Page 130 of Frankly, My Dear

The fine hairs stood out on Selene’s body in alarm. She raised frightened eyes to James in question.

“Giselle. It’s my wife, Giselle,” he informed her in an icy voice.

And with those words, Selene felt her wonderful, loving world with James come crumbling down around her.

Chapter Twenty-one

“James! Chéri!” the exquisite creature cried out and threw herself into James’s arms. “Oh, it has been so long, my husband. I didn’t think I would ever get back to you.”

While she talked, the fragile, china-doll figure kissed James’s face and neck in welcome. And Selene realized to her horror that the woman had every right to do so. She was his wife.

His wife! Selene’s brain spun with bewilderment and she choked back the urge to scream. No! This can’t be. Giselle is dead. James is a free man. We’re going to be married in two weeks.

Raw grief clawed at Selene. She understood none of what was happening. She only knew that her perfect world—her perfect love—was about to end.

James remained stiff in Giselle’s fluttery embrace, but his shock soon yielded to fury. “Where the hell have you been, Giselle? What kind of game are you playing?”

“Game? How can you accuse me of such when I have suffered so this past year?” Giselle said in a wounded voice, pulling back and dabbing at her eyes with a frilly lace handkerchief. “That night…that horrible night when we quarreled, I ran into the swamp. I almost drowned.”

She peeked up at him to see if he was feeling appropriately guilty.

He just glowered at her.

Raising the back of her hand to her forehead, she continued soulfully, “Fortunately, a Cajun fisherman rescued me, but a fever of the mind has held me captive these many months. I remembered nothing, not even my name. Till recently.” She sniffled dramatically.

“And where is this fisherman? Give me his name!” James scoffed.

Just then Etienne started to whimper, pulling on Selene’s gown. And they all remembered that the child was still in their presence.

“Mon fils! My son!” Giselle gushed, reaching out for the cowering boy.

“Non, non,” Etienne protested, burrowing even deeper into Selene’s skirts. “Don’t want no ghost.”

Blossom stepped out of the shadows and onto the gallery, flashing a look of contempt at Giselle. “Hush, child. Come with me. Blossom’ll put you to bed. Yessirree, everythin’ gonna be all right. Ol’ Blossom will stay with Etienne.”

“You overstep yourself, you nigger wench. He’s my son. I will care for him,” Giselle snarled.

“’Bout time you remembered that,” Blossom snapped back.

Giselle raised a hand, about to strike the old woman.

Selene grabbed Giselle’s wrist in midair. It was not her place to intervene, but she just couldn’t allow the spiteful woman to hit Blossom, or anyone else.

Recovering himself, James motioned with a jerk of his head for Blossom and Etienne to leave, then for Selene to release Giselle’s hand. She did so gladly. There was a feel of evil in the mere touch of Giselle’s clammy flesh.

“Don’t think you can take my place with my son,” Giselle hissed, shooting a look of pure hatred at Selene as she rubbed her bruised wrist. Then Giselle seemed to remember where she was, and the expression on her Barbie Doll face changed from fury to hurt. “James, darling, aren’t you happy to see me? I have dreamed of this day ever since I regained my memory. It will be a new beginning for us.”

With lethal calmness, James told his wife, “Let us go inside. You have much to explain.”

“I think I’ll go to my room,” Selene said weakly. Bereft and desolate, she felt as if she were floating on a cloud of despair. What would she do now that Giselle had returned? How could she live in the same house with James and his wife?

“No!” James said firmly. Then he softened his voice with entreaty, his eyes pleading for understanding in a situation that defied logic. “You will stay. Whatever Giselle has to say affects us all.”

“Oh?” Giselle said. “I hardly think this…this mere housekeeper…or governess…should be present for our joyous reunion.”

Joyous reunion! Selene’s heart felt like the most delicate crystal, and it was shattering bit by bit as each moment passed.

“I can’t stay, James,” she said in a shaky voice. “I just can’t.” Selene desperately needed to be by herself, to sort out all the devastating implications of Giselle’s return. She needed privacy to cry.