Entwined Read Free Page A

sat opposite Vebekka, as the elegant woman slowly, surreptitiously began to inch the book into her purse.
    "Will they be long?" the baroness asked.
    Maja smiled. "Knowing Dr. franks, yes!"
    The lovely throaty giggle took Maja by surprise.
    "Oh, my husband won't like that, I'm supposed to be the crazy one."
    Maja laughed, and Vebekka reached over and tapped her knee. "I've forgotten your name!"
      
    ♦ ♦ ♦
      
    "Everything you can tell me will be of importance."
    The baron sat opposite Dr. Franks, asked if he could smoke and lit a cigar without waiting for a reply. Helen Masters had also drawn up a chair.
    "Tell me everything you know of your wife's childhood, her relationship to her family, how many brothers and sisters, et cetera…I see from the files there is very little information."
    The baron shrugged. "I know very little. I met Vebekka in Paris, in 1960, she was twenty years old. We married two years later. The year I met her, her mother died, and then a few years later her father also died. I never knew either of them. They were originally from Canada, then emigrated to Philadelphia when Vebekka was still young. She is an only child, and I have never met any relatives—she has said there is no one. All I know is that her parents were wealthy. On her father's death, Vebekka was left a considerable amount of money. When I have questioned her about her childhood she has always said it was unexceptional, but very happy…she speaks fondly of her parents."
    Franks seemed to doodle on a notepad. "So your wife is not French by birth?"
    "No, Canadian, but she has always spoken fluent French. Over the years I have questioned my wife to determine if any other member of her family suffered from a similar illness. We have four children…"
    "Has she made any mention of mental illness in her family?"
    The baron's lips tightened. "No…she is adamant about that. She cannot recall any of her immediate family ever being ill."
    "Does she speak about her family?"
    The baron hesitated, then shook his head. "No, she has never really discussed her family with me. In fact when I offered to accompany her to her father's funeral, she refused. Perhaps I should mention that my own family was very much against this marriage. I was the sole heir; my family felt Vebekka was not a suitable match. I was only twenty-three years old."
    "Do you know if there is any way we can contact anyone who knew your wife in America?"
    The baron flicked his cigar ash. "I know of no one, but if you think it is important, I can try and trace someone."
    "It is of the utmost importance. I would appreciate your trying to find any medical or scholastic documents—schools, friends, anyone who knew your wife in her early childhood."
    The doctor leaned back in his chair. "So you met your wife in Paris…"
    "She was an in-house model for Dior. I was at a reception with my mother when we met. I asked her to dine with me, and she accepted. We were married two years later. My first son was born ten months later, in 1963. He is twenty-eight, my second son was born eighteen months after that, and my first daughter after another eighteen months. My fourth child, Sasha, is only twelve years old."
    The doctor swiveled in his chair. "Is your wife a good mother?"
    The baron nodded. "Excellent, very loving, but firm—they adored her. They are normal children…however of late, her behavior has greatly disturbed them."
    The baron stared into space and then looked down at his hands. "My younger daughter has suffered the most. Perhaps it was unwise for us to have her. Vebekka's breakdowns had begun before Sasha was born."
    The baron paused.
    "After the birth of each of my sons she became depressed and unstable—twice spending some time in a clinic."
    "So you think her illness is connected in some way to the children?" asked Dr. Franks.
    The baron twisted his signet ring around his finger. "She was always afraid that the babies would be born deformed; this became an obsession