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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

‘Hey!’ Fabien is there. He slings an arm around JB’s shoulders and JB stops, supported now. He looks down at Ralph, who sits obediently, his tongue lolling out. Fabien bends to shake his paw. Tomas sees Fabien, stops crying and wriggles to be put down. As soon as his feet touch the ground, he runs over to him.

‘So, I see JB found you! Sorry, I just had to make a delivery, but wanted to check he got here okay. He’d walked here already today but he couldn’t see Stephanie and wondered if he had the right place. So I brought him back.’

Tomas launches himself at Fabien’s legs and hugs them, nearly toppling their owner.

‘Hey!’ he says, and lifts Tomas up. Stephanie walks towards them. Fabien kisses him on both cheeks. Rhi, Lou and I don’t move. My heart is leaping. Fabien is here! He made this happen!

The wind around us is picking up, the mistral, the wind of change letting us know she’s never far away.

JB watches Fabien with Tomas. Then Fabien looks at Stephanie, as if asking if it’s okay to introduce JB to her child. Stephanie nods, wide-eyed and worried. He turns to JB, still holding Tomas. ‘JB, Tomas,’ he says, and holds Tomas’s little hand towards his father. JB gazes at him with a mix of bewilderment and awe. He looks at Stephanie with the same expression. Then Tomas reaches for him and JB doesn’t move away. Tomas reaches for the peak of his cap and pulls it towards him, JB with it, and we all smile. JB takes off his baseball cap, revealing his face. I watch Stephanie, who doesn’t take her eyes off the pair. Tomas has the cap and is waving it around, then JB puts it on his son’s head. Tomas whips it off and throws it to the ground, laughing. JB picks it up, puts it on his head again, and Tomas whips it off, throwing it to the ground again, laughing even louder. Father and son may just have said hello.

‘Thank you,’ I say to Fabien. I’m in the kitchen preparing dinner, ragout sauce with pasta, that I’ll serve with a big green salad and baguettes. I sip the glass of rosé Fabien has poured for me.

‘It was my pleasure,’ he says, as we watch JB and Stephanie playing with Tomas from the kitchen window.

‘He’s already asked if he can come back tomorrow,’ I tell Fabien. ‘He told Stephanie he was sorry about the day she came to the house. He was just shocked. Not sure how to explain to his parents. They are quite elderly. He didn’t want to upset them. But he’d thought about nothing else since she left him and really wanted to meet Tomas.’