Toxic - Zoe Blake Page 0,37
have the pleasure of presenting the spring collection to you today.” He had a high-pitched nasally voice with a rather unsettling way of emphasizing the first beat of every word. The small man was dressed in unrelenting black as he motioned toward the models.
“First, we have Marie. She is wearing a cut-out bustier bodysuit in a pleated lamé velvet with an over-the-knee boot in leopard print suede. Next we have Christine who is wearing a tuxedo jacket in gabardine with sequins with this year’s signature look, a pleated Bermuda short in shiny lambskin.”
Elizabeth hugged me again as I peeled a clementine for us both. Giving her another wink, I handed her a small slice.
“This is so cool! I feel like Audrey Hepburn in one of those movies. You know the ones, where she strolls into a department store and they come out with a fashion show full of gorgeous gowns and furs for her to choose from,” she chattered on excitedly.
I chuckled. “I will have to take your word for it, baby girl. Can’t say I’ve seen many Audrey Hepburn movies. “
“Next we have Lorraine in a long lavaliere-neck dress in embroidered silk muslin. She is accessorizing it with a chic corset belt in python and a cowrie shell heart pendant charm necklace,” droned on Jean.
Nodding, I offered, “I think you would look beautiful in that one.”
Elizabeth beamed. “You think?”
“The green and gold will match your eyes.”
Elizabeth put her head on my shoulder.
This.
This moment right here was everything to me.
Once more I vowed to take Elizabeth somewhere safe, where her whole world would be me and me alone. She might not like it at first, but eventually after she accepted her fate, she would. I’d make sure of it.
In the end, Elizabeth chose a ready-wear, single-breasted jacket in dark blue velvet and silk with a pair of light denim Bermuda shorts and a pointed-collar crepe de chine blouse to wear out as we toured the sights of Paris.
Jean then promised they would finish the alterations by this evening to a long obsidian dress in embroidered zebra silk muslin and a short silk dress of royal blue and gold. The rest would be shipped to my London address by the end of the week.
After sipping coffee as we strolled on the Pont des Arts Bridge looking over the Seine River while we listened to the street musicians play ‘La Vie en Rose,’ I took her to view the Luxembourg Palace Gardens.
“Next time, if I’m given a little notice of your desire to see Paris,” I said in a teasing voice, “I’ll arrange for a private tour of the Palace de Versailles.”
Elizabeth looked up at me with that adorable gamine face of hers. “Are you still angry… about… about what I did?”
At that moment we were passing a small park on the square at Place des Abbesses. Taking her hand, I led her to a large two-story-high wall of cobalt blue tile.
Her cute mouth opened in wonder as she stared at the small rectangular tiles, each with the phrase ‘I love you’ written in different languages in white cursive.
Wrapping my arms around her shoulders from behind, I kissed her neck and murmured softly into her ear, “This is the Le mur des je t’aime. The I Love You Wall. It’s made of enameled lava tiles and features the phrase ‘I love you’ over three hundred times in two hundred and fifty languages.”
“It’s so beautiful!”
Reaching over her shoulder, I pointed to the slashes of red that crisscrossed haphazardly across the entire wall. “Do you see the red?”
She nodded.
“The red is a broken heart torn apart and then put back together by the love the wall represents.”
“That’s so amazing,” she breathed as her hands came up to clasp my forearms.
“This wall is us… no matter how we may fight… no matter how we may tear each other apart… in the end, there will always be love. Love that is universal in any language.”
She turned in my arms and pulled my head down for a kiss.
“Paris is yours, my love. What would you like to do next?” Looking at my watch, I said, “We still have several hours before the special surprise I’m having prepared for you.”
Elizabeth bit her lip and looked up at me shyly. “Can we go home? I didn’t want to say anything, but my feet are killing me!”
I looked down at her little feet. “I warned you not to wear those strappy things.”
Elizabeth intoned in a nasally voice mimicking Jean from