Chapter 20 #2
Past the bridal couple, who were facing each other, holding hands, and the smiling celebrant, the gathered crowd of friends and family could see the deep blue of a calm bay, dotted with yachts and the horizon of the Mediterranean melting into the cloudless, summer sky.
Luc had his camera to his face, quietly recording a memory of every moment.
Sophie was standing with tears gathering as she listened to the very personal vows that Laura and Noah were exchanging.
‘My whole life changed the moment I climbed on to the back of your motorbike,’ Laura said. ‘You showed me the magic of Provence, Noah, and you made my dream come true when you took me to see the lavender fields.’
She paused to take a steadying breath. ‘But you showed me so much more than that. You taught me how to live – to see the joy in the smallest things – and… and you taught me how to love. With no limits. We are a family now and my love for you, and our children, grows stronger every single day. I love you, Noah. More than words could ever convey. I promise that I will never forget how lucky I am to find the kind of love that only comes once in a lifetime. I will look for the joy in every moment.’
Sophie swiped a tear from her cheek as her gaze was drawn, unconsciously, towards Luc. He didn’t lower his camera but he turned his head, as if he’d felt the touch of her gaze. Was he also feeling the echo of that phrase right down to his bones, as she was?
‘…the kind of love that only comes once in a lifetime…’
The kind of love that she and Luc had? Yes…
she knew it was. Maybe she’d known that from the first moment she’d seen this man and that was why it had been so disturbing – because he was exactly the kind of man she’d unconsciously made a vow not to let close enough to cause the pain and destruction the man who’d captured her mother’s heart had wreaked.
Sophie remembered the way part of her soul had run for the hills with that first eye contact with Luc Moreau, but here she was, knowing that there had never been – and never would be – another man she could feel this way about.
Her thoughts filled the moment or two it took for Noah to compose himself well enough to speak.
‘Through no fault of their own,’ he said, ‘your parents were separated for more than twenty years, but they found their way back to each other because their love is that strong. I promise to love you that fiercely, Laura. I will hold you close as long as there is breath in my body, so that nothing can ever separate us. I love you as much as I love life. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my future with you – and our family. ’
Sophie’s gaze shifted again, to find Luc already looking in her direction. They had been separated for the longest time as well but they had found their way back together.
Would they be saying vows like this to each other one day? Committing themselves to a future together? A family, even?
Ohh… a baby. Sophie could feel an ache, deep within her belly. An empty kind of ache. Her grief had effectively quashed any thoughts of a future family, but if the dream had died, it was definitely doing its best right now to come back to life.
The celebrant declared Noah and Laura to be husband and wife.
Theo had been given the honour of being the ring-bearer but, as he moved in to present the box, the younger children seemed to take it as a signal that they didn’t have to sit still any longer.
After sliding the ring on to Laura’s finger and repeating the traditional vow, Noah had to pick up Gabriel, who was tugging at his trouser leg.
Lili wanted to help Laura put the ring on her papa’s finger and the first kiss as husband and wife was more like a family cuddle than anything purely romantic, but nobody minded.
It was time for the fun to begin.
* * *
There had never been a wedding quite like this.
Sophie had never seen Luc smiling like this when he was working, and the shots he was taking were going to be treasured by this family. She could imagine them in frames on a mantelpiece or enlarged to feature on a wall.
Like the one of the three Gilchrist sisters beside the three donkeys, having lifted their daughters on to the patient animals’ backs.
Luc caught the moment before they started leading the donkeys on a slow loop in the shade the tall stone wall was providing.
With one hand on halters that were decorated with silk flowers and the other steadying their children, the sisters were all looking at each other and laughing.
There was one of Julien and Noah that was another standout.
They had discarded the linen jackets of their suits, rolled up the sleeves of their shirts and the legs of their trousers and were standing in the shallows, holding their baby boys, dipping their feet into the sea and then lifting them high enough to look down on their papas, kicking chubby legs with excitement as they waited for it to happen again.
Leaning on Luc’s arm to look at the image on the screen of his camera, Sophie could still hear the shrieks of glee from the toddlers and the laughter from their fathers.
She would choose to have this on her wall.
She would choose to have this in her future.
‘I love this one,’ she said softly. ‘It’s…’
The words died in her throat as she looked up at Luc. He didn’t have to say anything aloud. It was written all over his face that this was a new dream for his own future.
For their future.
The food was delicious, the champagne perfect.
There were the odd tearful moments, like when Ellie’s baby boy, Louis, hit Gabriel with one of the raquettes, Isabella swallowed a large mouthful of sea water when she fell off the inflatable unicorn and Bonnie’s ice cream fell off its cone to be instantly scoffed by Heidi the dog, but there were also any number of family members to wipe faces and sticky fingers and offer cuddles and encouragement.
It was… family. With all its ups and downs, togetherness and private moments that were woven seamlessly into the fabric of the day.
Sophie saw Noah and Laura steal a kiss that would clearly be remembered as the first real kiss between husband and wife, a look between Jeannie and Gordon that was so full of love it brought a lump to her throat, and what looked like a secret being kept when Christophe smiled at the way Fiona had her hand on her belly.
Was there another baby on the way that would be celebrated before too long?
Even the best of days had to come to an end at some point, however, and the party began to break up as the donkeys were led back to their float to be taken home and tired children began to grizzle.
Sophie and Luc stowed the floral archway into the van, along with everything else Marry Me in Provence had provided.
‘Where’s Tilly?’ Luc asked.
‘On the terrace. She’s taking down those butterfly decorations.’
Luc was smiling at her. ‘Are we going to go for a swim?’
Sophie groaned. ‘I didn’t even think of bringing my swimsuit. Did you?’
‘No,’ Luc admitted.
‘We could get our feet wet, at least,’ Sophie suggested.
* * *
That was where Tilly found them, a little while later. Sophie was holding the skirts of her dress up far enough to let the soft caress of almost non-existent waves reach above her ankles but her grip on the fabric loosened as Tilly got closer.
‘What’s happened?’ she asked. ‘Is something wrong?’
Tilly nodded. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again.
Sophie could feel the hem of her dress dragging in the water as she moved swiftly towards Tilly.
‘Tell me,’ she urged.
Tilly put down the box that was full of butterflies. She was reaching into her pocket to take out her phone as Luc arrived by Sophie’s side.
‘I got an alert,’ Tilly said. ‘It’s a story that’s trending…’
‘About us?’ Sophie’s heart sank. ‘It’s not about what happened at the Chateau d’Orval kicking off again, is it?’
‘Not exactly…’ Tilly looked as if she was about to burst into tears.
Luc took two strides to where he’d left his camera and phone on the beach. He was scrolling by the time Tilly had opened the browser on her phone to show Sophie what she was talking about.
She recognised the thumbnail image of the author of this online article.
Raven Vale.
She hadn’t known the journalist did a personal online blog that was called ‘Raven’s Revelations’.
The headline still didn’t seem to have any relevance.
Could this be the ultimate betrayal???
She needed to read the words below the clickbait to try and find out why Tilly was looking so upset, but as she shifted her gaze the words and pictures blurred in front of her as Luc kept scrolling. And then he froze and an image came into focus.
A picture of a cobalt blue car.
So crumpled it was only the colour that made it instantly recognisable.
The caption came into focus with blinding clarity.
Ten years ago today… Is it any wonder the celebrity driver has been trying to hide his identity for so long?
A puff of sea breeze pushed the wet fabric of Sophie’s dress against her legs but she was barely aware of the clammy sensation.
It was nothing compared to the paralysing chill that was running down her spine, seeking out every cell in her body, as she looked up to find Luc looking straight back at her.
It was only then that she realised she hadn’t even been thinking about the dreadful anniversary that this day represented. Had that heartbreakingly emotional night in Draguignan given them both the opportunity to begin making peace with the past?
A fragile peace that had just been shattered into oblivion.
Millions of people could be thinking about it now.
And Sophie could feel the safe boundaries of the world she had built so carefully for herself beginning to crumble.