After a while they talked about Nathalie’s plans to adopt Alain. He would be her life from now on.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SUNDAY MORNING, AFTER being awake most of the night, Dominic got showered and dressed. He and Raoul went out for breakfast and talked. Very soon now his trial date would be set with the judge.
Afterward they went house hunting for Raoul, who had no desire to return to his apartment at the chateau once he was divorced. They found several possibilities. As they drove on, Raoul said, “Let’s find one for you too, Dominic.”
He frowned. “If I were getting married, I’d do it in a shot.”
“Since I know you’re head over heels in love with Nathalie Fournier, I don’t understand why there’s an if. Dom—I’ve poured out my soul to you. Now it’s my turn to listen while you tell me what has you gutted.”
“I finally learned the truth. She’s in love with a man who told her he worked in our vineyard, but he disappeared on her two and half years ago. They were only together a month. Nathalie came to our vineyard trying to find him. She didn’t know his name, but she described him as Provencal.” He flashed his cousin a glance. “Because certain pieces of information fit, I thought it might be you.”
Raoul let out a strange sound. “So that’s why you called me into your office just minutes before she showed up? You thought she was the woman I’d loved?”
“I thought it could be a possibility and she’d used another name with you.”
“Well, now that you know I’m not the one, why aren’t you with her right now?”
He shook his head. “Until she finds this man and has closure, she refuses to be with me.”
“Closure is different from being in love. It’s been over two and a half years since she last saw him!”
“Then how do you explain why she quit work at the vineyard?”
“Because she has fallen in love with you, but you’ve been her employer. She’s probably nervous about getting involved. I saw the way she looked at you. After the vibes I got from you two yesterday, I can promise you she couldn’t still be in love with that other guy.
“Come on. Take me back to your apartment so you can go after her and break her down. Don’t lose the woman who makes your life worth living. She’ll most likely be home.”
Raoul had been talking to a desperate man. His advice made so much sense, Dominic dropped his cousin off and left for La Gaude under a warm noon sun. Before long he turned the corner onto her street.
The red car he’d seen in front of her house the other day was gone. He saw Nathalie get out of the blue car parked at the side of the house. Her long shapely legs emerged first. She wore navy shorts and a sailor top.
He pulled to a stop, not wanting her to see him yet.
Next, she opened the rear door and reached for a little boy maybe the same age as Etienne’s daughter, buckled in a car seat. She kissed his bla
ck curls several times before putting him down so he could walk. The child reached for her hand.
That trusting gesture caused Dominic’s throat to swell with emotion.
Her son? He was staggered by the fact that Nathalie was a single mother and hadn’t been able to admit it to him.
Dominic wondered how she’d been able to handle being away from her little boy during the harvest. She said she lived with her mother, who was also a pharmacist. No doubt Nathalie had hired someone to take care of him while she’d been working at the vineyard.
As for her picking grapes, it explained why she came home every night instead of staying in the mobile home. No wonder she’d come looking for the man who’d made her pregnant. With her stepfather deceased, she and her mother were her son’s only support.
All of these thoughts ran through his mind. Yet he wondered why she’d waited until this summer to look for the man who’d changed her life.
Not about to give up, Dominic pulled out his phone and texted her.
Nathalie? I’m out in front of your house. When I came to see you just now, I watched you take a little boy inside with you. Is it his father you’re looking for? I would like to talk to you and see what I can do to help. When will you be free?
A minute later she responded.
I’m putting him down now. It may take a half hour.
At least she hadn’t said no.