But there was the added problem of Louis, and that situation was getting more and more tense. He’d come for dinner two nights before, and there had been something quiet and watchful about Rene. He’d cut the evening off early, saying his mother needed rest. Cricket had argued, but when Rene pressed, she’d agreed and Louis had backed off.

The next morning Cricket had been her smiling self, but Sylvie didn’t buy it. There was a slight awkwardness between mother and son now.

“Do you want them? Children, I mean?” Cricket asked, her voice as nonchalant as the words that formed the question were serious.

“I do, but I definitely worry about what expectations will be on my kids.” It was a good way to start a conversation she needed to have. Maybe if she got Cricket’s perspective, she would be able to more easily speak to her husband about the situation. “Rene talks a lot about how he always knew he would have to take over the company.”

“Yes, he always knew he would have a job. He never had to worry about his financial security.”

“He also never had the chance to explore what he might have wanted to do with his life.”

“That’s the exchange, isn’t it?” Cricket gestured around the room. “Security and comfort versus freedom. There isn’t another word for it, is there? Rene did not have the freedom to truly find out what he wanted to do with his life. But he always seemed to look up to his father. He seemed to enjoy the responsibilities, until later on. I think it was a combination of things that happened that made his life feel like a cage. I often wonder if it would have been easier on him if Ross and I had been able to have more children.”

Sylvie knew firsthand how much Rene had wanted a brother. He’d basically adopted hers. “You wanted more kids?”

“Oh, yes,” Cricket answered. “I’ll be honest, Rene saved our marriage in a lot of ways. We were older for a first-time marriage back then. I had a career in college teaching. Ross and I decided to get married very quickly, and I don’t honestly believe it would have survived more than a few years if I hadn’t gotten pregnant. I might have gone back to Dallas and settled into being a spinster.”

An incredibly wealthy spinster. “But you stayed married for Rene?”