Chp 1 – A Call Out of Nowhere
It was the hot topic of conversation in the long corridors of the Paris court tribunals. At least for the first couple of weeks after it happened. That July of 2020, curiosity, probably mixed with envy, stirred up the flurry of courthouse gossip about how star attorney Jacques Antoine Favre was “detained” for serious alleged crimes. The avocats à la cour, dressed up in their black court robes and white powdered wigs, liked to whisper while they passed the time waiting for their turn to enter the tribunal before the judges. Most of the whispers were that Jacques Favre had been precipitously and mysteriously cleared of all charges by a simple telephone call to his lawyer’s cell phone. The unconfirmed leak came from the Ministry office. One of the avocats who use to work as a staff clerk at the Ministry of Defense and stayed in touch with her former colleagues heard the call came from there. Someone put two and two together. The call coincided with the day of the week—Thursday—when President Macron held his weekly National Defense and Intelligence Council briefings. It was shortly after the regular press briefing at the Elysée Palace was concluded that the momentous phone call came through to Favre’s defense counsel. No one at the Ministry of Justice or the Paris Prefecture that was handling the investigation of Favre’s charges knew anything about it. Or so everyone said.
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Chp 2 – Life Changes Everything
Kevin’s presence seemed to calm Honora, but it also sped up her contractions. Voila! Le petit Freddie d’Orleans made his debut at 2:49 am on Sunday, August 30, 2020. Graciously, Dr. Hartmann stepped back at the final moment and allowed Kevin the privilege of bringing his son into the world. Honora was light-headed after hours of labor but took in that glorious moment of first seeing their child. When that precious warm body made skin to skin contact (research skin to skin birth contact – add explanation) with Honora, it was a moment that she could never have imagined. Pure, ecstatic and even mystical joy. It was a jolt of primal emotions with their son. That is the way she and Kevin thought of Freddie during those magical moments. Sensing the bittersweet emotions that la Duchesse was feeling as the three grandparents entered the room, Chantal squeezed Amelie’s hand and told her “Allez-si, prenez votre adorable petite enfant. Felicitations!” The ecstatic grandparents were allowed to hold the child shortly after Honora was taken to her assigned hospital room.