by Autumn Grey
The last few days, I watched her closely, checking for any signs of a panic attack. I still shuddered every time I remembered walking into the bathroom and finding her curled on the floor, how terrified I was at first before I realized what was really happening. Every time Adrien called her “Mama,” my eyes would automatically hone in on her, waiting. She would smile and as soon as he turned away, her eyes would glaze over, her thoughts sweeping her to a place only she knew. I’d walk up to her and pull her in my arms and she would hold me as if she depended on my strength to keep her afloat. She’d say, “He is a cutie,” with awe in her voice, and my reply as always was, “Yes. With an extra dose of mischief,” and then she would laugh.
We returned to the château an hour later after our run, showered together, and took breakfast on the terrace. Today, Selene, Adele, Adrien, and Èric were going out for a morning excursion. I opted to stay behind and finish some paperwork for an upcoming art auction scheduled to take place at the end of October. I also planned to call Gilles. He’d left for Paris four days ago. He called me yesterday and informed me that his office had been broken into. He was yet to confirm the extent of the damage. Whoever the burglar was had made sure to ask him to stop his investigations by leaving a letter similar to the one I’d received a while back. I couldn’t imagine anyone who was resourceful enough to infiltrate a security company’s office and not just any company, but Gilles’s.
At ten o’clock, after meeting with Monsieur Laurent, the estate’s winemaker, I took a break to see Selene and the gang off.
“We are leaving for Saint Didier. Adrien wanted to visit the Jardin trains again,” Selene said, coming down the stairs. At the same time, Adrien came rushing into the living room and toward me. I scooped him up and hugged him.
“Sele—Mama is taking me to see the trains. Come with us, please, Papa?”
“I have a bit of work to do. How about you and me play in the swimming pool when you come back?”
He nodded and wrapped his arms around my neck. “Je t’aime, Papa!”
“Moi aussi, je t’aime, Adrien.”
He squirmed from my arms and ran toward Adele.
“Hey, Adele, are you enjoying yourself?” I asked her, watching her hover near the door.
“Yes.” She gave me her usual calm smile and waved, walking out the door. I scrutinized her face. If her feelings extended further than employee to employer, then she had a talent of hiding it well.
“Adrien adores her,” Selene said, wrapping a hand around my waist as I walked her out to the car. “And I believe her attentions are now claimed by another.”
I laughed. “So does that mean she doesn’t give me the lover’s eyes anymore?” I asked teasingly. She swatted my chest smiling.
“You get the lover’s eyes from me and no one else.” She lifted her chin up, the look on her face pure stubbornness.
I cocked an eyebrow, surprised. I had sensed irritation from her when women looked at me. She had made a point of claiming my hand with hers, or a quick kiss on my lips. But she had never said a word. I felt pleased to hear those words now.
“That goes both ways,” I murmured, eyeing Èric. He seemed less bothered by whatever was going on. “Did you call your family at home?”
She nodded. “My mother went back to the hospital and will be starting the insulin therapy in a few days. How about you? Have you spoken to your mom?”
“She signed a contract with a wine distributor in London and will be back home in a couple of days.” She frowned at the information. I made a note to talk about that later and I kissed her as I fought the urge to haul her over my shoulder and carry her upstairs. It seemed like my mind always wandered in that direction these days.
We stopped next to the car and I stood back, watching as everyone settled inside the car. Then stepped back and waved as the car sped off. I glanced up at the darkening skies. We had talked about Selene’s trip to Berlin. Grace had called two days earlier to let her know that the deal had gone through and she would need to be in Berlin by Thursday the following week. At least we had six more days before her trip. As much as I wanted to keep her close to me, I couldn’t. Èric would travel with her for this trip. And yes, his interest for her had diminished. I had made sure to lay my claim on her with a touch or a kiss without resorting to thumping my chest and growling whenever he stared at her longer than necessary. I still needed the man on my side and I didn’t see any reason to make things awkward. I smiled at the thought as I turned and went back to my office.
THIRTY MINUTES into our drive, it began to rain, the heavy drops beating relentlessly on the roof of the car. Adrien was cuddled into me, sleeping and unaware of his surroundings. Adele and Èric kept sneaking heated glances at each other. I had noticed this tension-filled exchange during the last couple of days. I hadn’t been certain, but the way they were acting in the car confirmed to me that they were, in fact, attracted to each other.
Good for them.
The sound of a phone ringing interrupted Adele and Èric’s constant glances in the mirror. I breathed out in relief because it had reached to the point I wanted to yell at them to just stop somewhere on the country road and fuck each other’s brains out. She wasn’t much of a talker, but still, it was painful and uncomfortable to watch them.
Adele dropped her gaze as she dug out her phone from her pants pockets and a little frown formed on her smooth forehead, her eyes on the screen. She answered, speaking in a low voice and her eyes leveled on her lap the entire time. By the time she was done talking, her face was pale and her body was shaking.
Èric shot me a questioning look, any signs of flirting long gone. I shook my head and focused on Adele.
“Adele?” She raised her face, her blue eyes swimming in tears. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
She shook her head and pressed her fingers to her lips. “I must speak with Remington. Please . . . God . . . Èric?”
The sound of Èric’s name spoken in a broken whisper was enough to have him making a U-turn on the empty country road and racing back the way we had come.
As soon as the car pulled to a stop outside the château, Adele jumped out of the car and bolted for the door. I balanced Adrien in my arms and followed Adele inside with Èric in tow, holding an umbrella over our heads. After setting Adrien on a nearby sofa in the living room, I headed for the office. Adele was pacing inside Remington’s office, wringing her hands, while Remington sat back in his swivel chair, his forehead scrunched up in an expression of confusion.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his gaze moving between Adele, Èric, and me before settling back on Adele.
When Adele didn’t answer, Remington stood and walked toward a built-in cabinet and poured some sort of alcohol from a decanter. He strolled back and shoved the glass into her hands.
“Drink,” he ordered softly.
She did, and then blinked rapidly, her eyes watering even more. Shit, that must have been some strong stuff. It seemed to have given her the boost she needed. Her back straightened, but just as she was about to speak, the house phone rattled mercilessly on Remington’s desk.
I touched her arm to draw her attention. “Come, sit over here.” I pulled a chair for her next to the desk while Remington tended to his call.
“What the hell do you want?” Remington literally snarled into the phone.
Immediately, I pitied whoever was on the other end of the line.
His back was to us, so I couldn’t see his face. He dragged his tense fingers through his hair, and rested them on the nape of his neck.
“Caleb?” He sounded shocked. “What happened?”
Adele shifted on the chair. A few tendrils of hair escaped from her neatly coiffed hair and her fingers started fiddling with the edge of her blouse.
When Remington was done with his call, he replaced the handset, but didn’t turn around. I moved around to stand in front on him.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, ducking my head and met his stricken eyes.<
br />
“I have to leave for London.”
London? Is his mother okay? Or his brother? He’d mentioned that was his half-brother’s name at the museum a while ago.
“When?”
“Caleb was taken to the hospital this afternoon. The doctors are still doing some tests, but they think his kidneys aren’t working as they should.”
“You’ll travel to London to see him?” Adele asked, infusing so much hope in that single sentence.
He cast a look at Adele and nodded.
“Thank God,” she whispered under her breath. “He needs you.”
He needs you? How does she know? And why is she so concerned about this situation?
Because Remington was distracted by his thoughts, I guessed he hadn’t absorbed what she’d said. But seconds later, he frowned, and then turned to face her, a million and one questions flashing in his eyes.
“You know him? You know Caleb?”
Adele nodded, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. “Caleb . . . he’s my brother.
MY PULSE thudded hard in my ears and my vision blurred.
“What did you just say?” Had the shock of hearing my father’s voice on the telephone damaged my hearing? Sure, this had been the first time in over twenty years that he had thought of calling me. The worse thing about it was that it hadn’t been his idea. Caleb asked him to do it. Probably forced him to do it.
I reined in the rage that thoughts of my father provoked in me and focused on the issue at hand.
“Could you please excuse us, Èric?”
He nodded, flicked a worried look at Adele before turning and leaving.
“Caleb is my brother,” she said in a quiet voice.
I pulled away from Selene’s arms and stalked toward Adele.
She stared at me with red-rimmed eyes as if begging me to understand. “I’m your half-sister, Remington.”
The impact of those words hit me squarely in the chest.
Is this some kind of joke?
“Your mother named you after our father. Remington.”
“The only thing I inherited from him,” I spat. “I don’t remember Caleb mentioning you. He is an only child as far as I know.”
She shook her head. “He’s my older brother. He’s ten years older than I am. He told me you two attended the same boarding school in Hertfordshire.”
I continued to watch her, my mind wandering back to the best two years of my life before my mother moved back to France from London. All I had needed was my best friend who was my brother, Caleb, and my mother.
“Caleb also told me how my father behaved toward you. Those two years in that school were the best of his life, and he regrets the way things went after you and your mother left for France.”
I started to pace the length of my office, confusion and hurt raging a war inside me. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth? Is your name even Adele? You have been living under my roof. You befriended my son and me while pretending to be someone you were not. You know how I feel about being lied to, but you have done exactly that for four years. Fucking hell, Adele. Why did you do it?”
“I was afraid of how you would react if you knew who I was. I knew you hated our father and the only person you had a connection with was our brother. You see, after Caleb told me everything, I wanted to get to know you. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. After secondary school, I procured papers to show that I’d previously worked as a nanny. I got references from some parents I had babysat for in my teens. My name is Adele, but I changed my surname, Newport to Dufort.” She stood up and blocked my path, a very bold move. I stopped pacing and glared at her. “Remington, I’m very sorry for lying to you, but I did it out of necessity. I know this isn’t a good reason; however, I hope that you’ll understand why I did this.”
My hands itched to punch something; at the same time, I wanted to take her in my arms and comfort her. Then Selene was right there beside me, covering my twitching hand with her small, softer one. Some of the tension left my body, but most of it churned inside my stomach.
I have a sister and she has been living in my house.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-three.”
I couldn’t stay in this room any longer. I had to leave to sort through all this new information before I said something that I’d regret later. I turned away from her. “We will talk about this later.”
I turned to leave, my feet eager to pound some ground to purge everything I was feeling.
“I’m leaving tonight.”
Merde!
I breathed in deeply, closing my eyes and letting Selene’s touch on my back calm me. I felt betrayed, lost, and manipulated. I could throw Adele out the front door, but wouldn’t that make me worse than my father? I had spent the entirety of my teenage years and adulthood trying not to let my childhood shape who I was. I had succeeded.
“Èric will drive you to the airport.” I started to walk out of the room with Selene’s fingers twined with mine, but I stopped at the door. “I will see you in London, Adele.”
She smiled, tears streaming down her face and hurried toward me. “Thank you, Remington. You are a good man. I love you, big brother.” She lifted on her toes and without warning, kissed my cheeks, then ran out and up the flight of stairs to her room.
Selene stepped in front of me, her eyes searching mine.
“I need to go.”
“Where?” she asked, her eyes wide and worried.
“I don’t know. I can’t stay here right now. I need some air.”
She gripped my shoulders and embraced me tightly until I felt as if she were trying to prevent my body from splintering into pieces. Then, she pulled back, her eyes bright with tears. But I couldn’t stay. I didn’t want her to see me like this and Adrien would be worried.
“Where is Adrien?” I asked, looking around.
“He’s sleeping on the couch in the living room.”
“Good. Take care of him. I don’t want him to worry. I just want to clear my head, all right?”
She stared at me, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed my cheek. “Take all the time you need, Remington. We will be here when you come back.”
With that, I crushed my lips to hers and kissed her hard. They were the words I needed to hear, but I still had to get out of there. I turned and left the room.
BY TWO o’clock in the afternoon, Remington hadn’t returned from his run. He’d changed into shorts and a T-shirt and taken off. I didn’t offer to run with him because I felt he needed some time alone to process everything that had happened today.
Adrien kept asking where his father was, and I was getting tired of lying that he went to town, and I was worried, wondering if he was okay. Èric returned from dropping Adele at the airport over an hour ago and took Adrien out to the fields to watch the grapes being harvested. Gilles was in Paris, sorting out the issues in his security firm.
I was about to ask Èric to go for a drive to search for Remington—I wasn’t a good driver—when I saw Remington jogging tiredly up the drive. My feet refused to leave their place on the steps, so I watched and waited. He trudged up the steps, took my face, and kissed me hard on the mouth, then shuffled past, leaving me reeling in the aftermath of the furious kiss. He didn’t stop until he reached the back of the house and made a beeline for the shed, stalked in and back out seconds later, holding an axe and headed for the firewood arranged in piles, waiting to be chopped. After arranging the logs, he swung his arm and brought it down, splitting chunk after chunk of wood until a mountain of it formed on the side. Watching him do all that muscle work was so darn sexy. Then I remembered he was hurting and I slapped away my lusty thoughts.
When he was done, he then returned the axe, and came back out. He stood with his back to the château, his gaze on the vineyards in concentration as if memorizing them for his next painting. Barely contained anger rippled down his arms and back as he flexed his hands at his sides.
Isn’t he tired after runn
ing and cutting wood?
“I ran for two hours non-stop. But I still feel this anger screaming inside me. How is that even possible?”
I inched closer and wrapped my arms around him from behind. “It was a lot to take in all at once.”
He inhaled deeply and shook his head as if to clear his head. “When I was a child, my mother left her life here and moved to London. My father hardly acknowledged me, us, while we lived here in Provence. I think she hoped that if I were close to him, things would get better. What she kept forgetting was my father had a wife and a life in England, which was very different from ours. My mother and father met here in Provence. He seduced her and lied to her, telling her he wasn’t married. He had been on a business trip to the law firm where she worked part-time as a paralegal, while learning how to run the vineyard from her father. While in London, she enrolled me in the same school as Caleb because she wanted me to have the same opportunities my father gave his other son. She was relentless.
“The only place my father and I used to meet was either at the school, some restaurant, or in his office. My mother, in all her goodness, would arrange for a father’s day out. What she didn’t know was this man, the man who fathered me, called me a bastard every chance he could get.” He inhaled deeply. “I’m not certain when his wife left him. He blamed my mother and me for destroying his marriage. He would use his whip to mark me in places no one could see. I couldn’t tell my mother. She was already working too hard; there was no way I could break her heart. Plus, there was Caleb, my best friend who accepted me without judgment. I was glad when I had to go back to school because it meant that I wouldn’t see my father for a while. One day he took things a little too far, he whipped me and the belt cut into my forearm. My mother saw it when she walked into my room as I was changing into my pajamas.
“I had never seen her as angry as she was that day. We left London the following week, and away from the only friend I’d ever known. I wrote Caleb letters, but I never received any reply from him. I finally gave up.”
