Invisible Love Read Online Free PDF

They rushed him to emergency. Now he’s in intensive care. I hope God sends
questo diavolo
straight to hell.”
    â€œThat’s not very Catholic of you, Angela.”
    â€œEddy won’t be any more
caldo
in the ass down there than he is up here: he’s always kept it close to the oven.
Almeno
, he’ll pay for his cheating.
Sì, lo so
, it’s not a very Christian thing to say, but
questo mostro
has never been very Christian either, so . . .”
    Given that he shared her opinion, Jean was perfectly prepared to grant her absolution.
    For a few hours, Jean and Laurent fervently hoped that Eddy would die. They did not feel bad in any way about thinking this. Their one fear was that the incident would set back Geneviève’s happiness.
    Angela kept Jean up to date with the situation. At first, Eddy’s condition was stable. Then she reported “a slight improvement.” Finally, she announced triumphantly that Eddy had been moved out of intensive care and into the regular cardiac ward. Over the days, without even realizing it, Angela had forgotten her curse on Eddy and had started seeing his illness through her neighbor’s eyes, delighting in tiny improvements, desiring a speedy recovery. So carried away was she by her good heart, it would not have been a surprise if she had taken flowers to this man she detested.
    A few weeks later, as she swept the floor, Angela said, “Did I ever tell you about my neighbor, Monsieur Daemens, a nice woman named Geneviève Grenier?”
    Jean pricked up his ears. “The one who’s supposed to be leaving her husband?” he said casually.
    â€œ
Ecco
! Only now she isn’t.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHe’s coming home from hospital today. He’s going to need physical therapy.”
    â€œThere are institutions for that.”
    â€œThat’s what I said,
Signor
Daemens!
Parola per parola
it’s what I told her! And you know what she replied? That he’s still the father of her children, that she’d never forgive herself if she abandoned him
in questo stato
, that she’s given up her other plans. I didn’t quite understand what she
suggerisce
by these ‘other plans’ because, apart from moving,
non ha menzionato
that she was changing jobs . . . Actually, I promised I’d go help her at the hospital. That’s at five o’clock! Do you mind if
tolgo
a few minutes? I’ll make it up tomorrow.”
    â€œBetter still, Angela, I’ll drop you there, I have a delivery to make.”
    â€œ
Fantastico
!”
    At five o’clock, Jean drove Angela to the Saint-Pierre Hos­pital, waited until she had entered the lobby, then went and parked his car a short distance away and took up his position in a café on Rue Haute.
    Half an hour later, Angela reappeared, carrying a couple of cardboard suitcases. Behind her came Geneviève, pushing a wheelchair in which Eddy sat slumped, pale-faced and dribbling, moving at the slightest jolt like a bag of meat. The whole of his right side was paralyzed.
    Above that lifeless face, Geneviève’s face seemed just as expressionless, her complexion waxy, her lips pale, her absent gaze fixed straight ahead.
    Jean wanted to leap out and scream, “Leave him, he’s ruined your life and he’s going to keep ruining it. Go back to Giuseppe right now!”
    But from the care she took in maneuvering the wheelchair, avoiding the bumps in the road, making sure that the blanket was protecting the patient from the cold, Jean realized that Geneviève would never go back on her decision. She was sacrificing her happiness, allowing herself to be walled alive in a tomb. With suicidal generosity, she had placed her pity for Eddy over her love for Giuseppe.
    She passed a few yards from Jean, and, seeing her gently moving that wreck that had once been Eddy through the streets of the Marolles, his anger was replaced by admiration.