Epilogue
TWO MONTHS LATER
The thought of getting married again had never crossed my mind.
But then, neither had the possibility of ever seeing Tomas Bertholle again.
Coming to Paris was meant to lay ghosts to rest. To make new memories of Paris.
And I had most certainly done so. Very happy ones.
Happier still because they included the people I’d made those first treasured ones with and now that the painful ones were vanquished, washed away by happy tears and joyful laughter, I could look back on the rest with an easier eye and share them with my daughter.
I watched her now, in her bridesmaid dress of the softest rose pink, made by hand, by Reine.
‘Better than Dior!’ Sash had exclaimed when she’d spun around at the final fitting.
‘She looks so beautiful,’ Benoit said as he took the seat next to me. ‘I don’t know what I did to deserve her.’
‘I know the feeling.’ I turned to face him. ‘Hurt her and I will kill you and make it look like an accident.’
‘And I’ll help her move the body,’ Tomas’s deep tones added as his hands rested on my bare shoulders.
Benoit nodded. ‘Understood. I’m going to leave now.
The conversation has taken rather a dark turn.
’ His mouth was serious but delight, and love, danced in his eyes.
‘Congratulations again,’ he said, kissing me on both cheeks before standing and hugging his godfather.
‘Congratulations, Paps.’ He leant in with a loud whisper. ‘Don’t mess it up this time.’
‘Believe me, I have no intention of doing so.’
‘Good. Because I’m pretty sure Sash will help me move a body too.’
‘Without a doubt.’ They grinned, exchanged another hug and we watched as Benoit strode back towards Sasha, her arm reaching out to slide around his waist as he approached, the love we’d seen in his eyes reflected in hers.
‘Thank you for this,’ I said.
‘Thank you,’ he laughed, facing me. ‘For marrying me. I know I said about not rushing things and here we are…’
‘There was no reason to wait. As your mum said, life is short.’
‘Actually, what she said was what the hell was I waiting for?’
‘True. She’s wiser than she thinks.’
He smiled and took in his mother, who was now sitting with Sash on one side and Benoit on the other, scrolling through the new phone I’d bought her so that she could video call her family. Technology she’d apparently resisted until now.
‘You didn’t need to go to all this effort.’
‘You always wanted a celebration when you got married. Although I think this is going to look incredibly tame compared to Ashok and Gabby’s wedding next month!’ His eyes were back on me now, soft, smiling, insanely sexy.
‘True. But I can’t wait!’
‘Me neither. Although I’m a little more excited about our honeymoon travelling around India prior to it.’
I leant over, pretending to whisper. ‘Me too. But don’t tell Gabby!’
He held a finger to his lips.
We sat for a moment, hands clasped together, the diamond ring Isobel had gifted me, a Bertholle family heirloom, catching the light of the low sun.
‘You remember that? About us talking about a wedding like this?’
‘I remember everything, ma chérie. How could I forget?’ He caught my chin gently in his hand. ‘I never forgot you. I knew from the first moment I saw you that we were meant to be. That somehow, in some way, you’d come back to me.’
‘You did?’
‘Always. I always believed it. I had to. There was never going to be anyone else. You were meant to be mine.’
I raised an eyebrow.
He wiggled his head. ‘You know what I mean.’
I did and he was right. As much as I’d tried, there had always been a hole in my heart that nothing could fill.
Not the love of a decent man or the overwhelming love for the child I never even knew I’d wanted.
But now, in the lowering sun at the end of a perfect summer’s day in a rose garden overflowing with exquisitely scented blooms, that gap, that missing piece in my heart had finally been slotted back into place.