Page 63 of Falling for Provence

He was silent for a long, long moment.

Then he shrugged. As if it didn’t really matter if he told Ellie or not. ‘They had to be prepared to give Theo a transfusion if it was needed during the operation,’ he said. ‘So they did a test to see what his blood group was. There’d never been a reason to test him before, so I hadn’t known.’

Ellie didn’t want the silence that followed Julien’s words to grow any deeper.

‘I’ve never had mine tested,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t have any idea what it is.’

‘Many people don’t.’ Julien nodded. ‘Unless they’ve been blood donors, as I have. Sarah had no idea of her blood group, but she got tested because she was still alive – just – after the accident and, if they’d had time, they would have given her a transfusion. She was type O. I am also an O.’

Ellie didn’t understand what the significance of this information was. What she did understand, however, was that this was why Julien still looked so shattered even though he knew his son was safe. Maybe he could feel the intensity of her gaze, because he looked directly at her again.

‘Theo is type A,’ he said. ‘Two parents who are type O cannot have a baby that is type A. It’s simply not possible.’ He lowered his eyelids like shutters so that Ellie couldn’t see what he preferred to hide. ‘It means that Sarah got pregnant by someone else. Not by me.’

And then, as if he was having as much difficulty understanding this as Ellie was, he opened his eyes and spoke slowly. Very clearly.

‘Theo is not my son.’

Ellie gasped. ‘Of course he’s your son,’ she said in a tone that said there was no shadow of doubt about it.

‘Not biologically.’

‘That’s not what matters.’ Ellie swallowed hard. ‘Love is the only thing that really matters. You love Theo. You’re the only father he’s ever known. And he adores you.’

‘He certainly needs me right now.’ It was clearly a physical fight against exhaustion as Julien pushed himself to his feet. ‘I have to go back to him. And I have to call my mother and grandmother. Will you be all right? I’m sorry… I haven’t even asked how you are.’

‘I’m fine,’ Ellie said quietly. ‘And yes, you need to go back to look after Theo. Please let me know if there’s anything at all I can do to help.’

Not just to help a family in crisis because a child had been critically injured. Ellie had an urge to try and comfort Julien that was so strong it was unbearable. She had known from that first moment she’d met him, by the way Julien had held and spoken to his son, that Theo was the most precious thing in his life. How could you begin to navigate knowing that he was actually someone else’s child? Ellie knew only too well that emotional injury could be just as hard – if not harder – to heal from than anything physical.

Julien nodded but he was looking at his phone, finding the torch button to tap. ‘I’ll let you know if anything changes,’ he murmured. Stepping closer, he brushed his lips against Ellie’s cheek – a light, apparently meaningless contact – and then turned to walk away. She couldn’t blame him for his distraction. In fact, he wouldn’t be the man she believed he was if he could distract himself by thinking of anyone other than his son right now. But it hurt that it didn’t seem to have occurred to him that he might find support, if not comfort, in her arms.

Ellie watched the light of his torch flickering as it went past the trunks of lemon and then olive trees.

He would tell her if anything changed, but how could anything else change enough to be significant when it felt like absolutely everything that had become so important in her life had already changed? When it felt like there was nothing solid beneath her feet and she was slipping. As if the axis of her world was tipping and she couldn’t find anything solid to hang on to.

Julien was walking back towards where he belonged. To his family. To his mother and grandmother and, most of all, to Theo, who was clearly his son in every way that mattered most, even if he couldn’t see that himself quite yet.

Ellie wasn’t needed. Julien had said so himself.

She didn’t belong here.

Whatever magic this place – and Julien – had brought into her life was gone.

It felt like it was time to go back to where she had once belonged.

It was time to go home…

22

She didn’t want to leave.

But she couldn’t stay.

Up early enough to watch the sunrise, Ellie was sitting out on her terrace with a mug of hot coffee as the craggy outlines of the closest mountains – thebaous– became visible and the deep shadows of La Maisonette’s lemon orchard and olive grove lifted to reveal the now familiar shape of the trees.

So familiar. And knowing that she would soon be leaving them behind made it increasingly clear how much she loved this garden.

Yet again, the suggestion Julien had made on the day of the storm and that terrifying accident echoed in the back of Ellie’s mind. There was still time. She did own a third of this property. She could talk to her sisters about the idea of the three of them keeping ownership or, if they weren’t interested, looking for finance to buy them out of their shares. There was no reason not to do that, was there?

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