Chapter Six

Philippe made himself smile as the elevator doors opened and out came his mother with her usual air of L"Air du Temps.

"Maman."

"Philippe." She lifted her cheek for her son"s kiss before stepping back to study him. "You appear surprised."

"Was that not your intention?" he asked dryly.

Sandra only smiled. "The woman you have been visiting here is your wife, n"est ce pas?"

"It seems you know everything."

"Oh, not everything," she denied airily. "I"d love to know, for instance, why you chose not to tell me about her."

"I didn"t. I planned to," he said briefly, "but she had an accident on her way to Foxtown. It didn"t result in any major injuries, but she did suffer a couple of bruised ribs, some gashes, and a scalp wound that required stitching."

"Mon Dieu. Is she okay?" Sandra was genuinely concerned, regardless of her suspicions of the unknown woman her son had married.

"She is doing well, but..." Her son took on a warning tone. "I do not want her upset."

"Are you saying I could upset her?"

"My wife is...unlike any of the women you"ve been trying your hardest to marry me off to."

Sandra"s curiosity had now turned into amazement. She had come here, thinking that there was a very good chance she would meet some gold-digger, but she knew now she was very much mistaken. Her son was not the type to sound fiercely protective of just any woman. Not even towards Greta. As far as Sandra knew, she, as his mother, had that privilege alone...until now.

"You have my word, mon fils. And so—-" Sandra gestured towards the door. "May I finally go in and meet my daughter-in-law?"

Philippe was sorely tempted to say no. His mother had an extremely sharp tongue when it came to people she either disliked or disapproved of, and he could not help feeling on edge at the thought that Charlee-Mae could be classified as both.

Sandra was highly contemptuous of women of leisure, and would she not consider Charlee-Mae as one, if she were to find out that his wife"s main job was basically making herself pretty in her YouTube videos?

If Charlee-Mae hadn"t lost her memories, she would"ve been better equipped to handle his mother, and she wouldn"t have been hurt if Sandra were to say anything cruel. After all, that Charlee-Mae knew their marriage was no love match.

But this Charlee-Mae who thought their marriage was real?

Not worth it, Philippe decided grimly, but just as he was about to ask his mother to visit another time, Sandra had also seemed to reach the end of her patience—-

"I"m going in," Sandra told him.

Putain!

But his mother had already opened the door, and just as Philippe followed her inside, he heard both women burst into speech at the same time.

"?a alors!"

"Oh, wow!"

Philippe halted in his tracks. Were both Sandra and Charlee-Mae being sarcastic or did the two women truly happen to compliment each other simultaneously?

Charlee-Mae couldn"t remember seeing someone more posh than Philippe"s mother, whose all-black attire was very much reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn"s iconic outfit in Funny Face, only this time the older woman also had a silver trench coat folded over her arm.

Sandra, meanwhile, was ready to weep tears of joy. "C"est une miracle!" She turned to her son, now feeling so horribly guilty for ever doubting the truth of his marriage. "I am at a loss for words, mon fils."

Philippe didn"t quite know how to answer this, and his incredulity grew when Sandra then turned to his wife and opened her arms wide. "Ma fille."

Charlee-Mae went to her mother-in-law hesitantly, and the older woman gave her a warm embrace before kissing each of her cheek, which Charlee-Mae automatically returned.

Sandra was still unable to stop smiling as she stepped back to study her beloved daughter-in-law. "God truly works in mysterious ways," she said feelingly, and turning to her son, she said enthusiastically, "I have been an avid viewer of Cha-Cha"s YouTube videos for a few years now."

Charlee-Mae"s eyes widened. "You know me?"

"Tu la connais?" Philippe demanded at the same time.

Sandra grinned at both of them. "Yes. Oui. My friend - do you remember Keanne Summers" maman, Philippe? She was the one who insisted I watch dear Cha-Cha"s vlogs, and after just one time, I was hooked!"

Philippe was still incredulous. "So you truly know her?"

Sandra felt slightly affronted. "Why would I lie about this?" She turned to Charlee-Mae with a roll of her eyes. "He is being ridiculous, n"est ce pas?"

"Oh no, um—-"

"Please call me Maman," Sandra said warmly.

Charlee-Mae couldn"t help feeling touched. "You are too sweet...Maman."

Sandra gestured to her daughter-in-law"s bandaged head. "Does it hurt?"

"Only when I think too much."

"Then do not think," Philippe"s mother said with a wink, "and just love."

"Why, Maman...I didn"t think you"d be a hopeless romantic like me. I love it!"

As the two women laughed and chatted some more, Philippe started to wonder if perhaps he had somehow ended up in some alternate universe without being aware of it. Both women had nothing in common on the surface, and yet when one looked at the way the two now had their heads bent close as his mother showed Charlee-Mae something on her phone, it was as if they had known each other their entire lives.

He had wondered before why Charlotte considered Charlee-Mae a suitable match for him, and this, Philippe supposed, was the answer. How the CEO of Heart"s Match had known of Sandra"s fondness for his wife"s videos, he could not even begin to imagine, but he now understood why Fleur spoke so highly of the other woman.

And now, speaking of Charlotte...

Charlee-Mae and Sandra glanced up upon his approach, and Philippe held his phone out to his wife. "It is your sister-in-law."

Charlee-Mae was surprised. "She knows your number?"

"You gave me her number in the past," he lied.

His wife turned to Sandra. "Is it alright—-"

"Oh, of course," his mother was quick to say reassuringly, and the way Sandra continued to look fondly at his wife as Charlee-Mae walked away still struck Philippe as surreal.

Looking back at her son, Sandra could not help but smile when she found Philippe staring at her like she had grown a pair of horns (and probably a tail) in the past five minutes. "Is it that much of a shock that I actually like the woman you"ve married? In fact, I do believe your father would have also been charmed by her—-" Her smile faded when she saw her son stiffen. "Oh, my dear."

"Now is not the time, Maman."

But Sandra only shook her head. "Your father is long gone, Philippe. You must move on and stop letting your anger rule your life."

Even merely hearing his mother mention his father was enough to make him remember all the memories of his miserable childhood. Bruno had been a cold and unloving man, a perfectionist who had not been able to accept that his younger son was dyslexic.

"Philippe..."

He shook his head. "I do not think I will ever stop hating him."

"Even if he ends up ruining your life?"

His lips twisted in a humorless life. "Au contraire, Maman - he was my sole motivation for making our business grow ten times more than he ever had in his lifetime."

"And Greta?"

Philippe stiffened.

"That his two sons have fallen for a woman he despises is certain to make your father turn over in his grave. Is that why your sister-in-law is now your mistress?"

Philippe"s lips tightened. "I cannot believe you are bringing her up here—-"

"You are feeling guilty," she observed. "Your wife does not know about her then?"

If Charlee-Mae had not lost her memories, such a question would"ve required him to lie, but because his wife now believed herself to be in love with him, Philippe was able to speak the truth to his mother.

"Non, Maman, she does not...and I have no plans of her ever finding out."

The fierceness of her son"s tone told her everything she had to know, and a tremor of relief shook Sandra"s slender frame. Oh, thank God, thank God.

Philippe was surprised when her mother suddenly gave him a warm embrace. "Maman?"

"I am just so happy for you, mon fils. I was worried at first, of course. I thought this marriage of yours was a sham. I thought you only meant to make me relinquish your shares, and you"d soon divorce your wife to marry Greta."

That had been his plan. Marrying Greta, in his mind, would"ve been his final act of revenge against a father capable of coldly rejecting his own flesh and blood on account of an imperfection.

"But now that I have seen the two of you together, and because I cannot but think this is a work of God, to have Cha-Cha of all people become your wife..." Sandra reached up to cup her son"s face. "Listen to me, Philippe. I know you hate being given advice, and I know that has much to do with your father, but if you are to ever listen to me just once, then let it be this moment. Get rid of Greta before it is too late."

Philippe was prevented from replying with Charlee-Mae walking back in, and Sandra quickly moved away before her daughter-in-law could be made to think something was amiss.

"I"m back!" Charlee-Mae sent an apologetic smile to Sandra. "I"m sorry I had to leave—-"

"Non, non, I completely understand. All is well with your sister-in-law?"

"She thinks it"s so me to have this kind of accident—-"

Sandra laughed. "It is."

"Maman!"

"But I mean it in a good way, ma fille," the older woman reassured her. "No matter what trouble you run into, you always find a way to look at things positively. It is why I love watching your vlogs."

"Aww, Maman, you"re making me blush—-"

Sandra"s shoulders started to shake as she suddenly remembered one of Cha-Cha"s vlogs. "How can I do that when that man with a huge package—-"

"Maman!" Philippe could not believe he had heard his mother - his church-going, ultra-conservative mother - had just uttered such a thing.

Sandra could not help laughing at her son"s visible discomfort. "Oh, relax, mon fils."

His wife was laughing as well. "The package thing is an inside joke."

Philippe was starting to wonder whether he had married a stand-up comedienne.

"A few months ago, I went on a date with a guy from Tinder—-"

"And the man"s English was terrible," Sandra recalled.

"Very terrible," Charlee-Mae added, and as she and her mother-in-law looked at each other, it was as if their words called the same memory to mind, and both women started laughing again.

"The f-first thing he said—-" Charlee-Mae was barely able to speak between giggles. "—-was that he might make me blush because—-"

"He had a huge package for you," Sandra cried out.

"But it really was just a package!"

Charlee-Mae and Sandra turned to Philippe, thinking that he would join in their laughter, but when they saw the all-too-pleasant expression on his handsome face—-

Charlee-Mae quickly turned her laugh into a cough while Sandra checked her watch and feigned shock at the time.

"Please." Philippe"s voice was silky. "Don"t stop at my expense. I"d love to know more about this other man my wife was dating."

Sandra pretended not to hear anything. "Oh dear. I"m late for my next appointment." She turned to Charlee-Mae. "I"m sorry, my dear. I have to go."

Charlee-Mae was starting to feel nervous at how Philippe was still looking at her. "Don"t leave me, please?"

Sandra pretended not to hear this as well, and instead turned to her son. "Will you walk me to the lift, mon fils?"

"Bien s?r, Maman." Philippe turned to his wife. "And when I come back, we shall talk about packages—-"

"But there"s really no need," Charlee-Mae said earnestly. "It"s only your package I care about! Your package is—-"

Philippe swiftly ushered his mother out of the room and closed the door before Sandra could hear any other things about his package.

"Your wife is so adorable, Philippe."

"You make her sound like a pet."

Sandra let out a gasp. "I do not!" But then she saw her son"s lips twitch, and she realized he had merely been joking. Joking!

Philippe turned to his mother and was startled to see the older woman looking so emotional. "Maman?"

"It has been so long since we"ve had such fun together like this."

"It has, hasn"t it?"

"Every time we see each other, we often end up quarreling."

"It wasn"t like that when I was growing up."

"No," Sandra said softly. "It wasn"t." She left it at that, knowing that her son was no fool, and he would know without being told that their relationship as mother and son had only become difficult when he chose to make his sister-in-law his mistress.

Sandra"s chauffeur-driven limousine was already waiting for her outside the hospital when they came out, and her mother kissed him on the cheek in goodbye. "All I wish is for your happiness, Philippe. But you won"t ever have that if you do not let go of the past. Make things right while you still have the time."

Sandra"s words remained with Philippe as he made his way back to Charlee-Mae"s room. His father was long gone, but Philippe still had the rest of his life ahead of him. Marrying Greta used to be so damn important because it had been the worst way he could think of to spite his father. But was that all his life could be?

It had been months since he had even taken Greta to bed, and did that not say a lot about how he saw her? When he had decided to marry Greta, he had thought he was killing two birds with one stone. He would have his revenge, and Greta would also make him a suitable wife.

But now that he had met Charlee-Mae..."suitable" suddenly did not seem enough, and he was starting to think it would never be so.

A heavy load seemed to have lifted off his shoulders, and although Philippe had no doubt ending things with Greta would not be easy, whatever trouble he ran into would be worth suffering if it meant keeping Charlee-Mae in his life, and preferably without her memories back.

His wife was standing by the balcony doors when he walked in, and she turned around as soon as she heard him enter. "Your Maman was such a surprise," she told him with a smile.

"I think that should be my line," he said dryly. "I would never have expected her to be a fan of your vlogs."

Charlee-Mae pouted. "Is that your way of saying you thought her too posh for my vlogs?"

"Oui."

His wife gasped. "How horrible! Don"t you know Marriage 101? Thou shalt always be supportive of thy wife"s vlogs!"

"Even if said vlogs are about the men she"s dated?"

Charlee-Mae had actually forgotten about that part, and she realized too late she should have just kept her mouth shut.

"Well, ma femme? Should I watch your vlogs then?"

His tone was pleasant, but the glint in his eyes was not.

"You"re jealous!"

"Oui."

She gasped yet again, not having expected to hear him easily admit this.

"And I"ve never been the type to be jealous before," Philippe muttered with self-disgust. "But somehow with you..."

"It"s different?"

"Everything is different with you."

Charlee-Mae had a hard time keeping her face straight at her husband"s chagrined tone.

"I used to find it extremely irritating," Philippe said moodily, "when women insisted on speaking French without bothering to learn the accent. But then you—-"

Charlee-Mae didn"t know whether to feel sympathetic or insulted. "Is my accent that bad?"

"I do not think you can even call yours an accent."

"Ouch."

"It is just so terrible, it sounds no different from a witch running her nails against a chalkboard."

Charlee-Mae choked back a laugh.

"And there is the lunch hour you speak of."

"Oh dear."

"And then—-" Philippe broke off when his wife suddenly rushed to his side and threw her arms around him.

"I get it," Charlee-Mae said, her voice muffled against his chest.

"You do?"

Looking up, she said softly, ""You"re telling me you truly are in love with me...even if ours is a mail-order marriage."