“REALLY?”
“Osmond—”
He seized my arm, punch drunk with excitement. “Emily, do you know what this means?”
“Her husband came back,” I said in a quiet voice, placing my hand over his.
He blinked as if he hadn’t heard, then went very still. “What?”
“Everyone thought he died in prison, but he didn’t. He escaped in a bombing raid, and three weeks after you left for England, he found his way back to his family.”
“He came back?” His voice was far away, his eyes distant. “But how could he come back? He was dead.”
“Nazi lies,” I soothed. “He returned to Solange and fathered a slew of children with famous American names. But none more famous than yours.”
Dazed, he sank back into the settee cushions and knuckled moisture away from the corners of his eyes. “So … I’m not a father after all?”
I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “No one can say with any authority whether you are or aren’t, Osmond. It boils down to hormones and timing. But Solange’s husband raised all the children as his own, and Madeleine made it quite clear that the family wants it left that way, no matter what might have happened during the war.”
Eyes downcast, he heaved a sigh. “Yup. That’s the way it should be. They don’t need any whippersnappers from America uprooting their family tree. Solange has lived through enough. Wouldn’t be right to make waves at this stage in everyone’s life. Besides, chances are the little guy wasn’t mine anyway. Probably one in a million.”
I breathed around a sudden lump in my throat. “But you can certainly catch up with each other through email. Madeleine is going to give Solange a crash course. Think of the decades of history you have to share, and the miracle of the information highway delivering your messages across the Atlantic in mere seconds. If you’re lucky, Madeleine might even show Solange how to text.”
“Yup. Well”—he struggled to keep his lips from quivering—“I guess I should be heading in to dinner.”
“Solange has outlived two husbands, Osmond. It’s your turn to be on the receiving end of her attention now. You’ll have her all to yourself, and in the months to come, I guarantee she’ll make you feel younger than you have for years.”
“Sure.”
I helped him to his feet. “You can still invite the whole family to Windsor City. I bet they’d be thrilled to visit the States with you as their tour guide.’
“That’s probably not such a good idea, Emily. Not anymore.”
I rubbed the space between his shoulder blades with a gentle hand. “I’m saying nothing to anyone about this, okay?”
He nodded glumly. “Thanks. See you in there.”
As I watched him shuffle across the lounge all by himself, I turned toward the bow of the ship so that I could quietly brush away the tears that were seeping onto my cheeks.
fifteen
“How’m I supposed to know what it says?” complained Bobbi. “It’s written in French. I can’t read French. And how do I know the signature is authentic? You could have paid one of the crew to sign the captain’s name.” She regarded the paper with suspicion. “It could be forged.”
Arriving at the round table in the corner of the dining room, I was welcomed by a controversy that was already in progress.