Page 63 of Marcel

“You lookso much like her.” Marcel kissed the top of her head.

“I love whenpeople say that.” She whispered. “I am going to have toarrange her funeral.”

“We will allhelp,” he promised her. “Would you like a minute alonewith her, darling?”

“No.” Sheshook her head. “I need you here.”

“Then I amhere.”

*****

He took her homeafterward and put her to bed. He had been hoping she would cry andget it out of her system, but even standing by the side of the bedand spending time talking about her mother had not helped. And shehad refused to eat.

“How about somesoup?”

“No. Please. Ijust want to go and lie down for a bit,”

“Needcompany?”

She had shaken herhead. So, he put her to bed and left her to go into his office to dosome work and call his family with the update.

“Darling, doyou need us to come over?” His mother implored him.

“Not just now.I tried to persuade her to eat something, but she said no.”Rubbing the back of his neck, he wandered over to the doorway to lookat her lying there before returning to his office. “She looksso broken and defeated and I feel so damn helpless.”

“I am certainthat you being there is a tremendous source of comfort to her.”

“I certainlyhope so.”

“Do you knowwhen she wants to make the arrangements yet?”

“I cannot talkto her about that yet. Not today.”

“Of course.Please let her know that we are all here for her.”

“I will,”

Hanging up the phone,he went to sit behind his desk. The documents in front of him werebeing ignored. His phone rang just then, and turning it over, hehissed out a breath as he saw his name.

“This is not agood time.”

“We don’thave to be enemies, Marcel, considering what we shared.”

“We are facinga crisis in our family, and I cannot do this right now.”

“Your wife losther mother. I am sorry for her loss. But she deserves everything shegets after what she did to us.”

He remainedstill, listening to the spiteful note in her voice. He had beenprepared to give her the benefit of the doubt and not believe she wasspreading rumors about them, but now he knew she was doing that andmore.

“I am going tosay this only once, and after we end this conversation, I am going toask you to lose my number,” he told her coldly. “There isnothing between us. We are over; is that clear? And if I ever hearyou badmouthing my wife again, I am not going to be responsible formy actions. Leave us the hell alone.”

“You are goingto regret this,” she whispered tearfully. Without bothering tograce that with a response, he hung up the phone and turned it off.

Pushing away from thedesk, he strode into the room and approached the bed. She was sittingup, her knees drawn up to her chin, her hands wrapped around them.

“Darling?”Taking off his shoes, he climbed in next to her. “I thought youwere asleep.”

She shook her headand turned into his arms.

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