women?”
    “No, of course not. But Claire was always suspicious of me, especially when I went away to do research.”
    “But why, Dad? I don’t understand why she didn’t trust you.”
    He shook his head and a sigh escaped again. “I don’t know, Nat. But she believed it, she truly did, and she wasn’t pretending to be angry. It was genuine,
is
genuine.” They walked on in silence for a few minutes, and then Philippe volunteered, “I have a feeling—” He paused, wondering if he should continue.
    “Go on, Dad, what feeling do you have?”
    “I have a feeling your mother has an enormous and deep-rooted distrust of men for some reason. It seems to