‘You too. I’m very happy to be here.’
Holding his daughter prevented Noah getting close enough to kiss her but Julien stepped in to fill the gap, leaning to brush a kiss onto one of her cheeks and then the other. ‘Welcome,’ he said. ‘Can I get you a glass of champagne?’
‘Yes, please.’
As Julien turned away, Fi could see that Theo was showing the toy donkey to the stranger, who had crouched to be at the little boy’s level as he admired Lili’s gift. Theo’s face was the picture of a child’s joy at being the centre of attention to someone important. Someone who was looking as though every word Theo was uttering was of great interest.
Julien gave his head a shake. ‘How rude of me,’ he said. ‘You two haven’t met, have you? Christophe, this is Fiona Gilchrist – Ellie’s sister andma belle-sœur. Fi, this is Christophe Brabant – my oldest and dearest friend.’
‘Which makes him part of our family,’ Ellie added.
Yes, he certainly looked as if he was a part of the family. He straightened from his crouch, but not without ruffling Theo’s hair by way of apology at the interruption, before he stepped closer to Julien.
And Fi…
She could actually feel the distance shrinking between them, as if her own body was aware of him moving through the air towards her, even though she was keeping her gaze on Ellie.
‘We saw him out walking his dog just down the road as we arrived,’ Ellie said. ‘And he’s friends with Noah and Laura as well, so we had to invite him to the party.’
There was a note of something like an apology in her explanation, clearly intended for Fi. Had she just realised it would have been a good idea to have provided a warning of the presence of a man she didn’t know? Was she trying to assess how much reassurance, or possibly protection, her sister might need in this situation?
Fi lifted her chin a little. She didn’t need to be wrapped in cotton wool. She wasn’t automatically afraid of every man she met. She could handle talking to men in social situations. She had male friends, for heaven’s sake, like Gavin – who’d taught her everything she knew about being a farrier. Men were fine. As long as they didn’t try and cross her boundaries. Or startle her.
It was sweet that her family wanted to protect her but she was more than capable of protecting herself. She knew the first signs of danger all too well and she could instantly douse any flicker that suggested a physical attraction, the start of a crush or worse, a signpost to the path of actually falling in love with someone.
Just over Ellie’s shoulder, Fi caught a glimpse of Laura laughing as she watched Noah lift Lili above his head, making their daughter shriek with glee. Jeannie was raising her phone to capture a photo or perhaps a video of this happy family scene. With the sun catching her golden-red curls and the sparkles on the wings of her pretty dress, Lili really did look like a fairy child.
It was easy to smile at the magic moment. Fi even managed to let her gaze touch that of Christophe – just for a heartbeat.
‘Hi,’ she said.
Oh, help… she could almost see the coating of shyness on the word as it hung in the air between them, but Christophe was smiling.
And what a smile it was. A heart-melting curve that was soft enough to suggest he was aware of her discomfort and to offer a reassurance that she had nothing to worry about.
Of course she didn’t. He was simply polite enough to be charming.
‘Enchanté,’ he said.
‘Christophe’s a vet,’ Ellie said into the slightly awkward silence that followed. ‘I met him the day I ran over Pascal with my bicycle.’
Fi went very still, hoping against hope that Ellie would pick up on her silent plea not to divulge the information that she’d once dreamed of the same career. It wasn’t something she wanted to talk about, especially when the rawness of why that dream had been destroyed had only just been exposed.
She seemed to. ‘You’ll love his dog,’ she added. ‘She’s nearly as big as a horse. She’s over there under the tree with Pascal, who fell totally in love with her when she was a puppy even though she was already twice his size.’
Fi followed the direction of Ellie’s gaze. The enormous black, tan and white dog was lying in the shade of one of the old olive trees.
‘Oh…’ Fi could feel swirls of anxiety evaporating into nothing around her like wisps of steam. ‘She’s a Bernese Mountain Dog, isn’t she?’
‘She is. Her name is Heidi.’
‘She’s gorgeous.’
‘She is…’ Christophe seemed to be searching for the right words. ‘The love of my life.’
Julien had returned with the glass of champagne for Fi.
‘I think the feeling is mutual,’ he said. ‘Heidi drools all over him. But’ – his shrug was expressive – ‘maybe it’s not so mutual…Cette chiennedrools on everyone.’
