A Case for Love (28 page)

“Don’t say anything else!” Sandra jumped to her feet. Forbes wouldn’t have been surprised if the lawyer had clapped her hand over Mom’s mouth to keep her from saying anything else.

He kept his startled amusement under lock and key. “Do you need a few minutes to sort this out with your clients?”

“No—”

“Yes, we do,” Mom answered.

“Fine.” Forbes stood as well and looked around at all of his clients. “I would imagine y’all want a break as much as I do. There’s a coffee shop just a few doors down that has a public restroom if you need it. Let’s give Ms. Landreneau and her clients fifteen minutes, shall we?”

Forbes caught JD by the arm to have a private word with him at the back of the group crowding out through the front door, and by the time Forbes made it out onto the wide, shady sidewalk, he had only one goal in mind.

Everyone crowded around him once the front door shut behind him, wanting to know what just happened and how it would affect the case. He tried to set their minds at ease, while edging toward Anne’s office. Finally appeased, everyone moved down the covered sidewalk toward the Beignets S’il Vous Plait coffee shop.

His hand barely touched the doorknob on Anne’s front door when Alaine came out, holding her cell phone toward him. “Mother wants to talk to you.”

He pressed the small phone to his ear and listened in complete silence to what Solange had to say, thanked her when she finished, then handed the phone back to Alaine.

“What was that all about?”

“I’ll tell you later.” He placed her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her to the bench against the wall between his and Anne’s offices. He waited for Alaine to sit first, then sat beside her and took her hand in both of his. “Do you realize, if I lose this case, or don’t get a favorable settlement or ruling for the people in the Mills, it could ruin my little fledgling law firm?”

“Even with other clients, this case is that big a deal?”

He cocked his head and tapped her forehead with his finger. “Uh ... it’s why I was forced out of my previous law firm.”

“But I mean, big enough to be something that if you lose, you’ll never work in this town again kind of thing?” She waved his hand away and leaned into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Potentially.”

“I’ve already told you I love you no matter what happens. And I know that God has your future in His hands, and He’s not going to lead you down a dead-end street.”

“I know. I just wish....” He leaned his cheek against her soft hair.

“You just wish you had God’s omniscience so you could see everything that was coming so you could control it.”

“No. I just wish the future wasn’t quite so uncertain.”

“But without uncertainty, there’d be no need for faith.”

“There are some things about the future we can control, you know.” He turned her hand over and made lazy circles on the palm with his thumb.

A shudder wracked Alaine’s body; he smiled. He liked knowing he had such an effect on her. “Like what?” Her voice came out strained.

“Oh, like making wise decisions—decisions based on godly principles, not worldly advice. Living each day with our eyes open for the opportunities God is putting in front of us. And most importantly, realizing when waiting for a more opportune moment to do something is stupid.” Keeping hold of her left hand, Forbes turned and went from bench to one knee on the sidewalk in a flash.

Alaine jumped and let out a little gasp—as did several people around them who’d returned from the coffee shop. JD stood out of his daughter’s line of sight, a big grin splitting his face.

Forbes kissed Alaine’s hand. “I was planning to wait until tonight while we were out dancing, because I wanted this to be connected with one of your favorite things in the world. But I find myself unable to wait any longer.” He pulled the small velvet pouch out of the inside pocket of his suit coat and shook its contents into his other hand.

Though wracked with nervousness just half an hour ago waiting to find out what would happen with his parents, nothing in the world had ever felt more right, more comfortable, than this moment in time as he slipped the platinum band with the large marquis diamond onto Alaine’s finger.

He clasped her hand in both of his. “I love you more than anything in the world, and I cannot live without you in my life. Will you marry me?”

Two huge tears rolled down her cheeks, but he’d never seen her smile grow so wide or beam so brightly. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
yes!
” She flung her arms around his neck.

With a whoop, Forbes jumped up, hoisting Alaine in his arms, jubilating in her response and the cheers of the crowd around them.

He lowered her feet to the ground and leaned down and kissed her right and proper, drawing more cheers and wolf whistles from the crowd.

JD came over to hug his daughter. Anne’s office door swung open, and she and George joined them. Forbes could hardly wait until JD and Anne finished hugging Alaine to pull her back into his arms again.

The door of his office burst open.

“No!” Mom’s voice echoed under the canopy covering the sidewalk. “I don’t care what Mackenzie and Son recommends—they’re the ones who got us into this mess in the first place. I want to know what
my son
recommends.” Forbes’s mother halted abruptly—Dad had to swerve to keep from running into her from behind. The small crowd parted for them.

Forbes wouldn’t let Alaine step away from him. He wanted his parents to be able to figure out what had just happened here.

“I am warning you, Mairee, Lawson, if you fire me and cancel the Mackenzie contract, you’re taking your business down the road to ruin.”

Forbes had never seen Sandra Landreneau so red in the face. And from Evelyn’s narrowed eyes, he could tell she instantly recognized the tableau outside for what it was.

Sandra seemed to be the only one oblivious to what she’d walked into. “This is not a case about sentimentality or hometown values or whatever the other nonsense was you were talking about in there. This is a case about profits—about what’s profitable for us and for the city.”

A beatific smile transformed Mairee Guidry’s face from that of a tired, middle-aged woman to a woman in her prime. She turned on her former sorority sister. “You’re wrong, Sandra, which is why we’re firing you. This is not a case about money. This is a case about
love.
And if Lawson and I hadn’t been so blinded by the pursuit of money, we would have recognized it all along. But that’s a mistake we still have time to rectify.”

“Sentimental dreamer. You always were, Mairee.” Sandra wagged an accusatory finger in Mom’s face. “You mark my words, though. One of these days, it’ll come back to bite you.”

Mom shook her head. “Never in a million years. We could lose Boudreaux-Guidry Enterprises tomorrow, and you know what? I think I’d consider it a blessing. It’s because we were more focused on business that we almost lost our dignity and our integrity. But even worse than that, we almost let ourselves lose our son, whose good opinion of us is not, I hope, forever lost, and whose forgiveness I pray we can one day deserve.” With those words, she turned to face Forbes. “Because I would really like to be invited to the wedding.”

Disentangling himself from Alaine, Forbes met his mother halfway and hugged her, then his father. “I love you both. You know that. And forgiveness is needed on both sides for things that have been said—or unsaid—over the past several months. But we have all the time in the world for that.”

“And we would like to sit down with you and everyone here,” Lawson made a sweeping gesture of the couple dozen people crowded around, “to discuss our new plans for revitalizing Moreaux Mills and assisting the current homeowners and business owners there in any way we can to save the Mills.”

A chant of “Save the Mills” went through the little crowd.

Alaine joined Forbes and was instantly pulled into a jubilant hug by Mom and was then sandwiched when Dad encircled both of them in a hug. She emerged laughing.

“Anne,” Mom called over Alaine’s head, “we’ll need to call Meredith—and Alaine’s mother—and get on both of your calendars to start discussing the wedding plans. I’m thinking spring, in the gardens at Lafitte’s Landing.”

“Mom!” Forbes covered Alaine’s ears with his hands. “Don’t say things like that to her. I’m thinking we might pull a page out of Meredith’s book and elope.”

Alaine pulled his hands away and turned around to stand between his mom and Anne. “Not on your life. We’re going to have the biggest most elaborate wedding Anne can give us—and I’m going to cover it for my program.” She poked her finger into his chest. “And the only answer you’re allowed to give about anything is ‘yes, dear.’ Because if there is one thing that is definitely
not
under your control, my love, it’s me when it comes to the wedding I’ve been dreaming of since I was eleven years old.”

Mairee laughed and pulled her into another swaying hug. “Oh, I’m going to like having you for a daughter-in-law. And we have a couple of months’ lost time to make up for.”

“But not today.” Forbes caught Alaine’s hands and drew her close again. “Tonight, I’m taking my fiancée dancing because it’s what she loves to do.”

“You—dancing?” Dad hooted.

“Oh, Mr. Guidry, he’s a wonderful dancer.”

“Yeah, Dad, I am. But it’s because I have a wonderful dance partner.”

“Okay, okay, it’s getting a little thick out here.” Mom laughed, then kissed them both on the cheek. “We’ll expect you at our house for dinner Saturday night. And Forbes, we’ll call your office tomorrow to set up the first Save the Mills meeting.”

The Mills crowd followed his parents down the sidewalk, clamoring to have their ideas heard for how to revitalize the area.

JD kissed his daughter’s cheeks and shook Forbes’s hand. “Will we see you Sunday for dinner? Or maybe this week you should go to your family, since you haven’t seen them for so long.”

Forbes reached out and clasped his future father-in-law’s shoulder. “You are my family, and we’ll be there for dinner Sunday.”

JD snuffled and dashed the back of his hand across his eyes. “Alaine, you’d best call your mother soon. I’ll be home in about twenty minutes, and you know how she’ll react if she hears all the details from me.”

Alaine looked at her father, then at Forbes, then back at her father. “Wait a minute. Did you—Forbes, did you tell him...? Was that why Mother wanted to talk to you?” She laughed. “I’m not just marrying a control freak, but a gentleman control freak.”

They said good-bye to her father, and Forbes pulled Alaine back into his quiet, empty office. After a long kiss, Forbes went around to sit behind his desk—or at least the one he was using until he hired a secretary who’d need it, and until he got the air-conditioning vents upstairs working.

“Hey, I’ve thought of a slogan for your Web site.” Alaine perched on the edge of his desk.

Forbes still couldn’t get over the fact that he’d asked Alaine Delacroix to marry him, Forbes Guidry, the perpetual bachelor of the year. He wondered how many anniversaries they’d have to celebrate before he truly realized how blessed he truly was. “Oh, yeah? What’s that? The most devastatingly handsome lawyer in Bonneterre?”

She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “No. Forbes Guidry, the lawyer who made a case for love.”

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Kaye Dacus
holds a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and is a former Vice President and long-time member of American Christian Fiction Writers. A Louisiana native, she now calls Nashville, Tennessee, home. To learn more about Kaye, visit her online at kayedacus.com.

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The Alaine Delacroix that all of Bonneterre knows is the carefully polished image she puts forth every day on her noontime news- magazine program. When her parents’ home and small business is threatened by the biggest corporation in town, Alaine is forced to choose between her image and fighting for the life her family has built.

Lawyer Forbes Guidry is used to making things go his way. But when he’s asked to take on a pro bono case for a colleague, he’ll learn that he can’t control everything—including his feelings for his new client: Alaine Delacroix.

Alaine’s only option to help her family is hiring Forbes, but can she bring herself to trust the handsome, disarmingly charming lawyer? And will Forbes Guidry be able to make a case for love before losing his job and family? Can both trust that God will present a solution before all is lost?

KAYE DACUS of Nashville, Tennessee, is a graduate of Seton Hill University and an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers.