"What? Nothing happened? You didn't say anything to each other?" Sophie looked very shocked and angry at the same time.

"He ordered chicken with salad and when he was done asked for the bill. He said thank you and then left. I was a wreck of course. Love at first sight and he doesn't even acknowledge me? You can guess how much I wept. Still, I needed to work and so I went to work, without knowing that the day would be very different of what I have imagined. Claire changed position and it looked so difficult that Sophie felt compelled to help but Claire refused, saying that she was still capable of managing herself.

"I am sorry Claire but it is just…" She didn't finish her phrase but started sobbing and Claire looked at her tenderly.

"There, there my darling. Don't be sad. Think of your dear boys. Be strong for their sake. I have to finish my story so we have no time to loose. So, I was getting ready the table for lunch when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned around and there he was. I opened my mouth to say something but he was quicker. He said:

I'm sorry for the other night, I was a complete jerk. You made me to a jerk. I don't like my emotions taking over me like they did. Come with me.

I protested of course but he said that he had already talked to my boss and I had a day off. I have told you before that my Arnold didn't believe in love, said that it were simply hormones."

"I remember."

"Well. Arnold was for the most part what he called "rational"; sometimes he would show his other me the "emotional" Arnold. Don't believe he was cold because he was not but let's say he was not a physical person. He was never the type who hugged and cuddled but he would use other ways to show he loved you. A quiet man, satisfied with life, and thankful for everything he got. Charlie had inherited little of that rationality, Arnold's ability to favour rational solutions and opinions rather than emotional ones. A complex person but fascinating."

"I would have liked to meet him."

"He would have loved you I'm sure. So, that day, he took me to a church. A man was waiting down the aisle and I started to get really scared. What was he doing? Right before the man, Arnold turned to me and said: "Hi, I am Arnold Wyman. We are getting married today. You can imagine my surprise. I mean I was twenty! I knew nothing of marriage, children and even what I wanted to do! I told him my name and also that he was totally mad. He replied that he was mad about me. I tried faintly to give arguments against our marriage but they got weaker and weaker by the minute."

"Did you marry?" Sophie asked.

"Yes, replied Claire. We did. I could not really believe it, virgin of life like I was. Arnold was a CEO in a big company so we could say that the money was not a problem. I did not want to be a housewife. Imagine! Anyway, we went on a honeymoon and it was during the honeymoon that I found my call. We were on a two weeks trip all over the country and we went to strange and special places later to be the place I spread his ashes. We visited the University in Oxford because I wanted to see how it looked like. There was an art class in one room we passed by. I was curious so I went inside and when I entered that classroom it was like everything made sense. I was supposed to be an art teacher! It was my purpose in life."

"Did you teach at the University?"

"Yes I did. The thing is that I started to feel weird after two months. I discovered that it was normal because I was pregnant. Well, many months later, I gave birth to Charlie's father."

Sophie became serious and bit her lip. She wanted to ask it but didn't know if she dared to.

"How did you feel when you lost him?"

"Lost who?" Claire looked confused.

"Charlie's father."

Claire looked very sad, so sad that Sophie almost regretted that she brought it up. It was with a morose tone that Claire finally spoke up.

"It was terrible. I had lost Arnold to cancer two years before and now I lost my other man, one of the reasons of my existence. I lost someone and I could get him back. His dear wife was also like a daughter to me so it felt like losing two children at once. But I could weep forever because little Charlie had lost his parents. I was the only family he got and I needed to be strong for his sake. My mission from no one was to take care of him, to be his mother and father and make sure he would lead a rich and prosper life the way he wanted it. It was not easy always but we made it and I am so glad that we found you Sophie. You saved both him and me from whatever had been wrong in our lives."

Sophie's eyes were full of tears. She needed to say what was on her mind, to make her feel free at heart.

"You had been like a mother to me. I never had one and you made me feel how it's like to have a mother. I think you for all you have done to me."

"My dear darling, you are my adopted daughter. Charlie could never be happier than when he is with you and I am proud over him. Please tell him that. I am going miss you so much. My boys, my dear Lorenzo, my Charlie, you Sophie, I love you all."

"Oh Claire!"

Claire took Sophie in her arms, caressed her hair affectionately, murmured reassuring things in her ears and promised that all would be fine. Sophie cried like a little child, big wet tears fell from her cheek. Sophie felt like she would never be happy again but she was being selfish. She ran out of the room as fast as she could and knocked on Lorenzo's door. He opened and saw her face wet with tears and understood directly. He ran to Claire's room and even before she was at Charlie's door, he opened it in a millisecond and headed for Claire's room. Sophie decided not to wake up the boys. She would tell them in the morning.

In Claire's room, Lorenzo and Charlie was at her side. Sophie stood a bit aside and watched her husband be overcome by emotions, letting himself cry like a little boy who was on the point on losing a mother and a father at the same time. Lorenzo looked like a wreck. Claire was looking at Lorenzo and murmured to him how much she loved him and how she was glad that she had been able to spend her last years together with him. Lorenzo started to sob quietly and Sophie started to cry again when she saw how much he struggled. Claire's eyes were turned at Charlie. She asked him to come closer and she whispered something in his ear. When she had, she fell back on her cushions and closed her eyes. And a second later she was gone.