LITMIR.BIZ

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she would admit that one of her lovers had turned his back on her. Knowing I was good for the money, it would explain the reason why she’d come to me at the midnight hour for financial help.”

      Kellie’s eyes closed tightly for a moment. What if the test came up with a match?

      “On the way to the apartment where she told me she lived with her mother, a tourist ran into us. He received the citation for driving out of control. Under other circumstances I might have been able to see him coming to avoid a collision.”

      She shook her head. “After news like that, I don’t know how you could even function.”

      He let out a tortured sound. “As it happens, the impact shoved my car against a parked van. The doctor said Yvette doesn’t have any injuries, but at this stage of her pregnancy, the shock could bri—”

      “Monsieur Didier?” an unfamiliar voice broke in on them. “We’re ready to take you to X ray. Madame— If you wouldn’t mind stepping out for a moment, our team will get him transferred to the gurney,” the technician said to Kellie.

      “Yes, of course.”

      “Darling—” Philippe’s voice sounded frantic.

      “I’ll be right outside the curtain.”

      She pushed the stool back in place, then lifted the flap to wait in the main room of the E.R. In a minute the technicians emerged with Philippe. Like lasers, his dark eyes burned into her soul.

      “Promise me you’ll be here when I get back.”

      The tears she’d been fighting spilled down her cheeks. “Where would I go?”

      You’re my whole life, Philippe. Without you, there’s nothing.

      When he’d disappeared through another set of doors, she realized his parents needed to be notified, then Marcel. But her body was slow to obey her brain.

      As she retraced her steps to the reception area to make the calls, she heard the hysterical woman behind the first curtain crying out Philippe’s name. Kellie froze.

      “Calm yourself, Mademoiselle Boiteux,” said another female voice. “Monsieur Didier will be in to visit you as soon as he comes back from X ray.”

      “I need to see him. I love him. He’s the father of my baby. I’m going to have his son. Promise me he’s not hurt, that he’s all right!”

      “You mustn’t get upset. It isn’t good for you or the baby. You have toxemia. Your blood pressure’s too high. We need to get it down, so you have to cooperate with us.”

      “It was my fault we were in the accident. He offered to drive me home and I let him. I shouldn’t have agreed to it, then he wouldn’t have been hurt. He’s so wonderful. He saved my life once before. If anything happened to Philippe, I’d want to die.”

      “No, mademoiselle. You want to live. You’re going to be a mother very soon. Think of the joy you’ll have in raising your child. We’ve called your mother. She’ll be here soon to comfort you.”

      “No,” she cried out. “Without Philippe, I don’t care about anything else. Please tell him to come. This is his child. You don’t understand. He’s my whole life!”

      This is his child. He’s my whole life.

      Kellie felt as if someone had just walked across her grave.

      A hand touched her shoulder. “Madame? You look like you’re feeling ill,” one of the nurse’s aides observed. “Do you want to lie down?”

      “N-no. I’ll be all right.”

      “Let me at least help you to the reception room where you can sit while you wait for your husband.”

      “Thank you.”

      Her limbs felt wooden as he assisted her to a chair beyond the swinging doors.

      “Someone will let you know when he’s been brought back. Is there anything I can do for you?”

      Kellie felt like she was in the middle of a nightmare where she was running from something, but everything was happening in slow motion.

      “Could you please phone his secretary and inform him of the accident? He lives here in town. Ask him to call Philippe’s parents.” She would phone everyone later, but for the moment her strength seemed to have left her body.

      He pulled a notepad out of his pocket. “What’s the secretary’s name and number?”

      She gave the aide the information. Once he’d disappeared, she sat there until her terrible weakness had passed. Then she got up from the chair and went over to the woman at the desk.

      “Would you call me a taxi please.”

      Ten minutes later, Kellie entered the apartment. She walked straight into Philippe’s study and sat down at his desk. Withdrawing the gold pen from its holder, one of their many wedding gifts, she reached for a notepad.

      My darling husband—

      Never doubt that I will always love you, but Yvette loved you first. We’ve only been married thirty days. She’s been carrying your baby for eight months. The “for worse” part of our vows didn’t cover that.

      I heard her call out your name. She had no idea I could follow her conversation with the doctor from the outside of the curtain. She was begging, pleading for you to come to her.

      After the things she told the doctor in confidence, there’s no doubt Yvette is pregnant with your son. I don’t blame you for anything, darling. But you must see she needs your help and protection now because she’s very sick with a high-risk pregnancy.

      I know you’re not the kind of man to abandon your responsibilities the way my birth father abandoned my mother and me, so I’m going back to Washington. When I get there, I’ll start divorce proceedings. Soon you’ll be free to marry her and be a full-time father to your child.

      Be assured the only alimony I want is your promise that you’ll do the right thing for Yvette and your son. No one will make a better father than you.

      All my love, Kellie.

      She pulled off her wedding ring and left it on top of the note, then she phoned for another taxi to drive her to the airport. She’d worry about what plane to take when she got there.

      Before the taxi arrived, she changed into wool pants and a sweater. After putting the food in the fridge and straightening the kitchen, she threw some clothes and toiletries in an overnight bag. When her packing was done, she grabbed her passport out of the dresser drawer, left her car keys on top, then walked out of the apartment without looking back.

      The second she got into the taxi, her cell phone rang. She ignored it and told the chauffeur to get her to Geneva as quickly as possible.

      During the drive, the phone went off at least twenty different times. Evidently Philippe had come back from X ray and was wondering where she’d gone.

      The ringing would stop once the doctors told him Yvette was calling for him and he realized how sick she was.

      “Kellie?” Her grandfather’s gray head peered around the door of the restaurant’s kitchen. “The phone’s for you!”

      “I’ll have to call them back, grandpa.”

      He walked behind the huge stainless-steel island where she was preparing the salads. “It’s Claudine.”

      Fresh pain stabbed her heart.

      “You’ve avoided every call from Philippe since you got home a week ago. Surely you’re not going to ignore his sister, too. That’s not right, honey. I’ll take over here. You go upstairs to the office and talk to her.”

      She took a deep breath, realizing this couldn’t be put off any longer. In any event, it wasn’t fair to her family.

      “All

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