Page 80 of Love In Provence
‘Je Ne Regrette Rien’ by Edith Piaf.
‘Au revoir, Henri. Merci pour tout,’ says Fabien, and everyone around us says, ‘Au revoir,’ and ‘Merci.’
Don’t wait for things to get better, to be less complicated. Learn to be happy right now.I hear his words as the sparks and flames rise higher. And then, as I lean against Fabien, my head swims, my knees give way and my whole world goes black.
‘Medics!’ I hear, then no more.
32
I wake in bed in the hospital. Fabien is beside me, holding my hand and stroking my forehead.
‘I fainted,’ I say.
‘I know.’ He smiles. ‘And they brought you in just to be sure everything was okay. You fell asleep once the doctor had finished his tests. You must be exhausted.’
I feel like I could sleep for ever.
‘Is everyone okay?’ I ask, in a husky, rasping voice from the smoke, with a banging headache.
‘Always thinking of others!’ He smiles, his longish hair falling over his face. ‘Yes, everyone is fine. Zacharie is recovering.’
I think back to the ambulance journey we took together.
Him, coughing from the smoke, clutching the pictures, me light-headed from fainting. ‘Henri was a good man,’ I told him. ‘He made mistakes, but he always wanted the best for others, mostly you.’
At first he said nothing. Then, ‘Always crème caramel,’ he says, as if reliving a memory that had long been hidden away. Perhaps the fire had made him see it again for what it was.
‘You don’t have to like me, Zacharie, or work with me, but I want you to know how much we loved him because he helped others. He might not have used words to say how much he cared for you, but I’m thinking he said it with crème caramel. It was his way of showing he cared. Just like your anger has been about wiping out everything he cared for.’
Zacharie pulled the oxygen mask over his face and said no more.
‘I’m guessing we won’t see him again,’ I say now. ‘The building is burned to the ground. He did what he came to do and wiped out Henri’s.’
‘But not Henri or his spirit,’ says Fabien. ‘If this has taught me anything, it’s to grab the moment.’ He strokes my forehead. ‘I love you, Del. Only you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?’
‘What?’
‘You are my present and my future. Marry me!’
‘What? But we always said—’
‘I want everyone to know you are my beautiful wife.’
I swallow. ‘You may want a rethink after you’ve heard what I’ve got to tell you.’
‘What? Is something wrong? I thought the doctor said you were fine. You just needed rest. Is there something else I should know? Are you ill?’
‘No,’ I say quietly. ‘Pregnant.’ The word catches in my throat. The word I’d thought I would never be able to say. A word I had put into a little wooden box at the back of my mind, where it has stayed for a very long time. Along with my hopes and dreams.
‘Pregnant. As in with baby?’ He’s staring at me and we’re trying to read each other’s thoughts.
I nod, my eyes filling with tears. He straightens, runs his hands through his thick dark hair, his face screwed up tight.
Worry washes through me. ‘Look, I know you said we should take more time for each other and I know it’ll be busy. If you want to rethink the marriage …’ I babble on. ‘We agreed, and now I’m—’
‘Sssh.’ He rushes to me, eyes full of tears that trickle down his face. ‘I cannot think of anything more wonderful. You, me, Stephanie, JB and the children, and now this one.’ He touches my stomach. ‘I love you. Marry me. You are my now and my future. Both of you adding to our wonderful family!’
He kisses me, and I want that kiss never to end.Eventually he leans back, still smiling, and says, ‘Is it okay, with the baby?’
