Cami sat up looking gloriously disheveled and held out her arms. He came running into them. “Oh, my darling, darling boy. You really are going to be my boy!”
Raoul looked up at Delphine with moist eyes. She stood in the entry. He got to his feet. “You’re the first to know that Cami and I are getting married.”
The nanny was all smiles. “I’ve been hoping for this. Congratulations. Unless you need me, I’ll be upstairs.”
“Thank you, Delphine.” He turned to Cami. She was entertaining Alain. He watched her hand him a present from the shopping bag lying on the floor.
Alain tore at the wrapping and unveiled a red toy Jaguar that looked just li
ke Raoul’s car. He couldn’t believe it. Suddenly she looked up at him and handed him a package. “This is for you, mon amour.”
In a daze, Raoul took it from her. After undoing the wrapping, he came face-to-face with an eight-by-ten framed photograph of a young, handsome Jerome. “Where in heaven’s name did you find this? I’ve never seen this one.” Raoul was stunned.
“I searched the internet and found a story about him when he lived in Bordeaux. There was an article about the vineyard and pictures. This one brought him to life for me. He loved you so much and it spoke to my heart. I forwarded it to a shop that made up this picture for me. They’re doing another one of Danie I’ll pick up in a few days.”
Raoul got back on the floor where his son was moving the car around. He reached for Cami and pulled her down to him. “You couldn’t have given me anything I’d treasure more. I’m so in love with you I think I’m the one with the heart condition now.”
They began kissing again, but his phone rang. He ignored it the first time, but when the caller didn’t give up, he let her go long enough to pull the cell out of his pocket.
“Zut. It’s Etienne. I agreed to meet him for dinner at nine.”
She grinned. “It’s kind of late, like ten o’clock. Why don’t you call him back and invite him to come over. In fact why don’t you invite Dominic and Nathalie too. I’d like to meet them all.”
“You mean it?” He was on the verge of exploding from joy.
“Bien sûr, mon cheri. It’s going to be so exciting for me to have cousins. We can announce our engagement to them. Alain will love having everyone here. I’ll go out to the kitchen and cook up some appetizers. I know you have a stock of your best wine in the cupboard. We’ll party for as long as we want. What do you say?”
“I say I’ve died and gone to heaven with the two people I love most in this world.”
“That’s exactly how I feel. But I’d like to stay on the earth long enough to have your baby. Alain is going to need a brother or sister.”
“Speaking of brother or sister, Dom and Nathalie just found out they’re expecting.”
“That’s fantastic.”
“Like I said, we need to get married immediately. Dominic knows a judge who’ll waive all the rules for us.”
“I have to admit I don’t mind marrying into your aristocratic family after all. A perk like that I can live with. But the greatest one of all is that I’m actually going to marry the prince I once dreamed about. Dreams like that just don’t come true in real life.”
“Kiss me again before I call my cousins. They’ll be in shock when they find out I’m marrying the most gorgeous woman in all Provence.”
Alain came running over and clasped them both around the legs. He looked up with those shiny black eyes so much like Raoul’s, Cami melted.
“Papa—Cam—”
“Oh, darling—” Her heart was bursting with happiness.
Raoul pulled her closer. “This is heaven.”
* * *