AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Alexio felt angry now and gritted out, ‘What does this have to do with Sidonie?’
‘You met her when she was on her way home from Paris?’
‘Yes,’ Alexio agreed curtly, regretting having ever involved his friend like this.
‘She’d just signed an agreement to accept responsibility for all those debts on her aunt’s behalf. Now, let me ask you this—has she given any hint at all that she’s a woman with a huge financial burden on her shoulders? If not,’ his friend went on heavily, ‘you have to ask yourself why she’s acting as if nothing is wrong.’
* * *
When Sidonie woke again she was alone in the bed and for some reason her belly went into a ball of tension. Something was wrong. She could feel it.
She lifted her head and looked around. No sign of Alexio. Maybe he’d gone for a swim? He was a powerful swimmer and liked the sea as opposed to the pool.
Muscles protesting pleasurably as she sat up, Sidonie got out of bed and went to the bathroom, tying her hair up so that it wouldn’t get wet in the shower.
When she came out again she rubbed her body dry with a towel and looked at the vast array of clothes hanging in the walk-in wardrobe. Something bitter struck her again to think of his other women, but Sidonie shoved it down. She didn’t have the right to feel jealous, possessive.
She found some shorts and a green halterneck top and stuck them on and then went to find Alexio, still with that odd feeling of foreboding in her belly. Before she could leave the bedroom, though, she heard the sound of her phone ringing. She kept it on mainly in case Tante Josephine was looking for her, and when she located it at the bottom of her bag she saw that it was her aunt.
Expecting nothing m
ore than her aunt wanting to chat, Sidonie sat on the edge of the bed and answered warmly in French. Her smile faded in an instant, though, when all she could hear were racking sobs from the other end of the phone.
Instantly Sidonie stood up. ‘Tante Josephine, what is it? Please try to stop crying...’
Eventually her aunt was able to calm down enough to start talking, after Sidonie had encouraged her to breathe slowly. Her aunt was prone to panic attacks and Sidonie didn’t want one to happen before she could find out what was wrong.
Through fits and starts it transpired that someone on her vacances had heard about Tante Josephine’s financial woes and put the fear of God into her by telling her all sorts of horror stories about repossessions and jail sentences for not paying debts. No wonder her aunt was hysterical.
But no matter what Sidonie said it didn’t seem to have any effect. Her aunt was working herself up into another bout of hysterics. Desperate, Sidonie racked her brains for what she could say that might calm her down. Tante Josephine didn’t understand nuances, and Sidonie knew that if she tried to placate her with reassurances that the debts were now in her name it would have no effect. Her aunt still believed the debts were hers.
Her aunt only understood right now—and right now, she was panicking. Sidonie knew that in her aunt’s mind the threat was as real as if gendarmes had just turned up to arrest her.
Tante Josephine needed to hear something concrete, even if it was a white lie. ‘Okay, look, Jojo—are you listening to me? I need you to listen because I’m going to tell you why you don’t have to worry about a thing.’
To Sidonie’s relief her aunt stopped crying abruptly at the use of the nickname that had come about when, as a toddler, Sidonie hadn’t been able to pronounce Josephine. She hiccuped softly. Sidonie’s heart ached for this poor, sweet and innocent woman who did not deserve this stress.
‘Jojo, everything is going to be fine...I promise you.’
Unbeknownst to Sidonie, who stood facing away from the view and the open terrace doors, a tall dark shape had approached and stopped.
‘But Sidonie...how?’
Sidonie could hear the hysteria approaching again and cursed the distance between them. ‘I’m not going to let you go through this alone, Jojo, do you hear me? Didn’t I promise to do everything in my power to get us out of this mess?’
Her aunt sniffled and Sidonie pressed on, seizing the advantage, knowing how fragile her aunt was mentally.
‘You don’t have to worry about a thing because I’ve...’
Sidonie faltered. She’d been about to say she had everything in hand, but she knew that would sound vague to her aunt, so she mentally crossed her fingers, squeezed her eyes shut and said, ‘I’ve met someone, Jojo...and he’s really, really rich. One of the richest men in the world. And you won’t believe how we met—it was on a plane, and he owned the plane.’
Immediately her aunt, who was always enthralled by stories like this, perked up. ‘Really, Sidonie? Truly? Is he your boyfriend?’
Sidonie opened her eyes. ‘Yes, he is. He’s crazy about me. And I’ve told him all about you and he’s promised to take care of everything.’
As much as Sidonie hated using Alexio like this, she knew it would resonate with her aunt, who was simplistically old-fashioned. After her father had bought the apartment for Tante Josephine she’d believed all men had the power to sweep in and make magic happen.
Her aunt’s voice quavered, but this time it sounded like relief. ‘Oh, Sidonie...I’m so happy... I was so worried—and then when Marcel told me those things and—’
