BooksBarbecue
Back Escape to the French Farmhouse
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

‘La grenouille,’ says Stephanie to me, and I repeat it back to her.

Tomas jumps down from his seat and hops about. ‘Ribbit, ribbit!’ We all laugh.

‘So, what happened to his father?’ Lou asks, in her usual direct way.

Rhi gives her a nudge and I turn to Stephanie.

‘Did he leave you? Mine did,’ says Rhi, trying to smooth over any awkwardness. ‘But my kids are doing great. One’s in college and the other’s working. It’s getting better. If you think these years are hard, wait till he’s a teenager! Sorry …’

‘Nothing to be sorry for,’ I tell her. ‘I was a teenager too once! I remember how awful I was. I just wish I could have said sorry to my mum.’

‘Mums know you don’t really mean it,’ says Rhi.

‘I’m just glad we didn’t have children. I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do,’ says Lou. ‘Patrick was enough for me at the time. We were completely in love. We didn’t need anyone else,’ she adds, in a rare moment of letting down her guard.

‘Having JB was enough, too,’ Stephanie says quietly, and we all turn to look at her. Her head is lowered, and I can feel her pain.

‘You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.’ I put a hand on hers.

‘It’s okay,’ she says. ‘He was the good bit in my life.’ She looks at Tomas. ‘I didn’t have the best start. My mother was not a good mother. She drank and smoked and eventually drank herself to death.’

My heart twists.

‘But I got myself to school when I wasn’t looking after her. After she died, I got a little lost. I knew JB from school. He and I got together, but the other boys teased him, saying I was the scruffy kid, from no home. But I always kept our little flat nice. When I got pregnant, I ran. I didn’t want to ruin his life. He didn’t need a child and to have the other lads tease him. I didn’t want to tie him down.’ She pauses. ‘I came here with no plans. If it wasn’t for the support of the others by the riverside clearing, and people like Henri, I don’t know what would have happened to me.’

I hear a sniff from Rhi, and Lou has something in her eye too.

‘And now you,’ she says quietly, and I squeeze her hand.

No one speaks. We all watch Tomas being a frog as the sky turns to an amazing shade of light purple, of lavender.

‘I don’t think Tomas could ruin anyone’s life,’ I say. ‘And I think he is very lucky to have someone like you to love him.’