Chapter 10 - A Happy Ending
The doorbell chimed, breaking the quiet warmth of the room.
Leia hurried to open it. Outside stood old friends, colleagues, neighbors from the building, and young artists from her academy, all stamping the snow off their boots and carrying bottles of wine, roasted chestnuts, and wrapped boxes tied with velvet ribbons.
"Merry Christmas!" voices rang out in a chorus of warmth and joy.
Henri walked out of the kitchen with a large silver platter of food, his face glowing with health and happiness. "Come in, come in! The house is warm and the wine is breathing!"
As the living room filled with laughter, clinking glasses, and the bright music of the holiday season, Étienne stood by the window, looking out over the sparkling lights of Paris.
The city was vast, complex, and often unforgiving. But tonight, looking at Henri laughing with his friends and Leia greeting guests with her radiant smile, Étienne felt a deep, abiding peace settle into his soul.
May you like
Honesty had not destroyed them. It had saved them.
And as the church bells across the boulevard began to toll midnight, ringing in Christmas Day, Étienne raised his glass in a silent toast to the little star who had brought him home through the snow.
