Chapter 24: The Claim

Margaux walked out of the clinic without answering him.

Julien's car was waiting across the road, and he had the door open before she reached it.

Behind her, Thibault's voice cracked across the street.

"Margaux!"

She did not turn around.

She did not answer his calls that night, or his twenty messages.

The flowers that arrived at the Aubrac gate at nine were sent back by ten.

On the third morning, at breakfast, the housekeeper came into the dining room with a stiff face.

"Madame. Monsieur. There are men at the gate."

Julien put down his cup.

"How many?"

"Six. And a lawyer."

They went out together.

The wrought-iron gate stood closed at the end of the drive.

The estate guards stood in front of it with their arms folded.

On the other side, four men in dark suits stood in a line.

Beside them waited a small man in a grey coat with a leather folder under his arm.

And in front of them all, with his hands in the pockets of his overcoat, stood Thibault.

He had shaved.

His face was thin and ruined, and his eyes were red.

"Madame Villard," said the lawyer, when she came to the bars. "I represent Monsieur Marceau."

He lifted the folder.

"This is an application to the family court. It asks for recognition of paternity."

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