Snatched

Part 24 - A Small Village in France

'Hey Hun', Maddie said, as Odette came down the stairs into the bakery. Daniel was beside her and was pushing himself down the stairs on his bottom, counting each step in French as he went along.
'Une, deux, trois..'

Maddie had been the closest thing Odette had to a best friend since living here. She was an English girl. Here parents had come over to France to enjoy their retirement, but had both passed away within a year of living here. When Maddie had come over to make the funeral arrangements, she had fallen in love with the undertaker and the rest was history!

When Odette and Daniel had moved over to France, Maddie had been one of the first people they'd met. As a new mum herself, Maddie had taken pity on Odette and had given her a job at the bakery, or boulangerie, she owned. She'd also offered Odette and Daniel the flat above the bakery to live in. It wasn't very big, but it had two bedrooms and was more than adequate for what they needed.

'Hey, how you doing?' Odette embraced Maddie in a hug 'thanks for doing all of this!'
'Don't worry honey, it's my pleasure', Maddie replied. 'It's all worth it for this little birthday boy'. Maddie scooped Daniel up in her arms. 'And how old are you today?' Maddie asked him.
'Une, deux!' Daniel replied, as he counted on his fingers. Maddie laughed.
'You've been practicing your French then! It's definitely better than mine!'
'Yeah, I've been trying to teach him a few words' Odette interjected.
'Well that's certainly very useful!' Maddie replied, 'now Daniel, Jace and Louis are over there somewhere', she pointed to the other side of the room where a group of children were playing, 'they're playing with the balloons. Why don't you go and join them before the party starts!' Maddie put Daniel down and he ran off to play with the other children. 'Those balloons will be popped before the party even starts' she giggled.
'Thanks so much for doing this again' Odette said to her friend.
'It's absolutely no problem! You know this is my thing!' Maddie replied.
'I certainly do!' Odette said back, thinking back to all the events Maddie had run in the bakery over the last two years, 'it's just you know me and Daniel have noone else and...'
Maddie interupted her 'I know, you don't have to explain sweetie, it's fine. Anyway we're your family now!'
'Thanks, it means a lot' Odette replied. And she meant it, it really did mean a lot to have someone on her side for once. Odette had never really had a best friend before and she loved the way that Maddie and her family had taken her and Daniel under their wing since they'd got here. She felt really guilty that she'd never been able to tell Maddie her real story, but if she did it would unravel everything.

Just then Maddies husband Antoine appeared by her side.
'Hiya honey!' he said, slipping his arms around his wifes waist. He looked up at Odette. 'So the birthday boy got here then?' he asked.
'Yeah,' Odette replied, 'he's over there playing with the other children'.
'More like making chaos with the other children!' Antoine replied.
'Something like that' Odette chuckled, gazing over at where her son was now playing happily with the other children.

Odette heard an American accent coming from the other side of the room.
'How's it hanging big bro?' she heard the woman call out. Antoine planted a quick kiss on his wifes cheek and rushed over towards the woman, taking her in a tight embrace.
'Who's that?' Odette asked Maddie.
'Oh that's Amelie' Maddie replied, 'she's Antoines sister. She moved away to America about 15 years ago to study at Colombia and she's back here visiting for the week. I hope you don't mind me bringing her to the party'.
'No of course not!' Odette replied, as Antoine and his sister came back to join them.
'Hey sweets!' Maddie said, giving her sister-in-law a hug.
'Hey honey', Amelie replied back. Odette leaned forward and offered her hand out to Amelie.
'Hey, I'm Odette, I'm Daniels mum', she said. Amelie batted Odettes hand away.
'Enough of the formalities honey! Bring it in!' And she opened her arms out wide. Odette cautiously stepped forward and Amelie flung her arms around her, crushing her in a hug. Odette grimaced at Maddie as she stepped back. Maddie gave her a sly smirk.
'So you're the birthday boys momma!' Amelie said, 'I just saw him and he's ever so sweet!'.
'Ah, thank you' Odette replied back.
'I'm Amelie' Amelie began, 'I'm Antoines lil sis. I live in New Haven, but I thought I'd take a vacation over here to see my lil brother'. She pulled Antoines face into her hands and he grimaced in return.
'Oh, Maddie said you were from New York City' Odette replied, 'she said you'd gone over there to study at Colombia'.
'So I moved over to the states to study at Colombia' Amelie began 'but I've just done my PHD and now I'm living in New Haven, teaching a class at Yale'.
All of a sudden Odettes heart turned to jelly. This was too close for comfort.