SAFEHOUSE

I didn't even realize I had knocked into someone until I turned to see Marie's knitted brows and her brown eyes glaring at me.

"Excusez moi!" She hissed, her voice shrill. I sighed, not wanting to get on anyone's bad side—least of all hers.

"I apologize. I guess I'm not really paying attention to where I’m going."

"I see that," she quipped, getting ready to turn and head back the way she was going. She stopped for a moment though, inspecting me for something. I felt so exhausted that I didn’t care. She could give me her dirty looks all she wanted.

And when the first few teardrops traced their way down my cheekbones I wanted to scream. I hated crying in front of Marie, she always seems so cold about it as if she didn't give a crap.

Somehow though, Marie

softened her face slightly, looking as if she was wanting to reach out and touch me.

"There is something wrong, oui?" she asked.

I didn't want her pretending to be genuine and concerned about me, so I shrugged. All I wanted to do was get back to Julien, but then again… I didn't really want to seem desperate to be around him as much as I was. Even he needed his time to himself.

"Yes. But there's nothing I can do about it, so I guess it doesn't matter."

She huffed at that, shaking her head at me. "You have many wrongs happening to you. Life isn't very… fair…”

"You're right. Especially to me, it seems."

There was something different in her face. She genuinely felt bad for me, and if I had already made it to this point, that was pretty bad. She pointed to the red and gold's chaise that was up against the wall, suggesting we sit. I obliged, at the very least curious about what she had to say to me. I had hoped that she wouldn't say anything too negative, considering all the crap I had been dealing with lately.

"Did I tell you when Julien was born . . . no? Of course not. Would you hear about it?" she asked me, turning to face her body towards me.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. Was she kidding? Was she seriously planning on telling me a story? Something about this whole thing seemed weird, but the idea of hearing about Julien when he was born was too much for me to pass up.

"Of course, I'd love to hear that."

She quickly nodded, beginning her story.

"Julien was stubborn, especially pour un bébé. But he was angel. Sabine called him ‘ange doux,’ when no one looking. His mother was in labor for almost two days. Têtu comme un mulet. Her mother had already passed, and I was the one she wanted in room with her. No sisters, cousins or tantes to support her. Just me. She was so tired at the end, j’étais inquiet. I was angry with Julien, even as baby.”

“It wasn’t his fault,” I said, letting out a small laugh even as my eyes stopped watering.

“No, it wasn’t… Julien grew to be such a great man… He is an angel to those lucky enough to receive his love. And you are luckier still, because you bring another angel into this world."

I thought about it for a moment. I did feel incredibly lucky to have Julien, and the idea that we would share our love with a child… It was a good feeling. For a moment there, I almost felt like we could get through anything as long as the three of us had each other.

"Thank you, Marie..."

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Chapter 33

I pulled my cardigan around by middle the best that I could, grumbling to myself as I realized the buttons just wouldn't quite stay buttoned across my massive belly. The slight breeze that had begun in the summer was now a constant chill, at the eve of autumn. Snow would be coming soon…

I glanced down, frowning for a moment before rolling my eyes at myself. I was being a big baby about it, I knew it. Usually dealing with people didn’t worry me any, because I never had to interact with anyone who hadn't seen me this whole time. But today was different. Today, the day that marked my twenty-sixth week of being pregnant with this crazy child, was also the day of my baby shower.

After much begging to Julien, it had been scaled back a tad bit. To me it seemed silly to even have one, and the idea of finally meeting Julien's family… it froze me with fear. Of course I would eventually have to at some point, but I was open to putting that moment off as long as possible…

Not to mention the fact that we still hadn’t picked a name…

Julien said it was tradition that we wait… I don't know what kind of tradition takes forever to pick a baby name, but certainly not my family's tradition. My mom told me that they came up with the name Amira from some show they used to watch. My mom asked my dad ‘Hey, what do you think about Amira?’ He turned to her and said ‘Yep, sounds good.’ End of story.

I knew it was time to head back to the château, but it was so hard dragging my feet behind me. Going back home meant meeting everyone. Meeting everyone meant meeting Sabine Malveaux, not only the CEO of Veritas leather goods, but also my future mother-in-law, and the grandmother of my son.