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Back Escape to the French Farmhouse Save as PDF
Chapters (79)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Jo Thomas
  4. DEDICATION
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. FORTY-FOUR
  49. FORTY-FIVE
  50. FORTY-SIX
  51. FORTY-SEVEN
  52. FORTY-EIGHT
  53. FORTY-NINE
  54. FIFTY
  55. FIFTY-ONE
  56. FIFTY-TWO
  57. FIFTY-THREE
  58. FIFTY-FOUR
  59. FIFTY-FIVE
  60. FIFTY-SIX
  61. FIFTY-SEVEN
  62. FIFTY-EIGHT
  63. FIFTY-NINE
  64. SIXTY
  65. SIXTY-ONE
  66. SIXTY-TWO
  67. Epilogue
  68. Acknowledgements
  69. RECIPES
  70. Lavender shortbread
  71. Apricot jam sponge cake
  72. Lavender lamb
  73. READ MORE
  74. Prologue
  75. ONE
  76. TWO
  77. THREE
  78. FOUR
  79. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

‘Fabien!’ I call, as I hurry up the road to the brocante, hot, out of breath and terrified something dreadful has happened to Stephanie, a young woman who thinks she has failed at everything in life, and who has been rejected by everyone she ever cared about, her mother, Fabien and now JB. I try to think back to when I was that age. Seventeen and foolish. I can’t say I’m particularly sensible now. I’ve separated from my husband to live in an empty house and am scraping a living selling lavender bakes and desserts. Plus I’ve taken in a vulnerable girl with her child because I couldn’t leave her where she was. Now I’ve made her life a thousand times worse. However, although I may not be any more sensible now than I was at seventeen, I have learned to take account of my gut feelings. And right now they’re telling me to find Stephanie – fast.

Fabien is with a young woman, about his age, who is looking at a damaged but beautiful dappled-grey rocking horse. He turns to me, his eyebrows raised in surprise. Tomas cheers, delighted to see him.

‘Fabien! I need your help,’ I say quickly. ‘It’s Stephanie!’

He excuses himself from the customer, who looks miffed, and hurries over to us. He grasps Tomas’s outstretched hand, and kisses it. My heart somersaults and breaks a little more. Why couldn’t JB have felt like this? If he had, maybe Stephanie wouldn’t have run away and Tomas would still be with his mum. She is all he needs. One good parent is better than no parent, as I know.

‘She’s disappeared,’ I say quickly.

‘Disparu.’ Lou finds some school French and clearly thinks I need help explaining.

‘Leaving Tomas!’ Rhi joins in.

‘I’m really worried about her,’ I tell Fabien, gazing into his green eyes and knowing he understands without my having to say any more.

‘She left a note,’ Rhi is still explaining.

‘She thinks she can’t offer Tomas anything, that he’s better off without her.’

I am racked with guilt. I only wanted to help – and now I’ve forced a young mum to do the worst imaginable thing and walk away from her son, because she thinks she’s worthless. Tears slide down my cheeks. I heard somewhere you cry different tears for different types of sadness. These aren’t the same as the ones I wept on the night I spent in the house after Ollie left: they were for my failure, as a wife and mother. These tears are of sadness, loss and grief, like the ones I cried when Mum died, just months ago. I feel helpless, lost and utterly wretched.