Having the Frenchman's Baby

WHILE the men were outside with the children, Rachel helped Camille do the dishes.

Rachel knew there would be times when Luc needed to talk about Paulette. Who better than with her brother Yves? Rachel would give her husband all the space he needed.

As for Camille, Rachel had felt an instant rapport with her. She reminded her of Emma. Sweet and unpretentious.

“You’re a fabulous cook like my half sister, who’s the head chef at Bella Lucia. Thank you for going to all this trouble for us.”

“It was our pleasure, believe me. Luc is family. It’s been hard to see how empty his life has been over the last three years. But now I know the reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“He clearly had to wait until your grandfather asked you to come to Alsace so you and he could meet. It was all part of a grand design, but I didn’t realize it before tonight.”

Her eyes smiled at Rachel. “You’re wonderful for Luc. That book you’re writing on wines shows you value not only him, but the work he does. Not every woman makes a good vintner’s wife.”

Was Camille telling her something about Paulette? Rachel didn’t dare ask. Instead she put the dried plates away in the cupboard.

“If I were you, I know I’d be riddled with curiosity about Paulette,” Camille confided. “But since you’re too polite to bring her name up, then let me.”

She smiled at Rachel. “She was blond like Yves, fun and full of life like he is. If you know Yves, you know Paulette.”

Since Rachel was already crazy about Yves, who kept them all laughing, she could understand how Luc would have adored his sister.

“I understand they knew each other for years.”

“Yes, and from an early age Paulette set her sights on Luc. In that respect she wasn’t any different from all the other females around who considered Lucien Chartier the catch of all time.”

He still was…

“Instead of going away to college, she stayed in St Hippolyte to break Luc down and get in his face until he married her. Her goal in life was to be his wife and have his children.”

The two women stared at each other before Rachel said, “Not every dream works out exactly as we want, does it? My twin sister Rebecca suffers from endometriosis. I know she’s frightened she can’t have children. It’s very sad.”

“Life is strange,” Camille murmured. “I was a schoolteacher and wanted a few years alone with Yves before children came along, but they came anyway. Not that I’m complaining, you understand.” She laughed gently.

“I—I’m afraid I never gave it a great deal of thought until I discovered I was pregnant,” Rachel confessed. “For the first month I was in total shock, but after today I must admit I’m getting excited.”

“Lucky you to be married to a man who can’t wait for the big event. It looks like he bought out the stores this afternoon.”

“As you saw from everything, we went overboard.”

“Why not? Luc’s going to make a terrific father.”

“I’m sure of it. But my heart still breaks when I think of the pain he and Paulette went through losing their baby.” Her voice trembled.

“Any miscarriage is a terrible loss. I had one between my son and daughter.”

“Luc told me. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right, Rachel, and it should have been all right for Paulette because the doctor told her there was no reason why she couldn’t try again.

“I truly believe that if she’d had more going on in her life so she didn’t obsess over getting pregnant, she wouldn’t have gone off the deep end after she miscarried.”

“Was it postpartum depression?”

“That too—however, Yves and I think Paulette had a chemical imbalance. The problem was, she refused to see a psychiatrist so she didn’t get the help she needed.

“Her paranoia got so bad she accused Luc of not loving her anymore because she couldn’t produce his baby. It made no sense. He would have done anything and told her they could adopt. But she wouldn’t hear of it. It had to be Luc’s baby or nothing. She simply wasn’t rational about it.”