She thought back. “I resigned. Martin offered me a full-time job working for his card company. That was the message he’d sent me when I was with you. He said he wanted to move us to ‘a more permanent basis.’ I thought he meant our relationship, but he only meant the job.”
His jaw tightened and something flashed in his eyes, then disappeared. It took her a second or two to work out it was a glower. Such an odd expression from a man with a quick smile like Gabriel.
“I take it he didn’t deserve you after all,” he said at last.
He had said that just before she left him in Tenby.I hope he knows how lucky he is.
And all the time, Gabriel had been looking for her.
“How did you ask for me? I mean, you didn’t know my name.”
“You’re telling me.” And his smile was back. “I didn’t half get some funny looks from hotel managers. One of them threatened to call the police.”
They both laughed quietly before she said, “I’m sorry to have gotten you into trouble.”
She was sorry, for lots of reasons. “You know, when I left him, I remember thinking about your last words to me. You hoped Martin knew how lucky he was. And I kept thinking, one day I would meet a man who felt lucky to have me.”
“When did you leave him?”
“Two years ago. Just before Easter.”
His eyebrows scrunched together as if he was trying to remember a date, a detail. Then he flopped on his back and sighed heavily.
Someone giggled softly not far away. Pierre glanced across the clearing. Several pairs lay on the ground, just like her and Gabriel, and most of the girls were looking up at the sky. The giggling was coming from a young couple under a tree, and the branches above them surely blocked their view of the sky. They didn’t seem to care, didn’t seem to be taking the ceremony seriously but sneaking kisses, and whispering.
She wasn’t taking the ceremony seriously either, at least not in the traditional way. She wanted to write about it but didn’t believe a square of raw silk and some music was going to make anyone see a new moon, or several. And they had at least another hour to pass.
“When did you and Nicole meet?” she asked quietly.
“When we were seven,” he said. “We went to the same school. We weren’t friends or anything, but we knew each other…” He made a vague gesture with his hand. “Then we ran into each other in summer, two years ago. I was looking for a new place to live and Nicole had a spare room in her house. And then…one thing led to another. We were both starting out in a new career, and it worked. Now, of course…”
“You’re going to America,” she finished for him.
“Yeah,” he said and laughed an odd little laugh, as if laughing at himself. “Nicole always had her dreams of making it to America. Her grandfather was American, and she applied for citizenship. It finally came through a few months ago. And it was at that time she got this job for the Du Montfort wedding and it seemed her dreams would finally come true.”
Which explained a lot. Pierre could imagine a softer Nicole before opportunity knocked and brought out the aggressive career woman in her.
“And your dreams?” she couldn’t help asking him.
“I don’t know what they are yet,” he said very quietly.
She waited for him to say more.
“Sorry.” He sat up abruptly and brushed the ground with his hand until he found a pebble that must have been under his back. He threw it away into the grass nearby, then he lay down again.
“That’s better.” He sighed contentedly.
She wasn’t sure if he’d felt uncomfortable admitting to his lack of dreams.
“I know what you mean about not having a dream when we are content and comfortable. We don’t always feel the need to dream of new things.”
Even to her own ears this sounded wrong.
“You shouldn’t let yourself feel like that. Ever,” he said with feeling. “Let me tell you – well, there was…” He cleared his throat and started again. “Have you ever heard the saying:If nothing changes, nothing changes?”
“No.”
“I used to think it was a joke, but as I got older and my life seemed to be going nowhere, I finally understood.” He turned on his side again, his face animated. “It’s like the baby pigeons learning to fly. Sometimes, you have jump even if you don’t know what’s going to happen. For me” — He smiled at her — “I never wanted to go to America. I could have stayed in Lincoln and kept the same job. But when the visa to America came through, it made sense to take a leap and see what happens. I really believe when you don’t know what to do, you have to do something, anything. If it doesn’t work, do something else, but always do something.”
