“Jean-Marc? I need you to do me a favor.”
“Anything.”
“Rachel has been a wine buyer for a long time. Now that she’s going to be my wife, I’d like you to teach her about the family business. Everything. She’s smart, and a fast learner. But the invitation is going to have to come from you and Giselle so she’ll feel a real part of our family.”
His mother shot to her feet. Anger had replaced her tears.
“If you marry her, you’re going to alienate everyone who knows us. After your father worked so hard to make the business what it is today, can you live with that on your conscience?”
“How can you be so cruel, Maman?” Giselle intervened.
“Don’t you know everyone who knows our family has been wondering why Luc didn’t get on with his life years before now?
“No one has done anything wrong. Paulette’s chemical imbalance caused her to lose her mind. Let’s be honest about that. I don’t know another man who was willing to go through what Luc did, and now that he’s paid the price, it’s his turn to live. When people find out he’s married again and expecting a baby, they’ll cheer for him.”
Luc kissed his sister’s cheek. “Thank you, chère soeur.”
“You think Paulette’s family will cheer you?” his mother cried out.
He glanced at her. “I can’t worry about that, Maman. I know Yves will support me. He never wanted Paulette hooked up to those machines in the first place.
“But be that as it may, Rachel and I have a son or daughter on the way. It’s up to you if you want to be a part of its life.
“Rachel’s mother died years ago, so you’ll be its only grand-mère.”
Purposely leaving her with that bit of news to ponder during the sleepless hours of the night, he kissed her cheek before striding out of the house to his car.
CHAPTER TEN
“WOULD you like to make a detour to London and see your father? We could fly from there to Colmar.”
Rachel sat next to Luc in the back of the taxi driving them to Kennedy airport.
She shook her head. “I’d rather tell him over the phone and let him get used to the idea.”
“Then we’ll do it now.” He pulled out his cell.
She bit her lip. “I don’t know—”
“I do,” Luc asserted in that natural voice of command he wasn’t aware of. “He’ll always be possessive of you, Rachel, so the sooner he finds out you have a husband devoted to you, the better.”
She let out an anxious sigh. “You’re right.”
“What’s his number?”
When she told him, he punched the digits, then reached for her hand. This time he threaded his fingers through hers as he’d done at the doctor’s office as if to say they were partners now and would face the world together.
She checked her watch. “It’s three-thirty over there. He’s probably home getting ready to go to work.”
Rachel hoped he hadn’t left for the restaurant yet. Once he got there, he was usually out of sorts.
“Hello, Mr Valentine? Luc Chartier here.”
She held her breath while they exchanged greetings. Her gaze darted to the diamond ring and gold wedding band adorning her left hand. Luc had left nothing undone during their three-day whirlwind in New York.
“I’m glad you like our wines. It was my lucky day in more ways than one when Rachel came to Alsace, because this morning she did me the honor of becoming my wife. We wanted you to be the first to know. Here she is.”
Luc kissed the side of her tender neck before handing her the phone, making it difficult for her to think with any coherency.