Amanda returned home very late, around 10 p.m., to find Christopher standing on the doorstep, his gaze menacing.
"Where have you been?" was the first question he asked her. "I've called you several times.
She didn't answer and went into the house with the children.
Christopher followed her into the living room while she took the children, who were already asleep, to their rooms.
When Amanda returned to the living room, she didn't give Christopher a chance to say anything. She attacked him: "Why did you lie to me?"
"I'm sorry, I hadn't expected her to talk to journalists" he replied.
Amanda replied, her eyes sparkling with anger: "Is that all you have to say?"
"Calm down and listen to me," said Christopher in a tense voice.
Christopher recoverded himself and continued in a calmer voice: "I've been seeing Cora for a year. I told her I was negotiating a very important contract, but the chairman of the board of the company I was negotiating with was reluctant because he felt I was a playboy and preferred a more traditional partner. She then suggested we get married and I didn't insist."
Amanda interjected: "How come she's telling journalists you're engaged when you broke up with her?" asked Amanda.
"I decided to break up with her when I heard about you and the kids." Said Christopher.
"Go on," says Amanda.
"She told journalists we were engaged to get back at me, but don't worry. I've just posted a denial."
Amanda sighed with relief and couldn't hold back the tears she'd been holding back for several minutes. Chirstopher came closer and took her in his arms. Inwardly, he swore that he would make Cora pay for the tears Amanda had just shed.
After Christopher's departure, Amanda had great difficulty falling asleep. Her thoughts revolved incessantly around the day's events.
Christopher's sudden departure, his hesitations, the sudden tension she'd felt between them, all kept coming back into her mind. She was also thinking about Emily's message, the article she'd read about Christopher and his supposed fiancée.
She asked herself, "Can I trust him completely?" This question kept repeating itself in her mind, but each time, she couldn't answer it. Her thoughts were a confused, tortured tangle.
She thought back to her own emotions. The fear of having been deceived, the anger of having discovered a truth she hadn't wanted to see, the sorrow of having understood that she could be left for another. These feelings overwhelmed her, blocked her. What she had felt that night was of an intensity she could never have imagined.
She felt overwhelmed by a suffering she'd never known before.
She asked herself, "What would I do if I found myself in a similar situation, or worse?" If Christopher were to betray her, how could she go on? At this thought, a dull ache invaded her heart. She felt her lips tremble and hot tears roll down her cheeks.
Her feelings for Christopher were more powerful than she had imagined. It was a love that took her over entirely and seemed to leave no room for anything else. A love so intense, so deep, that it consumed her little by little. She felt as if she couldn't live without him, couldn't breathe without the connection she believed to be unbreakable.