AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mon beau Remy—”
“And being groomed to be all things to both of you all my life, when I found a woman who loved me for me, I didn’t see that. I needed to be that for her too. And when I couldn’t be, I couldn’t deal.”
His father sounded like he was getting pissed when he asked, “I’m sorry, are you blaming your mother and me for you failing your wife?”
“Yes,” Remy replied firmly. “I am.”
“Merde,” he bit and then, “That is not the son I raised.”
“It fucking is,” Remy gritted out. “One thing I learned very well, Dad, is that I had to be all things to all people. I had to be perfect. But most of all, to keep the woman I loved happy, that woman being your wife, my mother, I had to be all things to her.”
“Wyn is not your mother,” Guillaume scoffed.
“No, she isn’t. But I’m my father and I’m her son.”
“And because of all of this, you will keep yourself and your children from your mother when she’s dying,” his father stated flatly.
“No. I’ll tell the kids. And I’ll tell Wyn. And I’ll let my children individually decide how they want to handle it. Wyn can also decide what she wants to do. But I’ll come home to say goodbye.”
“I am now uncertain that’s my wish, if you’re coming home simply to upset her.”
“Even if she’s dying, if they decide to come with me, I won’t allow her to abuse my family,” Remy warned. “But I’m not coming home to force her to fix things that can’t be fixed. Like I said, I’m coming to say goodbye. And if she lets it be that, that’s what will happen.”
“Then perhaps when you’re here, you and I can have a conversation.”
“About what? Your ‘shortcomings’?”
“No one is perfect, Remy,” he bit out. “Including you.”
“I think you missed the point earlier, considering I just told you I learned that when I was four.”
Guillaume said nothing.
“I need some time with the kids, with Wyn, to decide what we’re going to do, and then I’ll call to let you know when to expect whoever is coming.”
It was very soft when his father asked, “Do you doubt I love you?”
“No, I doubt you know what love is.”
Remy heard his father’s hiss of breath and he wanted to feel nothing, but he didn’t because this was his dad. And unless you were a psychopath, no matter the time or maturity or wisdom you amassed in your life, you gave a shit about your parents. What they thought of you. What they felt for you. And what they felt about how you thought of them.
“Ça me blesse,” Guillaume whispered.
(This wounds me.)
“That was harsh, but I’m sorry, Dad, it was also true.”
“I will be gone one day too, son, and when I am, when my presence on this earth and your feelings about our family history don’t blind you to it, you will understand.”
“I walked out on my family once in my life and it destroyed me to the point I’ve been functioning on autopilot for three years, and now I will do whatever is necessary to rectify that mistake. You walked out on us all the time and never understood the devastation you created when you did, or you ignored it because dealing with it didn’t fit into your life. So, in a way, I already understand. But don’t fool yourself to make yourself feel better. I also never will.”
“You are forgetting in all of these daggers you’re aiming my way, that not only is your mother dying, I’m losing the love of my life.”
“The love of your life?”
“Surely, you cannot doubt that,” Guillaume huffed.
“Wyn is the love of my life too.”
“As she should be, she’s an incredible woman.”
Remy kept talking, again like his father didn’t speak.
“And because I was lonely and stupid and couldn’t face the fact that I’d failed my wife and family, I let another woman into my bed, and I will regret that until my dying day. What were your excuses?”
Another sharp breath and then, “Please call me when you know your plans.”
Which meant they were done, and Remy was good with that because he had work to do.
“You’ll either hear from me or Lisa.”
“Fine.”
“Take care.”
“I will give your mother your love.”
Remy blew out a breath.
And then he said, “Goodbye, Dad.”
And with a good deal of relief, he put the phone in its cradle, that conversation out of his mind, and got to work.
CHAPTER 13
Do It
Wyn
As I walked up to Remy’s house the next evening, I focused on each step I took.
This was because he had the door open, was lounging in it wearing another pair of faded jeans, a pale green, slightly oversized button-up, which fell open at the throat and rested beautifully on his broad shoulders, and he was watching each one of those steps.
