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I saw he had this.
“Be very careful,” I urged.
He jutted his chin at me.
I nodded then yanked Remy out the door.
He barely got both feet in the hall before he again looked down at me, disengaged his hand from mine, and then, with his long-ass legs, he ate the distance to the stairs.
I ran after him.
I didn’t catch up, but I was only a couple of steps behind when he hit the kitchen.
Manon was holding a dishtowel filled with ice to Guillaume’s jaw. Sabre was prowling the kitchen like a cat. Guillaume was trying to pretend no one was there.
And Melisande was not messing about with putting a breakfast tray together.
Her face was tight with fury, but her movements were economical and practiced.
She caught Remy’s eyes and didn’t hesitate sharing, “She does this.” Pause and, “Too damned often.”
“Melly,” Guillaume murmured.
“He’s your son, he should know,” Melisande retorted.
Guillaume shut up.
“I can calm her down,” Melisande told Remy.
“You’re safe with her?” Remy asked.
“She only does it to her husband,” Melly spat.
“Yves is up there,” Remy replied.
She nodded, picked up the tray and hustled out.
“I have this, ma belle,” Guillaume said to Manon, trying to take the ice from her.
“I have it, Pépé,” she assured.
“My girl—” Guillaume tried again.
“She won’t leave your side, Dad. So don’t try to make her,” Remy rumbled.
I pressed my front to my husband’s side and slid my arms around him.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
“Si bien,” Guillaume muttered. He lifted his gaze to Remy. “What can I say? I fell in love with her.”
“Mom?” Remy asked.
Guillaume shrugged. “Both of them.”
Both of them.
Colette and…
Estelle.
“And I met her…why?” Remy asked.
Guillaume’s gaze drifted. “I was going to leave, you see. She had stopped…with you. At least I thought. But not with…” Guillaume didn’t finish, but we all got the gist since Manon was icing his jaw.
He thought she’d stopped beating Remy.
But she had not stopped beating Guillaume.
“And she, the other, my other.” He couldn’t wring the fondness out of his tone when he referred to Estelle. “She loved me.”
“And she didn’t hit you with huge-ass glass marbles,” Sabre growled.
“Sah,” I said softly.
“So you took me to see her because…?” Remy prompted.
“I wanted to see if you liked her. We were all going to move to France.”
“When I was there, you went back to the bedroom with her,” Remy reminded him.
Our kids exchanged glances.
“Of course, she was upset,” Guillaume said.
“What?” Remy asked.
“She made a special sundae for you, and you didn’t seem to like it. She wanted you to like her. So very much, she fretted about it for days before I took you to meet her. I told her you liked ice cream, and she must have tried ten different sundaes before she settled on that one to make for you. She was upset when she thought you didn’t like her. So I took her back to suggest she give you some time, it all doesn’t happen just like that. Then I came out and we went home.”
“I thought you were back there forever.”
“You were young, everything feels like forever, especially if you’re bored and have nothing to do. We were away perhaps ten minutes. If that long.”
Remy looked out the kitchen window.
I held on to him even if my heart was breaking for Guillaume.
“Why didn’t you leave?” Remy asked the window.
“I came to my senses.”
Remy looked back at him.
“If I left, who would see to your mother?” Guillaume explained.
“Oh, Pépé,” Manon whispered, still holding the ice to his jaw but putting her head to his shoulder.
“But Estelle…she’s still in your life?” Remy pressed on.
“She loves me,” Guillaume said softly.
“Oh Pépé,” Manon moaned, still holding the ice, with her head on his shoulder, and now she turned into her granddad and slid an arm around him.
Remy stood motionless for a second.
Then he walked out the back door, down the stairs to the side of the house, and I followed him with Sah following me.
Remy stopped, transferred the orb he was still holding to his right hand, and with a brutal side-arm throw and deadly accuracy, he launched it into a bird bath, which broke apart on impact.
“I know you’re ticked as shit, but that was rad,” Sah remarked.
“He had a chance to be happy, and he took care of her,” Remy said.
I got closer and murmured, “Honey.”
“He had a chance to get away from this goddamn mess, and he stayed with her.”
Sah got closer and said, “Dad.”
Remy looked to his son. “Is his jaw broken?”
“Melisande, who by the way, is kick-fucking-ass, felt it a little bit while Manon was getting ice. She said it’s okay. But seriously, Dad, that thing broke a concrete bird bath. We should get him to the hospital.”
Remy nodded, turned on his bare foot and stalked to the door.
Sah went to follow him, but I caught his hand, “You go with them. Take Manon. I’m staying here with Yves.”
