"I still don't know why I couldn't have brought my daddy with me" Jessie said, as she sat on the plane between Rosalyn in her car seat and Sylvain who was looking at her in amusement.
"Cherie" he said "you know he wanted to have a nice week with the family before he goes back on the road for the long haul we have".
"Then I should be there" Jessie said, panicked "tell the pilot to turn around". Sylvain laughed loudly and reached over Rosalyn to take Jessie's hand.
"Honey calm down" he said "nayez pas peur".
"You know" she said, sending Sylvain a bitchy look "I heard that when you were with La Resistance and it drove me crazy then and it drives me crazy now". Sylvain turned Jessie to look at him. He gave her his best loving gaze and spoke in a low voice.
"C'est bien, beau, rien ne fera une erreur a mis votre foi dans mes mains. Je ne vous mènerai jamais égarer je promets. Je vous aime" Jessie turned into a puddle of mush when he spoke. She just smiled at him. "Worked like a charm" Sylvain bragged, turning back to his magazine. The rest of the flight was slightly better.
"Oh my God" Jessie panicked as Sylvain drove to his parents house. "Not good, not good, not good".
"Je..." Sylvain started.
"Oh its way past the French working" Jessie snapped. "I'm into, ready to jump out of this car mode".
"Honey" Sylvain said, taking Jessie's hand in his incase she DID try and jump out of the car "calm down please, my parents are wonderful they'll love you".
"Do they know your fostering a child?" she asked him, gesturing to Rosalyn who was asleep in the backseat in her car seat.
"Oui" Sylvain told her "I told them the night it was official, my mom was excited".
"Hun your parents speak English right" Jessie asked him.
"Non" Sylvain said "but you have nothing to worry about you learned French from Rene, your french is good enough".
"Yeah" Jessie conceded "I guess". After a few more minutes of driving Sylvain pulled up to a modest 2 story house. He parked on the side of the street and cut the engine. Jessie firmly gripped the 'oh shit' handle above the door and planted her feet on the floor board.
"You're going to make this difficult on me aren't you" Sylvain asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Maybe" Jessie said.
"Jessica Catherine Cena" Sylvain said, trying to sound stern "do not make me call your father".
"You wouldn't dare" Jessie said, looking at him wide eyed. Sylvain took out his cell phone and turned it on "you don't know the number".
"098-334-5356" Sylvain said, showing Jessie that he did in fact know John's number.
"Shoot" Jessie said, pouting as she got out of the car. Sylvain chuckled and got out as well. Jessie got Rosalyn out of the car as Sylvain took her diaper bag and porta-crib, seeing as they would be staying at his parents house. Sylvain knocked on the door as Jessie tried her best to hide behind him.
"Maman" Sylvain exclaimed when his mother opened the door, he sat the porta-crib down so he could hug her "vous sont comment?"
"Je suis bon" she said back "Je vous ai manque'"
"Je vous ai manque' aussi" Sylvain replied. He pulled Jessie to his side and introduced her and Rosalyn "maman ceci est Rosalyn de Jessie et bébé" Jessie sent the woman her best charming smile.
"Jessie this is my mom Dominique" Sylvain said.
"Bonjour, agréable à la viande vous" Sylvain's eyes widened when he realized Jessie got meet and meat mixed up but before he could correct her Dominique pulled her into a hug and into the house, he had no choice but to follow her.
"Le dîner est presque du prêt, les gosses, si vous voulez aller vous assied dans le salon" Dominique said, then she turned to Sylvain "Sylvain votre papa est dans le salon, regardant les nouvelles du soir". Sylvain nodded and sat the porta-crib and diaper bag on a small bench just inside the door before pulling Jessie into the living room. His dad was sitting on an old, overstuffed chair. One thing Jessie noticed was that both Sylvain's parents were dressed up, she looked down at her T-shirt and jeans and gave a small snort of disgust.
"Papa" Sylvain exclaimed when he saw the man. "Vous sont comment, le vieil homme?" Sylvain's dad smacked him upside the head and pulled him into a hug.
"Ne peut pas plaindre" he replied, before looking over at Jessie.
"Papa" Sylvain said, putting his arm around Jessie's waist "ceci est Rosalyn de Jessie et bébé"
"Jessie" Sylvain said to her "this is my dad, Marcel".
"Bonjour" Jessie said, shaking Marcel's hand "Sylvain m'a dit les chèvres de embarassing de vous"
"Papa" Sylvain interrupted, trying to cover up Jessie's mistake "est comment le travail?"
"Donc si, la moyenne à mieux" Marcel told him. Jessie was getting confused, she got some words mixed up and the conversation was not going how she thought it was. Dominique came in then.
"Le dîner est prêt" she announced before turning toward Jessie. "vous faire a n'importe quoi pour le bébé pour manger". Jessie got a shocked look on her face, and Sylvain interrupted before Jessie could say anything.
"Elle a une bouteille qu'elle peut avoir" he told his mom. He then pulled Jessie, who had taken Rosalyn out of her car seat and was holding her, to the dining room. All through dinner Sylvain and his parents kept up a steady stream of conversation and Jessie began to feel left out, she decided to compliment his mom on her cooking.
"Le rôti goûte comme quelque chose que j'ai débordé sur la route" she spoke up, getting shocked looks from all three people.
"Elle ne signifie pas que cette maman son français n'est pas si bon la pardonne" Sylvain said, trying to diffuse the situation. His mother and father both visibly calmed down.
"What'd I say?" Jessie asked "all I did was compliment the roast".
"Cherie" he said gently "actually you said that the roast tasted like road kill". Jessie gasped. 'I made a fool of myself in front of his parents'. She excused herself from the table and ran outside. She collapsed on the sidewalk and cried her eyes out, horribly embarassed. She cried until she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, she knew it was Sylvain.
"They hate me don't they" she weeped.
"Non" Sylvain told her "they actually think it was really sweet that you tried to speak French to them. They think highly of you".
"So" Jessie said, looking at him "how much of the conversation did I fuck up?"
"Every word you spoke in French" Sylvain said honestly as he wiped her tears "but it is ok beau, just let me translate for you from now on ok, and when we go back I will continue to teach you French and Rene too will help me, the next time you meet them you will be a pro".
"I don't get it" Jessie said "Rene told me I was doing so well, I mean we had conversations".
"Maybe you're just nervous" Sylvain said as he helped her up "regardless let me translate for you".
"Ok" Jessie conceded "might be best". They went back inside and the rest of the evening went well, as did the rest of the trip, Sylvain did as he said and translated between Jessie and his parents and Jessie found herself getting into things.
"I think I'm getting laryngitis" Sylvain croaked as they got on the plane to fly back to Boston at the end of the week "I've never talked so much in my life". Jessie smacked him, laughing. The flight back to Boston was uneventful, both Jessie and Sylvain ready to be back to their other lives.
1) It is ok, beautiful, nothing will go wrong put your faith in my hands. I will never lead you astray I promise. I love you.
2) yes
3) no
4) Mama how are you
5) I am good, I missed you
6) I missed you too, mama this is Jessie and baby Rosalyn
7) hello nice to meat you
8) dinner is almost ready, Sylvain your dad is in the living room watching the evening news
9) dad, how are you old man
10) I cant complain
11) Dad this is Jessie and baby Rosalyn
12) Hello Sylvain has told me many embarassing goats about you
13) Dad, how's work?
14) average at best
15) Dinner is ready, do you have anything for the baby to eat
16) she has a bottle she can have
17) the roast tastes like something I ran over on the road
18) she did not mean that, her french is not that good please forgive her