Chapter Twenty-Three
As they lay naked, with the exception of Lisa’s bracelet on her wrist, covered only by the cotton sheet, the chalet was quiet. It was just the two of them. Felicity and her family had set off for the day, and Dom’s motorbike, complete with Florian riding pillion, had roared its way into the distance some time ago. Lisa wondered about talking to Nathan, but the morninghad started in such a perfect way and Nathan had made promises of the day ahead being even better. She didn’t want to spoil that. It wasn’t every day a person turned thirty, after all. Instead she lay there, her cheeks pink, her breathing ragged, feeling perfectly sated. The breeze from the open balcony door cooled her while she listened to the sounds of the crickets heralding the warm day, and therush of the meltwater falling in the distance.
After a breakfast on the terrace of the pastries the children had given Lisa earlier that morning, Nathan said they should get ready. While Lisa didn’t know where they were going, she soon recognised the road from Samoëns to Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval and the dramatic scenery as they drove towards the area of natural beauty. An eagle swooped high abovethem. The meltwater rushed along the stream next to the road. As Nathan took the turning to Cascade du Rouget, Lisa knew they were heading to the magnificent waterfall. The road twisted its way upward. As they crossed narrow bridges, Lisa opened her window and could hear the force within the constantly rushing water.
‘It’s amazing, isn’t it? Can we get out?’
Nathan gestured to the roadahead. ‘There’s a place to stop just up here.’
‘Have you been exploring?’
‘I found it on my phone. I wanted to take you somewhere special.’
Lisa put her hand on Nathan’s thigh. ‘Thank you.’
As they turned the corner, the full spectacle of the eighty-metre waterfall came into view, stretching high above them and disappearing below the road before continuing on the other side. Thenearer they drove, the more spray covered the windscreen. Pulling in to park just beyond the falls, Nathan reached for their coats.
‘We’ll need these.’
Lisa was pleased he had thought to bring them. It was a hot day, but the temperature, even as they opened the car doors, was obviously several degrees lower than it had been at the chalet. As they walked towards the waterfall, the chillin the air increased. Nathan put his arm around her. Lisa giggled as they walked into the spray and it made her hair and skin wet – like misty rain, or as her Granny Blake had always called it, wet rain. The sound of the surging water was incredible as it tumbled over two huge steps in the mountainside. It was a feast for the senses. They took photographs, posing with the spectacle behind them.
Having experienced the magnificence of the Cascade du Rouget at close quarters, they walked up a rough side slope, towards a café where they could admire the view and dry off in the warmth of the sun, with an ice cream. Taking a table outside, they watched others park up and walk as near as they could to the waterfall; some even took the path that climbed up the side for a closer view, appearingas tiny figures alongside the second of the steps in the mountain.
‘The website said it completely freezes in winter, and when the conditions are right, you can climb up the ice. It’s hard to imagine now, isn’t it?’
Lisa looked at Nathan; his smile and enthusiasm were youthful as he soaked in the view. ‘We’ll have to come back in the winter so we can see it. My parents will be here thentoo. We can bring the baby to France for Christmas.’
‘Maybe. Though you might want to have the baby’s first Christmas at home.’
Lisa smiled. She wasn’t sure whether Nathan meant his home or her parents’ home in England. Sorting out where she and the baby would be living was another conversation she and Nathan needed to have. She had watched Flick and Pete all week; they operated well together.Of course they had the odd disagreement and quick quarrel, but mostly, so much was well established about their routines and relationship they made it look easy, probably easier than it was. Lisa recalled something Winnie had once told her, ‘Don’t judge your insides by others’ outsides.’ Like many of Winnie’s sayings, Lisa had found it cryptic at the time, but she felt she was starting tounderstand it.
Nathan took Lisa’s hand, stroking across the back of it with his thumb. ‘You OK? You look miles away.’
‘Yes, of course. I’m right here, with you.’
Lisa’s gaze met his blue eyes.
‘Good.’
Nathan hesitated and Lisa wondered if he was holding something back. It was as if there was something he wanted to say. But the moment passed as he pushed his hand through hisdark blond hair and asked how her ice cream was.
Once finished, they made their way back to the car. As Lisa was about to get in, Nathan pulled her to him and kissed her. Lisa squealed at the unexpected gesture before relaxing in to the thoroughly lovely kiss that was an added sensation against the backdrop of the waterfall. When breathing became necessary, they broke apart.
‘Wow! Whatwas that for?’
Nathan grinned a wicked grin. ‘I just wanted to kiss you in the Cascade du Rouget area.’
Giggling, Lisa got in the car. Instead of taking the road back down the mountain, they drove upward. Beyond the café the road continued to twist higher. They passed small farmsteads, where the only fence between them and the cows seemed to be white tape. Lisa kept her window open, theair helped with the post-ice-cream twisty-road sensation in her stomach, but also meant she could hear the cow bells. She didn’t look down. The car seemed frequently too close to the rough edge of the too-narrow road and the sheer drop that threatened to give them a shortcut down the mountain.
When they reached the top, it was eminently worth it. The view across the ice-capped mountaintopswas breath-taking. Nathan took a picnic basket and blanket from the boot of the car.
‘When did you get those ready?’
‘I had to do something to entertain myself when Flick and her tribe invaded our room.’
Nathan spread the blanket on the grass, near the shade of a tree.
‘If I get down there, you might have to call search and rescue to haul me up.’ Lisa grimaced.
