Chapter 40
The next evening, I’m locking up the bookshop when I get a text from Eloise.
Meet me at the Eiffel Tower?
What! What is she doing out on her own? When I call she doesn’t pick up. Is she sneaking out now? Is my girl really sliding off the rails? I call Maman – no answer. Then Dad. Nothing.
Maybe they’re out looking for her? I send them both a text asking what’s going on. Luckily the Eiffel Tower isn’t far from the bookshop so I hastily make my way there. I’m going to kill her for sneaking out. Or at least ground her until she’s thirty.
The night is balmy as stars shimmer in the dark sky above. It’s the most beautiful time of year in Paris where everything is blooming and the air is fragrant with promise. When I arrive, I step around clusters of people, unable to see my daughter anywhere. What if she gets targeted by pickpockets? Have I even made her aware of such a thing? Bad mother parenting alert goes off in my brain while I search for her.
I do a loop and come face to face with Henri, who’s wearing a tense expression too.
‘Have you seen Léa?’
‘Have you seen Eloise?’
‘What?’
‘What?’
I hold up a hand. ‘Stop speaking at the same time as me.’ If I wasn’t so panicked it’d be laughable. ‘Did Léa tell you to meet her here?’
‘ Oui? But she’s not allowed out alone, especially at night. And she’s not answering her phone.’
‘Ah. They’ve set this up.’
He slaps his forehead. ‘The little minxes.’
It doesn’t take long for us to spot them, giggling into their hands, my parents standing behind them like sentries. We go to join them.
‘Seriously?’ I can’t help asking.
‘Sorry.’ Dad drops his head. ‘They wouldn’t be swayed.’
‘I had to make it right,’ Eloise says.
‘She did,’ confirms Léa.
Eloise fidgets with the zip on her cardigan. ‘I’ve been the worst kind of brat all because I missed my friends. I had this warped idea that if I made a mess of school in Paris then we’d have no choice but to return to London where I’d be reunited with Daisy and Harriet. What I didn’t think about was the people I was hurting along the way. All of you. Léa has forgiven me but I know I still have a way to go to make things up to her and the other two girls, as well.’
Léa gives Eloise’s hand a supportive squeeze. ‘Losing someone you love is hard. That loss can make a person go a little crazy.’ Léa and Henri exchange a sad look, as if they’re sharing a memory of their past and what they lost, namely a wife and a mother. ‘It’s not easy being the one left behind.’
My heart aches for the girl as I realise her and Eloise have that same awful circumstance in common. A missing parent. Can the love of the remaining parent do the job of two? I have certainly tried to make up for that lack, and I’m sure Henri has.
‘It’s not easy,’ Eloise says with a tentative smile. ‘But I’m lucky that I have the best Mum in the world. She fights for me even when I don’t deserve it. She’s patient when I’m being moody and rude. And you told me you have the best Dad in the world.’ Her voice cracks. ‘I just hope I haven’t ruined the rest of their lives,’ she says, bowing her head.
‘What do you mean?’ I take her in my arms and give her a hug.
When she composes herself, she says, ‘You and Henri. I hope I haven’t ruined things between you. I’m not joking when I say I can see you at eighty chatting away with your Alexa device, all alone, wearing one of those long night gowns, muttering.’
What a vivid portrait she paints! I wouldn’t be surprised if Henri bolts, knowing how in demand I am, so much so, that I’m destined to spend eternity with a machine as my companion.
‘I’m worried about you being alone too,’ Léa says to her dad. She faces me. ‘Before you came along, Coco, he mostly stared off into space. He would nod and pretend to hear me, but he wasn’t really listening. It was almost as if he was a shell and the real him disappeared along with my Maman. Things changed recently. He came home and talked about you, like , a lot . I had to give him some hard truths when he told me about the attempted pickpocketing under the Eiffel Tower. Victim blaming, much ?’ Henri has the grace to blush. ‘Suddenly he’s making us fancy dinners, wondering: if Coco likes steak tartare .’
‘Ooh, it is gross,’ Eloise says. ‘It’s raw .’
‘It’s an acquired taste,’ Henri and I say in unison and share a smile. My parents look fondly at us, as if we’re all the best of friends and not four people who have been through the wringer of late. But I suppose that’s real life. The good and the bad. The ups and the downs. We each have golden threads that stitch up the damage. That allow us to step in to the light again.
‘So,’ Eloise asks us. ‘Did I ruin your chance of a happy ever after?’
Henri shakes his head. ‘No, you haven’t ruined anything. In fact, I think it’s a good lesson for all of us.’
‘In what way?’ Eloise asks.
‘Not to hide the hurt.’ He clasps my hand and looks deep into my eyes, and I sense a shift, in the earth, in my heart. ‘For me, the future is bright with possibility.’ He pauses, and I like that he doesn’t speak for me. He doesn’t presume to know how I feel.
‘For me too.’ I’m not sure if it’s because the four of us have opened up about our vulnerabilities, but I get this flash, this premonition about the future. A little family of four. And I shoot a wish into the inky night that it will come true. Can we each be that missing part of the puzzle for one another? Only time will tell. Maybe I’ve read too many romances and watched too many Hallmark movies, but why can’t that be us? Four souls made stronger with some golden seams and an abundance of hope.
I think back to when I first met Valérie and she imagined my future fantastical wedding including my pretty flower girls. She knew all along. And so in the spirit of letting go and enjoying the ride, I make the decision to be bold and brave and say what’s in my heart.
‘I’m not a believer in fate, the stars guiding us, the universe intervening, Cupid’s arrow or any of that kind of thing. Well, I wasn’t . Until this pesky man kept being thrown in my way. Perhaps, I needed the hand of a higher power so I paid attention to the signs. I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous. Whatever it is, I’ve made a promise to myself that I’m going to do what makes me happy. And you make me happy, Henri. Your driving abilities leave a lot to be desired, but hey, that’s why we have the Metro. No one is perfect.’
‘His driving is shocking,’ Léa says. ‘Wait until he takes you on his motorbike.’
My eyebrows shoot up. ‘You don’t have a motorbike, do you?’
‘I have two.’
‘OK, well.’ I gulp. ‘This has been fun…’
He laughs. ‘I promise I’m a better rider than I am a driver.’
‘How is such a thing possible?’
‘Because he can’t talk on the motorbike with the helmet on, so he actually does manage to keep his eyes on the road,’ Lea says.
‘As long as I never have to be a passenger.’
‘Never,’ he swears. ‘I will never put you at risk, Coco. And, yes, maybe in some ways I’m still a dinosaur, like the way I behaved that day with the pickpockets, but that was purely some protective instinct rising to the fore. I’d been so distracted by you, the way you’d held your face up to the sun, as if the rays themselves were recharging you. You stood out, like this bright light, and I was mesmerised. How could you be full colour when the rest of the world was so grey? And then those dodgy men snuck up on you, and you remained oblivious. I was mad at them, not you. But you didn’t seem to care about your safety, not one iota. And then you got mad at me. Belligerent, even.’
‘You deserved it. You called me a banane .’
‘I did. You’re right. Part of me had already fallen madly in love with you and how could that be? I worried I was losing my mind.’
I don’t dare tell him I felt the exact same way, was taken in by the sultry curve of his lips, for crying out loud.
‘You’d already sailed into my arms at the train station. When we crossed paths at the bookshop, I felt like Valérie must have orchestrated it, somehow. So intent was she on fixing all the broken parts of me. But it was soon obvious she didn’t have a hand it in, although she recognised the spark between us right away.’
‘How does she sense these things?’ I ask, almost to myself.
‘Duh,’ Eloise says. ‘The way you two stare at each other makes it pretty obvious.’
‘It does,’ confirms Léa.
Valérie fully believes in the power of love and how it can move mountains. And she also knows how it can be snatched away. When I think of her daughter’s poems about how they’d finally found their freedom only for her life to draw to an end, it sends a shot down my spine. We can’t wait. Tomorrow is not promised. The only thing that matters is letting go and hoping love follows.
Henri grins. ‘Was it that obvious to everyone?’
When my parents make a duh face and nod their heads the girls fall about laughing. Well, it looks like we’re both terrible actors…
‘On that note,’ Maman says, glancing at a watch she doesn’t wear. ‘We should be off.’
Can it be over so soon? The night feels magical somehow, like the air is pulsing with anticipation of what may happen next.
‘We’re happy to have Léa over for pizza if you’d like to enjoy the evening together so these scamps can leave you alone?’ Dad says, trying but failing to hide a smile.
Henri slides his arm around me like it’s the most natural thing in the world. ‘In that case, I’d love to. Coco?’
‘Sure.’ We hug them goodbye and soon they’re off, giggling and shrieking, with my parents following safely behind.
When it’s just the two of us, I pull him close. ‘I suppose we should be happy they’re on board with this.’ Just then, three hoodie-wearing guys slink past. ‘Lucky you’re here to save me again?’
He gives me a gracious smile. ‘It’s you who saved me.’
We pay the trio no mind as Henri takes me in his arms and leans down to kiss me. The Eiffel Tower glitters in the background while my heart expands and fills with a blossoming love for Henri. I’d never usually consider the L word this early on, but something tells me this time it’s different but it’s a delicious secret I’ll keep to myself for now.
I’m swept away by the feeling of coming home, of recognising my perfect match, even if that makes me sound like a heroine in a romance novel.
Our love story is just beginning, and we have so many chapters that are yet to be written…