Page 93 of Sisters Making Mischief
He poured out a glass for me and passed it over.
‘C’est pour toi, ma belle dame.’
This is for you, my beautiful lady.
Well, I never, Paulette had been right. That underwear had really worked.
And so, I went back to my shepherd’s hut.
It was early the following morning, the air cold on my face as I walked to my car, Luc’s arm around my shoulders. I could have stayed for longer. He asked if I wanted to, and he promised me crusty bread, cheeses and local ham, cut thick. He had a bowl of tiny, sweet tomatoes, a quiche from the market, not to mention the other, unspoken delights on offer. But I said no. I needed time to think, to go over everything and remember.
He kissed me as we reached my car.
‘I would like to see you again?’ he said, a question again, not a statement.
I smiled up at him. ‘You will.’
He didn’t pressure me, asking for dates or times, suggesting places we might go or things we might do, and that pleased me. I wanted to make my own choices and plans. And yes, maybe they would include him, because even then I knew it would be easy to fall in love with him, really love him as I had always wanted to love. As an equal. Not as a grateful, confused and uncertain woman. But maybe those decisions would be separate, because first I had to learn to appreciate myself, and realise that I was – as the advert says – worth it.
We stood for a moment in the dawn light, which was brightening as the sun rose, and he held me against him for a moment, my hands on his warm, wool coat, and whatever happened, I knew I would always remember this moment.
What was it Isabel had said?
‘It’s time you started the next bit. The rest of your life.’
When I got back, Isabel was waiting for me, almost hopping up and down in excitement. I turned the car engine off and took a deep breath, waiting for all the questions to begin. Even Marceland Antoine were there, sitting at her feet with inquisitive expressions on their faces. I half expected Eugénie to appear too just to get the party started, but for once I wasn’t the cause of all the excitement.
‘You’ll never guess!’ Isabel said. ‘We’ve got a virus!’
‘Is that a reason to be pleased?’ I said, rather confused.
‘You know those videos I put up on social media last weekend? It’s gone mad! Everyone has been looking at them.’
‘I think you mean we’ve gone viral?’
‘Since you left, I’ve had twenty-one customers. At one point I had to move my car to let people get in. And I’ve sold such a lot of stuff. There was a reporter from the local paper here, too, wondering what was going on. I’ve never known anything like it, and the phone has hardly stopped ringing.’
‘Really? That’s amazing. Hang on, you mean all those awful spoof things we did? I didn’t think you were going to use them? We were supposed to be doing them again, weren’t we? Proper, sensible ones.’
Isabel threw her arms around my neck with a joyful cry.
‘Yes, but in the end, it seemed too much of an effort, and they were really funny when I looked at them again, so I just went for it. And it worked. We must do some more. At this rate I’m going to have nothing left to sell.’
I was absolutely astonished. ‘That’s marvellous!’
‘And Mathilde phoned me up last night, about the cameo brooch. You were right! She asked a friend of hers in the museum to take a look at it and it’s worth a small fortune. Apparently its really old and unusual. Her friend thinks I should put it into a specialist auction and I had it marked at five euros!’ Isabel hugged me again. ‘I’ll be able to pay off the bank loan! And the electricity bill! You’re brilliant!’
‘Oh, Isabel, I’m so pleased!’
She released her grip on me. ‘And by the way, where have you been and what have you been doing? Scrub that, I know where you’ve been, and by the smile on your face, I know what you’ve been doing!’
I laughed at that and linked my arm through here.
‘Let’s go inside and have some coffee,’ I said, ‘before Eugénie gets here.’
‘I am here already,’ said a voice behind me, and yes, there was Eugénie, chic in a vintage Burberry trench coat and matching hat, hurrying towards us, not wanting to be left out.
‘Good morning,’ I said, and she took my arm as we went towards the house.
