“I couldn’t agree more.”
“I’m so glad we took three weeks for our honeymoon. Your family is gone, and we have two weeks of uninterrupted heaven ahead of us. This is the part I’ve been waiting for most.”
“Same. Plus, you get to bask in all the attention. You got quite a lot of looks stepping out of the pool, did you know that?”
To my satisfaction, Luc shrugs, unimpressed, and says, “They can look all they want, but I’m not talking to anyone. These weeks are about you and me.”
I nod. “Absolutely.”
The next hour or so, we spend just like that‚—together, relaxing, sometimes sipping drinks, occasionally talking about small things. God, it’s so great. I want it to never end.
“Huh,” Luc suddenly says, sounding surprised while looking at his phone.
“What is it?”
“My mom just messaged me. I know I just said I don’t want to talk to anybody but... she knows the Besançon area much better than I do, and she just sent me this.”
Luc turns his phone toward me and starts showing me pictures of a house on the outskirts of Besançon. It’s... perfect. It’s an elegant residential house, nothing too extravagant, with four bedrooms, classic stone bricks, a small garden, and abalcony. The fact that it’s close to the train station and tram will benefit us in getting around the city.
“I’m not ending our honeymoon early,” Luc adds. “Not unless it’s an emergency, but my mom said this place looks perfect for us, and she offered to check out the house and keep us updated. She said maybe she can convince the agent to keep it on the market for a little longer until we’re back.”
I think it over, and I must admit, the house seems perfect. It would be a shame to let it slip away, but like Luc says, I don’t want to end our honeymoon early.
“And you’re alright with your mom playing a part in such a big aspect of our lives?”
“It’s true, I’ve not been happy with her. I’ll talk with her once we’re back. But for now, I suppose I can let her do this to make up for doubting my marriage.”
I give him a nod. “Okay then, let’s do it. It’s too great an opportunity to skip, and neither of us wants to go back early.”
Luc nods. “I’m going to tell her to do it. I want to buy a house with you, one exactly like this. And maybe someday, we could get a dog. A cute French bulldog, for instance. I would love that.”
I grab his free hand and squeeze it. Getting a house would be a great next step.
Everything seems to be falling into place. I think I’m doing well at work, managing most things from home and sometimes going on business trips. During those trips, I’ll stay in Brussels, Geneva, Paris, or other cities for a few days to have meetings, et cetera. Sometimes Luc comes with me to visit his dad in Brussels, and sometimes he stays behind. It usually depends on his schedule. He’s busy as one of the head bakers at Utopie. He enjoys it there, is friends with the owner and staff, and says working there is of great educational value to him, which he hopes will help him open his own shop one day. I don’t doubt that he will.
“Me too,” I tell him. “It sounds perfect. And I think people are really starting to come around. Your dad made our wedding cake, your mother is trying to find us a house, my brother was mostly nice to you in Paris, and even Joyce is cautiously optimistic. Looks like we convinced them all, didn’t we?”
He smiles. “We did. I guess it helps that they see how much we love each other.”
He leans his head on my shoulder, and warmth floods my chest. “Yes, baby,” I whisper. “They definitely do. But it also helps that you make it so damn easy to love you.”
His answering smile is one of the happiest I’ve ever seen, and I don’t doubt that my own matches it.
In the following weeks, I’m lucky enough to see it again and again. Throughout the rest of our honeymoon, we have an amazing time. Our weeks are the perfect combination of relaxing, sightseeing, and making love. We only have eyes for each other, spending passionate nights together, ignoring everyone else. Our only contact with the outside world is when we answer a text message that absolutely needs answering, mostly from Luc’s mother about the house. But once we’ve done that, we immediately focus on each other again—preferably in the bed of our hotel room.
But then, all too quickly, the day arrives that our honeymoon ends and it’s time for us to leave Saint-Tropez. On the one hand, I wish it had never ended; on the other, I’m eager to start our life together. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.
Epilogue: Cody
When we arrive in Besançon, life offers us the next step: the house Luc’s mom found. She charmed the agent into holding it for us, and the moment we step inside, it feels right. It feels like ours. It’s the perfect balance of classy without being over the top. There are scattered antique touches, but nothing that feels old-fashioned, and the area around it is quiet without feeling dull.
Standing inside the house makes it feel real, so different from looking at pictures. Now that I’m here, I want it even more, and I can only be grateful to Odette. If she hadn’t acted on our behalf while we were on our honeymoon, somebody else would have snatched this house away before we could. We would have missed our chance.
Admittedly, I don’t know if I’ll ever grow fond of my mother-in-law after everything Luc told me about her—even he still has a complicated relationship with her—but it’s great to have her help. Also, since I don’t speak fluent French and Luc has no experience buying a house, we need her for this.
That’s why she joins us as we view the house, mainly speaking French because of the realtor, which Luc then translates for me.
“He says several families are interested in the house; he’s already received an offer,” Luc whispers to me while his mother talks to the realtor. “But he might be bluffing, I don’t know. One good thing is that he seems charmed by my mom. Maybe too charmed... Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on there, and I also don’t really want to know.”
