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“Why not?” I could tell her head was spinning with worst-case scenarios.
“What if Pierre tells my parents about the baby? I’m their only daughter and you have no idea how many years they’ve prayed for grandchildren.”
“Argh, he won’t tell them.”
Fleur swung her hand back to the gallery and raised her voice. “He probably already did.”
Taking another five steps, she sank down to sit on a bench with her face in her hands.
I walked over to squat down in front of her. “Fleur, come on. It’s not the end of the world. I was only trying to help.”
“You don’t understand.” There was moisture in her eyes.
“Then explain it to me.”
“Being a mother was my biggest wish, but I gave that up. I’ve dedicated my life to work with animals and I’ve accepted that I’m better alone than with a man. Pierre will tell my parents. They’re still friends with him and they speak regularly.”
“Why are they friends with him if you’re no longer together?”
She shrugged. “They work in the same industry and run into each other. Pierre trained with them for a while when he was younger; that’s how I met him. I know my parents had some choice words with him after our break-up, but they aren’t the types to hold a grudge and I’m not going to dictate who they can or can’t talk to. Especially not when they’ve been friends for more than a decade.”
“Maybe he’ll forget about it,” I suggested.
“Not likely. It’s been four years since I left him, and he clearly hasn’t moved on. I guarantee that he’ll keep tabs on me and that ruins my plan. You saw him. Even though I denied being pregnant he believed you over me and why wouldn’t he? You looked so proud and convincing.”
“I thought I was helping you.”
She sighed. “You made everything worse. I was going to tell my parents in a few months that it didn’t work out between us. Now, there’s the question about the baby. If I go along with your lie about the pregnancy, I’ll have to tell my parents that I lost both you and our unborn child. They’re going to be devastated.”
I lowered my head. “I didn’t think that far.”
We sat for a long moment until I rose up and reached out my hand to her. “Come on. We can’t stay here.”
Fleur stood up too and dried her eyes. “Is my make-up smeared?”
“A little. Allow me.”
She looked up while I dried off a bit of mascara from under her eyes.
“Don’t make up more crazy stories,” she warned me as we walked back.
Just before we entered the gallery again, a strong urge to make everything right again, made me stop Fleur and raise her chin with my finger to look into her eyes. “There’s always the possibility that we make it all true. I’d marry you and have a child with you.” My words were spontaneous but coming straight from my heart. I’d been rootless for so long, and it was like Fleur was the peg in the ground that I could anchor myself to.
My heart was racing in my chest as I waited for her answer to my proposal, but she didn’t take me seriously and gave me a look that said,stop playing aroundwhile muttering low, “Come on.”
Now wasn’t the time to try and convince her of my sincerity because part of me was shocked that I’d proposed to her out of the blue like that and my hands were shaking a little from the adrenaline rush of hearing the words come out of my mouth.
We moved through the gallery. When we eyed Pierre downstairs talking with her parents, Fleur took my hand and steered me upstairs to the buffet.
It didn’t take long before her mum came up to join us. “I hear you bumped into Pierre,” she said in a tone that reverberated with underlying emotions. “Is it true?”
“Is what true?” Fleur asked with her eyes flicking around the room.
“Justine.” A couple came up the stairs calling out to Fleur’s mother, who was distracted by the arrival of her friends.
“Do you want me to tell your parents that I was only joking to make Pierre jealous?” I offered her.
Fleur didn’t answer but moved away from me. I watched her stop in front of a beautiful portrait of a lioness licking her cub and even from this distance, I could see the sadness radiating from Fleur.
