Page 131 of Daughters of Paris

‘Daughter?’ Sébastien’s voice was husky.

Colette swallowed again. ‘Our daughter. I’m sorry, Sébastien. I know I said I wasn’t going to keep her, but I could not bear to give her up.’

‘We have a daughter?’ He sounded stunned.

‘Would you like to see her?’

He nodded.

Colette rushed to the bedroom and gathered up Louise. She was warm and her thin hair was standing up in wisps all over her head. She smelled slightly milky and slightly soiled. Never mind. Colette walked back to the living room.

‘This is Louise,’ she said shyly. She held the infant in her arms, displaying her to Sébastien.

He gazed down.

‘She’s not a little baby.’

‘It’s been a long time,’ Fleur said. ‘Why don’t you hold her?’

Sébastien looked at Colette. ‘May I?’

He held out his hands and Colette placed Louise in them. He held her at arm’s length as if she might explode then drew her towards him and bent his head over hers. Louise, ever patient, tolerated the odd behaviour of the unfamiliar man. Colette gave Fleur an anxious look. She could not bear the wait. After long, agonising moments Sébastien looked up at Colette.

‘She’s beautiful. She’s just like you.’

‘You aren’t angry that I kept her?’ Colette asked. ‘I won’t ask you for any money. You don’t have to look after her, but if you want to see her you can come any time you like. You don’t have to marry me.’

‘I want to,’ Sébastien said, almost before she had finished speaking. ‘I want to do both. I want to raise her with you.’

His eyes were streaming and tears fell from beneath his glasses, droplets clinging to his beard. ‘Colette, you have no idea how happy this makes me. Yes, I want her. I want both of you.’

Colette felt a sob rising in the back of her throat. Fleur reached forward and took Louise from Sébastien’s arms. Sébastien’s eyes met Colette’s. Meltingly soft.

‘Do you mean that? If it’s for Louise, you don’t have to.’

‘I mean it, Colette. I mean it for me. For us. I asked you before I knew she was still ours, and I don’t take it back in the slightest now I know. Will you marry me?’

‘I will.’

And, finally, Colette could touch him. She reached out a hand to his face, brushing her fingers over his beard.

‘This will have to go, of course,’ she said, smiling.

He reached his hand up and covered hers, capturing it, then he pulled her into his arms and then enfolded her in a tight embrace.

‘Oh, my sweet.’ He kissed her and as their lips met Colette knew with absolute certainty this was the right choice. The right man. Her veins flooded with heat, her body with desire. She snaked her arms around him, pressing her breasts against his chest. His kiss became more passionate.

She heard Fleur whisper to Louise, ‘Come on, little one. Let’s go for a walk and leave yourmamanandpapato their reunion.’

Colette and Sébastien broke off the kiss and smiled at each other. Then Sébastien took her hand, led her to the bedroom, and closed the door behind them.

Chapter Thirty-Six

The fighting began as skirmishes. Despite Sébastien’s instructions, Fleur went into the street to supervise the shelves from the bookshop being taken and used as barricades. Poor Monsieur Ramper would come back to find his shop changed, but for the first time it felt he might have a city to return to.

They retreated to stay with Delphine and once again, the air over the sixteenth arrondissement thundered with the sound of explosions. The four women crowded round the window in Fleur’s attic room to watch the sky lighting up, this time gleeful with hope.

Then, on the night of the twenty-fourth of August, a new sound breached the walls of the house.

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