“Oh, chérie. This is my fault.”

But Genevieve shook her head. “He has children. With Olga. Did you know?”

“Children?” Her eyes and mouth were open in amazement, her tongue coated in chocolate crumbs.

“Two daughters. She has two sons by the dead husband, but the girls are his.”

“How did you find out about this?”

“He stood me up last night and I went to find him. He was at her apartment. Well, it’s his apartment really. That’s very obvious when you see the place. And it explains a lot about him that I didn’t understand. She was sick in bed. Quite possibly dying. I saw the children. I spoke to them.”

“What about Zachari? Was he there too?”

“He was talking to the doctor in another room.”

“I hope you hit him, chérie.” Lulu put her hand on Genevieve’s arm. “And not just a slap. Men like that deserve a closed fist.”

“No. I stood on the other side of the door, listening to him. And then I walked away.” She was still doodling. A sketch of Lulu—all eyes and mouth and the beauty spot.

“You mean you didn’t even speak to him?”

“It changed everything—seeing those children.”

“Yes?”

“They were losing their mother. I stood there and looked into their eyes, and I knew I had to walk away. He’s all they have, Lulu. I love him, but they need him so much more than I do.”

Lulu patted her shoulder. “You’re a good person.”

“No, I’m not. Really, I think I did it for my baby. Does that sound stupid? Anyway, he chose too. He chose them over me.” She sighed. “I always knew that he was hiding from something, down there in that basement of his.”

“This all sounds so damn noble, chérie. Too noble, if you ask me.”

Genevieve shook her head. “I can’t be angry with Paolo any more than you can with Camby. I understand too well about living in hiding. I’ve done everything I can to hide from my past—from Josephine. But she’s still there and I still wonder about her. I don’t know what I’ll do about that. I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do. But it’s something I have to think about.”

“What about Robert? Does he know about all this?”

“Some of it. About Paolo, I mean. Not about Josephine. Poor Robert. I’ve pretty much destroyed him.”

“Ah.” Lulu flapped a hand. “You two were all wrong from the start. You’ve done him a favor, ending that marriage. Now he can find a nice simple girl who’ll bake cookies for him.”

But Genevieve wasn’t convinced.

Lulu pointed down at the small case by her feet. “So where are you going with that bag? London?”