“I’m not sure,” she murmured. It was up to Luc. But if his mother had anything to say about it, Rachel would be out the door and gone from the area within five minutes.
A strange sound came from the other woman. “My son has been his own man for many years. Until now, he has made wise decisions.”
Rachel took the bait. She couldn’t help it. “Is it me particularly you have a problem with?”
She had to wait a long time for an answer.
“I don’t know enough to like or dislike you, mademoiselle. But you are a very beautiful woman. My son would have to be blind not to be attracted.”
Rachel shook her head in misery and exasperation. “I still don’t understand.”
“How could you if he didn’t tell you?”
Her heart hammered in alarm. “Tell me what? Please, I want to know.”
His mother gazed at her speculatively, as if pondering whether to say anything or not.
“He has a wife.”
“Luc told me he was divorced.” Rachel refused to believe he’d lied to her. That wasn’t the Luc she knew.
“Not in the eyes of the church. Two days after the proceeding became final, the car accident happened because Paulette was beside herself at the time and realized the divorce was a mistake.
“God willing, one day soon she’ll wake up from her coma. At that moment they’ll remarry because he’s never stopped loving her, nor she him.”
Rachel groaned.
His mother looked all around the room. “He built this house for her. It’s a gift to represent a new beginning.”
The world tilted for a moment.
“How long has she been in that state?”
“Three years.”
Three?
“He hasn’t missed a day at her bedside. Nor has he stopped willing her to wake up and love him again. Her family is fighting him in court to get the machines turned off. He won’t hear of it, and is using his financial resources to make certain that doesn’t happen.”
A knot of pain twisted Rachel’s insides.
“Not even you could keep him away from her this morning. I’m not telling you this to be hateful. You’ve heard the expression, ‘Sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind.’ I’m simply trying to save you future grief.
“What you decide to do from here on out is your affair. Adieu, mademoiselle.”
Adieu meant goodbye for ever.
Numb from shock, Rachel could only stand there helplessly as she watched his mother leave the kitchen and disappear out the front door.
“If something seems too good to be true, it always is.”
That was what Rachel’s embittered mother had used to say in those years following the divorce.
A coldness began to seep into her body. The kind where you didn’t think you could ever be warm again.
There was no doubt in her mind the older woman had told her the truth. Madame Chartier had no reason to lie.
It would be easy enough to call the hospital and receive verification that Luc’s ex-wife was a patient.