Christmas in Bluebell Cove Read Free

not to let the huge well of misery inside her loose on those she loved.
    As they walked towards the house she said, to tryand placate him, ‘I haven’t stopped loving this place, you know, Ethan.’
    â€˜But not enough to live in it,’ he commented dryly.
    â€˜I haven’t crossed the Channel to have all my shortcomings pointed out.’
    â€˜No, you haven’t. Forget I said that.’
    He wasn’t to know that now she’d got what she wanted and was living in the beautiful house near Paris that had been her home during her childhood and early teens, she felt as if the price she was paying to live there permanently was too high, and she’d get the feeling of choking and breathlessness that came with panic.
    She hadn’t stopped to think things through properly when in hurt and anger she’d asked for a divorce, and now that it was under way and she was installed there, she was floundering instead of rejoicing, feeling that Ethan would never forgive her for the way she’d cared only about her own needs.
    â€˜I don’t want us to change bedrooms,’ she told him when they arrived back at the house. ‘I’ll be fine in the spare room. I didn’t come to cause any upheaval and in keeping with that will give the wedding reception a miss, I think. Something tells me I won’t be flavour of the month amongst your friends and the surgery crowd. I left them in the lurch when I went chasing off to France, didn’t I, even though I was only a part-time G.P?’
    â€˜You’ve got to come, Maman ,’ Kirstie pleaded. ‘There will be lots of nice things to eat and music and dancing.’
    â€˜I will stay with Maman ,’ Ben said quickly, as an escape from something he wasn’t looking forward to presented itself.
    Ethan shook his head. ‘No, Ben. There will be plentyof time for you to be with your mother over Christmas. You have been invited and are going, just as you would have been if she was still in France.’
    â€˜I’ll come,’ Francine said hastily, and as Ben’s expression brightened she thought it didn’t matter how people felt about her as long as the children were content.
    Kirstie was keeping the pink dress on. She obviously adored it. Ben had changed into jeans and a sweater, replacing the suit he’d worn for the wedding, and Ethan was still in his outfit as best man.
    It remained for her to find something to wear, Francine thought, which meant unpacking her cases or rummaging around to see what she’d left behind in the wardrobe when she’d departed all those months ago.
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    There was an evening dress there of pale turquoise silk that Ethan had always liked her in. Low cut with a hooped skirt, it fitted better than it had ever done because of the weight she’d lost, and at the same time emphasised the dark chestnut of her hair and her beautiful green eyes.
    When she went downstairs to where the three of them were waiting for her Ethan said, ‘Did you have to wear that, Francine? The dress belongs to another life.’
    â€˜Do you want me to take it off, then?’ she asked, with the feeling that so far she hadn’t done anything right.
    â€˜No, of course not, we need to be off. I’m still in my role as best man until the evening is over.’
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    As he drove them along snow-covered lanes beside hedgerows touched by winter’s frosty fingers, to the big farmhouse where the afternoon reception had already taken place, Ethan was wondering what really lay behind Francine’s sudden appearance.
    They’d agreed that the children should come to him from the middle of December until after New Year, and now she was here beside him looking pale and drawn with dark shadows under her eyes.
    If only things had been different between them he would be holding his petite French wife close and wanting to put right what was wrong, but those days were gone for ever. The split