Their dinner that night, catered by the Ritz, was a perfect Thanksgiving meal, with a few French touches, like delicate Grand Marnier soufflé for dessert, black truffles on the turkey, and foie gras in the stuffing.

“I have never had a Thanksgiving meal like that,” he said, looking dazed and sleepy by the end of it. “It was superb. You spoil me while I’m here, Theo. It gets harder and harder to go back to my awful apartment.”

“Should you cheer it up a little? Can I do anything to help?” she asked him, happy and relaxed to be with him.

“I suspect that burning it down would make more sense. It’s pretty grim. I have to do something about it, but I never have time,” nor the interest either until now, in case she saw it one day when she came to New York. She had no sense of what he did at work since he couldn’t talk about it, but she could tell that he was stressed at times when a case wasn’t going well. He had a lot on his shoulders, saving lives was the goal, but losing them at times the reality when a mission failed. It mattered to him to his very core to prevent loss of life among his teams, and the victims.

She had no idea that he wore a bulletproof vest when he went to work on most days, since he never told her. It would have frightened her if she knew. She didn’t know if he was on the front line at times or mostly in the office.

They ended their Thanksgiving in bed making love. It was a perfect end to a perfect evening, and they were asleep by midnight in each other’s arms. She realized that she had much to be thankful for, despite the terrible losses of the year before. Mike couldn’t replace Matthieu and Axel, and never would, but he had put joy in her life again, which she never thought possible.

—

The morning after Thanksgiving, she got a call from the realtor about the château. The Chinese potential buyer had given up, and the man from Houston who wanted to buy the château for his wife had won. He was going to pay way over her asking price, and wanted to buy it fully decorated, minus the items she had specified. It was better for her that way, and easier for the buyer. He was planning to hand his wife the keys on Christmas, and she would have nothing to do except pack and arrive. Theo was giving them all the linens, and the practical items too, like everything in the kitchen, none of which she needed in the city.