But I can’t help but pretend to be the perfect girlfriend when he looks so happy. He wraps a possessive arm around my waist and I lean my head onto his shoulder.
“Hi, how are you?”
“I-I’m Maria. Nice to meet you.” She shakes my hand, looking dazed, and then we migrate to the living room and sit on a stiff couch. Luc takes a seat beside her and gently lifts our baby from the car seat.
“I can’t believe this. I thought you were lying about him. Oh, he’s beautiful.”
I beam at her. “Thank you.”
When Luc hands her the baby, she breaks into fresh sobs and he wraps an arm around her shoulders.
“Stop crying.”
“I can’t help it. How did this happen?”
A grin spreads over Luc’s face and he shrugs. “He wasn’t planned.”
My face burns when she glances at me. “But how did you manage while he was in jail?”
I fidget with my hands. “It wasn’t too hard. I worked a couple jobs—”
“Johnny gave her money to tide her over until I got out.”
That’s a lie, but I suppose this whole visit is a lie.
The baby is a huge hit with Mom. She won’t let go of our son the whole hour we’re there. Judging from the look on Luc’s face, he knew that his mom would crumple the moment she saw the baby. Her grandson. He looks elated to be back in his parents’ house.
“I’ve missed you both.”
Maria pauses in the midst of making faces with my son. She still watches him as if she hasn’t heard Luc speak.
“Luc, you can’t come back here.”
His smile evaporates. “Why?”
“You know why. Your father won’t allow it.”
“I just want you both to be in my son’s life,” he says in a very quiet voice.
Maria is unsure, looking from him to the baby.
“I want you to be there when I get married.”
Luc wraps an arm around my waist and bends his head to mine, giving my temple a fierce kiss as Maria chokes on fresh sobs.
“You’re getting married?”
“Of course, Mom.”
She just lights up at the conviction in his voice. Every mother wants to be at her child’s wedding. I can see the decision tearing her apart.
Luc takes my chin in his hands and I’m overwhelmed by his eyes. They’re brimming with happiness. Even I buy into the lie for a second, and I believe that he loves me. That we’re a happy couple about to spend the rest of our lives together. And it hits me then how different he’s acting. He reminds me of the old Luc, the one I fell for.
He buries his face in my neck and kisses the shell of my ear. Then I grab his hand and I’m grinning at her like a fool. He looks happier than I’ve ever seen him. He’s rattling off a list of relatives he wants to invite, and Étienne sits on Maria’s lap as she nods along, smiling. Damn, he’s laying it on pretty thick, isn’t he?
My hand is still clenched in his, and he keeps tracing circles in my palm, and I forget everything else.
Until the door opens with a loud bang.
Luc shoots up from the couch like a rocket as someone enters the house, his hand straying to the gun at his hip.
“He’s home early.”
Maria’s voice fills me with horror as I watch a much shorter man wearing a stained dress shirt and slacks walk into the living room. His eyes immediately zero in on Luc and his chest expands.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” His gaze skips to Maria, who still holds our baby. “Did he break in again?”
“No! I let them in.”
“Dad!”
“We have a grandson.”
Luc’s father looks stunned for a moment, as though he can hardly believe the squirming baby in her arms.
And then there’s a note of plea in her voice. “They named him after you.”
He swallows hard, his gaze momentarily softening. “He’s still not welcome in this house.”
“Dad, please give me a chance.”
“I gave you plenty of chances, son. You chose a life of greed over your own family. You chose to get high. You chose to become a mobster.”
It’s hard to watch Luc flinching with every thunderous phrase that erupts from his father’s mouth.
“I am who I am,” he says.
“Yeah,” his dad snorts. “Look at you.”
I wipe my hands over my dress, my stomach tied in knots. Maria beseeches her husband.
“Étienne, he’s our boy. He’s getting married.”
Étienne’s hostile gaze flicks toward me. “If he cared about them at all, he’d send them both away.”
“I’m not sending them away, Dad. My priorities have changed. I’m a different man. I’m a father, just like you.”