AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Devastated. Draining,” Iris added guiltily.
He smiled. “I’m sorry I didn’t come and join you.”
“You’re not really, are you?” she teased.
He laughed, and Iris caught a glimpse of the old Gabriel, the Gabriel before Charlie.
He came over to join her, stooping under the open doorway, and took his mug from the bench.
“She’s taken all that was left of her holiday leave,” Iris continued.
Gabriel paused, the mug halfway to his mouth. “How much?”
“Three weeks. Do you mind?”
“No, of course not. But I hope, for her and Pierre’s sake, that she’ll go back before then.” He looked at her, concern in his eyes. “They will get over this, won’t they?”
“I hope so.”
He sat down on the bench and Iris joined him.
“I think you might have missed a call from Beth,” she said, guessing that their daughter would have phoned Gabriel first. “She called when I was with Laure and I didn’t feel I could answer.”
“I must have been in the shower. She told me she’d call this morning but I didn’t expect her to phone so early.”
Iris heard the disappointment in his voice, and threw him a sympathetic smile. “Why don’t you call her?”
“I will. Then I need to phone Pierre. Did Laure tell you anything else?”
“Not really.”
“But—did Pierre always know that he had a daughter?”
“Apparently not. He told Laure that he bumped into a woman he knew, and that just from looking at the child who was with her, he knew that she was his.”
Gabriel frowned. “So he just thinks he’s the father? He has no proof?”
“He does now. Apparently, he was so convinced he was the father that he suggested he and the woman had a coffee together, and while they were in the café, he took a hair from the child and did a DNA test.”
Gabriel burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, but that’s just not believable.That might happen in a film, but not in real life. If he was so convinced the child was his, why didn’t he ask the woman outright?”
“He did. But she denied he was the father, which is why he took the hair.”
“And does this woman have a name?” Gabriel sounded skeptical.
“No. But Laure isn’t convinced it’s a random woman.” She paused. “She thinks it’s Claire.”
“Claire?”
“Yes. Her daughter was conceived by sperm donor.”
“No.” Gabriel was adamant. “Pierre wouldn’t do that.”
“Not even as a favor to a friend?”
A frown furrowed his brow. “Are you suggesting that Claire wanted a child, so Pierre gave her one?”
“It’s what Laure is suggesting.”
