A sign with her name, heart-shaped balloons and a pretty matching jacket: since the night before, Élodie had prepared everything to welcome Robert, her companion, Thursday morning at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
Surely the 29-year-old already had the film of events in mind, from the waiting in the hall to reuniting among onlookers.
Between the traffic jams in the Ile-de-France region and the security measures linked to Covid-19, nothing will have gone as planned.
And it was late, and almost on the sly, that the two lovers joined, at the exit of an elevator, in front of a security officer who refused to let them pass.
As a final reminder that everything, for a long time, seemed to want to separate them.
Covid-19: Elodie and Robert reunite after 8 months of separation
It's been eight months since the couple had been reunited, blocked on both sides of borders that do not take love as a visa.
"I'm happy, for such a long time, we needed to be together," smiles Robert, 36, eyes darkened but sparkling, in the impersonal corridors of the airport.
He is American, she is French.
Since their meeting in February 2018, their story had been written back and forth over the Atlantic.
The coronavirus crisis had nailed her to the ground.
They are among the first, today, to take advantage of a special pass put in place by France for binational couples.
For that, it was necessary to constitute a file, to find documents, to ask friends.
“I had gathered evidence of our vacation trips, attestations on the honor of relatives who had seen us together, recalls Élodie.
I even wanted to add photos but the PDF file was getting too big!
"
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There are already many, memories.
The two saw each other for the first time at a Caribbean party in Paris.
Robert, passing through the capital, is trained by a friend in a large group.
Élodie, Guadeloupean in metropolitan France for seven years, is in the game.
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“We talked really naturally,” she recalls.
I really liked his way of addressing me, he was interested in my brother, in what I did for a living.
Not "you're pretty", and that's it.
"
The duo meet again, first in a group, then alone.
"We became a couple without even asking the question," realizes Élodie.
When Robert returns to New York, she leaves, a month later, to join him for the three days of the Easter weekend.
“There, I met his mother: it was serious from the start!
»She laughs.
This everyday fight against distance takes place.
As a self-employed person, Robert, who specializes in repairing and reselling cars bought at auction, sometimes manages to put down a few weeks.
It is less easy for Élodie, a social worker in the Parisian suburbs.
In all, the couple meet every two or three months.
"Not knowing when we were going to meet again ..."
At the beginning of 2020, Élodie, who speaks perfect English, inquired about the steps to take to settle in the United States.
Check out secretarial jobs.
Thinking of giving French lessons.
In mid-February, Robert comes to see her for Valentine's Day.
It's a romantic weekend: the couple heads to London.
Far from suspecting that in Paris, the Covid-19 is, at the same time, its first victim in Europe.
Soon the world is racing.
On March 12, Donald Trump closes American borders to Europeans.
It's only for 30 days, he says.
The Schengen area is confined in stride.
All of this should only be temporary.
“But the more time passes, the less we talk about opening borders…”, breathes Élodie.
“During the confinement, I continued to work: on this plan, it was okay, she concedes.
But at the relationship level, it was difficult.
We are confined, we cannot go out, there is concern for the other… The fact of not knowing when we were going to meet again, in addition, it was hard.
"
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A reunion more complicated than expected
The young woman soon joined the movement "Love is not tourism" ("Love is not tourism", Editor's note), thousands of lovers campaigning for the right to reunite binational couples in Europe.
This lobbying ends up paying off: in August, France announced the establishment of a special system.
The file is sent on the 19th of the same month.
A wait of nearly five weeks begins… “We were scared, really scared!
»Elodie admits.
Consulting his emails becomes his first gesture in the morning, his last in the evening.
"We had prepared psychologically for failure," she says.
"We will enjoy"
On September 23, his phone rings.
Anonymous calling.
“Usually I don't even answer!
She laughs.
At the end of the line, an agent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduces himself.
“When he asked me if the plane ticket was well booked, I said to myself: that's it, it's good.
The couple get the first pass from the New York Consulate.
The residence permit lasts 90 days.
Robert will have to leave a little earlier, at six weeks, professional obligations oblige.
The program is not yet fully defined.
"We will both enjoy at home: being together, finding each other, already", predicts Élodie.
That may not sound like much.
But until he set foot on the tarmac on Thursday morning, Elodie still had a hard time believing it.
