Chapter 21: The Test

Manon did not answer him, and that was an answer.

Thibault looked at her for a long moment.

Then he turned to the dinner guests, who were all very busy with their napkins.

"Dinner is over," he said. "Everybody out."

Hortense did not move from her chair.

"Thibault. Sit down. We will talk about this like civilized people."

"A test," he said, and his voice was cracking. "Tomorrow. First thing. I want it proved."

"There is no need..."

"Tomorrow, Mother!"

Margaux took Julien's arm.

His lip was swelling, and he had not touched the napkin she held out to him.

"Come," she said. "This is not our table any more."

In the car, Julien dabbed his mouth and looked at the blood on the cloth.

"I have been hit harder by a door," he said.

"You lied to a room full of people."

"So did you."

"Yes," Margaux said. "Is that all right?"

"It was the best lie I have ever told," said Julien. "I would tell it again."

She was quiet for a moment.

"Thank you," she said. "I mean it."

At eight the next morning, Thibault came through the glass doors of the research floor with Manon's wrist in his hand.

He had not shaved.

Manon wore yesterday's dress and had been crying again.

The lab technicians stopped what they were doing and stared.

"Madame Villard," Thibault said. "This is my company. I need a prenatal paternity panel, and I need it today."

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