The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman

Author:Joanna Goodman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

She arrives at the Motel Maisonneuve on Ontario Street breathless with excitement. She has so much to tell him, starting with the news that she’s leaving Roland, that it’s done and there’s no turning back. She’s also going to tell him about what happened to her in Frelighsburg—the rape, the pregnancy, having to give up the baby. She wants to rid herself of all her secrets and start this next phase of her life with a clean slate. Fate has brought them back together, and she owes Gabriel the truth. He’s been in the dark long enough.

She knocks on the door, in case he’s already here. She’s smiling just thinking about him. She’s got a bottle of wine in her bag, and she’s wearing a new lace bra and panties. Gabriel opens the door and then immediately sits down on the bed without actually greeting her. No hello, no embrace. She follows him inside.

The room is a disappointment. It’s dingy and has a musty smell. The curtains, mustard-yellow burlap, are drawn. There’s a simple pine headboard, a frayed chenille bedspread, and an olive green carpet that needs vacuuming. “I thought it would be nicer,” she says, setting her purse down on the bureau and pulling out the wine.

He doesn’t say anything, only stares straight ahead with a strange look on his face. She rushes over to him and strokes his blond brush cut, then bends down to kiss him on the mouth.

He turns away.

“What’s wrong?” she asks him.

“I went home this weekend.”

“Don’t tell me your sister talked you out of leaving Annie?” she says, sitting down beside him. “Don’t listen to Clémentine. I’ve already told Roland I’m leaving.”

“What did you do that for?” he says gruffly. There’s something in his voice that frightens her.

“Why not?” she says. “We agreed it’s what we both want.”

His eyes are dark, distant. Something is different.

“What’s wrong, Gabriel?” she asks him again.

“It’s not going to work.”

“Since when?” she cries, confused. “You don’t love Annie. We talked about this.”

“This isn’t about Annie.”

“What is it about then? I thought it was decided, right before you went home to Dunham. We still love each other. What happened?”

“We almost made a huge mistake.”

“I don’t understand. Did Clémentine say something? Did my father?”

“It’s over.”

The bed beneath her feels unsteady. “Don’t say that,” she says, crouching down in front of him and wrapping her arms around his legs.

He pushes her off and looks her right in the eye, with not a trace of affection.

“What have I done?”

“I ran into Audrey McCauley in Dunham,” he says, his voice chillingly calm.

“Where?”

“I went to church with my sisters on Sunday,” he explains. “I actually wanted to thank Audrey for putting you in touch with Godbout.”

He knows. In that split second, Maggie’s world collapses.

“She told me you had quite a heart-to-heart, the two of you.”

She feels like throwing up. This isn’t how it was supposed to go.

“She told me you gave away our baby,” he says, getting up off the bed and moving restlessly around the room.

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