Chapter 23: The Swap

She had not slept after he said it.

She had sat on the edge of Julien's bed until dawn, and he had let her, and neither of them had touched.

At six she picked up her phone and wrote Thibault four lines.

*Marceau family clinic. Four o'clock. Bring your mother. You will want to hear this.*

She did not tell Julien until she was already in the car.

"I am coming," he said. "I was there once. I am not staying away now."

"You are waiting outside."

"Margaux."

"You told me you would only open the door," she said. "This one I walk through alone."

He drove her there himself, and parked across the road, and stayed.

The waiting room of the clinic held a dozen people.

Pregnant women sat on soft chairs, and a couple rocked a pram beside the desk.

The old doctor from the file note was waiting in the consulting room door with his hands folded.

He had white hair now, and a bow tie, and the look of a man who has been asked to keep a secret for too long.

Thibault came in at five past four, grey and unshaven.

Hortense walked behind him in a camel coat, and her mouth was set.

"What is this?" Thibault said. "I have the board this evening. I have lawyers."

"You have a test result with a zero on it," Margaux said. "And a mother who has been very quiet since."

"Margaux, enough," Hortense said. "This is a private matter."

"Then we'll make it a short one."

She took the thick envelope from her bag and held it out.

Thibault did not take it.

"What is it?"

"Your results. From five years ago. The ones your mother asked this clinic to keep from you."

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