Secrets (3 page)

“And what
exactly is it that he is?” Sonya demanded. “Frankly, he struck me
as a total and complete asshole!”

Bryan blinked,
and then threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, he can be,” he
admitted, still laughing. “But when the chips are down, Grégoire is
the guy you want in your corner. Unless,” he admitted, “there is a
beautiful blonde in the mix. Then, all bets are off! He isn’t quite
the Don Quixote that he’d like to pull off. If there was someone
that I would choose to guard my back, however, it would be
him.”

“Why would you
need someone to guard your back? And why did you shush me in the
office?” Sonya queried with a furrowed brow. “Are you in some kind
of trouble?”

“Don’t be
silly, Sonya, why would I have any sort of trouble? I’m an artist,
a nerd, not someone that anyone would look at sideways, unless of
course, I’m walking with my gorgeous wife! The walls have ears
sometimes, Sonya, so it’s best to keep our thoughts to ourselves,
while in the department, anyway.”

“That was
something that Grégoire taught me when I worked on a special
project with him. It was a prestigious project, and I got some
hassle from other students because it meant extra credits. Not only
that, but I got paid some money. Grégoire had my back, and I
appreciated it.”

"Let’s forget
about anything but you and me, Sonya, we’re on holiday. Let’s head
on down to the
Champs-Élysées
and stroll down to the
Arc
de Triomphe
. It’s definitely more fun to watch than to
drive.”

With that they
strolled out of the university, arm in arm, lost in each other and
their discovery of the City of Lights. Unbeknownst to them, there
were two shadows in their wake.

Le
Cavern
was noisy, loud and young and they definitely fit in. It
appeared to be a hangout for university students, and Bryan led her
through the crowded room to a corner already occupied by Grégoire
and his groupies. Before she knew it, Sonya had a beer in one hand
and was sitting next to Bryan. She had been unable to manoeuvre
quickly enough and unfortunately, was seated next to Grégoire as
well.

Most of the
conversation took place in French, as would have been expected, but
she understood the gist of most of it and spent her time analyzing
the small group around Grégoire. She reflected that her sarcastic
analysis of ‘Grégoire’s groupies’ was right on the money.
Obviously, most were students gravitating towards his
authority.

One woman,
however, appeared to be his age and status, and Sonya found her
interesting to watch. She didn’t miss anything that Grégoire said,
but instead of hanging onto his every word like the students, she
simply assimilated the information that he seemed to have a
compunction to divulge.

The woman fit
in, Sonya decided. She was petite, fashionable and very pretty. Her
shining hair was styled in a very short bob and her thickly lashed,
luminous hazel eyes didn’t seem to miss anything. Sonya noticed a
particularly intriguing ring on the hand that held her beer glass.
It was big, silver and held a cabochon of dark red. What was her
name again, Sonya pondered. Lulu, no, that wasn’t it. It did have
two syllables, and it was French sounding. Ah, it was Mimi! She
would ask Bryan later about her.

“I do hope we
haven’t bored you too terribly,” Grégoire stated as they prepared
to leave.

“Not at all,”
Sonya was pleasant. “My high school French recognized the odd word
here and there. Good day,” she said and moved away as Grégoire
seemed to be zeroing in for an embrace.

She couldn’t
escape and he whispered, “What’s wrong, darlin’? Louisiana Hot
Sauce too sizzlin’ for ya, Crusader?”

Her stomach
heaved at his even being this close. “Not at all,” she replied
quietly. “However, I do prefer the subtlety and sophistication of
Béchamel
, personally.”

Grégoire threw
his head back and laughed, making a show of putting his finger tips
to his lips and made a sizzling sound as he shook them as if to
cool them. “I am tha wizard!” he declared as he joined the group
once again.

And then she
did move away, hoping that Bryan was doing the same, because she
was getting the hell away from that asshole, pronto! She sensed him
behind her as his hand touched her elbow, and they wound their way
out of the bar and onto the street, where Sonya virtually sucked in
the fresh air.

“He’s not that
bad, really,” Bryan began, and one look at his wife’s face stopped
him dead. “Well, okay, he was somewhat out of line in there.”

“I’d like to
talk to you about him, but let’s wait till later, okay? I’ve had
him up to here, right now,” Sonya exclaimed, chopping her hand over
her head for effect.

Bryan hailed a
taxi and they climbed into it in silence. A car slid away from the
curb as the taxi left and from the doorway of the bar, Mimi quietly
watched and then pulled out a cell phone.

By the time
they returned to Madame Lalonde’s, Sonya was famished, over her
irritation at Grégoire, and pleasantly tired. Sylvain was anxiously
awaiting their arrival and his English practice. Dinner was another
happy, chatty and enjoyable time. Sylvain was sent to attend to his
homework and after enjoying a nice conversation with Madame Lalonde
for a while, Sonya and Bryan decided to retire to their room. They
had barely closed their door when noise and voices caused them to
quickly return to the living room. What they saw surprised
them.

Standing in the
middle of the room was a tall, dark haired man, surrounded by both
Madame Lalonde and Sylvain, engulfing him in a bear hug.

The man looked
up at their appearance and his smile began to grow bigger. “Bryan!
J’entendu dire que vous est à Paris. Bienvenue, mon ami! (I
heard that you were in Paris. Welcome, my friend)”

With that, he
threw his arms around Bryan in welcome. “
Ah, la belle fille!
(Ah, the pretty girl!)
You must be Sonya. It is my pleasure to
meet you,” he declared with a kiss on each cheek. “Bryan is a very
lucky man to have such a beautiful woman for his wife.”

Bryan was
grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Sonya, meet Lucien Lalonde!”

So, this was
the missing Lucien! There was no doubt at all that he was Sylvain’s
father. His glossy black hair and dark brown eyes showed Sonya a
glimpse of Sylvain as a mature man, and a very handsome man at
that.

Sonya snapped
out of her analysis of Lucien and smiled brightly. “It is a
pleasure to meet Sylvain’s father. He looks so very much like
you.”

A look of pride
flashed across Lucien’s handsome face. “My son is
très joli
,
is he not?”

Embarrassment
burned Sylvain’s face red, but his father simply curled his arm
around his son’s neck and kissed the top of his head. “You will
consider this a very good thing when the pretty girls line up to
date you, my son!” he smiled.

“Bedtime,”
Madame Lalonde announced to Sylvain. “You may visit tomorrow.
Tonight is a school night!”

Neither Sylvain
nor Lucien seemed to even consider arguing with
Madame
Lalonde. Lucien acquiesced with a shrug of his shoulders to his
son. “Sleep well,” he smiled, “We talk tomorrow.” Sighing, Sylvain
turned and trudged towards his bedroom, shoulders drooping and in a
definite pout.

“It is
difficult to be young, is it not?” Lucien remarked to no one in
particular.

“We will leave
you to your reunion,” Bryan said with a smile. “Good night!”

With that,
Sonya and Bryan returned to their room. “You seem to know Lucien
quite well,” Sonya remarked as they readied for bed. “I thought
that he worked in the Middle East for months at a time.”

Bryan hesitated
for a fraction of a second. “He was home for an extended vacation
while I was here,” he replied in a somewhat nonchalant manner.
“Actually, I met him through Grégoire, but I didn’t want to mention
it because you dislike him so much.”

“I really don’t
like him –not at all! But Lucien strikes me as a decent sort. He
obviously loves his son.”

Changing the
subject, Sonya asked, “So you know where we are meeting Mike and
Steve for lunch tomorrow?”

“Absolutely,”
he replied immediately. “You will really enjoy this place, it’s
very Paris!”

“About today,”
Sonya began.

“I know, I
know, Grégoire was an absolute asshole, you were right. I apologize
for him. I had no idea that he was such a jerk to women,” Bryan
stated. “He was even starting to piss me off.”

His apology
took the wind out of Sonya’s sails. She had been prepared to go
into a long tirade about all of Grégoire’s indiscretions. “Yeah he
was! What does crusade mean? And why is he a wizard? And what about
Mimi? Does she teach at the university as well?”

If her
questions surprised Bryan, he didn’t indicate so. Taking a deep
breath, he began, “Crusade was a word that he used to describe our
project. It was a series of oil paintings, contemporary in style, a
bit subdued for my taste, but I was paid for them, and the extra
credits were a major bonus. Yeah, I heard the wizard part too! I
have no idea, unless of course, he considers himself magical and
mythical now. He does have a somewhat over inflated ego! It didn’t
seem so at the time, but now that I’ve been away, he is, as you so
eloquently put it, an asshole!”

“I’ve seen Mimi
before, but I don’t think that she teaches at the Department, at
least she didn’t when I was there. She could be in another faculty,
though.”

“At first I
thought that she was Grégoire’s girlfriend, but at one of the
parties, he was all tanked up and crossed way over the line with
her. She calmly pulled some slick judo move on him and faster than
he could blink, he was flat on his back. After that, she usually
showed up with some big, dark haired guy on her arm. Could have
been her boyfriend for all I know, but Grégoire kept his hands to
himself after that.” They turned out the bedside lamp and called it
a night.

Dawn coughed
out a weak light around the edge of the window covering. As Sonya
pulled back the curtains, she was greeted by grey, mist-laden
skies. Surprised to find Bryan already gone, she hurriedly cleaned
up, dressed and rushed to the kitchen, interrupting what appeared
to be a very intense conversation between Lucien and Bryan.

Lucien
immediately stood to refill his coffee, and Bryan’s smile seemed to
light the room when he spied her.

“Morning,” he
grinned as he got up to kiss his wife. “Coffee?” he challenged with
a little snicker.

“I’d love one!”
Sonya met his challenge with a lift of her eyebrows and nodded her
thanks as Bryan handed her a cup of
Madame
Lalonde’s strong
coffee.

“So,” Sonya
began, “what were you two discussing when I came in? It looked
pretty intense.”

“Soccer, what
else?” Lucien shrugged and lifted his hands in a very Gallic
gesture.

While she
wasn’t about to argue with Lucien, Sony knew very well that Bryan
didn’t follow soccer. Her radar was fully engaged. Something was
off.

Not much
conversation took place during breakfast, after which, Bryan
confirmed their lunch reservations and busied himself enough with
either Lucien or
Madame
Lalonde, and it prevented Sonya from
questioning Bryan about a number of things that were puzzling
her.

It was obvious
to her that Bryan was aware he would be queried and was avoiding
that particular discussion. He had been successful in that regard,
as Lucien decided to drive them to the
café
and dropped them
off, instead of their planned walk. Sonya decided that their chat
could wait until they were alone in their room that night.

The
café
was lovely, as Bryan predicted. They were seated, and ordered wine
while waiting for their lunch companions to arrive. Sonya found it
very amusing to watch the attention of the women in the
café
zoom in to appreciate her cousin, Mike, as he strode across the
floor to greet them. And she couldn’t blame them.

He was very
blonde, a tall and toned man, dressed in casual clothes that
emphasized his body and his good looks. Sonya hadn’t had much time
to spend with Mike at their wedding, so she was looking forward to
catching up on the news with him.

“How’s your
mother?” she asked politely, knowing that he had just been in
Holland to visit his mother. Ilsa had returned to her native
Holland after her husband, Mike & John’s father, had been
killed. “Did you enjoy your visit?”

Mike’s face
hardened and his smile faded. “Not so much, I’m afraid. Do you
remember what John revealed in July about how Steven Hunter’s
mother had not been truthful with him about his biological
father?”

Sonya nodded.
That revelation had added a new member to their family. And that
man, her newly found cousin, was Steve Hunter, John and Mike’s half
brother.

“Well, I had a
heart-to-heart with my mother while I was there. She had a little
secret of her own, which Air Marshall Blackburn was going to let
out whether or not she wanted it to, hence her honesty at this
time. It seems that while John and I have the same mother, we do
not have the same father.” He took a swig of his wine, throwing it
back without tasting it, his anger obviously bubbling just under
the surface.

Trying not to
gasp, Sonya placed her hand gently over his. “I am so sorry, Mike!
Is there anything that we can do for you?” she asked with
compassion.

Shaking his
head, Mike took another mouthful of his wine, this time savouring
its flavour a little. “I have an extremely good idea of what Steve
went through now. It’s like the person that you are somehow, has
been taken away from you, and you don’t know who or what you
are.”