Chapter 15

Olivier went for another walk after his long conversation with Stephanie.

The rain had stopped and he needed some air.

He was smiling as he walked along and saw the rainbow overhead.

Stephanie had answered all his questions and explained everything.

Their entire history made sense to him now.

And what he wanted to do next was tell Amanda.

Stephanie had taken the decision out of his hands and given him an immeasurable gift: an honest future to make up for their dishonest past.

He only wished now that they had done it sooner.

He called Amanda from his cellphone while he was walking.

It went straight to voicemail, and he left her a message that he had something urgent to tell her.

In view of recent history, he doubted that she'd call him.

He tried her again on the way back to the house, and texted her when he got home.

Veronique was cooking dinner, and there was a celebratory atmosphere.

Lizzie had told the others what had happened.

All three of them smiled at Olivier, and he waved, as he headed up the stairs to his bedroom and called Amanda again.

He sent her an email and said he needed to speak to her urgently.

He had a feeling that nothing he said or wrote to her would induce her to call him.

He had left her alone for a few weeks after pelting her with messages before that.

Nothing had persuaded her to call him.

She was determined to stay on her path and ignore him, and had shut him out.

Olivier was excited and wanted to share all the news with her.

After he sent the email, he decided not to wait for a response but to go to her house and tell her.

It was the only way he would get her to listen.

He told Stephanie he was going out, mostly out of habit, and she could guess where he was going.

She called out to him as he rushed down the stairs.

"Good luck!"

"Thank you!"

he shouted back, and poked his head into the kitchen.

"I'm out for dinner, I think,"

he said to the Three Musketeers with a grin.

"Leave me some leftovers just in case.

It smells delicious."

He realized that he was going to miss them when they left, once Stephanie was walking again.

He'd miss her too, after more than half a lifetime with her, even though they didn't see each other often.

But there would be holidays and family events with the boys, and he didn't see why they couldn't still spend them together.

And Lizzie was always with them anyway.

He drove his car out of the garage and headed toward Amanda's apartment.

She might be out, or refuse to let him in, but he had to try.

Otherwise, he would have Pascal call her and tell her he was getting divorced, but he wanted to give her the news himself, if he could gain access to her, which wasn't a sure thing.

He parked half a block away from her building.

It was the only spot he could find.

It was already dark, and as he approached the building, he saw a shadow move on the fa?ade.

He stopped to look more carefully and realized it wasn't a shadow, it was a man, in black pants and a black sweater, a knitted hood and mask and black gloves.

Not an inch of flesh was showing as he carefully made his way up the fa?ade using the hand- and footholds that had been used before.

Olivier couldn't see who the man was, but he was agile and scaling the building quickly.

Olivier paused to look where he would stop, as he got a grip on Amanda's balcony, and leapt easily onto it.

He was holding something that he used to smash the window.

All her lights were on, so Olivier assumed that she was home.

Olivier didn't waste any time as he rushed at the front door with the code panel.

He pressed all the correct numbers and it opened, and he raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time at full speed while calling the police on his cellphone.

They answered immediately and he told them where he was, Amanda's name, and what was happening.

His stomach turned over as he backed up to kick in her apartment door.

He didn't have a key, and there was no other way to get in.

—

Amanda was in a pink terry-cloth robe tied tightly around her as she walked into her bedroom, her hair wet.

She hadn't set the alarm yet for the night, and she was beginning to feel safe in her apartment again.

She'd been in the shower when the intruder broke the window, climbed in, and took his hat and mask off.

He was waiting for her in the middle of the bedroom, as Amanda saw him and gave a start.

It was Tom.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

she said, shaking and trying not to show it, as he walked slowly toward her, his face contorted by rage.

Lulu was barking frantically at him and he paid no attention to her.

"I wasn't good enough for you, Amanda, was I? But he was.

I know what you did with him.

I saw how often he was here.

You're a whore, that's all you are.

I know how many nights he slept here."

He advanced on her as she backed away.

She felt in the pocket of her robe for the panic button but it was behind him on the dresser and she couldn't get to it.

She wanted to run into her bathroom and lock the door, but it would mean leaving Lulu with him, and she was afraid he would kill the dog.

And as she thought it, he pulled a long switchblade out of his pocket and flashed it at Amanda.

"Remember how the book ends, and what happens to the girl he loved.

He kills her.

Just like I'm going to kill you now.

But first I'm going to show you what love feels like."

He put the switchblade back in his pocket, took another step toward her, and slapped her hard across the face.

She could taste blood when he did, and with a single gesture he untied her robe, and with two hands threw her on the bed and climbed on top of her with his full weight, fully intending to rape her.

She was lying naked beneath him, trying to fight him off with her legs and feet as he pinned her arms down with his hands.

He reached down to push his pants down, and as he did there was a crashing sound, and suddenly two powerful arms and a towering figure pulled him off her, and he flew backward.

Amanda saw Olivier's face as he knocked Tom down, and faster than light, Tom was on his feet again, with the blade of his switchblade flashing.

Olivier had a grip on him, and Tom slashed at his arm to free himself, and suddenly there was blood everywhere, and at lightning speed, Tom turned and lunged at Amanda to slash her, and his blade cut into her thigh.

Olivier grabbed Tom and knocked him to the floor then, pinning him down with his full weight as four police officers ran through her open front door and into her bedroom with guns drawn and took over.

In less than a minute they had Tom in handcuffs down on the floor with his arms behind him.

He was shouting obscenities at Olivier and Amanda and trying to kick the police officers, who tied his legs together so he couldn't move.

There was a pool of blood on Amanda's bedroom floor, as she stood naked with blood gushing from her thigh.

One of the officers covered her with her robe and sat her on the bed, as two others tended to Olivier.

His shirt drenched in blood, he was still conscious, talking to the police.

Tom had cut his arm but not his chest.

And Lulu was cowering in the corner, whimpering, as the fourth officer called for emergency medical services, the SAMU.

Tom rolled so he could see Amanda, sitting on the bed in shock, and shouted at her.

"I should have killed you.

You're a bitch! You always were.

You deserve to die!"

His words were so venomous and his face so contorted with fury that she almost didn't recognize him.

He had cut his arm when he broke the window, and he was bleeding too.

It was a scene of carnage in her bedroom.

Olivier looked over at Amanda and saw her bleeding on the bed, her legs covered in blood, her robe and his shirt drenched with it.

"Are you okay?"

he asked her in a weak voice, and she nodded, too traumatized to speak, and within minutes, the room was filled with the emergency medical teams.

Tom had been removed, and they put Olivier and Amanda on two gurneys and carried them downstairs to the ambulance.

The street was full of police cars and flashing lights.

Amanda asked about her dog, and one of the officers said she was fine, and they had left her in the kitchen of the apartment and locked the door.

And then they closed the ambulance doors and sped away to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, taking them both to the trauma unit to be assessed for their injuries.

Tom had been taken straight to jail, and if he needed stitches for the cuts on his hands from the broken window, they would stitch him up there.

The doctors were applying pressure to Olivier's arm while they examined him, and a detective was asking him questions.

He had an IV in his other arm, and he kept looking over at Amanda and asking if she was okay.

They stitched them up and gave them tetanus shots, assessing their injuries as deep flesh wounds.

Olivier and Amanda both required stitches but no nerves or ligaments had been cut, no arteries had been hit.

They were told that they were very lucky.

The detective questioned Amanda too, and she gave him all the background.

It was clear now that Tom had been her erotomaniac all along, and had also done the first two break-ins since they were identical in style.

And he had probably left the gutted fish in the florist box.

They kept Amanda and Olivier for observation overnight, until nine o'clock the next morning, and two police officers took them back to her apartment in a police car.

The nurses gave them hospital pajamas to go home in.

Amanda had no clothes with her, and Olivier's were cut from the switchblade and covered in blood, and had been taken into evidence.

Amanda and Olivier were told there would be no lasting damage from their injuries.

Their wounds had bled a lot, but there was no significant blood loss that required transfusions.

The detective who had questioned Amanda told her that Olivier had saved her.

If he hadn't called the police and broken the door down before they got there, Tom would have raped and killed her.

He had admitted as much to the police and said she deserved it.

The police had locked the door to the apartment when they left, and they got the key from the guardian when they returned.

They walked Olivier and Amanda into the apartment, brought them each a glass of water, pulled the blood-soaked sheets off the bed and let them lie down, and then freed Lulu from the kitchen.

She immediately came to find Amanda, who picked her up, and Lulu licked her face, happy to see her.

Before they left, the police officers made sure that Amanda and Olivier were doing all right, and informed them that a criminal investigation unit would come by to see them that afternoon with further questions and information, and that a follow-up medical team would come to check their wounds.

And then the officers left.

Olivier and Amanda lay on her bed with a blanket over them, with the broken window, and felt like they had been washed up on the beach after a shipwreck.

And Lulu lay next to her.

"Wow, how did all that happen?"

Amanda asked Olivier.

He wanted to put an arm around her, but he couldn't, since his left arm was bandaged and in a sling.

"I came out of the bathroom and there he was, dressed like a cat burglar, and he slapped me and grabbed me.

He was going to rape me.

And then kill me.

And what were you doing here?"

They were both pale, but fully aware of what had happened and how fortunate they were that Tom hadn't killed them both.

"I came to tell you that I'm getting divorced, since you didn't answer any of my texts or messages, and when I got here I saw him crawling up the building and climbing onto your balcony.

I could guess the rest.

I called the police while I rushed up the stairs and kicked in the apartment door when he was about to rape you."

"He really is insane,"

Amanda said in an awestruck voice.

"He was my stalker all along.

And I don't think he found me by accident.

I think he came to Paris looking for me, to settle an old score, for ending it with him twenty years ago."

"That's a horrifying thought,"

Olivier said, still feeling weak.

It had been a shocking night.

"Why did you tell your wife you wanted a divorce?"

she asked him.

"Did you tell her about me?"

"I didn't, and yes, in that order.

I was waiting until she had recovered from her accident, but she told me she was divorcing me.

She explained twenty-six years to me in less than two hours.

She agrees that we should have divorced years ago.

She's gay, and she's been in love with one of her riding partners for twenty years, but she knew before that, before she even married me.

She just never told me, or her family.

The riding partner is a really lovely woman.

They're getting married.

And after that, I told Stephanie about you."

Amanda was lying on her side on the bloodstained mattress and staring at him.

"Oh my God, what did you say to her when she told you?"

"I was grateful.

It explained everything.

She doesn't want to live a lie anymore, and neither do I.

I would have asked her for a divorce in a month or two anyway.

You'll never know how much I missed you."

"I missed you too,"

she said softly.

"How did this craziness ever happen with Tom Quinlan?"

"There are some bad people out there,"

he said, and touched her with his good arm.

Her leg was throbbing but she didn't care.

Olivier was back, and he had saved her.

He lifted Lulu up with his good hand, and placed her between them, whimpering, as Amanda stroked her, and Olivier leaned toward Amanda and kissed her.

"What do you think will happen to Tom now?"

she asked him as they lay there, catching up on everything they'd missed and the highlights of the last twenty-four hours, which were life-altering.

"He'll probably be charged with two counts of attempted murder and serve time in France.

They don't extradite to the U.S.

here.

He looked like such a nice, normal guy."

They lay on the bed together for a while, thinking about all of it, and she called Pascal and told him what had happened.

He was horrified.

"Oh my God, are you two okay? Why aren't you in the hospital?"

"They stitched us up and let us go this morning.

They're coming to check on us later.

We're all right, just kind of shell-shocked."

"Do you have food there?"

"I can't remember,"

she said, and Olivier laughed.

Her domestic skills had not improved in his absence.

"Can we come over? I'll bring you something to eat."

Pascal showed up half an hour later with Delphine and they brought crepes, omelets, pizza with an egg on it, some bread and cheese, and two steaming cups of cappuccino.

Olivier ate as though he'd never seen food before, and Amanda ate the crepes and the omelet, and drank the cappuccino.

Delphine had nearly fainted when she saw the blood on the rug and the mattress.

Olivier and Amanda were still feeling shaky, but better after they ate.

They sat at the kitchen table in their hospital pajamas and put the puzzle pieces together again for Pascal and Delphine.

There were still things they didn't know, but they knew more than they did before.

Tom was obviously psychotic and a potential killer.

It reminded her of the end of the book he had described to her that he was so pleased with, where the hero kills the woman he loves.

It had been a preview of things to come, and she didn't know it.

She didn't realize then that the message and the ending were meant for her.

Pascal and Delphine stayed with Amanda and Olivier until the police detectives arrived to question them further.

They had new information from Interpol, some of which Tom had admitted to them himself.

The detectives' assessment was that he was deeply psychotic.

He wasn't on sabbatical, and he was no longer a partner in the law firm.

He had attacked his wife with a knife in a jealous rage and had been committed for a year to a hospital for the criminally insane.

He was convicted of a felony, so he was disbarred, and had recently been released from the psychiatric hospital.

He had admitted to the police that he had come to Paris to find Amanda because his wife was divorcing him.

And he had started stalking her when he saw her with Olivier.

He had broken into her apartment twice, the night before being the third time, and he intended to kill her then, after he raped her, and he said she deserved it.

And Olivier had ruined everything.

Tom was going to be charged with two counts of attempted murder and one of attempted rape and go to prison.

And the police assured them both that he would serve a very long sentence in France.

He was showing no remorse for what he'd done, and only expressed regret that he hadn't killed them both.

It made Amanda shudder just hearing about it.

But she was safe now.

Her stalker had been apprehended. He couldn't hurt her again.

She and Olivier signed their statements, and the police thanked them and left.

The medical team came shortly after and checked their dressings and their vital signs, were satisfied with their condition, and promised to come again the next day.

Not surprisingly, they found that Amanda's heart rate was rapid, and Olivier's blood pressure was low from shock and loss of blood, but they were in surprisingly good condition given what they'd been through.

Amanda covered the mattress in towels after that, and made the bed with clean sheets.

She was going to order a new mattress the next day, but they had to make do with it for tonight.

She was going to try to have the rug cleaned.

It was an antique Aubusson, and she wasn't sure they could save it.

It seemed unimportant compared with all the rest.

She and Olivier had survived, which was all that mattered.

Olivier called Stephanie to let her know that he was all right.

He didn't want to worry her, so he didn't tell her what had happened or where he'd been.

"Did you get in touch with your friend?"

she asked him.

He smiled when he answered. "I did."

"Was she pleased with the news?"

He smiled at Amanda as he answered.

"I think so."

Pascal called later to check on them, and sent them dinner.

He was so grateful they hadn't been killed.

Amanda and Olivier lay in bed together that night, thinking back on everything that had happened.

She wondered if Tom had even written a book.

Maybe all he'd done was plot to kill her, and nothing else.

—

It took Amanda and Olivier several days to recover from the trauma they'd been through, and to start to make plans for the future.

They had a future now, and a life, which seemed infinitely precious.

More than ever before.

"Do you want to move in with me?"

Amanda asked him after he discussed the details of his divorce with her.

They were going to sell the house, once Stephanie was fully recovered.

She didn't want to be disturbed by potential buyers until she was well.

"Do you have room for me, like enough closet space?"

Olivier asked her.

She had only given him a very small closet before.

"No,"

she said cheerfully.

"But I can make some."

"I'd like that,"

he said quietly, grateful for every moment with her.

Stephanie's revelations had taught him how little one knew about people sometimes, even those you knew well.

But nothing he had seen of Amanda worried him or made him feel uneasy.

—

Tom Quinlan signed a full confession and was sent to prison.

He got life imprisonment for two counts of murder, since attempted murder carried the same weight in France.

The attempted rape was added as an aggravating circumstance.

And the attempt to murder Amanda was premeditated.

His attorney estimated that he would serve twenty-five to thirty years.

Twenty if he was exceptionally lucky, to be decided by a committee in later years.

Olivier told Stephanie the story and she was shocked, and so relieved that he hadn't been killed.

It was another month before Stephanie was out of the wheelchair and on crutches.

And at the end of another month, she was riding again.

She wasn't ready for the shows yet, but Valerie, Veronique, and Lizzie had signed up for several and she was going to travel with them until she was fully recovered.

Before the four women left on the show circuit, they all had dinner together, with Olivier and Amanda.

She told Stephanie about meeting her and Lizzie at the Hermès show, and Stephanie remembered.

Their divorce had already been filed, and Olivier and Stephanie had told their sons about it.

They weren't surprised, and Stephanie had not told them yet about Lizzie.

She was planning to in the coming months, and wanted to give them one big piece of news at a time.

But both sons had said that their parents hadn't gotten along for all of their lives and hardly saw each other, so it wouldn't be a big change.

Their mother marrying a woman would be a much bigger one.

Amanda had a feeling they'd get through it, and Olivier was going to make it clear to them that he supported it, and thought their mother was very brave to be so honest.

They still had to meet Amanda too, which compared to the rest would be a nonevent.

—

"Things move fast in your life,"

Pascal commented when Amanda talked to him about it.

He was mildly surprised when she told him about Stephanie and the reason for the divorce, but they agreed that life was like that, full of surprises that no one could ever have predicted, and Stephanie and Olivier would set the tone, which hopefully would make it easier for their sons to accept.

—

The divorce was final in eight months, because there were no points of contention.

Olivier and Stephanie agreed to an amicable settlement.

They were going to divide the proceeds of the house sale in half, and Stephanie only wanted a very small spousal support to help defray the cost of the upkeep of her horses, which Olivier was happy to pay.

They were fair with each other in the end, even if they had gotten off on the wrong foot at the start.

They had been too young to know how to deal with the hand they'd been dealt.

Stephanie had to come to terms with who she was, and Olivier had to be brave enough to want more out of life than he was getting.

Amanda had shown him that.

And in the end, Stephanie and Olivier had wound up with the right partners for them.

Amanda and Olivier went to Deauville and saw Stephanie ride in her first jumping competition when she was fully recovered.

She won first place.

She was back!

By the time the divorce was final, Guillaume and Edouard had been told about their mother and Lizzie.

She chose the Christmas holidays to tell them, which wouldn't have been Olivier's first choice, but it was Stephanie's decision.

Guillaume took it better than Edouard, who was more traditional, but in the end they agreed that it was their mother's life and her right to make the choices that suited her.

And fortunately, they already knew Lizzie well and liked her a lot.

Amanda was easy for them when they met her.

She brought no baggage to the table, and didn't interfere with their time with their father.

She and Olivier took them on a skiing holiday in Verbier and spent the whole time enjoying each other and seeing friends.

Amanda met the men at the bottom of the ski slope every day in her perfect après-ski outfits.

Olivier was thrilled to see her.

And she was easy and relaxed with his sons, who found her easy to relate to.

Amanda was young enough to be fun for them, and old enough to handle their family situation and complications with poise and delicacy.

She was there to make things easier for Olivier, not more difficult.

She made few demands on him.

She was exactly what she had appeared to be from the beginning, an independent woman with a fine mind and a big heart, who loved him.

He had everything with her that he'd always hoped for and never had, and she provided a warm home for him and his sons, which was more traditional than the scenario provided by their mother, who was happier now, at ease in her own skin, and better able to love them as a result.