Author's Note: Thank you very much for all your reviews and messages, I promise you a very happy ending. Don't be worried. I also need to answer your messages... I'm sorry I've been busy. I am not home right now actually so it makes it hard to spend time here. I'll be back home on Wednesday though.
Chapter Twenty
Maura cast a glance at Léopoldine. Her aunt was casually - and quietly - preparing a set of foie gras but what really caught Maura's attention turned out to be that little smile that had appeared at the corner of her lips: Léopoldine was happy and she didn't hide it.
Her usual serenity was glowing in the evening. Léopoldine was always happy to be there, in the moment. For years Maura had tried to embrace the same mood and it had worked. To an extent.
"It's just the beginning though."
The remark made Léopoldine roll her eyes playfully. She was in a very good mood and nothing could apparently change that.
"You used to be a lot less pessimistic, Maura. The joy of being eighteen again." Léopoldine picked up the plate with the foie gras on it and she set it on a tray. The slices of bread were ready as well. "Enjoy what you're having! Carpe diem, Maura!"
Maura did. She did enjoy what she and Jane were having. Their getaway to Saint-Malo had been sweet and they had come back to Paris with a thousand unforgettable memories. Going to French Brittany had been an excellent idea as it had provided them the peace and quietness that they both needed.
"There's a difference between being pessimistic and not wanting to rush into things, you know. It's just..." Something brushed Maura's ankle. She looked down at the culprit: it was Picasso, one of Léopoldine's cats. "Being optimistic means thinking about the future and that's something neither Jane nor I can do right now."
Maura took the cat in her arms. She caressed its fur and the cat began to purr. Perhaps she should get a cat when she would be back to Boston. The purring was really soothing.
"Picasso usually hates it when someone takes him in their arms. You're the exception."
Both women were standing in the kitchen. Alone. Jane was on the first floor of the house admiring Léopoldine's work.
The evening carried a very important symbol for Maura: it was the first time since she had argued with her aunt that she accepted to come back to the Montsouris house for dinner. She still could feel the scars that their argument had left on her heart but she was nonetheless relieved to see that she slowly managed to go towards something a lot friendlier with Léopoldine. She had missed their bond terribly.
"Hmm."
"You can't think about the future because she's going to Quantico?" Léopoldine shrugged. Her gesture betrayed the lack of importance she gave to her rhetorical question. "Why don't you move there with her?"
"She hasn't asked me to come with her."
Maura focused on Léopoldine's traits, on the mere reaction her aunt may show. But the artist barely remained quiet for an extra-second. She didn't look concerned at all.
"That's because she doesn't dare to ask, Maura. It's not really complicated... How come you can make the dead talk but you're unable to read through Jane?"
"It's a lot easier to understand the dead. It's nothing but a scientific process. There is not a single feeling involved when you practice an autopsy. You need to cut yourself from any feeling, actually. If you don't do that..." Maura shook her head. She picked up the bottle of wine before following Léopoldine into the living-room. Picasso was back on the floor The cat followed Maura haily.. "If you don't do that then you won't be able to do this job."
That was true and perhaps it was even the reason why Maura had chosen to become a medical examiner. Of course, she cared about the dead and wanted nothing but to ease the pain linked to their deaths but the moment she held a scalpel in her hand then she ceased to think about all this. Her emotions shut down by then and she focused on the medical aspect of her task only.
"Jane?"
Maura called Jane softly. She had told Léopoldine about her and Jane as soon as she had walked into the kitchen because it was only fair. Léopoldine had seen Maura in tears after the fiasco of the kiss on the Île Saint-Louis. She deserved to know what had happened once Maura had headed back to the Lutétia after a sleepless night at the Montsouris townhouse.
"Yeah I'm coming!"
Jane rushed downstairs. Her steps sounded loudly and for a few seconds Maura felt like she was home. Except things had got immensely better. Her bitter fantasies had come true and ithey had turned into was the sweetest thing that she had ever lived.
Maura motioned the tray that Léopoldine had set down on the coffee table as soon as Jane walked in the room..
"Foie gras and wine."
Jane's dark eyes disappeared behind a curtain of eyelashes as she came closer to the table and leaned over in order to look at the plate. She gave her assistance a very slow nod.
"That's the liver thing?"
"Oh god." Maura rolled her eyes. She wasn't annoyed by Jane's question – as a matter of fact, she was entertained by it – but she wanted to play her role nonetheless. Because it was how it worked between the two of them, because it was how they liked things to be. "It's foie gras. Foie. Gras."
Léopoldine laughed lightly.
"I must admit that your banter is entertaining. My sister was right on this point..." Léopoldine sat down and invited Jane and Maura to sit down as well. "Is it the first time that you're served foie gras, Jane?"
Jane shook her head.
"No... Maura makes sure I have my annual slice of foie gras on Christmas day. Organic foie gras, of course."
The sarcasm in her remark didn't pass unnoticed and caused Maura to scoff lightly. Her ego wasn't bruised but it wasn't intact either. She had to make things clear, because foie gras was a big deal for her.
"I only make sure that you get the best one, Jane. And that the regulations are strictly followed. I refuse to buy a foie gras from a farm that wouldn't respect the current regulations."
Léopoldine looked at Maura and frowned with perplexity.
"You can make and buy foie gras in the USA?!"
Jane held back a laugh. Touché. Maura made a vague gesture of the hand in order to sweep away her aunt's question. Léopoldine had raised a good point, except said point bothered Maura a bit.
Because it wasn't legal indeed.
"I may be on a secret VIP list. Only a dozen of people in the country have Marc's address. He lives in Maine..." Maura cleared her voice. She felt a tad embarrassed by the semi-legality of her foie gras purchase. "Jane loves it though."
I could tell you about the first time she had some. As a matter of fact, I could tell you every single day I got to share with her, Léopoldine. Because every day has been a blessing. There has been ups and downs but even these obstacles didn't manage to separate us. Our bond got strengthened instead. It has to mean something, doesn't it?
"I'm not a big fan of the making process but... Yeah, I gotta admit it's pretty good." Jane took the glass of wine that Léopoldine held out to her. "Maura's always trying to make me become the next francophile of the BPD."
"And does she succeed?"
Jane pouted. Playfully. She cast a glance at Maura then focused back on Léopoldine. But the randomness of her gesture vanished the moment she went to hold Maura's hand. She wasn't showing boldness but self-confidence.
In front of a relative.
The storm of feelings that her gesture stirred up in the depths of Maura's heart sounded loudly and caused Maura's cheeks to turn pink.
"I guess we can say she's trying hard and it's not always vain."
We came back to the hotel and you kissed me with such freedom that I still can feel the touch of your lips on mine. You held my hand when we walked out on the streets. You sat down next to me in the taxi, so close to me that I could feel the heat of your thigh against mine.
And you're doing it again now. In front of my aunt.
You don't know it but your gestures of affection bring me hope and a warmth I hadn't felt in a while. You make me feel alive, Jane. And proud, ridiculously proud.
My doubts vanish whenever you hold my hand or kiss me in public. Please tell me that it's the right thing to do, Jane. Please tell me that I don't have to have any doubt, that I can trust you. Please. You have no idea how I want to believe it.
To believe in us.
Please.
"Excellent!" Léopoldine focused back on Maura after giving a wink at Jane. "So what's your next evil plan, Maura? Are you going to try to turn Jane into a real Parisian, this week?"
"There are many places left to visit here." Maura smiled at Jane. She didn't feel embarrassed at all by the fact Jane was holding her hand but it was intimidating nonetheless. "So many places... The right bank, of course. Famous "
And so little time.
We'll use in Paris the same pace as the one we succumbed to when in Saint-Malo. Let's not think about our flight tickets, Jane. Let's focus on what Paris has to offer us instead. Its streets, its parks, its light. Its buildings. Its cafés. We are lucky enough to be in one of the most wonderful cities in the world.
Let's take advantage of it.
And then we'll see. It's too early anyway. Making plans would be stupid. It's barely ben what? A week? What's a week in a life? Nothing. It's absolutely nothing. And I refuse to reduce us to a mere nothing.