Anthony and Francie: "Just like always"...

It seems clear to me that Anthony was crying crocodile tears when his marriage was falling to bits around him. This is because he was far more in love with the idea of being a husband and father than the woman he married. Once he got a child to cherish out of her, she became an irrelevance to be kept at arm's length. He clearly does love Françoise. In his own awkward, mainpulative way, he loves his daughter more than he loves anyone else on Earth. That includes Elizabeth. He loves the idea of marrying into the Patterson family but can't work up much enthusiasm for the Patterson that has to be married. What he clearly wants out of life is a reasonable docile woman who will not lose her temper over real problems. Displaced aggression directed at worthless subjects is great but actual outrage at the substantive is out of the question. Fortunately, he found someone who fits that descrpition quite well: Liz. Owing to her eagerness not to die alone, she can be expected not to do anything much that would endanger her yearned-for status as Mrs. Cinnabuns. This means that she could be counted on to treat Francie the same way she did her students. To put in plain English, her carrer as a mother would be summarized by the phrase "I'd like to be a parent if that's okay with you". The Silly Sandwich Lady who bought her ice cream might be sleeping in Daddy's room from now on but her life won't change any much more than that.