Page 51 of A French Adventure
An hour later when they arrived at the hotel, they found Pascal already sitting at a table in the garden waiting for them and he stood up to greet them with a smile on his face.
‘Ça va, Papa?’ Gilles asked for the second time that morning.
‘Oui, ça va. Ladies, I have taken the liberty of ordering a bottle of Prosecco to toast our new friendship and to remember my old friend.’
Waiters appeared as soon as they were seated, one with the Prosecco, the other with a bread basket and a plate of charcuterie. Once the sparkling wine had been poured, Pascal raised his glass in a toast. ‘Jacqueline,’ and they all followed suit. ‘Now a toast to our new friendship,’ Pascal said. ‘To us.’
As they sipped and then placed their glasses on the table to help themselves to bread and meat, Pascal began to tell them about his and Jacqueline’s love story.
‘Because it was a love story,’ he said sadly. ‘And it’s only today that have I finally learnt the reason why it ended. I was nineteen and I went to London on an exchange visit with my college for three months. I met Jacqueline the first week I was there.’ He smiled at the memory. ‘She worked in a cafe part-time earning extra money and there was a spark between us immediately. We spent every moment available to us together. She showed me parts of London that visitors rarely see. We made plans for the future when we’d both finished our studies. She was going to come to France to live and we were going to be together here. I was hoping to qualify as avétérinaireeventually, and Jacqueline, well, she’d hoped to become a nurse.’ He turned to Vivienne. ‘Did she fulfil that ambition?’
‘She did for a while before she and Oscar adopted me.’
‘Oscar?’
‘Her husband.’
Pascal gave an accepting nod of his head. ‘The last week of my time in England arrived. The day before I left, we talked about the house we would live in, how happy we would be and I told her how beautiful the children we would make together would be. The photograph of us standing by Eros was taken on that last day. The day I plucked up the courage to ask her tomarry me. She squealed with joy and threw her arms round me. It was only later that I realised she’d not said yes. The next day, poof, like that it was over. She’d disappeared out of my life. And I never knew the true reason why until today.’
‘Had you met her parents? Couldn’t you have gone to her home and asked?’ Vivienne said.
Pascal nodded. ‘I did, just hours before I had to leave. Her father answered the door. He was visibly upset as he spoke to me. Said he was sorry to be the one to tell me, but she didn’t want to see me, that she’d had a change of heart and that I was to have a happy life without her. When I asked him if he knew why she’d changed so suddenly, he looked at me and shook his head, and closed the door.’
‘Papa, I’m so sorry,’ Gilles said.
Pascal bit his lip. ‘I had to catch the boat train back that evening. I wrote a letter, telling her I loved her and asked her to write and tell me why she had finished with me?’
‘The letter you gave me this morning was the reply that never got posted for some reason.’
Silence fell around the table.
‘I hope you forgive me, but I’m not going to share all the contents of that letter with you, they are very personal and private. But that day we discussed having a family, which I always dearly wanted, was the day she decided she had no choice but to end things with me. She’d known for some time that she would never be able to have children and me talking about the beautiful children we would have made her realise how much I wanted them and she knew she couldn’t be responsible for depriving me of them. She set me free to meet someone else who could give me those beautiful children I wanted.’ He glanced at Gilles. ‘Your maman was that person and I did love her with all my heart. You and your sister are the two beautiful children I wanted.’
‘I truly don’t know what to say,’ Vivienne said quietly. ‘I’m sorry for the way things turned out between you and Jacqueline and I’m truly sorry for bringing all the pain back.’
Pascal shook his head, giving her a sad smile. ‘Non. Some pain brings happy memories too and your arrival has done that. I thank you for coming and giving me the letter. I have closure finally over something I’ve wondered about for over fifty years.’
Lunch itself began quietly with everyone somewhat lost in their own thoughts, but gradually normal conversation returned and by the end of the meal the four of them found themselves laughing at some ridiculous joke Pascal regaled them with.
Vivienne tried to pay for everyone, but neither Pascal nor Gilles would hear of it. Leaving the restaurant and standing in the main street to say their goodbyes, Pascal turned to Vivienne. ‘Thank you for tracking me down. I am so happy to have met you and hope we can meet again. You might not be Jacqueline’s natural daughter, but she certainly passed on her values and compassion for others to you.’
‘Oh Pascal, that’s a lovely thing to say,’ and Vivienne reached up and kissed his cheek. ‘I’m sure we will meet again. I’m planning on moving to Valbonne soon and I’d love to visit you again – and of course for you visit me in my new home.’
‘That is something I look forward to,’ Pascal smiled. ‘Let us know when you’re here and we’ll be there.’ He left them then to return home, while Gilles insisted on walking them to the car park.
‘My father is happy to have met you,’ he said as Natalie beeped the car and opened the driver’s door. ‘And so am I. Perhaps you and I could have lunch together? Or even dinner? I come to Antibes quite often. If you give me your number, I’ll give you a ring you in a few days.’
‘I’d love to have lunch or dinner with you, but I’m returning to the UK soon. It may have to be when I’ve moved to Valbonne,which will be a few months yet,’ Vivienne said, pulling a card out of her bag and handing it to him. ‘There you are. It’s been lovely meeting you and your father.’
Natalie started the engine and Vivienne slipped into the passenger seat.
‘A bientôt,’ Gilles said.
‘A bientôt,’ she replied before Natalie drove them out of the car park.
‘No French connection for us, then,’ said Natalie, indicating to turn right as she pulled out. ‘Shame. But I think you’ve made a new friend.’
Vivienne smiled. ‘Pascal you mean? He’s lovely, isn’t he? He would have been perfect as my birth father.’
