I Promise You This (Love in Provence Book 3) Read online

  A shiver ran through her. She did care for Nick. Another flashback took her to those halcyon days on his yacht before he had to abruptly leave France. She remembered, though, that his advances had unnerved her at the time. She hadn’t known how to handle them and was almost relieved when he had to leave so suddenly.

  And then Philippe had won her heart, slowly and patiently.

  Would things have been different if Nick had stayed?

  She gulped, trying to find her voice. Finally, she answered, almost apologetically. “Oh, Nick. You are exceptional. You’re such an amazing man in so many ways. I’m flattered. You’re a most special friend.”

  “We could be so much more, Kat.”

  Yes, we could. She searched for the right words.

  “I know there are many, many women, much younger than I am, who would love to hear you say those words.”

  “That’s just it. Been there, done that. I don’t want younger women. I saw how happy I could be with a woman like you, someone my age . . . full of life . . . beautiful inside and out. I want to spend the rest of my life with someone like you. Wait, let me correct that—I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  “I’m flattered, and I know you mean no disrespect to Philippe. You’re good friends. But . . .” She could feel her heart overflow at that very moment, hearing her words. “I am in love with Philippe, truly, madly, deeply. Like a young girl, really. I’m quite stunned by it all. And very happy.”

  Nick nodded and patted her hand. Disappointment mixed with acceptance showed on his face. His shoulders dropped briefly with resignation. “That’s all I need to hear . . . although not what I wanted to hear.”

  Picking up her glass of water, Katherine took a long sip, attempting to gather her composure.

  Nick squeezed her hand lightly before pulling his back. “Know I will always be there for you. And promise me we still can be friends.”

  “Of course. The best of friends . . . always. And I know there is a special woman out there just waiting to be discovered by you. That would make me very happy.”

  Nick nodded slowly. His eyes signaled a certain resignation before he spoke again.

  “Philippe is a fine man and I’m happy for you both. I needed to make sure you knew how I felt in case there was any chance at all for me. We Aussies don’t give up anything without a major go at it. I reluctantly, but graciously, accept defeat—at least momentarily.” He raised one eyebrow and gave her a cocky grin.

  Feeling her poise begin to return, Kat said, “Well, you certainly surprised me.” It was her turn to reach out for his hand. “I’m sorry . . .”

  With a squinty look, he briefly scowled. “I will wallow in despair, but just for a moment or two. Because we all know despair is the solace of fools.”

  Katherine blinked at his somber words before he added, “I believe I got that from a fortune cookie,” and they burst out laughing.

  Beckoning to the waiter, Nick ordered a cognac. “I need a bloody stiff drink after all this. How about you, Kat?”

  “I’m going to pass, but you go ahead. I’m still working on my cappuccino.”

  Katherine feared the rest of the evening might be awkward. However, in Nick’s classic style of good humor and endless topics of conversation, he had them chatting effortlessly in no time. He encouraged her to describe how plans were progressing with the property on the Cap that she and Philippe were restoring and turning into a bed-and-breakfast inn. He assured her he would be one of their first guests, with or without his yacht in the harbor.

  After dinner, when they pulled up in front of Kat’s house, Nick stepped out of the car and held the door for her. “I’ll walk you to the front door. What a sweet house, Kat. You grew up here?”

  She nodded. “There are a lot of memories in its walls. I’m still unsure what I’m going to do with it. Sell, rent it, I dunno.”

  “The best thing with houses is to not make hasty decisions. See how things play out first.”

  “It seems I’ve been making a habit of hasty decisions.”

  At the door, Kat touched Nick’s cheek as their eyes met. “Thank you . . . for everything. What a day.”

  Nick opened his arms. “Come here, gorgeous.” Before she could react, he pulled her to him and held her tightly. Then he kissed her on each cheek. “Friends forever. Agreed?”

  Katherine hugged him back. “Agreed.”

  “However . . . I will leave you with this. If you already know that you are in love with Philippe, I respect that. If you ever have any doubts, I’ll be waiting.”

  Feeling flustered all over again, Kat said, “You don’t give up easily, do you?”

  “Nope!” And then he completely changed his tone. “I’ve got a meeting first thing tomorrow, so I won’t get to the hospital until around ten. Shall I send Mo to pick you up or will it be the subway again?”

  “Subway! See you when you get there. I’m excited and scared to see how Molly is coming along.”

  Once inside the house, she leaned against the wall. Her head was spinning, wondering what other surprises lay in store for her. Only fifteen months before, no man had been in love with her. Now there were two. Two very special men.

  She hung up her coat and took off her boots before Kat noticed the message light flashing on the phone. She walked into the living room and picked up the phone, wondering why the messages hadn’t been left on her cell.

  One was from Lucy, saying her colleagues from her former job were planning a dinner for her and asking her to confirm an evening. She also suggested they meet for lunch in Chinatown the next day and asked for Kat’s cell number.

  Another message was from Andrea, saying they would pick Philippe up at the airport when he arrived. Kat knew he would be delighted to see them there. Andrea also asked her to call back and let them know what was happening with Molly. She asked if Kat’s cell had a problem.

  Kat called her cousin, and Andrea picked up immediately.

  “Hey! Are you okay? I couldn’t reach your cell all afternoon. It wouldn’t even go to voicemail.”

  “You won’t believe my day. But first let me give you the Molly update.” She went on to say she would let them know as soon as Philippe’s travel details were set.

  “Nick is such a generous man. Can’t wait to meet him. Terrence has been telling all our friends about him—we’ve never heard of anyone like him.”

  “Well, here’s another tale Terrence can tell.” Andrea listened in amazement as Katherine described Nick’s impromptu helicopter escapade.

  “What an adventure, Kat, and what a good friend he is to you and Philippe. How nice that he’s been in town to keep you company these past few days. I hope it’s helped you feel better about everything.”

  Katherine assured her Nick had been a great diversion. The rest would be her secret.

  The third message was a shocker.

  “Katherine. It’s James. I would like to talk to you. I heard about Molly and that you were in town. Please return my call at least. Thanks.”

  Sitting slowly and heavily on the nearest chair, she was stunned. The surprise took her breath away. The sound of James’s voice made her feel nauseated. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t thought about talking to him. She’d considered it from time to time but had always procrastinated effectively.

  All of the communication—from the day he left her until their divorce was final—had been through their lawyers. She had not said one word during that time to the man she had allowed to monopolize her life.

  “Classic James,” she muttered as she considered his message. He might have at least said he was sorry about Molly’s accident.

  She would call him back. But not now. She wanted to think about it.

  Taking her time packing a few more boxes, Katherine felt uncharacteristically on edge. An expanding to-do list incessantly ran through her mind. She would put in a call to the Goodwill pickup office in the morning. It was obvious that it would take more than a few weeks to get the house in sh
ape to sell or rent. She needed to think about that too.

  With a growing urgency, she lost herself in yoga for an hour, thankful for the relief of focusing only on that.

  As she settled into bed, her mother’s electric blanket kept her warm. Kat crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the ceiling, her eyes wide open. Only last year, she had spent countless nights there wondering if anything else lay in store for her. Now surprises seemed to keep coming into her life.

  Today had certainly held its fair share.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Waiting for Philippe’s call was not an option today. After the events of the previous day, all Katherine wanted was to hear his voice, feel his love, and express hers for him. She phoned him as soon as she woke up.

  “Tu me manques, mon Chou. I miss you more than ever today! I know you are still at the market but I couldn’t wait to talk to you.”

  “Moi aussi, mon coeur. I miss you too,” Philippe began and then continued to describe his feelings in French, his voice almost a whisper.

  She loved to hear him say those words in that way. Her lips parted unconsciously and her breath caught. “You’re making my heart sing. Can we talk now or are you busy?”

  “We’re still serving customers but when I saw the call was from you, of course I took it,” he said, his tone changing. “How are you coping? Nick e-mailed me late last night to confirm that the plane will be in Nice in two days to bring me to you. He said you had quite an adventure yesterday, but he would let you tell me about it.”

  “An adventure for sure! I’ll tell you about it when you get here. Go back to work and we’ll talk this afternoon. I’m having lunch with Lucy. I think today will be pivotal for Molly. Talk to you later. Je t’embrasse!”

  “Moi aussi! And I also have an adventure to tell you about. Simone sends her love and I will reveal all in person. A bottle of wine will be a necessity for the conversation.”

  “Oh my. How is Simone? Is everything okay? Did you meet her?”

  “You must wait to hear the story. She is very well and said to tell you she and Victor Hugo miss you.” His voice caught with emotion. “As I do, Minou. Tu es ma joie de vivre.”

  The call was just the tonic Katherine needed after the emotional ride the previous evening. She couldn’t wait to embrace Philippe and to hear about his visit with Simone. But she also knew she had to express her growing concerns to him . . . once she had them sorted out herself.

  At the hospital, Katherine was disappointed to see that Molly still looked like she was in a coma. The encouraging news was that many of the tubes were gone and she appeared to be breathing on her own.

  The attending physician explained that Molly might still need the ventilator at night for a day or two. “She is managing quite well on her own for several hours at a time. We’re very pleased. She may be fully awake by the end of the day.”

  Katherine noticed the fresh red rose in the delicate vase next to Molly’s bed. She was beginning to develop a strong suspicion about it, since there was only one other person whose presence was guaranteed every day.

  She banished that thought for the moment as the heady perfume brought back memories of fragrant bouquets of roses James had given her each year on their wedding anniversary. She was working on replacing that connection.

  Being back in Toronto was causing a plethora of nostalgic memories to resurface. As long as she was preoccupied with other people, Kat could banish the difficult recollections from her thoughts, but on her own, not so much.

  She knew she had returned home a stronger, more confident woman than when she had left. She would confront the painful memories now, once and for all, and work through them to a place of acceptance, if not understanding. The positive history of her life far outweighed the bad, and that was what counted. She often felt she had already left her life here behind and walked into a completely new reality in France.

  That’s why she was so stunned now to feel uncertain about her choices. She had expected this time back home to be her opportunity to put her past behind her—in a good way. Somehow that wasn’t how it was playing out.

  She replayed the voicemail from James in her head. Maybe that was something she needed to deal with to help resolve these new feelings of uncertainty. But not yet.

  Out at the nurses’ station, she asked Roslyn, “What’s the news today?”

  “You can go in and out quietly a few times for short intervals, if you like. We’re watching to make certain nothing interferes with the calm around Molly as she regains consciousness. These patients often wake with memories of terrible dreams or hallucinations and we hope to avoid that. Patience, my dear.”

  Katherine returned to be with Molly for her allotted time. She told Molly all about her helicopter adventure and about Nick’s confession of love. She knew it would go no further.

  She was sitting holding Molly’s hand, willing her to wake up and be well, when Father DeCarlo appeared and suggested, “Let’s go to the cafeteria and have a coffee.”

  He explained how he started his rounds at the hospital much earlier in the winter and left as soon as possible to get back to his street ministry. He said he had been spending more time at the hospital since Molly was admitted, and Katherine thanked him profusely before he changed the subject.

  “With all this cold weather, we’re extra busy at the homeless shelter. A few of us take some vans and cruise around the streets picking up anyone who looks like they need help. Things have been very bad this year.”

  “Molly has told me quite a bit about your street ministry and how much she admires it.”

  He smiled warmly. “She’s come along and helped us many times, often after her last session at the Blue Note. She’s a good person, our Molly.”

  Katherine had never heard Molly mention being involved like that. She tucked that information away for now, along with the tone of the priest’s voice when he spoke of Molly. Her intuition was getting stronger, the more time she spent with this handsome priest, even though she found herself anxious at what the reality might be.

  The priest left to continue his rounds, and Katherine sat in the reception area in intervals, with her computer. Nick texted he was going to be tied up with meetings into the afternoon. He would check in then to see if there was anything new to report at the hospital.

  She spent a while going through her photos from the day before, editing and storing, and was more than pleased with some of the images over Niagara. She felt eager to present them to André at his gallery back in Antibes and then began to fret about that decision. I’ll be sixty in a few years, and I’m walking away from an established profession. Really? Is that smart? What am I thinking?

  After stopping by the nurses’ station to confirm Molly was stable, Katherine strolled the short distance to the Chinatown district. The sun was shining brightly, taking the bite out of the chilly air.

  This had always been one of Kat’s best-loved parts of the city. Close to the university where she had studied for so many years, the area was a student haunt. There had been many hours spent going over notes while eating spicy Szechuan meals accompanied by green tea or Chinese beer.

  It had been great fun for her to point out her favorite restaurants and funky shops to Nick when they had driven through on their “city tour.” He’d laughed when she told him she still had the best food steamer ever that she bought there thirty years earlier. “It’s on my list to bring to Antibes when I ship my stuff.”

  Now Katherine walked into the Peking Palace and grinned as she saw Lucy leap up from a table. “Katherine! It’s been too long! I’m so happy to see you!”

  Petite and demure, Lucy was usually the picture of calm, dispensing pearls of wisdom from her Chinese ancestry and her lifelong study of astrology. A coworker in Dr. Henderson’s medical research office, she had convinced Katherine to take up yoga after James had walked out.

  When Katherine went to Antibes, she invited Lucy to house-sit, knowing the cramped conditions at her fami
ly’s place. Lucy lived with several generations under one roof, and ever more relatives emigrated from China, so she was thrilled for the opportunity to be on her own. She insisted on paying the utilities in return for Kat’s generosity. Little did either of them suspect it might turn into such a long-term arrangement.

  Now, Katherine knew she needed to rent out the house in order to pay taxes and do repairs that inevitably would be required. In fact, she had scheduled a home inspection company for the following week. She felt badly having to give Lucy the news but it had to be done, and she was waiting for the right moment to raise the issue.

  Before she could say anything, Lucy thanked her. “You’ve done me a big favor, Kat.”

  “It works both ways,” Kat replied. “Thanks for taking such good care of the house.”

  “I’m the one to thank you. My brother thanks you too, since he got the extra bedroom with me out of the house. But first things first: how is Molly? I’m tracking her charts, and it’s been troubling.”

  Katherine filled her in and then they ordered lunch. Lucy wanted all the details about Kat’s new life and plied her with questions.

  At one point, a strange look crossed Lucy’s face and she blurted, “Omigod! I just remembered, I bumped into James last week at the courthouse. We didn’t talk long because he was rushing to an appointment, but I told him about Molly. It was right after her accident. I said I thought you would be coming to Toronto. I hope that was okay.”

  “Of course. He already called the house and left a message. That explains it.”

  Lucy looked thoughtful. “You’re going to see him. That’s probably a good thing.”

  Katherine shrugged her shoulders and smiled. Lucy always had a touch of clairvoyance. “You would know.”

  Lunch arrived and Katherine finally had a chance to ask about Lucy and her family. To her surprise, her concerns about the house were banished.

  “I have a proposition for you,” Lucy told her, looking a bit hesitant. “My cousin, Li Mai, now has an excellent job, and we wondered if you would consider renting your house to us. We’ve been talking about moving in together and were looking around at places and we suddenly realized your house would be perfect. If you aren’t moving back, that is.”