I jumped up from the table, sending my mug of hot tea flying across it, grabbed my keys from the window sill and was across the courtyard and in my car before Rupert and Sophie could do anything other than leap up to avoid being scalded.

As I shoved the car in gear, they reached the door.

‘Emmy! Wait!’ Rupert shouted.

‘Be careful, at least!’ Sophie’s panicked shout faded as the tyres fought gravel and I set off.

The lane was too narrow for speed, but I covered the half mile in record time, braking jerkily outside Madame Dupont’s wreck of a house.

Please, God. Please, please, please.

I pushed my way through the gate, snapping the rusting bolt, through the side gate and into the yard. Running across it, I tripped and fell, scraping my hands and knees, but it barely slowed me down.

‘Gabriel! Gabriel!’

No answer.

Please, please, please.

The chicken house was closed up. Had we left it open or shut? I couldn’t remember. I tugged, and the ramp came clattering down, showering splinters of old, dried wood across the concrete.

Adjusting my eyes to the gloom, I saw a lumpy shape up on the ledge.

Gabriel.

He was huddled under his hoodie, fast asleep, but the clattering must have woken him because he startled with a shout.

‘Gabriel, it’s only me, Emmy,’ I soothed, my voice calm while my body shook with adrenaline and relief.

He struggled to sit up, but I couldn’t wait for that. I scooped him up and hugged him tight against me.

‘Oh, Gabriel, we looked for you everywhere! You had everyone so worried.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbled against my shoulder, still half-asleep.

‘It’s okay, sweetheart.’ I sat on the floor of the coop in the entrance, where he blinked against the evening light. ‘But you mustn’t ever do it again. Anything could have happened to you.’

‘But you said the chickens were safe if they were shut up in their house.’ His chin wobbled.

‘I did. But you’re not a chicken, are you?’ I smiled at him to reassure and got a weak one back. ‘This chicken house is old. It might have broken and hurt you. Or you could have been hurt on the way here. You do know you’re not supposed to go anywhere without someone you know, don’t you?’

He nodded, then began to cry. ‘Will Mum and Dad be cross with me? Am I in trouble?’

‘They’re not cross, sweetie, only worried. Why did you come here? You told Chloe you were going for a nap in your room.’

‘I did,’ he mumbled. ‘I was tired and I wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t. Then I remembered the chicken house. Rupert’s was too small, so I came here.’

He said it as though it was the most logical thing in the world, to bunk down in a chicken house, then he yawned, long and loud. He must have been exhausted to sleep on that rickety old wooden shelf for so long.

‘Why were you so tired? Were you upset about Mummy and Daddy arguing?’

‘Yeah. I don’t want them to … I can’t remember the word. The one that means they won’t live together any more.’

‘Divorce?’

He nodded glumly.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it. If Gabriel felt able to talk, two more minutes wouldn’t matter. Once we were back, there would be chaos, and then he might clam up altogether.

Gabriel’s chest heaved. ‘Mum told Dad that she’s going to bring me and Chloe to France. To live. To school!’ The last word was wailed.

‘You wouldn’t like that?’

He shook his head. ‘She said we have to live in France and Dad shouted at her and said that would be bad for me and Chloe because we wouldn’t know anybody and I’d have to start at a new school and people might make fun of me because I’ve come from England and term starts soon so it couldn’t be sorted out in time and we’d be squished in Granny and Grandpa’s house in Rouen and he wouldn’t see us because he won’t come to live in France, so now I know he doesn’t love us any more!’

It all came out in such a rush, I had trouble registering everything he said. But it was the last part I was most concerned with.

I took his face in my hands. ‘Gabriel, your dad loves you very much.’ My heart twanged as I realised I could be referring to either Adrien or Alain.

‘No, he doesn’t! If he loved us, he’d come to France.’

‘Oh, Gabriel, you know your dad and mum don’t want to live together any more.’

‘I know that. I mean somewhere near us. Not hundreds and hundreds of miles away.’

‘That doesn’t mean your dad doesn’t love you. The grown-up world is complicated. Your dad needs to work to make money to look after you all. His job is in England, so he has to stay there.’

‘Why can’t he get a job in France?’

‘Maybe he won’t be able to. He’s lived in England for a long time.’ I sighed. This was out of my jurisdiction. I couldn’t answer his questions. ‘But I do know, cross my heart, that your dad loves you very much.’

My phone vibrated angrily in my pocket. I couldn’t delay any longer. The way I’d stormed off, everyone must be having kittens by now.

‘Gabriel, I need to tell someone I’ve found you.’

He sobbed against my T-shirt as I answered the phone to Rupert, then phoned Alain.

‘Come on. Let’s get you back where you belong.’

Gabriel stood. ‘I need a wee. And I’m hungry.’

‘I’m not surprised. How about that tree over there?’

He went over to pee, while I willed my legs into a consistency beyond jelly.

The idea that Gabriel thought Adrien didn’t love him broke my heart. I thought about the impending paternity test and felt sick. What would the poor boy think then, if it went the ‘wrong’ way?

With no child car seat, I strapped him carefully into the back and gave him a mint. ‘Best I can do for food,’ I said cheerily.

‘You’re not in your dress,’ Gabriel piped up as I put the car in gear.

I glanced at his enquiring face in the driver’s mirror. ‘My dress?’

‘Your wedding dress. I’m sorry I slept so long and missed the wedding, Aunt Emmy.’

Oh, the innocence of children.

I took a long, shaky breath. Gabriel already had the weight of the world on his shoulders. I didn’t want him to take the blame for this. But I couldn’t see any way around telling him the truth – in as light a way as I could.

‘We didn’t have the wedding today, Gabriel. We were looking for you, so we didn’t feel like it.’

‘Oh. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s more important that you’re okay. We can do the wedding another time.’

‘But when?’

‘I don’t know, sweetie.’ And that was the truth. ‘Sometime soon.’

Yeah. With the mairie fully booked up on a Saturday morning and the château holding another event tomorrow, and most of my guests leaving by Sunday, and a flight to Mallorca booked for Monday?

But that wasn’t Gabriel’s problem. He had enough of his own.

Sabine was waiting in the courtyard with Mireille and Chloe. Sabine hugged Gabriel so tight, I thought she would crush him. Chloe touchingly did the same, as did Mireille. All the while, Sabine murmured endearments to her son. Not one hint of anger or accusation as to all the trouble he’d inadvertently caused. Relief was the overpowering emotion.

Rupert and Sophie rushed out of the house.

‘Alain’s phoning the authorities,’ Rupert told me. ‘I phoned some of the volunteers, and they’ll ring others. Sophie phoned Ellie at the château.’

Alain’s car roared into the courtyard, Adrien in the passenger seat. Adrien stumbled getting out, then ran across to join in with testing out the strength of Gabriel’s ribcage, while Gabriel cried and muttered about being sorry that he’d fallen asleep.

Alain went across for a long hug, too, then came to me and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my hair.

‘Thank you so much,’ he murmured. ‘You’ll never know how grateful I am to you.’

I held him tight until I sensed him calm, then pulled away. ‘I do know, and you don’t have to be grateful. It was luck, really. A sudden thought.’

‘He was in Madame Dupont’s chicken house?’

‘Yes.’ I explained the whys and wherefores, such as they were.

‘Thank God you thought of it. Imagine if he’d woken in the dark? Tried to get home on his own along the lanes? I can’t believe nobody checked there already.’

‘That chicken house is right around the back of the house, Alain,’ Rupert explained. ‘You can’t see it from the roadside. And with the house boarded up like that, everyone would know that nobody could be in the property itself.’

‘Nobody could guess a small boy would choose to hide in an abandoned chicken house,’ Sophie added, her hand splayed across her stomach.

‘Except Emmy,’ Alain said proudly, squeezing my hand.

‘If I’d never let him explore it a few days ago, he’d never have thought of it, would he?’

‘You weren’t to know he’d use it as a bunkhouse,’ Alain said sternly. ‘And he could have ended up somewhere far worse.’

We fell quiet as we absorbed that – and the fact that Gabriel was now safe, with no harm done.

Gabriel approached, a parent holding each hand. ‘Aunt Emmy. Uncle Alain.’ His voice was small. ‘I’m sorry about your wedding. I know it was my fault.’

‘We haven’t asked him to apologise,’ Sabine said proudly. ‘He worked it out for himself.’

I crouched down so I was on his level. ‘Gabriel, listen to me. Nothing is more important to grown-ups than their children. The wedding can happen another time. All that matters is that you’re safe. I don’t want you to worry about it any more. Promise me?’

‘I’ll try.’

Sabine and Adrien both gave me grateful smiles, then exchanged a rare tender look between them.

Adrien hoisted Gabriel into his arms. ‘We’re giving Gabriel and Chloe supper and putting them to bed.’

As they walked away, Alain said, ‘That was good of you, Emmy, trying to set Gabriel’s mind at rest like that.’ He managed a wobbly smile. ‘If I hadn’t already been about to marry you, I’d have proposed all over again.’

That brought a chuckle from Mireille, who had come over to hug me and thank me for my intrepid discovery of her grandson.

And it lifted any last lingering doubt I had that Alain truly did want to marry me. That he would have turned up today, and gone into it with all his heart.

‘Alain …’

Sensing we needed our privacy, Rupert, Sophie and Mireille melted away, while Alain gently pulled me to the corner of the house, away from everyone.

He stroked my cheek with his thumb. ‘I’m so sorry. About the wedding. About everything.’

‘It doesn’t matter now.’

‘I thought, after the way I behaved last night …’

‘I understood, Alain. You were stressed.’

‘Yes. But I’m sorry for what I put you through. For the way I spoke to you. I can’t tell you how sorry.’ He gently traced the shadows under my eyes with his thumbs. Sophie’s concealer was impressive, but it wasn’t a miracle worker. ‘You got no sleep?’

I shook my head.

‘Me either.’ He bent his head to touch his lips lightly to mine. ‘Emmy, Adrien and I aren’t going to take a paternity test.’

My heart skipped a beat. ‘How come? You were so sure you needed to know before.’

‘Yes, well, “before” is the word, isn’t it? This thing with Gabriel today turned everything on its head. We were all beside ourselves, but Adrien and Sabine …’

‘I know. I’ve never seen anyone look so ill. So terrified.’

‘Exactly. That feeling of terror. The possible loss of his child. It brought home to Adrien that it’s not a question of thinking he’s been Gabriel’s father all these years, but that he has been Gabriel’s father. Gabriel is his son. Only a piece of paper can tell him otherwise. We talked a lot while we were searching together, and the fact is …’

‘He doesn’t want to know?’

‘It would make no difference for him to know. It wouldn’t change his feelings about Gabriel one iota – his love for him, or his responsibilities towards him.’

‘I can understand that. But where does it leave you? Have you only agreed because it’s what Adrien wants? Because it’s what’s best for everybody else?’

‘It is what’s best for everybody. But it’s also what I want. What happened today was like a nightmare. I love that boy so much. But after seeing the state that Adrien was in, and Sabine …’ He sighed. ‘Adrien says their split is final, and today won’t change that. They’ve been struggling for a long while. That week away together was supposed to be a chance to work things out, but it only brought home to them that they were finished.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Sabine will bring the children to France, but they’ll still be a family. Adrien will visit the children as their dad. In the light of that, what use would that test be to any of us?’

‘If Adrien is Gabriel’s father, at least you’d all have peace of mind.’

‘True. But that’s quite a gamble. If it fell the other way, where would we be, then? What would we tell the children? How would you tell Gabriel that his father isn’t his father, but his uncle is? How would you tell Chloe that Gabriel’s her half-brother? There’s no way I could do any of that. Those children will be hurt enough by their parents’ divorce, without me making it worse.’

I smoothed the lines at the corner of his mouth. ‘You’re saying that if things are going to stay the same, there’s no point in knowing?’

‘Yes.’

I nodded. I would support him through this, however it turned out. Whatever could be done to move the situation forward as smoothly as it could for those little children must be done. But that didn’t mean that, in a brief, selfish, petulant moment, I couldn’t wish it wasn’t happening.

‘You’re a brave man, Alain.’

‘I can go on loving Gabriel and Chloe the way I always have.’

‘What happens if you can’t live with that decision? If you change your mind later?’

‘We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. But I hope it doesn’t work out that way.’

‘What will Sabine say?’

‘Adrien will talk to her when they’ve got the children to bed.’ He rested a hand on my cheek, and touched his forehead to mine. ‘Thank you, Emmy. For being so understanding.’

I laid my hand over his. ‘We’re getting married. That means we’re in this together.’

I sensed a kind of relief wash over him. ‘You’re sure? About getting married? I didn’t know, with all this going on …’ His voice hitched.

‘I’m sure. I was sure when you proposed, and I’m sure now. I love you, Alain.’

‘I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.’ He pulled back to look at me. ‘And what you said last night? Please don’t doubt that I want to start a family with you. This doesn’t change that, I promise.’

He pulled me tight to him, and I rested my head against his shoulder.

The clamour in the courtyard became louder as it filled with weary expeditioners who’d heard the news, and we could no longer ignore the people who wanted to come over to congratulate me for my discovery of Gabriel. I was hugged by all, the longest from Christopher.

Rupert set to organising large vats of tea, and everyone flopped on the patio, grateful for a seat and the outcome of the day. When Dad got back, he gave me a silent cuddle. Somehow he transmitted thanks, sympathy and reassurance with no words whatsoever. That was my dad for you.

Kate, who had been searching with him, took her turn to wrap her arms around me and whisper in my ear, ‘Is everything okay with Alain?’

I nodded, and in this public arena, she accepted that for now. Explanations could wait for another time.

The gendarmes arrived and were directed to Sabine’s gîte, presumably for details so they could wrap up this case and move on to the next.

‘Thank God we don’t need them any more,’ Dad voiced everyone’s thoughts.

Ellie and Mum returned just as Alain had moved onto the patio and held up his hands to get everyone’s attention.

‘Two minutes of your time, everyone, please! I’ll keep this short, because we’re all tired. As you’d expect, my brother and his wife are with the children, so I’d like to thank you all on their behalf for helping us today. I know it wasn’t the kind of day you were looking forward to, and this wasn’t the speech I expected to make.’ Polite chuckles all round. ‘But there’ll be time for that.’ He held up his mug in a toast. ‘A heartfelt thank you.’

A cheer, and everyone went back to their tea. It was beginning to get dark, and I couldn’t be more relieved that Gabriel had been found before night fell.

Ryan came over to us, his arm around Sophie. ‘I’m taking her home. She’s not well.’

I reached out to take her hand. ‘I’m sorry, Sophie.’

‘I am fine,’ she asserted. ‘He is only fussing.’ But she didn’t look it. ‘Can I leave my stuff in your room? The make-up and hair tools? My dress? I can’t face dealing with it now.’ She glanced across at Ellie, who gave her a surreptitious nod.

‘We’ll worry about it tomorrow,’ I agreed, although my heart sank at the idea of spending the night surrounded by reminders of today’s non-wedding.

I smiled as I watched Ryan play the solicitous dad-to-be, helping Sophie into the car.

Alain quietly stepped away as Mum approached and gave me a voluminous hug.

‘You did well, Emmy. Not just in finding Gabriel. For bearing up so well, too.’

‘Thanks. I …’ I choked, suddenly in such a rush to say all the things I needed to say to her. ‘Thank you for all you did today, Mum. You did just what was needed, when it was needed. You’re truly amazing. I’m so sorry for everything I said to you the other day.’

‘No, Emmy.’ Mum cut me off, her tone firm, making me look up at her in surprise. ‘Don’t you dare apologise for that, just because I happened to do the right things today.’ She took my face in her hands. ‘I know how hard it was for you to say what you said before. I might not have liked it.’ She managed a wan smile. ‘What am I saying? We both know I didn’t like it. But that doesn’t mean you should take it all back now. If it needed saying, then it did. Your dad had a go at me, too. I’m sorry I put you both in that position, so near to your special day.’ She paused. ‘You’re still my little girl, Emmy. I just … I wanted to make today perfect for you.’

‘I know. And it would have been.’

She leaned in to whisper, ‘Alain’s family has a lot to answer for, don’t they?’

We laughed together, looking round at our guests slurping mugs of tea instead of sipping at flutes of champagne.

Mum took my hand. ‘I’ll try harder, Emmy. I might make mistakes. It’s not easy, changing the way you do things at my age. But I will try, I promise.’

I squeezed her fingers. ‘I don’t want you to change who you are, Mum. But I do need you to see me as who I am now – an independent woman in her thirties who’s getting married and thinking about starting a family.’ My mother’s eyes lit up. ‘I know I’ll always be your daughter and that you’ll always worry about me, but we need to . . . reassess the dynamic between us. I don’t mind us discussing things and disagreeing about things. That’s only natural. But I’d like you to respect the decisions I make and understand that I’m old enough and capable enough to make them.’

‘And a little less interference in general wouldn’t go amiss?’

I shrugged sheepishly. ‘That would be nice. This life of mine, here in France, is a new start for me. I’d like you and me to have a new start, too. Would that . . . would that be okay?’

Mum nodded, tears in her eyes. ‘That’s fine by me.’

I tucked a strand of loose auburn hair behind her ear. ‘You looked so lovely today, Mum, in that outfit.’

Stroking my cheek, she said, ‘And you will, too, Emmy. When the time is right.’

I became aware that my head was banging – so loud that I was amazed I hadn’t been aware of it till now – and there was a gnawing hunger in my stomach. I’d been running on adrenaline all day, and the aftermath felt like crap.

I kneaded at my temples, and Alain was magically at my side again, as though he’d sensed it.

‘What happened at the château?’ he asked Mum.

‘It’s all sorted. Don’t worry about it.’

‘But what about the guests?’ I chipped in.

Mum cast a glance at Ellie, who came over to join us. ‘Everybody understood. Once we knew that nothing was going ahead, they went off to restaurants, and they were happy to do so.’

‘I should have come with you.’

‘No, Emmy. Your place was here.’ Seeing my expression, she said cautiously, ‘You can go round there tomorrow to see people, if you like.’ A look at Ellie that I was too tired to decipher.

‘But what about the château? The food? The reception? The band?’

‘Emmy. You’re exhausted and overwrought. Ellie, tell Emmy that she looks shocking, will you?’

‘Your mother’s right, Emmy. Why don’t you have something to eat and call it a night?’

‘I can’t go to bed now. What kind of a wuss would that make me? Everyone else here is in the same boat.’ I waved a hand at people flopped in chairs, gratefully grabbing at the sandwiches that Rupert had hastily put together.

At this, Aunt Jeanie butted in. ‘Hardly, Emmy. Nobody else, other than Alain here, has missed their own wedding, have they? You’re both entitled to a little TLC and self-pity, if you ask me. Now, come along with me to your room. I’ll run you a nice, hot bath. You can have a sandwich while it’s running.’ She grabbed two from Rupert’s tray as he passed by, shoving one at each of us. ‘And then you’re going to bed to console each other in whatever way you see fit. Come along.’

With a surprisingly strong grip, she took me by the elbow and led me, clutching my sandwich to my chest, around to my room, Alain following bemusedly behind. Jeanie took in the girly disarray and tutted, then shoved me unceremoniously into a chair while she messed about in the bathroom.

When she came back through, I glared at her. ‘You’re not going to undress us as well, are you?’

Alain burst out laughing.

A withering look from Jeanie. ‘Hardly.’ I stood, and she came over to kiss my cheek and Alain’s. ‘You need to sleep, both of you. Tomorrow is another day.’

And with that blatantly obvious and pointless saying – one she’d no doubt got from my mother – off she went, leaving us to undress in peace.

I sighed as I sank into the fragrant lavender bubbles and allowed my poor tense muscles to release a little.

Alain kissed my forehead and climbed in with me. He was so tall, there was no room, but we shifted so he sat with his back against the bath and I sat with my back against his chest, our legs entwined in front of us. I leaned my head back, enjoying being close to him, aware that today could have ended so differently, and we stayed silently like that, nibbling at our sandwiches and dropping crumbs into the bath, until the water cooled and we disentangled ourselves to get out and get dry.

In bed, Alain leaned over for a gentle kiss. ‘I can’t believe this should have been our wedding night.’

‘Me either.’

‘We’ll talk about that in the morning,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get married somehow, soon.’

‘I’m not worried. I’m marrying you whether you like it or not.’

‘I like it.’ His voice was quiet, sleepy. ‘I’ll phone Patrice. Figure out what to do.’

My bones felt so tired. ‘Mmm. In the morning …’

We lay quietly for a while, half-asleep, my back against his chest, his arm curled around my stomach, until it drifted slowly upwards to cup my breast. I turned to him.

We made love slowly and in silence, only intent on chasing away the shadows and confirming that we loved each other.