But Why so Many Ms?

By Magali Dubreuil Bourguet

Mr Michel Muller, devastated by grief, has been only surviving for years. His hotel at the heart of the forest ressembles the Titanic, whose employees, loyal and faithful, are the musicians who do not leave the sinking ship, until the arrival of the new Andalusian waitress, Malika, and her daughter, Millie.
In order to escape a life of violence and debauchery, they have settled secretly on the hotel's forest estate in their old campervan.

The mother and daughter pair are going to shake things up, upset the norm, to finally wake Mr Muller and his team, who are about to go under.

A story full of twists and contrasts, emotions and humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Magali Dubreuil Bourguet
• Release date: May 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667433660

Book preview

BUT WHY SO MANY MS?

In accordance with the law dated 11th March 1957, it is forbidden to either fully or partially reproduce this work, in ant medium, without the permission of the writer, publisher or the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie, 20, rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris.

Magali Dubreuil-Bourguet

(Mag.B)

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But why so many Ms?

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A novel.

ISBN 9791034374168

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Because to die, you have to be alive (French title: Parce que pour mourir, il faut être vivant)

(Published in 2019)

Prête-moi tes ailes

(Published in 2020)

On three I jump (French title: À trois je saute)

(Published in 2021)

Light as a Feather (Original title: Leggera come una Piuma)

(Published in 2021)

Why do you speak to butterflies? (French title: Pourquoi tu parles aux papillons ?)

(Published in 2021)

You can order these books from all independent bookshops, Fnac and Cultura.

You can also find the author on various social media and on her YouTube channel.

I thank all of those people who have discovered, and who continue to discover, me through my writing and who enjoy escaping in my offers of adventures.

I dedicate this novel to all the ‘Malikas’ in the world, these women who dare, who shake things up because they are ‘too much’ and we are often ‘not enough' and who, without even knowing it, encourage us to be ‘a bit more’.

I also dedicate this novel to all the ‘Millies’, in other words, all of the children of the Earth, who often help to remind us of the beauty of simple things, by allowing us to see them from their perspective.

Finally, I dedicate it to all the ‘Mr Mullers’, that life hasn’t spared, who would like to give up at least until they find their loved ones gone before them. Life is short... I have also written a sentence on this subject:

Let’s concentrate on those who are left for what is left.

Which works in both directions:

Let’s concentrate on what is left for those who are left.­

Magali Dubreuil Bourguet

Foreword

This story aims to inspire the idea that we all move forward on our own path, with more or less as much joy as pain. Some have a much heavier weight to bear than others. I also like to think that some who carry a lighter load can come to alleviate those who are struggling to bear theirs...

I also think that we all have a mission in our life on this Earth, and, even if we don’t understand well why we are going through challenging ordeals, or why we see our plans or intentions destroyed with a click of your fingers... Ah well, it’s not necessarily the mission which has changed, it’s only the way of achieving it which changes according to the speed of our development.

We all know at what point our experiences transform us, making us weaker of stronger, it’s a question of perspective. You have to go through weakness to gain humility and therefore wisdom.

Changes of plans therefore don’t change the objective, but the way in which we reach it. I think that souls, too, can change while on earth, and choose another body, another family, without changing their mission.

Magali Dubreuil Bourguet

Whatever has to happen will happen, no matter how hard to you try to avoid it. Whatever mustn’t happen won’t happen, no matter how hard you try to get it.

Guillaume Musso

Mr Michel Muller

Mr and Mrs Muller had bought this hotel in the heart of hundreds of acres of forest, a peaceful place, wild and protected. A dream that they had realised and build together. For fifteen years, their business has made a profit, clients come from all over France and abroad to stay there, they came looking for rest, authenticity and calm. That doesn’t, strictly speaking, mean material luxury, but luxury, in any case, given the serenity of the place.

Michel and Monica Muller could welcome all kinds of clients: families, because the forest makes children happy; nature lovers and hikers; couples in search of romance; individuals and even groups coming to hold a spiritual retreat; artists in search of inspiration; older people in search of calm and even business people holding meetings.

It was a business which was doing well, they chosen this location for their own sense of balance, Monica dreamed of bringing up children here. They knew they were privileged to live in such a place. Monica was very close to nature, animals, she was a bit wild, but in a good way. She didn’t fear the world, but she needed nature to be able to connect better with the world, she needed this balance, between human communication and connection with animals and plants. She spoke to trees, to plants and to birds. She liked to go out for a walk in the morning, at sunrise, or in the evening, at sunset, because they are the best times to come across wild animals, and the light then is phenomenal. She made the most of it by taking splendid photographs, she managed to capture all the magic of these moments.

Life was beautiful for a time for Mr and Mrs Muller, except for one specific thing... Monica wanted children and they weren’t able to have any. They had tried everything: grandmothers’ methods, medical methods, at a precise hour and minute, they had to try to conceive. They had done every single test possible and imaginable to find each time that everything was fine. They were both in great shape on every level, no genital, hormonal or genetic problem. Little by little making love lost its first meaning, to take only the meaning of to procreate. Mrs Muller saw each cycle as another disappointment, and Mr Muller saw each disappointment as a failure, until he lost his desire to start again.

As the years went by, Monica lost her identity of being a potential mother, but Michel saw himself losing, day by day, his status as a loving husband, and becoming only a failed potential father. Their relationship become more and more tense although there was an enormous amount of love between them because their only motivation was to be able to offer the other the single thing they wanted. But, paradoxically, by concentrating on it too much, what they wanted lost its essence, and, instead of nourishing their love, they exhausted it...

Monica stressed more and more about turning forty. As the end of a book is reached, without reading the much wished for happy ending, the more the number of remain pages is seen to decrease, the more the pace of reading slows, except time cannot be slowed. However, the more time passed, the more she saw her most precious dream of building a big, beautiful family growing distant.

And, one morning, while she was taking the same test as every month before it, the line appeared, not a semblance of a timid line, no, a well-defined line, straight, a line that she had visualised in her dreams so many times that she struggled to believe her eyes. Was it possible that the test was wrong? Was it a mistake? She really couldn’t believe it. Yet, she was certainly pregnant. For the following months, the couple had not been so happy for years. I would almost say they had become free again, since given out of love, the gestures resumed their real motivation for giving tenderness for what it gives the other and not for what it could bring them, without calculation, without no other will or goal than sharing the warmth of a moment.

They had waited such a long time for it, this pregnancy, that they were so happy, from the first months, Monica decorated a bedroom, and started buying toys, clothes and accessories. The latest scan showed they were having a girl so they chose her name, she would be called Marie. She was their little miracle, as they liked to say. Monica often told people that she couldn’t believe it when it finally happened. She said having heard the owl hooting for the whole of the previous week, stopping her from sleeping some nights, and it was also during the stay of a group of women that one of them said it could mean she was having a girl. However, at that time, Moncia didn’t know the sex of the child.

Then, it was halfway through the fifth month that things became complicated. The baby wasn’t positioned correctly, Monica was having significant pains, losing, every now and then, a bit of blood. She was quite a fragile woman, very thin and very petite, and pregnancy tired her a lot. During the final months, she had several stays in hospital, until she was bedridden by the end.

The day of the birth came early, and announced itself in a complicated way. Monica wanted, at all costs, to give birth naturally, although the doctors advised her against it, fearing too many complications. It was at the last moment that they had to

This is how, at the last moment, they had to do an emergency caesarean section, an operation that she bore very badly. Despite all of the doctors’ efforts, she had haemorrhaged and the lack of preparation for the caesarean resulted in her death. They had been able to save Marie, but only for a few days. Marie suffered a stroke following childbirth, which happens in only fourteen percent of cases of maternal death in childbirth.

The key to hell is to survive.

Michel Audiard

The hotel in the heart of the forest

Ten years have passed since the tragedy, Michel Muller still manages the hotel, although the word manage isn’t really an adequate term for the situation. He survives, passively and sadly, everything around him reflects his state of mind. The forest hasn’t been looked after since his wife’s death, there are no longer any visible footpaths, everything has become wild, and it is similar in the hotel.

Unpaid bills and the lack of maintenance to the building cumulate. The employees, five of them, are all always, or