She was wearing the blue dress that was now Luc’s firm favourite, her hair was on top of her head in an adorable puff of blonde curls and the smile never seemed to leave her face. Sometimes, she seemed to find the need to blink back happy tears.
‘Those little girls… Have you ever seen anything so adorable?’
Luc was trying to line up a shot of the bridesmaids. They were in what looked like fairy dresses with net skirts that were covered in multi-coloured embroidered flowers. There were satin ribbons above the puffy skirts and sets of matching wings attached at the back.
‘That’s Lili, in the green dress,’ Sophie told him. ‘She’s Laura and Noah’s daughter and was Jeannie’s first grandchild. That’s Jeannie over there, with her husband, Gordon.’
The older couple were standing, hand in hand, laughing as they watched their granddaughters running in circles, trying to touch each other’s wings. Luc zoomed in to catch a close-up of their faces as they turned to each other, Jeannie looking up to catch her husband’s glance.
How amazing would it be to still be that much in love at their age?
‘They live up in Saint-Martin-Vésubie,’ Sophie added. ‘But Gordon’s got a gallery and studio in St Paul de Vence. He’s a well-known artist.’
‘I’ve heard of him,’ Luc said. ‘I love his work.’
The girls were getting tired of their chasing game. The one in the yellow dress was crouching down now, picking up a pebble that had caught her eye. The other two crowded in to admire the treasure and Luc got a photo of the three heads almost touching.
‘That’s Bonnie in the yellow dress,’ Sophie said. ‘Bella’s in blue.’
‘Perfect little rainbow fairies,’ Luc agreed.
‘I think they’re meant to be butterflies,’ Sophie said in a stage whisper. ‘See the antennae on their headbands?’
Ah… so that was what the two black sticks with round bobbles on the top were all about. They were also fluttering around like butterflies again now, and Bella tripped on the uneven pebbles, which was apparently hilarious. Luc got a lovely shot of the oldest boy, Theo, helping his cousin to her feet and then another of the three girls holding hands to dance around in a circle. It was the first time Luc had seen the rather serious looking older boy smiling, so he captured that as well.
Luc shook hands with the groom, Noah, who was wearing a stone-coloured linen suit and an open-necked white shirt. He had a small boy with curly dark hair perched on one hip.
‘This is my son, Gabriel,’ he told Luc. ‘My best man today, but don’t tell Julien or Christophe.’
Luc snapped a photo as Noah grinned down at his son, who beamed back up at him.
‘How ’bout you go and see what your sister’s doing?’ Noah put Gabriel down, who happily toddled off towards the butterfly girls. ‘I need to find my notes so I don’t forget my vows. I think that’s our celebrant arriving now.’
Luc followed Sophie to be introduced to the bride, Laura.
‘I love your dress,’ Sophie told her. ‘It’s perfect.’
‘My favourite colour,’ Laura said. ‘I told everyone to wear their favourite colours today – the brighter the better.’
Luc loved the movement of the soft, sage-green silk that swirled around Laura’s legs with any hint of movement. The bodice was an elegant crossover of fabric and the short draped sleeves were soft and feminine. Laura had loose, red-gold curly hair that reached her shoulders and was sparkling with glints of sunshine, and the smile on her face as she saw her groom approaching her was enough to make Luc catch his breath.
He took a burst of shots in that moment. Then he turned to see Sophie crouched down in the middle of the three fairy butterflies, who seemed to be all talking at the same time and were pointing to flowers on their dresses, as if she was asking which ones they liked the best. Sophie was laughing, her head tipping back, and as Luc got closer with his camera, he heard her telling them that they were the most beautiful butterflies she’d ever seen and she held her arms out.
Luc got that photo and then the one that came after it as the little girls all squeezed into her arms for a hug and competed to give her kisses.
He got a bit of a lump in his throat at the expression on Sophie’s face. He could imagine her looking like this if she was hugging her own children.
Did shewantchildren? They hadn’t talked about that yet.
Didhewant children?
He’d never thought about it, he realised. What was the point, when he’d been so sure he was never going to get close enough to anyone to make it a possibility in his life? The closest Luc thought he would ever get to being a father was in the guise of helping the young people that might come through the doors of Phoenix House.
But now… He didn’t have to try very hard to be able to imagine what it would be like to have a small boy on his hip like Noah. Or a little girl with blonde curls like her mother who’d want to dress up like a fairy and dance around with the sheer joy of being alive.
Children that would be loved beyond anything Luc had experienced. Children that he could protect and love. As much as he loved Sophie.
He pretended to be scrolling through photos he’d already taken to cover the rush of something he’d never felt before.
