Scent of Triumph Read Online Free PDF Page A

brother and his wife, were killed in a train accident, Max inherited the floundering firm.
    Max worked so hard he hadn’t had time to consider marriage. In fact, he was forty years old when he’d met Danielle at a perfume conference in Paris. Sofia smiled. But the beautiful Danielle had been worth waiting for.
    Sofia couldn’t have asked for a better daughter-in-law. Danielle was well brought up, hard working, and talented. And in the lexicon of perfumery, Danielle had
the nose
. Someday her family’s perfumery, the small, yet world-renowned, Parfums Bretancourt, would pass to her. Max assumed she’d sell it, but Sofia knew that Danielle would never part with it. In the future, they planned to divide their time between the United States and Europe, keeping the Klukowski estate to use as a summer retreat. Sofia was so happy for the life they’d planned.
    She shook her head sadly.
    Her breathing restored, she removed the photographs from their frames and stashed the pictures in her bag, then checked her watch pin. Five-thirty. Threads of light crept into the room.
Jacob should be here
.
    She woke Nicky and dressed him. From one of Max’s old shirts she fashioned a knapsack for Nicky.
    Nicky hugged his favorite stuffed animal, a red-striped monkey. “I want to take Mr. Minkey.”
    “That’s fine.” Danielle had made it for him. “But you must promise to carry him.”
    “I will.”
    At last, they were ready.
    Sofia held Nicky’s hand and waited in the rear doorway for Jacob to return. A distant church bell chimed seven times.
What was keeping Jacob?
    “Look over there,” Nicky said. The light summer breeze ruffled his fine, golden hair as he pointed to the west. Smudges of grey smoke drifted on the horizon.
    Sofia sniffed. A faint burning odor permeated the morning air. She hugged Nicky to her breast.
    But the boy grew restless.
    “Let’s walk through the garden.” Sofia took his hand and he tried to run, but she refused to let go. “My, you’re energetic this morning.”
    They knelt on the soft, dew-kissed carpet of grass. Sofia glanced around, taking solace in her garden. Realizing she might never see it again, she closed her eyes and inhaled the delicate aromas of her luscious red roses, the creamy white honeysuckle, and the lilac bushes that blazed purple every spring. She remembered when her grandmother and mother had planted many of the original plants, and when she later added to them. She inhaled again. They were the aromas of a sweeter time.
    She began to cough—another brutal cough that consumed her body.
    Nicky climbed into her lap and hugged her around the neck, his bright, Bretancourt green eyes wide with concern. “Are you still sick?”
    She kissed his smooth cheek. “My dear, sweet child.” She knew she should prepare him.
How much should she tell him?
“Whatever happens, Jacob and his wife will look after you.”
    “But where will you be?”
    She hugged him. “Just promise you’ll do as they say.”
    Nicky’s lower lip trembled.
    “Don’t be afraid, my little dear. Courage, you must learn courage. Like your mother and father. They’ll be back for you, this I know.”
    Suddenly, she heard a car turn into their lane. “Wait.” She pressed a hand to Nicky’s mouth and peered from the garden. When her car wheeled into sight relief surged through her.
    Nicky scrambled from her lap. With great effort, she stood and smoothed her grey chignon, then took Nicky’s hand, and picked up her bag. She straightened, bone thin but regal, and strode to meet the car.
    Jacob’s wife and children were crowded into the back of the car, along with Jacob’s older brother, Oscar. Sofia greeted them and gave Nicky’s hand to Jacob’s wife, Irma, who said, “Thank you, we never could have escaped without your kindness.”
    Weary, Sofia smiled at her, then turned to Jacob. “Give me a moment.”
    She walked to the front of the chateau, removed a large skeleton key from her pocket, and locked the