Free The Witches of Cambridge by Menna van Praag Page A

marriage.”
    Amandine tears off a large piece of croissant and chews it slowly. “I’ve asked her to meet Eliot,” she says. “I’m hoping she’ll tell me what’s going on.”
    Kat sits forward, leaning across the table. “Are you sure that’s wise? She’s your student, you don’t want her knowing the intimate details of your marriage.”
    “I can trust her,” Amandine says, reaching for the remainder of the croissant. “She won’t tell anyone what she finds out.”
    “How do you know?” Kat asks. “Since she says everything she sees, maybe she won’t be able to help it.”
    Amandine shakes her head. “That’s only to the person whose secret she sees, not the whole wide world. At least, I hope so.”
    “ Moi aussi ,” Héloïse says.
    Amandine catches her mother’s eye. “Can’t you tell me what’s going on with Eliot?”
    “ Désolé ,” Héloïse says softly. “I would, if I could, of course. But since your father…I still can’t…”
    “Maman?” Amandine asks, tentative. “Is it true?”
    “Quoi?”
    “What she said about the—pills.”
    Héloïse gazes into her coffee cup. Amandine waits until her mother at last looks up.

    “I won’t do anything,” Héloïse says. “I can promise you that.”
    “But you want to?”
    Héloïse gives another little shrug. The blue silk scarf on her shoulders ripples and slides down across her breast. She picks it up and turns to Kat.
    “So this girl is right in everything, is she?” Héloïse says. “You will not tell George again how you feel?”
    “Shush!” Kat hisses, glancing around the café.
    Amandine giggles. “I don’t think he has spies hiding around corners, he’s not the subterfuge type.”
    “It’s his favorite café,” Kat snaps. “And if my sister overheard, she’d tell him in a second. She’s forever trying to fix me up.”
    “Is Cosi working tonight?” Amandine asks. “I haven’t seen her. I’ll say hello.”
    Héloïse smiles. “You’re just hoping she’ll give you free cakes.”
    “Well, there is that too, of course.”
    Héloïse looks at Kat. “So, will you tell George?”
    “Of course,” Kat says, picking at the flaky pastry of a croissant. “One day. When I solve Hilbert’s eighth problem or Kepler’s M = E− ε sin E .”
    Héloïse raises an eyebrow. “And am I right in supposing that this will not happen especially soon?”
    “It’s a delicate situation,” Kat says. “And there are other factors to consider, it’s not just a simple matter of declaring oneself. It’s complicated.”
    “Ah, oui .” Héloïse smiles. “Of course it is.”
    “Shut up,” Kat snaps. “I’m waiting for the right time.”

    Amandine fixes Kat with a coy smile. “And a perfect opportunity hasn’t happened to crop up in the two decades you’ve known each other, is that it?”
    Kat glares at her.
    “ Alors , so you’re not really scared,” Héloïse says. “You are simply being strategic, oui ?”
    Kat starts shredding the croissant. “You two don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s a lot more to it. For starters, he wants children, and I can’t have them. And, anyway—”
    “That’s not a deal-breaker,” Amandine says. “You can adopt.”
    “I’m sure he wants his own,” Kat protests. “And I can’t ask him to compromise that, it wouldn’t be fair—”
    “You could ask him,” Héloïse suggests. “That might be a first step.”
    “Hey,” Kat snaps, “when was the last time you put your heart out there to be stamped on? You were married forever, to a man who adored you—you never had to risk anything.”
    A silence falls over the table and the three women all avoid one another’s eyes. Amandine sneaks a sideways glance at her mother, wondering if she should say something to deflect the subject and fill the silence. But then Héloïse looks up.
    “ C’est vrai ,” she says. “But I’m no longer married, am I? So what’s left of my heart has now been quite