Chapter 42
42
Friday morning and Agnes could barely contain her excitement at the thought of Denice and Carl coming for lunch to meet Francine and Jasmine for the first time. When Theo returned from giving Cerise her first walk of the day, they went to the market as usual but today they were buying ingredients for a special lunch. The weather forecast promised a hot day with the temperature possibly hitting twenty-seven, so they decided rather than cook they’d provide a cold lunch. Lots of cheeses, a board of charcuterie meats, some langoustines, a big green salade and several artisan breads from their favourite boulangerie. Dessert would be a big bowl of fresh local strawberries with crème fra?che. And champagne of course. It was a special occasion.
Back at Theo’s, as they sat out in the courtyard enjoying a palmier biscuit with their coffee, Agnes glanced at Theo. ‘Has Francine said anything to you about wondering if Denice is really my sister?’
‘ Non . Why?’
‘She was so suspicious that day we told her about meeting Denice, I thought she might have questioned you about how you felt about her.’
Theo shook his head. ‘I think you were so definite about Denice being Denice that she took your word for it finally.’
‘I hope so. I don’t want any awkward conversations spoiling today,’ Agnes said.
Theo smiled at her. ‘Stop worrying. Everything will be fine. Come on, time to start getting the place ready. What time did you suggest to everyone?’
‘Around mid-day.’
Francine and Edwin were the first to arrive. Agnes felt her heart sink as she sensed how uptight Francine was about this meeting with her unknown aunt. Before she could say anything to reassure her, Denice and Carl arrived in the flurry of exuberance that Agnes seemed to remember her sister always generated around her when socialising, making it impossible to ignore her. Calling her the life and soul of any party she attended had been the only way to describe the teenage Denice.
Once indoors, Denice turned to Francine and pulled her into a tight hug. ‘You have no idea how much this means to me, first re-uniting with Agnes and now meeting my unknown niece. That bastard, Oscar, has a lot to answer for. Thank God he’s dead, we’re all better off with him out of the way. Anybody ever told you how like your maman you are?’ Francine nodded her head, hardly able to breathe the hug was so tight.
Releasing her, Denice turned and took Edwin’s hand in a firm grip before planting two kisses on his cheeks. ‘And you must be the husband. Lovely to meet you.’
The front door slammed at that moment and Zazz flew into the room. ‘Granny, I’m so sorry I’m late. I hope Great-Aunt Denice hasn’t, oh, you have,’ and Zazz came to a quick halt as she saw everyone. ‘Hello, I’m Zazz.’
Denice, her arms outstretched, advanced towards her. ‘If you call me great-aunt ever again I shall disown you. I’m Denice, understood?’
Zazz nodded. ‘Understood.’
‘In that case, come here and let me hug you.’ As Denice threw arms around Zazz she whispered in her ear, ‘And I promise I’ll never call you Jasmine.’
There was a carefully controlled pop as Theo eased the cork out of the champagne bottle before pouring everyone a glass. ‘Time for a toast,’ he said as Zazz handed the glasses around. ‘To family.’
‘Family,’ they all echoed.
‘You all right, Mum?’ Zazz asked quietly as Denice followed Agnes into the kitchen. ‘You look a bit dazed.’
Francine smiled. ‘I don’t think our lives are ever going to be the same again with Denice in them.’
Edwin’s phone pinged at that moment and with an apologetic look at everyone he excused himself and went outside to answer it.
When he returned five minutes later he whispered to Francine, ‘I have to leave tomorrow.’
‘Will you come back down? Or shall I leave tomorrow with you?’ she asked quietly.
‘I should only be away for two days at the most and I was planning on coming back down to spend more time here with you.’
‘I’ll stay and wait for you to come back then,’ Francine said. ‘Then we can go home together in maybe a week or ten days.’
* * *
Zazz, up early to go for her now routine daily run with Mel, said goodbye to her dad before leaving. He was waiting for the taxi to take him to the airport for his morning flight back to the UK, having declined Theo’s offer to take him so early in the morning.
Mel was waiting for her in their usual meeting place and soon they were running along the quay. ‘So how was the long-lost aunt yesterday?’ Mel asked.
‘She’s great. Flamboyant extrovert best describes her, I think,’ Zazz said. ‘Would you believe she ran an escort agency for years? You’d never lose her in a crowd. Complete opposite of Granny but you can see they’re sisters. She was really interested in my social media stuff. Said she was going to look me up, follow me and tell all her Parisian friends about me and this is the exciting bit.’
Mel glanced at her.
‘She has a contact with the Press Office at the Palais des Festivals and she’s going to try and get me a general pass as a “Content Provider”, which, I didn’t realise, is another form of publicity the Press Office uses these days for all the events at the Palais, not just the film festival. I’ve promised to love her forever if she can pull that off.’
‘Talking of love, my brother is wandering around with a silly look on his face,’ Mel said. ‘Very similar to the one that appears on your face when his name comes into the conversation.’
Zazz laughed. ‘I’ve told you – we’re just friends, for now,’ she added. ‘Right, time to turn round and buy the breakfast croissants. Got to keep Mum company for breakfast as Dad’s gone back home for a couple of days.’ It was too soon to admit to Mel, or anyone, exactly how she felt about Dominic.