After the Crash (43 page)

Tom clenched his fists as he slept in the transparent plastic bed. His
tiny chest rose and fell. All that could be seen of him from this angle
were a pair of chubby cheeks and a mane of blonde hair, amazingly
abundant for a four-day-old baby.

Marc held Lylie’s hand. She was tired. Her eyes kept closing
and flicking open again. The silence in the room made a welcome
change: at last she was alone with Marc and Tom.

Nicole had just left. She would happily have stayed with them
twenty-four hours a day, watching over her great-grandson, but
Lylie had told her, in the kindest way possible, that she needed
some rest. The whole of Dieppe already knew about the baby. The
first person Nicole had told was Pierre, in the Janval cemetery, but
after that she had rediscovered some of the energy of her youth
and gone from shop to shop announcing the good news. Marc was
dreading the new influx of visitors this would undoubtedly bring.

Lylie’s head fell onto Marc’s shoulder. He was perched awkwardly
on the edge of the bed, but he didn’t dare move. Carefully, with his
fingertips, he reached out to grab the card they had received from
Mélanie Belvoir. It was attached to a huge bouquet of roses.

Happy birthday, Tom! Lylie, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be your mother.
Perhaps you will accept me as a grandmother? I will do my best to make
up for lost time, for everything I ruined through my silence. It’s not too
late. Please let me into your life, for Tom’s sake, if nothing else. What
child wouldn’t want a thirty-six-year-old grandmother?

So far, Lylie had refused to meet her mother. Mélanie had not
insisted. Lylie had felt too confused by the prospect; she needed
time. But now Tom was here, and Marc felt sure he would be the
link that connected mother and grandmother.

After barely three minutes of peace, Lylie was woken by the entry
of another nurse. Marc cursed inwardly, but this time there was a
good reason for the interruption. The nurse was carrying a giftwrapped parcel that was bigger than she was.

‘It’s just been delivered by a courier,’ said the nurse. ‘Good thing
we don’t get parcels this big every day. The card is for father, the
present for Mum.’

The nurse left. Lylie stared, wide-eyed.
‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ Marc said.
‘It looks like some kind of joke,’ said Lylie. ‘Are you sure it’s not

going to explode?’
‘That depends who sent it.’
Lylie tore off the wrapping paper while Marc opened the small

He immediately recognised Malvina’s barely legible scrawl, and
his heart suddenly felt full.
‘Who’s it from?’ Lylie asked, half-buried under brightly coloured
paper.
‘A friend,’ Marc replied. ‘A very dear friend.’
‘Oh?’
Lylie had ripped off all the wrapping paper and was now opening
the cardboard box. Inside she found a gigantic brown-and-yellow
teddy bear.
‘Oh my God!’ Lylie squealed. ‘Look how beautiful it is!’
Marc finally managed to decipher Malvina’s message:

Marc smiled and squeezed Lylie’s hand. Then he turned towards
the teddy bear. ‘You’ve been waiting a long time for this, haven’t
you? Finally you get to meet Lylie!’

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