He gave a negligent shrug of his shoulders. “I concede you’re the keeper of our memories. You’re also an attractive thirty-year-old who’s still not married. That tells me a lot about you.”
The satisfied gleam in his eye could only mean one thing. He thought she’d never gotten over her love affair with him. Needing to disabuse him of that fact she said, “Natalie’s happiness has always come ahead of every other consideration.”
“Meaning she doesn’t like any man who gets too close to you.” His mocking smile defeated her. “I have the same problem with Alain who let me know he isn’t keen on my receptionist.”
So there was someone in his life…
“I’m not surprised,” Rachel murmured. “The look on his face tonight while he was studying the photograph tore me apart. He’s jealous of your attention to Natalie.”
“So I noticed.”
“It’s tragic.” Rachel could commiserate with Alain’s pain. Over the years she’d suffered enough from jealousy just thinking about Tris with someone else. Of other children who had fathers. It was time to change the subject. Right now she didn’t want to be reminded of the list of women who desired a relationship with him.
“After hearing what you told me about our relationship, I’m convinced that if my accident hadn’t happened, we’d be married right now and might even have another child or two.”
“Don’t go there,” she said, taking a shallow breath. “We can’t rewrite history, Tris.”
“Not history—no—but the future. Excuse me while I take this call.”
While she’d been talking, his cell phone had rung. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the caller ID before speaking.
“Maman? Qu’est-ce qui se passe?”
Rachel glanced at her watch. It was after 11:00 p.m. Swiss time. No wonder his mother was calling.
“J’arrive a l’instant.”
Tris hung up. “I’ll go for the kids and be back shortly. You and Natalie have the run of the next level, so feel free to explore. My staff will have already taken your luggage to your rooms earlier.” Before she could think to protest, his long, swift strides carried him away.
She watched out the window for him. He started up the car and headed down the drive. His headlights reflected off the twists and turns of the precarious mountain road descending to the town below. Montreux glittered like a constellation of stars in a far off galaxy.
Rachel felt like she’d entered another dimension. It was almost as if she’d been asleep in a time capsule, and had suddenly awakened to discover everything was different because she’d lost her bearings. Except that Tris was in this new dimension, too.
A Tris who was different, yet in some ways achingly the same.
Smothering a troubled cry, she hurried over to the staircase that took her to the next floor where she and Natalie would be staying. Tris had rejected any talk of her and Natalie moving to a hotel.
Two charming bedrooms with private bathrooms and an adjoining balcony had been prepared for them. Tris had left gift boxes on their beds which were covered with those fabulous Swiss eiderdown quilts Rachel loved. He’d had flowers placed in their rooms.
Deciding to wait for Natalie so they could open their presents together, she reached for her suitcase and put everything away in drawers and the closet. When that was completed, she went next door and unpacked Natalie’s luggage.
While she was hanging up the last of the blouses, her daughter came running in the room. “Mom?”
“I’m right here.”
Rachel emerged from the closet and was almost knocked over by Natalie’s hug. She lifted shining eyes to her. “Caux is so fantastic! And this chalet! It looks exactly like the pictures in Heidi. I love it here so much I can’t stand it!
“Just think—if you hadn’t decided to come to Switzerland to school, you would never have met Dad. He lives in the most beautiful place in the entire world!”
“I agree,” Rachel responded quietly.
“Hey—what’s this?” Natalie had picked up the package on top of the quilt.
“It looks like a welcome home present from your father.”
“Do you think it’s okay if I open it now?”
“I’m sure he’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”
She carefully undid the wrapping and pulled a tissue packed item from the box. A card fell out with it.
“Ma belle fille—when you lift the lid on the chalet, you’ll hear the mechanism play the Sleeping Beauty waltz. That’s how I think of you, Natalie. My little Sleeping Beauty who just woke up to fill her father’s heart with joy.”
Tears welled in Rachel’s throat. When she looked at Natalie, moisture bathed her daughter’s cheeks. After removing the paper, they both cried in delight to see a miniature chalet music box that looked exactly like Tris’s house.
Natalie lifted the lid and the music of Tchaikovsky filled the room. The sweetest smile broke out on her face. After it stopped playing she said, “I have to find dad!”
Tris couldn’t have given her anything she loved more.
Curious to know what was on the other bed, Rachel went to her room and opened the gaily wrapped package. There was an accompanying note.
This would have been yours twelve years ago.
With trembling hands she undid the tissue. Inside was a small music box of the Chateau de Chillon.
A turn of the key and the mechanism played “Variation on the Theme of Paganini.”
She bowed her head, remembering that uncomfortable moment at his parents’ house when he’d trained accusing eyes on her for keeping all knowledge of his daughter from him. If their positions were reversed, would she be able to find it in her heart to understand his explanation? Forgive him?
Rachel wanted to believe it, yet the music was a bittersweet reminder that even though he’d listened to her reasons just now, she feared it would be too much to hope he would ever truly let go of his anger.
“Thanks for the music box, Dad. I love you so much.”
Tris hugged his daughter tightly. “I love you. Get a good sleep.”
“You, too. Oh, before I go to bed I have a present for you. It’s from my nana. Just a minute and I’ll get it.” Natalie dashed from the room.
Curious to know what Rachel’s mother would have sent to him, he waited impatiently for his daughter who returned in a flash.
“Here—” She handed him a lunch-size sack, tied at the neck with a ribbon.
“What’s this?”
“I don’t know. She said it was personal, that mom doesn’t even know about it. I was supposed to give it to you in private after I got to Switzerland.”
“Thank you, petite.”
“Goodnight, Dad.”
“Bon nuit. We’ll go exploring tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait!”
As soon as she slipped out the door, he opened the sack. Inside was a wrapped package with a note on the top.
Dear Tris, at the peak of my daughter’s pain, she threw these out. I was afraid she might regret it one day, so I gathered them up and kept them without her knowledge. Now I’m glad I did. I understand you suffer from headaches since your memory loss. Maybe these will help. Affectionately, Kathleen Marsden.
He undid the package. Out fell thirty or more glossy snapshots, each one giving him the lost history of his time on the ship and in Geneva with Rachel.
The breath left his lungs. No wonder he’d fallen so hard. With blond hair almost to her waist and those crystalline-green eyes, she was a raving beauty.
There were close-ups of her, of him, all taken against various backdrops. Shots of both of them together with their arms wrapped around each other laughing, hugging, kissing in fun. Kissing in passion…
Mon Dieu. He hardly recognized himself.
Weeks ago he’d told Alain that they’d been young and reckless students who’d gotten carried away in the heat of the moment.
But here was the definitive proof that he and Rachel had been two people wildly in lo
ve. He could feel the vibes between them lifting right off the paper.
A groan of pain lodged in his throat. How in the hell could she have thought he’d just been using her? Yet the fact that she’d thrown out these pictures was proof she’d believed it.
Ever since Natalie had opened the door of the townhouse to him, he’d been searching his soul to understand.
He lowered his head, trying to put himself in Rachel’s place. That’s when he noticed one of the photos had fallen to the floor. He picked it up. There she was, a girl-woman with an alluring combination of innocence and enough lovelight in her eyes to blind him.
As he continued to study her, the answer came to him. When he hadn’t phoned her, it was the girl part of her who hadn’t had the confidence to find out why. But it was the woman who’d gone on with courage to bear their child and raise her to be the most satisfying daughter he could ever have imagined.
Slowly Tris gathered up the photos and put them in his dresser. He owed Rachel’s mother a debt of gratitude he could never repay. Soon he would find the right way to thank her.
Unfortunately he had a crisis on his hands that needed to be dealt with tonight. When he’d driven to his parents’ to get the kids, his father had informed him that Alain had decided to sleep at their house and had already gone to bed.
Alarmed over this development which wasn’t entirely unexpected, Tris drew out his cell phone to call the house. His mother answered.
“Sorry to disturb you, Maman, but I need to speak to Alain. Even if he’s asleep, I’d like you to wake him up.”
“I’m glad you called. To be honest, I’m worried about him, too. Un moment.”
After a minute he heard, “Uncle Tris?” The boy hadn’t been asleep or he would have been able to hear it in his voice.
“Hi.”
“How come you’re calling?”
“Because I miss you around here. How about going fishing with me in the morning?”
There was a silence, then, “Alone?”
“Oui, mon gars. Just the two of us. I’ll come by for you at six, so set your alarm.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“Dors bien, Alain.”
After they’d hung up, he went down to the second floor and knocked on Rachel’s door. She didn’t answer. Wondering if she and Natalie were together, he stood outside his daughter’s room to listen, but was met with silence.
It was vital he talk to Rachel. He tried the handle on her door. It gave. He put his head inside the darkened room and called her name. Still no answer. She wasn’t in bed.
Noticing the door to the balcony was open, he stole across the room. From the threshold he could see her robe-clad silhouette standing at the railing. The fragrant night breeze gently disheveled her blond hair, causing it to swish against her shoulders in a seductive motion she wasn’t aware of.
Twelve years ago he could imagine the wind off the ocean causing her hair to stream behind her like a pennant. One of the pictures had shown him standing behind her, holding her in his arms. He could feel the silken strands whipping around them while they watched the waves growing more ferocious.
Tris’s body quickened as if it had suddenly remembered that moment on deck, even if his mind hadn’t.
“Rachel?”
She whirled around, clutching the lapels of her modest toweling robe to her throat. It was an utterly feminine gesture, revealing a surprising vulnerability. “I—I didn’t know you were there—”
“Forgive me. I knocked and called out. We need to talk before I go to bed. Do you want me to come back after you’re dressed?”
“No—I—I mean, it’s all right.” She stayed where she was. “Is something wrong with Natalie?”
“Not for the moment. It’s Alain I’m worried about.”
“So am I,” her voice trembled. “Natalie told me he went to bed after we left your parents’ house.”
“I just got off the phone with him. We’re going fishing early in the morning. I expect us to be back by ten, but if we’re a little late, I don’t want Natalie thinking I’ve deserted her on her first morning home with me.”
Even from the distance he could tell her body had stiffened. “I told you we should have stayed at a hotel during this visit, Tris. Then Natalie wouldn’t have expectations, and Alain wouldn’t feel supplanted in your affections.”
His temper flared. “This is their home. This is where they belong. I thought I’d made that clear to you. Under the circumstances I’ll explain to Natalie myself.”
“No, wait—” she cried as he turned to leave. “I have an idea.” There was an urgency in her tone. It hovered in the air, preventing him from walking out on her.
Still holding on to the door jamb, he drew in a deep breath. “Go on.”
“Are you taking a boat out tomorrow?”
“No. We’ll hike to a stream and do some fly fishing.”
“Where?”
“The Gorge du Chauderon.”
He heard her hesitation before she said, “Isn’t that near Les Avants?”
“You visited there, too?” he bit out.
“Yes,” she answered softly. “Every time the school planned an excursion, I went with them hoping I might bump into you by accident…or better yet, that you would see me and we could talk about what went wrong.”
He cursed under his breath. How long would it take before he stopped reacting to the fact that she’d been so close during those two months in Geneva while he suffered a permanent blackout of memory?
He raked a hand through his hair. “What was your idea?”
“I thought Natalie and I could bring the car and meet you for lunch. If you’re late, it won’t matter because we’ll play tourist. I seem to remember a charming little café in the town center.”
“Les Deux Couronnes.”
“I’m sure that was the name. Is it still there?”
“Yes,” he muttered.
“Then we’ll look for you around eleven. Please show up by eleven-thirty at the latest, otherwise your daughter will insist we send out a search party for you, creating a national incident. In case you didn’t realize it yet, she’s absolutely crazy about her father.”
Her comment, infused with a hint of levity, caught him off guard. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He fished in his pocket for his keys. “On my way out, I’ll leave the Mercedes key on your dresser. The car’s got plenty of gas.”
“You trust me to drive it?” She was definitely teasing him now.
He shifted his weight. “When I see the magnificent job you’ve done raising our daughter, I dare say I trust you with my life. So why not my car which is easily replaced?”
“I’ll try not to do that much damage.”
In spite of certain emotions churning him up inside, his lips twitched. “I’m relieved to hear it. Bon nuit, Rachel.”
“Goodnight.”
As he started to leave, she called to him again. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for us, Tris. Between you and your parents, your generosity is so overwhelming, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you.”
He looked back over his shoulder at her. “You still don’t get it, do you. But one day soon you will.”
CHAPTER SIX
BY THE time Rachel and Natalie had finished their shopping, a mixture of locals and tourists had started filling the tables of the Deux Couronnes. Luckily she’d been able to secure a spot out on the terrasse where they could watch for Tris and Alain.
A waiter approached. “Vous desirez, madame?”
“Deux Grapillons, s’il vous plait.”
“Bien.”
After he walked away, Natalie looked up from the postcards she was writing to her friends. “Your French sounded pretty good, Mom. I want to speak French like Dad.”
“Under your father’s tutelage, you will.”
“What did you order us?”
“Grape juice. It’s—”
“I know,” Natalie broke in. “It’s what you use
d to drink. I bet you’re excited to be here.”
“Yes.”
“Then how come you’re so quiet?”
Rachel might have known Natalie would pick up on any change in her mood. Last night Tris’s parting remark had filled her with fresh anxiety. She hadn’t been able to fall asleep for a long time.
“I’m concerned about Alain.”
“He misses his parents, huh.”
“It’s more than that.” There was no easy way to say it, but Rachel had to make Natalie understand the depth of Alain’s pain.
Once their drinks had arrived she said, “Alain has loved his uncle since he was born. Now that he no longer has parents, he looks at Tris as his father. They’ve lived together for a whole year. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”
“Not exactly.”
“Alain’s afraid.”
“Of what?” Natalie took an experimental sip. “Um. This is pretty good, but it needs ice.”
“Most places in Europe don’t serve ice. You have to learn to enjoy drinks without it.”
“How come?”
Rachel let out a sigh of frustration. “Honey—I’m trying to tell you something important.”
“You mean about Alain.”
“Yes. Now that your father has discovered he has you, Alain’s worried Tris won’t love him anymore.”
“Why?”
A simple question deserving a simple answer, but there wasn’t one.
“Because you’re his daughter, and Tris is only his nephew. He thinks his uncle will start favoring you and forget him.”
“Dad wouldn’t do that!”
Total loyalty already. It was astounding. What Rachel found even more amazing was that Natalie exhibited no jealousy of her cousin. She’d always wanted a brother or sister.
“We both know your father loves you equally, but Alain doesn’t.” After a pause, “What do you suppose we could do to help him not be so upset?”
Natalie frowned. “I don’t know. Be his friend?”
Rachel could feel her eyes smarting. “That’s a wonderful sugges—”
“There they are!” Natalie had seen them across the street at the same time as Rachel. She jumped up excitedly from her chair. “I’ll show them where we parked so they can put their fishing poles away. Can I have the key to dad’s car?”
Their New-Found Family Page 8
