As it happened, he called them at Whitfield, the night before they left. Sarah waited impatiently while William took the call, and he was smiling when he hung up. “He’ll take it”, he announced. “He’d like to give Garrard’s two months notice, which is damn decent of him, and then he’s yours. When do you want to open?”

“Good Lord … I hadn’t even thought of it… I don’t know … end of the year … Christmas? Do you think we really should do it?”

“Of course you should.” He always insisted on giving her all the credit. “I have to come back in a few weeks anyway, we can look for a location then, and speak to an architect. I know a good one.”

“I’d better start buying some new pieces.” She had been using the money she’d been making in the Paris shop to buy new pieces, and have new designs made, but now she’d need some capital, and she planned to use the money she still had from the sale of her parents, house on Long Island. And if London was anything like Paris, she knew they’d be making money quickly.

And then William said something she hadn’t even thought about. “Looks like Phillip’s got his shop,” he said with a slow smile as they made plans for their return to London.

“It does, doesn’t it? Do you suppose he’ll really ever do it?”

“He might.”

“Somehow I can’t imagine him coming into the business with us. He’s so independent …” And so cool, and so distant … and so angry about Julian …

“He might surprise you one day. You never know what children will do. Who ever thought I’d become a jeweler?” He laughed and she kissed him, and the next day, they went back to Paris.

Nigel flew to Paris several times in the next few months to meet with them, and talk to Emanuelle, and see the way the operation worked in Paris. They were actually talking about moving to a new store, business was so good, but Sarah didn’t want to press her luck, particularly now with the opening in London.

Nigel was extremely impressed with everything they were doing in Paris. He even began to grow rather fond of Emanuelle, who had accurately guessed long since that ladies were not entirely his passion. In fact, she didn’t think they were at all, and she was right, but she admired his impeccable taste, his excellent business sense, and his good breeding. She had spent the last several years trying to acquire more polish herself, and she particularly admired Nigel’s quiet elegance and incredibly good manners. They had dinner together whenever he came to town, and she introduced him to some of her friends, including a very important designer, who became someone very important in Nigel’s life. But most of the time, they turned their foil attention to business.

They had found a beautiful little store on New Bond Street, and William’s architect came up with some wonderful ideas. They were going to do everything in navy-blue velvet and white marble.

It was to open on December first, and they had to work like demons to do it. Emanuelle came over from Paris to help, leaving the best of her girls in Paris in charge of the store there. But the shop on Faubourg-St. Honoré took care of itself now. It was the shop in London that was the new baby.

The week before they opened they worked till midnight every night with a crew of tireless workmen, laying marble, adjusting lights, installing mirrors, tacking velvet. It was an incredible scene, and Sarah had never been so tired in her life, but she had never had so much fun either.

She had brought Julian to London with her, and they were staying at Claridge’s again, with a nanny They were too tired at night to make the long drive to Whitfield.

Everyone wanted to give parties for them, but they never had time. They never stopped for an instant, until their doors were finally open. They had invited four hundred relatives and friends, and another hundred of Nigel’s very best customers from Garrard’s. It was a gathering of the titled and the elite, and it made their opening in Paris two and a half years before dim by comparison. It was glittering beyond words, and the jewels Sarah had bought to open with absolutely staggered the people who saw them. She was, in fact, frightened that she had gone overboard, that the pieces she had bought were too important and too expensive Whereas she had some chic pieces in Paris that you could own without hiring an armed guard, in London. She had pulled out all the stops, and stopped at nothing. She had spent every penny left to her from the estate on Long Island, but as she looked around her as the first guests arrived, she knew it was worth it.

And the next day, when Nigel came to her looking stunned and pale, she thought something terrible had happened. “What’s wrong?”

“The Queen’s secretary has just been here.” She wondered if they had committed some ghastly faux pas, and she looked at William with a worried frown, as Nigel went on to explain his visit. “Her Royal Highness wishes to purchase something her lady-in-waiting saw here last night. We sent it over to the palace this morning, and she likes it very much.” Sarah listened in amazement. They had made it. “She’d like to buy the large pin with the diamond feathers.” It looked very much like the insignia of the Prince of Wales, and she had bought it from a dealer in Paris for an absolute fortune. The price tag she’d put on it herself had embarrassed her when she wrote it.

“Good Lord!” Sarah said, impressed by the sale, but what had impressed Nigel was something far more important.

“This means, Your Grace, that on our very first day in business, we have become Jewelers to the Crown,” which meant they had sold something to the Queen. Crown Jewelers were Garrard’s, who were the Queen’s official jewelers, and annually restored the Crown Jewels kept in the Tower of London. But this was a very important feather in their cap in London. “If the Queen wishes it, after three years, she can bestow a royal warrant on us.” He was overwhelmed, and even William raised an eyebrow. They had pulled off a major coup without even trying.

The Queen’s purchase got them off to a royal start, and the rest of the items they sold that month could have kept them in business for a year. Sarah was satisfied that she could go back to Paris and leave everything in Nigel’s capable hands. She could hardly believe it when they flew back to Paris after the New Year. Emanuelle had returned to Paris long since, after the London opening, and her Christmas figures were astounding.

Sarah also noticed that there was a friendly rivalry between the two stores, each one trying to outdo the other. But there was no harm in that. Nigel and Emanuelle genuinely liked each other. Besides which, Sarah wanted the two stores to be similar but different. In London, they sold fabulous antique jewels, many of them of royal provenance from the royals of Europe, and also a smattering of modern designs. They sold antique jewelry in Paris, too, but they also sold a great many new pieces that were both chic and striking.

“What new frontier now?” William teased her as they drove back to the château. “Buenos Aires? New York? Cap d’Antibes?” The possibilities were limitless, but Sarah was satisfied with what they had. It was manageable, and fun. It kept her busy, but she could still enjoy her children. Julian was eighteen months old by then, and keeping everyone around him very busy, as he climbed onto tables, and teetered on chairs, fell down stairs, and disappeared out the door into the garden. Sarah kept an eye on him constantly, and he was a handful for the local girl who came to help her. They always took her to Paris with them, and in London they hired temporary nannies. But most of the time Sarah liked taking care of him herself, and he loved to sit on William’s lap and speed around in the wheelchair.

“Vite! Vite!” he squealed, urging his father to go faster. It was one of his few words, but for him it was a good one, and he liked to use it often. It was a happy time for them. All of their dreams had come true. Their lives were busy and full and happy.






Chapter 20





OR the next four years, Julian and both shops kept William and Sarah extremely busy. Business in both places grew, Sarah gave in and agreed to enlarge the Paris store eventually, but they kept the London store the way it was in spite of their excellent business. It was elegant, discreet, and extremely important, and it suited the British. And both Emanuelle and Nigel had continued to do a splendid job of it. Sarah was well pleased as she blew out the candles on her cake on her thirty-ninth birthday. Phillip was at the château with them then, he was just turning sixteen, almost as tall as his father, and itching to get back to Whitfield. He was going to visit friends, and he had stayed on for Sarah’s birthday only because his father said he had to. She wanted him to stay and celebrate his own birthday with them, but he wasn’t interested in that. And he had managed to forget Julian’s fifth birthday in July as well. Family did not appear to be of major importance to Phillip. In fact, he seemed careful to avoid it. It was almost as though he had to put a barrier up, and he never let anyone cross it. When he left again, Sarah was philosophical this time. Over the years, she had slowly learned something from William.