“It’s not a rumor. It’s the plain truth, and I expect you to stay silent about it. Rene made you one of us, and my family knows how to keep a secret. That’s the reason you hadn’t heard, but I wonder how close you really are to Rene if he’s not telling you our secrets. Or maybe he knows you won’t be one of us for long.” He stepped back. “I’ve got to go pick up my son. We’re going fishing this weekend. You think about what I said. That check is waiting for you. You should get something out of this besides heartache. I wish someone had offered my mother the same.”

She watched as he walked out.

There were a lot of reasons Rene might not tell her something so personal, the first being Charles was full of it and he was trying to drive a wedge between them. It could all be a lie.

She glanced around to see if anyone had listened in, but it was a sleepy afternoon and city hall looked almost deserted.

So why did she feel like she had eyes on her?

She took a deep breath and forced herself to walk to the stairs and up to her office.

Rene would tell her what she needed to know. It wasn’t like she’d told him every single thing about her family.

She wished he’d told her that Charles would have access to their personal contracts.

“You’re back.” Gertie was walking toward her, her purse over her shoulder.

Gertie would be the perfect person to talk to. If anyone would know what was the truth, it would be Gertie. It was obvious her mother didn’t know about Rene’s dad and Charles’s mom. She would have said something.

But would she be betraying her new family if she even put the rumor out there?

“Yes, anything happen while I was gone?” Sylvie asked. She needed time to think. She wasn’t going to fall into Charles’s trap, and she wasn’t going to rush home to tell Rene what had happened. He would get upset, and there was nothing he could do about it. They had a plan when it came to Charles. They needed to follow it and not allow Rene’s anger to derail them.

“Your husband lost his damn mind,” Gertie said with a shake of her head. “I told him that was a responsibility, not a gift. You should go and deal with that.”

“He’s here?”

“He’s been sitting in your office for the last twenty minutes. I need him to understand I am not cleaning up any accidents.” Gertie continued walking, a hint of a smile coming on her face. “Though I will admit, that is a gorgeous ball of fluff right there. Good luck.”