Belle - Lesley Pearse [246]
‘Forgive me, I should have written to you again and told you about Garth and Mog’s wedding, and told you that I married Jimmy,’ she said, looking both anxious and flustered by his sudden appearance. ‘But …’ she faltered, making a little gesture with her hands that implied she hadn’t known how to.
‘I understand,’ he said lightly. ‘Old friends do not need to explain. I am just happy that things worked out for you all. Do you and Jimmy live above the pub too?’
‘Yes, we do, and my mother helped me get this shop. Do you like it?’
Etienne glanced around at the pale pink and cream decor. ‘It’s lovely, very feminine and chic. A woman out on the street told me you couldn’t get better hats even in Regent Street.’
She smiled then and visibly relaxed. ‘Why don’t you take off that wet raincoat and I’ll make us both a cup of tea?’
She went into a little room at the back of the shop, and called out to him, ‘Are you still on your farm?’
Etienne hung his coat on a hook by the door, and brushed back his wet, fair hair with his hands. ‘I am, but I also do a little translating, that is the reason I came to England, to meet with a company I have done work for in the past,’ he called back.
‘So your life is about more than chickens and lemon trees now?’ she said as she came back into the shop. ‘Please tell me you have kept to the straight and narrow?’
Etienne put his hand on his heart. ‘I promise you I am a pillar of polite society,’ he said, his voice grave but his eyes twinkling.
Belle giggled as if she didn’t entirely believe him.
‘Do you doubt my word?’ he said with a boyish grin. ‘Shame on you, Belle, for having so little faith in me. Have I ever lied to you?’
‘You once told me you’d kill me if I tried to escape,’ she retorted. ‘And you later admitted that wasn’t true.’
‘That’s the trouble with women,’ he smiled. ‘They always remember the little, inconsequential things.’ He reached out and touched a pink-feathered hat on a stand, marvelling that her determination and talent had paid off. ‘It’s your turn to tell the truth now. Is your marriage all you hoped for?’
‘Much more than I hoped for,’ she said, just a little too quickly. ‘We are very happy, Jimmy is just the very best of husbands.’
‘Then I am happy for you,’ he said, and gave a little bow.
Belle disappeared to the back of the shop once more and reappeared with two cups of tea. She sat on a stool behind her counter and Etienne sat down on one of the chairs.
‘And what about you?’ Belle asked. ‘Do you have a lady in your life?’
‘No one special enough to settle down with,’ he replied.
She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
He smiled. ‘Don’t look like that, not everyone wants marriage and stability. Especially now, with war threatening.’
‘It won’t come to that, surely?’ she said.
‘I think it is only weeks away.’
‘That’s all men talk about these days,’ Belle sighed.
Etienne smiled. Women in France made the same complaint. ‘And what do women talk about?’
‘In here it is mostly about fashion, children and domestic things, but we are all worried our men may have to join up and fight. I don’t see why England has to get involved, it’s nothing to do with us.’
He shrugged. ‘France is more vulnerable than England. We may be invaded, you are safer here across the Channel. But enough of war, tell me about your family. You say your mother helped you get the shop. Does she live near here, and how are Mog and Garth?’
‘Things are better with my mother, but she lives over in King’s Cross and I only see her about once a month. Garth and Mog are very happy, they were made for one another. But why don’t you come home with me and meet everyone? I know they’d be delighted.’
Etienne looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. ‘All things