Chapter 32
32
Now that she was no longer up at the orangery every day and her time was once again her own, Sasha slipped back into a quieter routine but one which was no less busy, and the days began to speed by. Walking, playing and training Mimi and Mitzi took up a lot of her time, but she was determined to get on top of decorating the cottage, getting her workshop up and running properly, as well as the terrace and the garden. Sitting out on the terrace with Jean-Paul the other evening had been lovely. This summer, she planned on lots more al fresco occasions. First, though, she’d finish organising her workroom.
The small cupboard took the contents of several boxes of her craft things and paint supplies. Sasha set up her laptop and printer on the desk before emptying the two boxes of stationery into the eight drawers of the desk. She spent the rest of the day uploading the pictures of the trompe l’?il and updating her website and Etsy pages.
And all the time running through her mind was the problem of what to do about Freddie. If, in fact, she could or should do anything.
In the end, the decision was taken out of her hands.
Freddie brought Maddie and Jade for tea one afternoon. Jade stayed happily playing with Mimi and Mitzi in Sasha’s garden while Freddie showed Maddie over his cottage.
‘Mummy says when we get back to England I can have a puppy,’ Jade said, gently stroking Mimi. ‘But we aren’t going back until August and I really, really, want one now.’
‘You’re going back to live in England?’ Sasha said, startled.
Jade nodded. ‘Granny and Grandad are going back to their old house and Mummy and me are going to live with them. It’s all bloody Brexit’s fault,’ Jade said solemnly.
‘I don’t think you should swear like that,’ Sasha said.
‘Grandad says it all the time.’
‘Maybe, but little girls shouldn’t.’
‘I don’t think Grandad wants to leave France, but Granny says they have to.’
As much as she wanted to ask Jade more questions, Sasha didn’t feel she could quiz the little girl about her family or her mummy. It was none of her business where they lived, but she had a horrible feeling that Freddie was going to end up being hurt.
‘Shall we go and see if we can spot any dragonflies by the lake?’ Sasha said. ‘I’ll have to put Mimi and Mitzi on their leads though, otherwise they’ll be jumping in the water.’
Peter and Freddie had recently spent some time clearing the weeds away from the edge of the lake. Tall yellow irises were clustered in places and the huge plate-like pads of the pale pink water lily flowers were covering a large area of the surface. The nearby white buddleia bush was alive with butterflies and the long branches of the graceful willow dipped its fingers in the water.
Sasha couldn’t see any dragonflies hovering over the water lilies, but there was a ‘plop’ in the water and Jade looked at her, excited. ‘Is that fish?’
‘Might be,’ Sasha said. ‘Or possibly a frog.’
They both watched the water for a moment and were rewarded with a quick glimpse of several fish swimming slowly around. And then finally a dragonfly landed on one of the water lily pads, its wings fragile and translucent in the sun as Jade watched it, fascinated.
Freddie and Maddie joined them then, with Maddie telling Jade it was time to say thank you and go home.
‘Thank you for tea,’ Jade said dutifully. ‘I love the puppies. Can I come again and play with them?’
‘Of course you can. Thank you for coming,’ Sasha said, wondering what the quick look she saw pass between Freddie and Maddie meant.
As Freddie turned to follow them to the car, he said quietly, ‘Talk when I get back, okay?’
Sasha nodded, then sat out in the garden waiting for Freddie to return. She had a horrible feeling that what he wanted to talk about was not going to be good news.
A quarter of an hour later when he came back, she made them both a coffee.
‘Jade told me that as a family they are returning to the UK soon,’ she said as she handed him his mug.
Freddie nodded. ‘Yep. Maddie’s parents have decided to leave France and Maddie doesn’t want to stay here without family support.’ He took a sip of his coffee. ‘She’s been on at me about it every time we see each other.’ Freddie took a deep breath. ‘Maddie wants me to sell up and go back too so we can have a proper future together.’ He shook his head and gave a long sigh. ‘I don’t know what to do. I like her a lot, but we don’t know each other that well – we only met a couple of months ago – and now she’s leaving, she’s pushing me to do something I’m not sure I want to do. The thing is, I’ve only just arrived in France and so far, I’m loving it here. Things are working out great. Who knows, I might want to go back one day, but right now I don’t.’
‘Could you both settle for seeing each other every week or so? Either here or in the UK? I know long-distance relationships are difficult, but sometimes they work out.’
‘I was hoping she’d stay and move in with me,’ Freddie said quietly. ‘Join her parents later if it didn’t work out.’
‘Is that why you were showing her the cottage?’
Freddie nodded. ‘Turns out old cottages needing renovation on a private estate aren’t her thing. So that’s a no-no. Much better to sell up and buy something modern in England, I’m told.’
Sasha kept her thoughts about that to herself, but inwardly she was beginning to dislike Maddie intensely for the way she was pressurising Freddie. She knew instinctively that Maddie was definitely not the right person for her brother. But she couldn’t say that out loud – yet.
Sasha sighed. ‘You barely know each other. And there’s also Jade to consider. If it worked out, you’d be her stepdad. It’s not good for her to become attached to you and then you disappear out of her life. She seems to be fond of you already, so I think you have to ask yourself a question, or even a couple of questions, about how you truly feel about Maddie. Is she the love of your life? And can you bear the thought of her not being in your life?’
Selfishly, Sasha knew she didn’t want him to go, but she couldn’t voice her own feelings as it wouldn’t be fair. Whatever he decided, she knew Maddie was going to hurt Freddie, whether they stayed together or parted. Freddie needed to talk to someone and with that thought, Sasha came to a decision.
‘Will you do something for me please?’
Freddie looked at her. ‘You know I always will if I can.’
‘This isn’t for me, it’s for you. Will you please talk to Jean-Paul about what Maddie is suggesting you do?’
‘Why? What does he know?’
‘I don’t know, but he’s a local and he knows about things that happened before we arrived here.’
‘Has he said something to you about me and Maddie?’
‘He simply asked me to tell you to be careful,’ Sasha confessed.
Freddie gave a deep sigh. ‘And I thought it was all going so well. Okay, I’ll talk to Jean-Paul in the bar tonight, but I can guess I’m not going to like what he tells me.’