A Perfect Paris Christmas by Mandy Baggot

Author:Mandy Baggot [Baggot, Mandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838933449
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2020-09-02T18:30:00+00:00

Thirty-Four

‘Bernard,’ Silvie started, ‘we have had some coffee and you have eaten three coconut biscuits. The time for small talk about what we are all planning for Christmas is over. We want to know why you have asked for this meeting.’

This was a little news to Ethan. He had assumed that Silvie and Louis had requested this meeting with Ferne’s solicitor. Her estate was not completely settled. With business interests in France, it was not always so straightforward. Was the idea of a sale of the hotel business causing Bernard some issues in finalising things? Perhaps this could be a good thing…

‘Of course, Silvie,’ Bernard answered, picking his small glasses out of the pocket of his suit and putting them on his face. He opened the faded leather folio that had been on the table between them all from the moment Ethan had joined the meeting. The solicitor looked down at the paperwork then looked back up again, then down, then up for a second time.

‘Bernard!’ It was Louis who had exclaimed. ‘Please tell us why we are here. We contacted you regarding the finalisation of my sister’s affairs as her will directed. Can we cut to the chase on that if we must be here in person?’

Although the swelling and bumps on Louis’s face had decreased in size, the man was still sporting an unusual colour. Ethan ordered himself not to laugh. It must be so frustrating for Louis to have to be here, away from the management of his minions and his money.

‘Very well,’ Bernard said. ‘Of course.’ The solicitor drew in the kind of breath a doctor might take should he be about to deliver horrendous news to a waiting family.

It was the kind of breath Silvie had taken on the telephone when she had told him the heart-breaking news about Ferne. Ethan blinked and blinked again, his heart thumping hard as his memories took him back. Silvie telling him Ferne’s brain had no response. That the doctors wanted her to give permission to turn off the machine. His instant reaction had been ‘no’. Ferne was young and strong and there was no way she would want anyone to give up on her. But then Silvie had described how Ferne looked, how damaged she was on the outside, what the medics were saying about the inside, and how it was a miracle that she had even made it to hospital to be on the machine that was helping her to breathe. And then there had been the transplant. One kidney. That’s what Ferne’s life had come down to. One kidney that was taken for someone else before they pulled the plug. He had hated the idea of that. The truth was, Ethan had never got to say a goodbye because, perhaps selfishly, he was too afraid to see Ferne that way. To him she would always remain bright, vibrant and alive. And he never wanted to know of that moment when Silvie had held her hand as she slipped away.

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