Their New-Found Family

“Can I ask you another question?”

“Of course.”

“Do you love Suzanne?”

“Did your grandmother ask you to ask me?”

“Yes.”

Alain’s honesty was one of the qualities Tris admired most in his nephew.

“I thought so.”

“She says Suzanne’s been your receptionist for a long time, and that one day you’ll discover she’s the one you’ve loved all along.”

“Maybe your grandmother’s right, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

“I’m glad,” Alain said, looking relieved.

Tris was aware his nephew had a hard time sharing him with anyone else.

“Just so you know, I’ve always made it a policy not to date employees, Alain. Some day if you decide you want to come into the hotel business with me and your grandfather, you’ll understand why it’s necessary to separate our work from pleasure.

“When the right woman comes along, I’ll know it and do something about it.”

“Maybe this Rachel was the right one, and that’s why you’ve never been able to love anyone else, even though you don’t remember her.”

“That’s something I’ll never know. By now I’m sure she’s married and has several children,” Tris muttered, wanting to change the subject.

Alain’s comment shouldn’t have bothered him, but the fact remained that even though it had been twelve years, those six blank weeks of his life still haunted him.

He heard the horn honking, bringing him back to the present with a jolt. His housekeeper poked her head in the door.

“Do you wish me to tell your father to come in the house to wait?”

“Non merci, Simone. We’ll be right down.”

“Tres bien.”

One last pair of heavy tube socks stuffed into the top pocket of his military pack and he was ready.

“Sounds like your grandfather’s getting impatient. Let’s go.”

“Okay.” Alain put everything back in the pack he’d adopted. The two of them left the bedroom and went down the stairs to the front hall. Alain grabbed his suitcase and went out the front door to put his things in the trunk. Tris followed.

“Enfin!” his father said when he joined them with his pack.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Papa, but Alain and I had some man-to-man business to discuss.”

His father’s blue eyes twinkled as he looked at his grandson. “In that case, I understand.” He shut the lid of the trunk and they all got in the car.

The senior Monbrisson revved the engine before negotiating the steep, winding road that led down to Montreux. In the distance, the shimmering waters of Lac Leman reflected a pale blue. It was a sight Tris loved and never grew tired of.

Too soon they arrived in front of the gare. Tris levered himself from the back seat, then retrieved his pack from the trunk. He leaned inside the passenger window to kiss his nephew. “I’ll phone you every night to see how you’re doing.”

With tear-filled eyes, Alain caught him around the neck. The boy was suffering. Tris could relate.

One minute his brother and sister-in-law had been alive. In the next, they were gone. He still had a hard time believing it, so he could just imagine Alain’s pain knowing he’d never see his parents again.

But Tris recognized that right now his nephew’s greatest problem was the fear his uncle wouldn’t come back again, either.

“When I return, we’ll go camping. How’s that?”

Alain simply nodded.

While they hugged, Tris’s father sent him a silent message that said he would do everything possible to lift Alain’s spirits.

Raising him had become a family affair, yet everyone was aware the boy clung to Tris.

He walked around the other side of the car and kissed his father on the cheek. “Call me if things get bad,” he whispered.

After turning away, he strode swiftly toward the entrance to the train station. Besides his heart being torn having to leave his nephew, old demons had been resurrected by the note Alain had found in the backpack.

Over the years Tris had pretty well learned to control the panicky sensation of not being able to remember that period of his life.

But for no accountable reason, this new evidence of past events with a girl—apparently intimate events which had transpired without his having any knowledge of them—made him uneasy. He could feel one of those damn headaches coming on.

“Alain?”

“Oui, Grand-mere?”

“I’m going out in the garden to finish some weeding. I’d like to get it done before we leave for Lake Como in the morning. Do you want to help me?”

“I’ll be down in a few minutes,” he called to her from the top of the stairs.

“Tres bien.”

The moment his grandmother’s footsteps faded, he rushed into the bedroom which had been his father’s growing up. He always stayed in there on overnight visits.

There was a phone on the bedside table. Alain hurried over to it and picked up the receiver to call Guy, his uncle’s assistant, on his cell phone.

“Bon apres-midi, Alain. What can I do for you?”

“I need your help, but you can’t tell Uncle Tris about it.”

“It will be our secret as long as it’s not illegal, immoral or dangerous.”

“Guy—”