‘There must be lots of children here being brought up to be bilingual in French and English. It’s a perfect gift.’ Ellie was smiling. ‘Do you remember Laura reading it to us?’
Fi nodded.
‘You could be the first person to read it to Lili. I think Laura would love that as well.’
Fi found herself swallowing hard. This was going to be another difficult step back into her family but, if she could find the courage to let her adorable nieces into her heart, it could add something she had come to believe she would never have in her life.
Whether or not she deserved to have the joy of even other people’s children in her life was another matter. One that could stay safely locked away, for as long as possible. She’d already given her family more than enough to process, and perhaps they all needed the time out that focussing on Lili’s birthday was giving them.
They collected the birthday cake from the patisserie and admired the beautifully crafted, white-spotted red mushrooms on the top with a tiny fairy doll sitting amongst them.
‘C’est génial,’ Ellie told them. ‘Merci infiniment.’
‘I need to learn some French,’ Fi said when they were back out on the street. ‘What’sgénial?’
‘Awesome.C’est génialis “this is awesome”.’
‘I’ll remember that.’
It was an easy walk to Laura’s house from there, back past the Grand Jardin. Outside the boulangerie an old woman was sitting on the footpath, her back against the wall, a battered hat on the ground with coins in it. She had a cane basket beside her, filled with tiny bouquets of white flowers and green leaves.
‘Oh!’ Ellie paused. ‘I’d almost forgotten. It’s the first of May tomorrow.’
Fi lifted her eyebrows. ‘Of course it is. That’s Lili’s birthday. Don’t you remember Laura joking about having been in labour on Labour Day?’
‘Yes, but it has another significance here as well.’ Ellie was opening her wallet. ‘It’s why they gave Lili her name, in fact. It’s not only Labour Day here butlaFête du Muguet.’ She handed a note to the woman. ‘Six, s’il vous plaît.’
‘Merci.’ The woman counted out the posies – each made up of three stems of blooms and one leaf, tied with a piece of rustic brown string in a bow.
‘Merci à vous.’ Ellie’s response sounded automatic. She held the posies up to Fi to sniff as they walked on.
‘Mmm… Lily of the valley.’
‘It’s a tradition to give these flowers to all your friends and family on May Day,’ Ellie told her. ‘It dates back to some medieval king. You’ll be able to ask Julien about it at the party. I think he paid more attention to his history lessons at school than Noah did.’
Maybe she noticed that Fi had suddenly gone silent.
‘You will come to the party, won’t you?’ Her tone was anxious. ‘It’s just family,’ she added, reassuringly. ‘Like it was at Christmas.’ She caught Fi’s gaze and her face softened. ‘Yourfamily.’
Fi took a deep breath. ‘I’m looking forward to it,’ she said.
* * *
Fi took her own car to Laura’s house the next afternoon, because it felt like an insurance policy that made it so much easier to gather the courage she needed. If it all became too much, at least she had the means to escape back to the little house. And the donkeys.
Surprisingly, she reallywaslooking forward to the party. She could hear a burst of laughter as she followed the trail of pink and silver balloons they’d tied onto tree branches that led to the terrace at the back of the house.
Male laughter.
She was ready for this. Ready to meet her brothers-in-law and accept the kisses on both her cheeks because… well… this was France and that’s how people greeted their friends and family.
What Fi wasn’t ready for and what stopped her dead in her tracks was that it wasn’t only Julien and Noah out here on the terrace. There was another man with them. A total stranger.
And… he had to bethemost beautiful man Fi had ever seen in her entire life.
He looked like a film star. Or a model that could have been used for some famous statue – like Michelangelo’s David – that needed someone with a perfect face and a body to match. He was tall and slim, with black, wavy hair and dark eyes…
Dear Lord… dark eyes that were looking straight back. Ather…
