My Little Pixie

Chapter Thirty-Six - Parisienne Walkways

Ten days later, my little pixie and I were on the plane to Paris. I had invited her there for a few days to celebrate the end of her exams and she had been so ridiculously excited by the idea that I felt a little guilty about the necessary subterfuge.

"I have to admit that I have not been completely honest with you," I said as we sat back in our first class seats, sipping champagne. "There is a job that I need to do whilst I'm in France which means that I will have to leave you for about a day. I had to use this decoy to hide my true intentions from James."

She did her best to be understanding but could not quite hide her disappointment.

"I knew you would not be happy about it so I thought of a couple of ways to make it up to you. Firstly there is this... I produced a letter with an attached credit card in her name..."

"Thank you," she said, formally, but her eyes could not quite hide that she remained disappointed. In a way I was comforted by the fact that my absence was of greater significance to her than my money.

"And, secondly, I have made arrangements to ensure that you are not on your own when I am away."

Of course her little forehead wrinkled up at that but I gave her no clue; she would enjoy solving that puzzle herself.

At last she got there and her eyes sparkled with excitement. "You mean..."

"I have invited Emily and Elizabeth to join us for a couple of nights."

She gave a squeak of excitement that had the other passengers looking around. But she ignored them and, after carefully putting her glass down, she threw herself at me, wrapping me up in an enormous hug.

"So I am forgiven?" I asked.

She nodded into my shoulder but then sat back and looked at me with shining eyes. "Please may I take Ellie out shopping?" she asked. "She's lost tons of weight and hasn't got a thing that fits her anymore."

"Of course you may buy clothes for Elizabeth... and, indeed for Emily and yourself... but, for Elizabeth, in particular, you should not buy too much. Whilst she has, indeed, already lost a number of tons, she has several more to go! I intend to suspend her dietary restrictions for the duration of the holiday but I shall still expect you all to be sensible. And they will come back into force when you return home."

"Thank you!" my little pixie said, picking up her glass and nuzzling her head gently into my shoulder.

The first couple of days of our holiday passed quickly. I took her to L'Opéra and she introduced me to the Musée d'Orsay, her 'favourite museum in the whole, wide world'! We ate in little family restaurants on the Rive Gauche, with the sad scar that is Notre Dame on the skyline.

Then I took my little pixie back to our hotel with it's perfect view out over the Champs Elysee and we made sweet, gentle, beautiful love by candlelight.

But, late on the Saturday morning, I had to send her off to meet the other two girls at the Gare du Nord whilst I headed out to Le Gare de l'Est to catch the TGV out to Strasbourg.

Once on the train, I had intended to study the notes that Thomas had prepared for me but, for some reason, I was having some difficulty concentrating.

Which is unusual. I customarily enjoy a laser sharp focus

Of course, I was eventually able to work out what my problem was. I was already missing a certain little pixie with her wild, curly, red hair and her shiny green eyes. With that understanding, I managed to get my mind in gear and, as the train flew through the Champagne region, with its endless rows of grape vines, I learnt about our target.