Gazing from the car window she admired the Warwickshire countryside as it flashed by. The leaves were fluttering to the ground in shades of russet and gold, and she knew that winter would soon be upon them. She hoped that the central-heating system they’d had installed would prove to be adequate. Stonebridge House was a great barn of a place and Jess hardly dared imagine what the heating bills were going to be. But then she had known that when she bought the house, so she supposed there was no point in worrying about it now.
Simon drew up outside the terminal and quickly unloaded their cases from the Land Rover before pecking Jo on the cheek and turning to Mel. Completely ignoring him, Mel strode away towards the doors leading inside without giving him so much as a backward glance, and he turned back to Jess with a resigned look on his face.
‘So, are you sure you’ve got everything? Passports, tickets, Euros?’
She nodded, too afraid to speak in case she started to cry. She suddenly felt as if she was saying goodbye to him for ever instead of for five days.
‘Right – you’d better get inside then and get your luggage checked in.’
They were facing each other like strangers and it was tearing her apart. Once again, a gulf had developed between them.
‘Take care of yourself, won’t you?’ she said. ‘There’s plenty of food in the fridge and the freezer so there’s no need for you to go hungry.’
He chuckled. ‘I hardly think I’m going to waste away before you get home. Now go on, get off and enjoy yourselves.’ He leaned towards her and kissed her on the lips, and then she hastily grabbed the handle of the case and turned away. ‘Bye, love. I’ll be here to pick you up on Friday.’
Nodding numbly she quickly followed the girls into the airport wondering if this had really been such a good idea after all.
Mid-afternoon, the coach that arrived at the airport to take them to their hotel in central Paris pulled up outside the Hôtel du Chat d’Or and Jo bounced with excitement as she peered out of the window.
‘Cor, look how posh it is! There’s a doorman in a uniform and everything. I think I’m going to like it here.’
Jess ushered the girls off the coach and waited whilst the driver unloaded their cases. A porter appeared as if by magic, placed their luggage on a special trolley, and wheeled it inside. The foyer was very luxurious, with chocolate-brown leather settees placed here and there, and a huge crystal chandelier dangling from the centre of the ceiling, shooting prisms of multi-coloured lights all about the room. As their feet sank into a thick pile carpet in a lovely shade of blue, Jo’s eyes were like saucers as she clung to her mother’s hand.
‘It’s like something you see on the telly, isn’t it?’ she whispered in awe as Jess approached the desk.
Once they had checked in and had been given their key, Jess led them to a glass elevator and in no time at all they were up on the fifteenth floor.
‘We’re in room number 512,’ she told the girls as they walked along the corridor peering at the numbers on the doors.
Eventually they found it and once inside were shocked to find a young woman unpacking their cases and hanging their clothes away in the wardrobe for them. Jess had decided to push the boat out and had paid for a suite of rooms. After all, it wasn’t often that they got to go away. She certainly wasn’t disappointed and began to feel like she’d walked into some sort of Hollywood movie set. There was a lounge boasting a panoramic view of Notre Dame and the Louvre, a room with a king-sized bed in it and another room with two single beds, as well as two en-suite bathrooms.
Once the young woman had finished their unpacking Jess gave her a generous tip and ordered afternoon tea to be sent up to their rooms before joining the girls at the window, pleased to see that even Mel looked slightly more interested now.
‘Wow! This is ace,’ Jo stated dramatically. ‘Just wait till I get back to school and tell the other girls about this. They’ll be green with envy.’
Chuckling, Jess slid her arms about the two girls’ shoulders. ‘Well, I figured if we were going to do it, we might as well do it in style.’
Jo slipped away, keen to explore their room with its stylish en-suite bathroom. ‘Blimey, I reckon everything in here is made of solid marble, and the taps are gold,’ she shouted out to them, and curious despite the fact that she had promised herself she wasn’t going to enjoy it, Mel sped off to have a look while Jess went to her own room.
A little pang of regret sliced through her as she gazed at the huge bed and pictured herself and Simon curled up in it. When the girls are a little older, I’ll bring him here, she promised herself. And we’ll finally have the honeymoon we never got around to.
Minutes later, a maid arrived with their tea laid out on a trolley and the girls tucked in as if they hadn’t eaten for a week. Everything was beautifully presented and Jess grinned as she watched Jo tucking into the finely sliced cucumber sandwiches and the assortment of fresh cream cakes displayed on a fine bone china three-tier cake-stand. She poured them tea from a solid silver teapot and they all drank from cups so fine that she could see through them. Even Mel ate heartily for a change, which was a relief for Jess as the girl seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight lately. She herself picked at the food like a bird. She hadn’t been too keen on flying and felt quite nauseous, although she didn’t mention it to her daughters because she didn’t want to spoil it for them.
‘Now,’ she said, wiping her mouth on a starched white napkin when they had all eaten their fill. ‘What would you like to do this afternoon?’
‘Can we just have a mooch around and get our bearings?’ Jo asked instantly. ‘Then we can start sightseeing properly tomorrow.’
‘I think that’s an excellent idea,’ Jess agreed, although truthfully she would have rather stayed in the hotel to rest. ‘Are you up for that, Mel?’
Mel shrugged, so taking that as a yes they all put on comfortable trainers and fetched their cameras from their room.
In no time at all they were strolling through the fashionable area called Le Marais, entranced with all they saw, and thankfully Jess began to feel slightly better. The streets around the magnificent Hôtel de Ville were full of animated cafés where tourists and Parisians alike sat outside at small tables sipping wine and coffee. They crossed the River Seine and slowly Jess felt herself begin to unwind as they gazed in awe at the sheer beauty of this city.
They arrived back at the hotel at gone six o’clock, by which time the light was fast fading.
‘I think we’ll treat ourselves to a meal in the hotel dining room this evening,’ Jess decided as they crossed the foyer and headed for the lift. ‘So we’d better go and get changed into something a little dressier than our jeans. I’ve a feeling it’s going to be quite smart.’
‘I bet it will be really expensive too,’ Mel ventured.
‘So what?’ Jess smiled at her. ‘We’re worth it! We’re only here for five days so let’s make the best of it, eh?’
Only too happy to oblige, Jo hastily shot off to the bathroom when they got back to their rooms and emerged in record time wearing one of the new outfits her mum had bought her especially for the trip.
‘You look lovely!’ Jess stared at her admiringly as Jo happily preened in her new skirt and top. Mel followed her out only minutes later and again Jess was complimentary as she saw how grown-up Mel looked. She was wearing black bootleg trousers and a rather pretty blouse that Jess had treated her to from Monsoon. It was red and quite glittery, and Jess suspected that it would rarely see daylight again except for special occasions once they got home. But even so it had put a smile back on her daughter’s face, so as far as she was concerned it was worth every penny.
She herself changed into a simple black dress that just grazed her knees, and high-heel shoes, and the girls tittered when she came out of her room fastening a string of pearls that Simon had bought her for their last anniversary about her neck. She had swept her fair hair into a neat knot high on the back of her head and she looked ele
gant and sophisticated.
‘Oh Mum, it’s funny to see you in a skirt instead of old jeans all covered in paint,’ Jo teased.
Jess smiled ruefully. It had been so long since she’d had cause to get dressed up that she’d almost forgotten how good it could make her feel. She suddenly wished that Simon were there to see her and quickly blinked to hold back the tears before saying, ‘Well, come on then, girls. I don’t know about you two but all that walking has made me hungry enough to eat a horse.’
In high good spirits they all made their way to the dining room where a waiter in a smart black tailcoat bowed to them before showing them to a table.
‘I wonder if we’ll see any film stars in here,’ Jo hissed as her mother and Mel stared at the menus with concern. They were written entirely in French and none of them could read a word of it.
‘Oh dear,’ Jess muttered, much to the amusement of a very handsome young gentleman sitting on his own on the table next to them.
Leaning towards them, he whispered discreetly, ‘Pardon me, madame, but if you are having problems ordering, may I suggest that you stick to le plat du jour? This is the daily fixed menu, and today it consists of Salade des Pyrenées for your hors d’oeuvres, which is a combination of bacon, Roquefort cheese and walnuts on a bed of fresh crisp salad, followed by canard à l’orange – duck with orange sauce and with fresh vegetables. You may then choose your dessert from the trolley. I can thoroughly recommend the plat du jour as I have just had it myself.’
Jess blushed as she smiled at him gratefully. ‘Thank you, that all sounds delicious. What do you say, girls?’
‘Sounds good to me,’ they chorused, and so Jess summoned the waiter and quickly placed their food order along with a request for a glass of red wine. She had never been a wine connoisseur and hoped that whatever the wine was, it would be palatable.
Jo meanwhile was fascinated by the young man on the next table and told him, ‘We’re here on holiday.’
‘How wonderful, and are you enjoying it?’
‘Oh yes, but we haven’t gone to many places yet because we only got here today.’
‘I see.’
His voice had a heavy French accent although he spoke impeccable English so next, much to Jess’s embarrassment, Jo asked him, ‘Do you live here?’
He smiled affably. ‘No, but I used to when I was small with my family. My mother was English but my papa was French. Now I live in England.’
‘Really?’ Jo wiggled on her seat. ‘Whereabouts?’
‘Jo really,’ Jess scolded. ‘Stop asking questions. You are spoiling the gentleman’s meal.’ He had, in fact, just finished his dessert and was drinking a cup of coffee.
‘It is quite all right,’ he assured her, then turning his attention back to Jo he told her, ‘I live in Birmingham, in the Midlands. I am a teacher at a school there. Do you know it?’
‘Oh yes, we live not that far from there in a town called Nuneaton.’ Jo was grinning like a Cheshire cat now. ‘We go there sometimes on the train ’cos Mum likes to shop in the Bullring shopping centre. But why did you move there when you could have lived in a cool place like this?’
Jess was beginning to wish that the ground would just open up and swallow her, but knew of old that once Jo was on a roll there was no stopping her.
‘Sadly, my papa died when I was ten and then my mother and I moved back to England. She too then passed away when I was in my teens and so I then lived with an aunt in a village called Wolvey and went to university. When I qualified I went on to become a French teacher, so you see, I have the best of both worlds. I too am here on a little holiday although things have changed greatly since I lived here as a child.’
He held his hand out. ‘My name is Emile Lefavre. How do you do.’
Feeling very grown up, Jo shook his hand with a broad smile on her face. Jess meanwhile was thinking what a handsome man Emile was. His hair was so dark that it was almost black, with a natural wave in it that gave him a gypsy-like appearance, and he was tall and well-muscled. But it was his eyes that were his most striking feature: they were an incredible indigo blue and they seemed to twinkle when he spoke. He was very smartly dressed in a dark suit. The crease in the trousers was so sharp she felt she might have been able to cut her fingers on it. With his pale blue shirt he wore a darker blue tie that exactly matched the colour of his eyes. She tried to gauge how old he might be and decided that he was possibly two or three years younger than herself. And then she blushed for even thinking about it. She was a married woman, for goodness sake! Simon had been her first and only love, and here she was ogling another man on her first night in Paris.
Feeling suddenly that she ought to intervene, she told Jo a little sharply, ‘That’s quite enough now, Jo. I’m sure Mr Lefavre would like to enjoy his coffee in peace without you chewing his ear off.’
Thankfully, the waiter appeared then with their starters and Jo goodnaturedly turned her attention back to her meal as Jess smiled apologetically at their neighbour.
Much to Jess’s relief, Jo was so hungry that she concentrated on the food for the next half an hour as one delicious course followed another. Jess allowed both the girls to have a little sip of wine and was delighted to see that even Mel seemed to be enjoying herself. They were just about to start on their main courses when Emile Lefavre stood up and bowed to them.
‘Goodnight, ladies,’ he said. ‘I am about to go for a stroll now before I retire for the night. I hope we shall meet again, but if we don’t, do enjoy your holiday.’
‘Thank you,’ they all chorused. By the time they had finished a delicious assortment of desserts, Jo was yawning.
‘Right, young lady, I think it’s bedtime for you,’ Jess told her with an affectionate grin. ‘You’re worn out, what with the journey and all the excitement, even if you won’t admit it. But I want us to be up bright and early tomorrow, so if we get a good night’s sleep we’ll be raring to go. I tell you what – there’s a television in your room and I’ll let you watch that for a while until you drop off.’
Jo reluctantly followed after her mother and sister as they headed for the lift, and in no time at all she was tucked up warm and cosy in bed.
‘I’m not at all tired,’ she whined, but by the time Jess had put her clothes away she was amused to see that Jo was already fast asleep. So much for her not being tired, she thought as she joined Mel in the sumptuously furnished lounge. The girl was flicking through the TV channels, but when Jess appeared she mumbled, ‘Actually, I think I might get an early night too. I’m done in.’
Jess sighed. She’d been hoping that in different surroundings when they were alone together Mel might confide in her about what had been troubling her. But it was already apparent it wasn’t going to happen tonight.
‘All right, love. If that’s what you want,’ she told her tenderly, and watched as her oldest daughter slipped away to her room. And then she grinned wryly. Here she was in Gay Paree – with only the telly to keep her company!
Chapter Sixteen
Once the girls had gone to bed, Jess paced the room feeling strangely unsettled. She knew that it would be useless going to bed just yet, as there was no way she was going to be able to rest, so after checking that the girls were both asleep she wrote them a hasty note telling them where she would be in case they woke up, then snatched up her bag and headed for the door to the suite. Once she was sure that the door was locked firmly behind her she then went downstairs to the bar for a nightcap feeling in a slightly reckless mood. Jess had never been much of a drinker, but then she told herself, I might never get this opportunity again, so why not make the most of it? The bar was much like the rest of the hotel, extravagant and plush with deep leather settees and glass-topped tables placed here and there, and soft music was playing. A few of the gentlemen drinking in there glanced at her appreciatively as she picked her way to the mirror-backed bar, but Jess kept her eyes straight ahead.
‘A gin and tonic, please,’ she told the young barman
as she slid onto a high stool and fiddled in her bag for her purse.
‘Please, allow me.’
Jess quickly looked to her right and then her face relaxed into a smile when she saw Emile Lefavre standing there.
‘That’s very kind of you, thank you.’
‘You are most welcome, but where are your charming daughters?’
‘They’re tucked up in bed fast asleep,’ she answered. She was actually quite pleased to have him there as she had felt rather self-conscious walking into the bar on her own.
Once the barman had poured her drink, Emile gestured to one of the leather settees. ‘Shall we sit over there?’ he asked pleasantly. ‘I think it might be rather more comfortable than perched here on these high stools.’
When he lifted her drink she followed him willingly and soon they were seated staring out of the window onto Paris at night.
‘I can see why they call it the City of Lights,’ Jess said dreamily as she sipped at her drink. ‘It’s quite awesome, isn’t it?’
‘Absolutely,’ Emile agreed. ‘You must try to do the after-dinner Paris By Night Illuminations tour. It’s quite breathtaking. I’m sure you and your daughters would enjoy it. Although I have to say I find it hard to believe you are old enough to have two daughters.’
Jess was beginning to relax now as the gin and tonic worked its magic, and she giggled. It had been a long time since anyone had paid her such a blatant compliment, and she found that she quite liked it.
‘Ah, so it’s true then,’ she said. ‘I heard that Frenchmen had the gift of the gab.’
Emile’s blue eyes twinkled as he raised his glass to her. ‘It is best not to believe everything you are told,’ he said. ‘I also find it difficult to believe that your husband would allow such a beautiful woman to come here on her own.’
‘But I’m not on my own,’ Jess pointed out defensively. ‘I have the girls with me and Simon, that’s my husband, couldn’t come because of work commitments. He is a builder and so he has to work when he can. Building work tends to slacken off through the winter. We’re actually here to celebrate Melanie’s fourteenth birthday, which was in September.’
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