Chapter Fourteen
1034 Words
As soon as we walked into the apartment, I headed into the room that Julia was occupying and checked on her and Isabella. Luca must have already set the crib up before we left, no doubt while I was getting excited about having an actual kitchen sink. They were both snoring away peacefully. I contemplated moving Isabella into our room, but decided against it. It wasn't fair to disturb her for my own benefit.
The guilt set in quickly. Our night had been so magical that I hadn't worried about Isabella once and somehow it made me feel like a terrible mother. I knew it was ridiculous, but I struggled to shake the feeling. Luca fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as we got into bed, but I spent the night constantly tossing and turning, despite my exhaustion.
The next morning, I was up before everyone else and slipped from the apartment as silently as I could. Returning with fresh coffee and ingredients for a full English. I wanted to do something to thank Julia for watching Isabella and allowing me a night off without worrying about the pair. I was cooking up a storm when she walked into the kitchen carrying Isabella.
"Sorry, did she wake you? I didn't hear her or I would have come and grabbed her."
"I'm not surprised, she's so quiet. Does she ever actually scream?"
"No, not really. Thank you so much for watching her last night. We had a wonderful night."
"Well, thank you for trusting me. She was angelic all night. I barely knew I had her." She had recently started sleeping through the night and it made everything so much easier. "Anything I can help with?"
"No, I'm nearly done." Julia grabbed the bottle I had already prepared in anticipation of Isabella waking and started feeding her at the table. "Are you done with school now, or do you plan to go back?"
"I've left lycée which I believe is high school in the UK. I start university here in Paris in September, studying art history."
"A good course with having The Louvre on your doorstep."
"To tell the truth, I wanted to go and study in Rome, but my mother would have lost her mind." Luca wondered in looking half asleep still and Julia started shaking her head at me, instantly realising she didn't want Luca to know. I just couldn't decide if it was because she thought he would tell her parents or that she thought he would encourage her to make the jump. I knew it would be the latter. If anyone knew how rewarding it was to follow their dreams it was Luca and he had dealt with more than a little parental disapproval to do it.
I changed the subject to be on the safe side. "You should come and stay with us for a little while over the summer. Do some traveling, explore. We have a spare room you are welcome to any time."
"You really should. I would love to have your input on the restaurant," Luca chimed in, but I thought he had missed the point entirely.
"I might just take you up on that. It would be great to get outside of Paris for once and Father would worry less if he knew I was staying with you guys." We sat down to breakfast in simple companionable silence. Everyone was too busy filling their bellies to bother with something like conversation. Julia was a good kid and it wasn't until I had spent time with her that I realized how childlike she was. When I first met her she had seemed so much older than her years. She was such a sophisticated beauty, it was difficult to believe she was so young. She was still just a girl trying to find her place in the world and seemed to be so lost.
When Julia made her excuses and left for home, I turned to Luca. "I won't ask where we are going today, but you need to give me some guidance. Flats or heels? Smart or casual?"
"Flats and casual, but not too causal I guess. I don't know. Definitely flats though. I've got to go out and make some arrangements before we can go, anyway." True to his word, he was gone pretty much as soon as he was dressed. I headed over to my suitcase and started digging through. I could have unpacked, but it seemed pointless when we didn't stay anywhere for long. I ended up going with a pair of jeans, a cream jumper and my converse. With so little to go on, it was hard. I almost wished I had asked Em to pack my suitcase for me. Given that she knew every destination, it would have made life much easier.
I was quite surprised when Luca piled us into the car instead of heading for the metro. One thing that struck me was that, despite us being in a city, we never seemed to struggle to park. I didn't think it was because Paris was great for parking, but because I was being shown around by someone who knew the city well. That thought alone was a little strange. Luca had three places where he was at home when he was there. It seemed to be a talent of his, to make anywhere his home whether he was there for a minute or a lifetime.
As we walked down the street, I had absolutely no clue where he was taking me. It seemed to be a particularly old section of Paris, but then everywhere I had seen seemed that way. He led us through some tall black iron gates and into what seemed to be another park. The gardens were exquisite and I just followed along. When he whipped out a blanket from the bag he had stashed under the pushchair and laid it on the grass. I followed his lead and sat down, facing the direction we had come from.
There it was facing me. I had no idea how I had missed it, even among the trees. The Luxembourg Palace. I would have recognised it anywhere.
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