To my Dearest Friend

An unlikely pair

I look at the passing Trees. 'The chateau is looking down on the Loire. We have another mansion in the Loire valley but this has been here since probably 1059, so excuse it when it looks a but ancient, that is because it definitely is.' I nod but I'm not really interested in it, I can only think about the letter I wrote him. Why can't I get him out of my mind. Lady grey and Christian are also coming. I'm happy about that, I don't want to ruin this for Émile. But I know Émile can ignore anything if you ask him to. He is very skilled in that, he says he learned it by ignoring peoples comments on his clothes.

We arrive at a castle, I have seen anything quite like it. It's like if something would push it a bit it would tumble into the Loire. I'm very impressed but I don't know if I think it's beautiful 'Strange isn't it?' Émile says while stepping out of the carriage. What do you mean?' 'It's not beautiful but it's still very beautiful' I nod. 'I was asking myself if that's normal.' he laughs. 'It totally is.' We enter with Lady Grey and Christian.

Two staff members open the doors and it's very beautiful on the inside. 'I'm home!' Émile screams. A beautiful dark haired lady comes into the room. 'This is my dear mother, Duchess of Polignac. You can call her, what van they call you ma dear mama?' 'Madam Polignac.' She says with a smile. Two dogs appear. 'These are our hunting dogs, they live partly in the house. My father adores them too much, he actually wanted an irish wolfhound like the Montagues but that was too big for mama, So now we have one basset faux de Bretagne and a grand fauve de bretagne, this is Victor and this is Hugo.' I laugh and kneel. I have always loved dogs I know that Yves was devastated when their dogs died. 'This is Luc.' He says, I shake the boys hand, it surprises me how dark his hair is. 'My brother, and this is Genevieve. My sister." I nod as I kiss her hand. 'You're home' Somebody's voice says. We look up. The man looks exactly like Émile, only with short hair and a scar through his eye. He is not any less flamboyant than his son, he's wearing a cobalt blue suit. And his jewelery is extremely expensive. I want to be like him.

Émile shows us around, there's are a lot of portraits in all the hall from medieval times to now. It's very interesting but Émile says that from most of them he hardly knows who they are. I'm mesmerised by the years this castle must have seen. What stories does this place have? Yves would have loved this place, he's probably been here. I wish he was here. I feel sick. We're walking through a sitting room when I see a portrait of two young man, one looks exactly like Yves. The hair is the same, the expression, the elegance, the clothing is more feminine. The blonde boy that stands behind chair the lookalike Is sitting in looks like émile with a bit shorter hair. I would say they are nineteen or so. I stand there, looking at the beautiful boys. Envious of their hand resting on the shoulder from the Yves Lookalike. 'Beautiful isn't it.' Émile says. I am startled by it. I nod. 'Who are they?' 'Michel, my father, before his scar.' I nod 'And the other.' 'I thought you would know. Mathieu Montague.' I don't notice that my mouth has been agape since he told me his name. 'Wait you're saying this person is Mathieu?' He nods. 'He can smile??' He laughs. 'Apparently, they were very very close throughout their whole lives till Mathieu married, they lost most of the contact.' 'I wonder why.' 'Distance, they used to divide their time between France and England. His wife didn't like that." I nod. 'He never told me a lot about it though.' he says 'May I ask something?' 'Of course you may ask something.' 'How did he get that scar?' He shrugs 'I don't know.'