“I mean I’ve been thinking a lot about my parents lately. I worry their relationship was more of a friendly one than a passionate marriage. I worry I might be falling into the same thing because it’s what I know.” Though he couldn’t deny the passion he felt for his wife. “It’s not that I worry about it for me. For me, it would be the perfect marriage. I don’t want another wife. I want Sylvie. If I’m honest with myself, I jumped all over this situation because it gave me a way to get her where I want her.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I don’t think Sylvie will be happy with that kind of marriage. Her parents were wildly in love.” Maybe kids were always doomed to replay what they’d watched as they grew up. He knew he often felt like he’d stepped into his father’s life the minute he’d died, like the crown had been shoved on his head and it was heavy.

“Your parents loved each other,” Louis said quietly.

“But were they in love?”

Louis sighed and sat back. “They were older when they married. Your mother was well into her thirties, and at the time that wasn’t a normal thing. Your father was older than she was.”

“Did he marry her for the company’s sake?” That question had been running around Rene’s head for years.

“Are you asking if he was under the same pressure as you?” Louis asked. “Yes, he was. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t love your mother.”

Rene had always had his suspicions. “You spent more time with him than she did. He was married to this company. I’m not sure that’s what I want. I’m also not sure I’m capable of anything else. I think I’m my father’s son. I think there’s something missing inside me.”

He’d thought about the look on Sylvie’s face when he’d told her plenty of marriages started without love. It hadn’t been the answer she’d wanted, but he hadn’t been able to lie to her.

“There is nothing missing in you.” Louis had leaned in, his eyes intent on Rene. “And there was nothing missing in your father. He knew how to love. Maybe he wasn’t demonstrative enough for you, but that had to do with the way he was raised.”

“I’m not judging him.” He loved his father. He’d been a good father, but he hadn’t taught him how to be the kind of man Sylvie seemed to need, and he was at a loss for what to do. He wanted her. He wasn’t sure he could have her, and he was a little scared that losing Sylvie would have far more of an effect on his life than he was willing to admit.