Page 21 of A French Affair
‘Bonjour, Fern. Ça va? I was passing and saw grand-mère. It is good of you to bring her out like this.’ He hesitated and glanced at his grandmother. ‘She has perhaps told you our news?’
Anouk gave an imperceptible shake of her head.
‘Carole and I we ’ave a new baby on the way. Une petite sister for Jean-Marc.’
‘Congratulations, please give my love to Carole,’ Fern said. ‘I’m so pleased for you both.’ She genuinely was, despite the sinking feeling in the pit of her tummy. She suspected she knew what was about to come.
‘Maybe we come, Carole and me, talk to you about the house again?’
Fern sighed. ‘Fabian, you know the only way I can leave is for you to buy me out. I have to buy somewhere to live and all my capital has been invested in the auberge. Has something changed? Have you found a mortgage?’
Fabian shook his head. ‘No. C’est pas possible. But I own half the maison and want to live in it with my family.’ His voice had steadily risen and people were glancing their way.
Anouk patted him gently on the arm.
‘I’m sorry, but this isn’t the place to discuss a private family matter,’ Fern said.
Fabian took a breath and exhaled deeply. ‘I’m sorry also. But Carole, she wants a proper family home and I get so frustrated about the impossibility of it all.’
‘I know it’s difficult, but the harsh truth is if your father was still alive, you wouldn’t even be entertaining these thoughts.’
‘But he’s not alive, is he? And you are living in a house that rightfully belongs to me as his son.’
‘It is also a house that needed a lot of work doing to it when Laurent inherited it from his grandmother – work that you will reap the benefit of when you inherit. It was that money, my children’s inheritance, that paid for those renovations. Money that I am trying to replace and pay the overheads by continuing to run it as an auberge. You can hardly deny my children have a right to an inheritance from me.’ Fern rubbed her face. ‘I don’t like the situation any more than you do, but, hopefully, in a couple more years, I’ll have recuperated enough to move out.’
An unhappy Fabian sighed. ‘I ’ave to go. We need a proper family conference to sort something out. There are two possible solutions we haven’t talked about yet. Au revoir,’ and he kissed his grandmother goodbye before hesitantly turning to Fern and kissing her cheek too. ‘Desolé,’ he muttered and walked away.
Anouk sighed. ‘One of the solutions he suggests if you won’t move out is that he, Carole and the children move in with me.’
‘How do you feel about that?’ Fern asked. ‘Would it work? You’d have someone on hand to keep an eye on you.’
‘I think it would be less my home than theirs. Selfish, I know, but I’ve lived alone for so long now,’ Anouk shrugged, ‘it would be like an invasion of my private space.’
Fern hesitated. ‘Do you know what he’s thinking of as the second possible solution?’
‘I ’ardly like to tell you.’ Anouk paused. ‘You and I should move in together into one of the houses. He’s not fussy which but would prefer for you to move in with me.’
Fern stared at her, open-mouthed. She could see from Fabian’s point of view that that idea made perfect sense.
‘I can see you no like that idea any more than I do,’ Anouk said. She pushed the coffee cup in front of her away. ‘Sometimes I feel I’ve lived too long. Fabian knows my house will be his when I die, he’s just going to ’ave to wait.’
‘Oh, Anouk.’ Fern reached out and held the older woman’s hand, sensing her distress. ‘Please don’t talk like that. I know Fabian doesn’t wish you dead. If he wishes anyone dead, it’s probably me.’ Right now, though, she could cheerfully murder Fabian and his wife for their selfishness and lack of compassion towards his grandmother.
* * *
An hour later, driving back to the auberge, having taken Anouk home, Fern felt despondent and unsettled. She’d thought she was beginning to recover from the loss of Laurent, but the events of the morning had shaken her. The pressure Fabian was putting on her to move out of the auberge made her feel guilty, when she truly had nothing to feel guilty about Laurent’s death. It was French inheritance laws that were at the root of the problem. Fabian would get his inheritance in due course, but her girls would get significantly less if she simply walked away from the auberge.
She had Laurent’s insurance money tucked away for the girls as a safety net, but she’d been banking on the auberge earning money and being able to recuperate at least some of the money they’d spent on renovations. The inescapable fact, though, was wherever she lived she needed a steady income of some sort. Jobs were notoriously difficult to come by in this part of France, put a middle-aged English female into the equation and it became damn near impossible.
Maybe she should think about Fabian’s second suggestion of she and Anouk moving in together. Not in the Huelgoat house, but in the auberge. With Anouk installed in one of the bedrooms, there would still be five bedrooms to let out. Anouk was becoming increasingly frail and as much as she might hate the idea of leaving her beloved family home, it was inevitable. At least she wouldn’t end up in an old folks’ home if she moved in with her.
Fern’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. ‘Bloody drunken driver,’ she cursed under her breath. ‘You annihilated more than Laurent’s life when you killed him – you stole my happiness and created turmoil in his family.’
15
The remaining days before Belinda returned to the UK passed in a whirl of activity. The village shop owners had jumped at the opportunity to run the campsite shop rent-free over the Easter holiday period, even though Belinda had stressed there were unlikely to be many customers. They’d also indicated they’d be interested in a proper rent-paying lease for the summer months once the campsite was up and running.
Which meant that one morning, Belinda joined everyone in cleaning the shop, whilst Alain checked out the freezers and the electricity with one of the men.
