The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) (18 page)

“Nope.
Business is good. The Great Wedding Giveaway has generated a load of new orders. The best piece of PR for this town that the Chamber of Commerce ever did.”

“That’s great.” Emma tried her hardest to sound enthusiastic, but she had a sinking feeling.
Was the prospect of marrying her driving him to drink?

They walk on in silence, Bobo racing on ahead now, stopping to snuffle here and there when he picked up the scent of an animal. Eventually they reach the forest at the bottom of the mountain, and Laurent led Emma to the familiar clearing at the bear’s cave.

“Oh, look!” Emma cried, breaking away from Laurent’s hold and going towards the cave’s entrance. “The egg has gone.”

Sure enough, though Laurent’s carved wooden box was still there, lying on its side now, its chocolate offering had disappeared. Bobo gave it a good sniff and, deciding the animal odors that led from it were highly interesting, followed the trail.

“Maybe some raccoons,” Laurent commented. “We’ll have to tell the kids, pretend it was the bear. They’ll be upset that the egg was eaten. ” He stopped and put his hand in his pocket. “Emma…”

She turned and saw that he was holding a small box.

“There’s no easy way of saying this…”

Emma’s heart jumped and lodged somewhere in her windpipe.
She felt confused. The little box Laurent proffered to her held a gold, sapphire and diamond ring. But she could tell by his face that his emotions were all screwed up and difficult.

“Emma, I want to thank you for your patience with me,
There’s no denying that I found it hard to let go of my marriage to Brooke and move on—“

“
It’s okay, Laurent,” Emma said thickly, tears threatening to choke her, “I know what you’re going to say. The thing is, I can’t get past the fact that you’ll always love Brooke and not me, and I don’t know what to do—“

“No!” Laurent startled her with his interruption and walked towards her.
“Emma, hear me out. It’s true that for a good deal of the time I’ve known you, I still felt very bound to Brooke and her memory. But I’ve come to realize that’s just what it is—a memory. A memory and a whole heap of guilt.”

Emma stared at him as her brain wrapped itself around what he was saying. “Guilt? Why guilt?”

Laurent took a deep breath. “I felt like I had killed her, Emma. By getting her pregnant.”

Emma gasped. “Oh, Laurent, that’s so not true.”

He shrugged. “I knew in my head that it was just one of those things. A random occurrence, a million-to-one chance that she developed a clot. But my heart told me that I was responsible, because I’d wanted her, wanted to have children.”

“You were only being a man,” Emma said quietly, “a husband.”

“I realize that now. You know, I’ll always remember Brooke. She has a place in my heart forever. But that doesn’t stop me from loving you. From the day you arrived, I needed you, and as the weeks passed, I began to fall in love with you, to want you just as much as I had her. I began to feel alive again, Emma, to want to go forward knowing that you were at my side, with your lovely smile and huge heart. If I haven’t always shown you how much I adore you, Emma, I apologize. But I do. It’s been a matter of saying goodbye to Brooke, of letting her go to live in a quiet corner of me, knowing that in loving her, I didn’t cause her to die. And knowing that I’m not betraying her or forgetting her by loving you. And, you know what? One the greatest things you’ve done for me is to let me work that through at my own pace. You haven’t nagged me or pushed me, or competed for my attention. You’ve just let me be and shown me the kind of support that says to me that you love me too.”

“I do,” Emma replied softly, her vision blurring with tears, “but I’m not sure you
have
let go of Brooke.”

Laurent stepped nearer and pulled her into his embrace, tucking her head under his chin and encircling her tightly with his arms, still holding the ring box.
“If truth be told, Emma, I let go of Brooke when she died. What I struggled to do was relinquish my guilt because when I married her, I made a vow to her to love her alone and forever. And when we had children, she suffered an unavoidable medical complication that cost her her life.” He stopped to kiss the top of Emma’s head and rub his cheek against her silky hair. “And I couldn’t let go of my anger towards her.”

Emma pulled back to look up at him, astonished. “
Anger
? You’re angry with her?”

“I was,” Laurent confirmed. “Angry at her for leaving me, letting me be alone, leaving me to cope with the kids and fail miserably. Angry that she made me feel numb and hopeless. But then you came along and I saw that I wasn’t alone, and that things with the children could be improved and brought back to normal.
That I wasn’t devoid of feeling and that I could be someone again,” He held Emma tight again and nuzzled the side of her head with his lips, “as long as I have you by my side.”

“But why did I see you kissing Brooke’s photo that night a couple of weeks ago.”

Laurent sighed. “You
were
there. I thought so.” He rubbed her arm with his free hand. “I was just kissing her goodbye. A little gesture for her, and for me, to show it was over.”

Emma processed this, and then couldn’t help asking, “Was it really over when you had to go into town most evenings and get blotto?”

“Blotto?”

“English for getting very drunk.”

“Okay, I have got a little tanked up on a number of nights recently, though not
blotto
—“ He said this last word in a mock English accent, stretching out the last ‘o’, and Emma had to giggle. “But handling it like a typical guy, meeting up with my bro, shooting some pool, drinking too much to drive myself home, was what I had to do to process it and put it all to bed…”

“Kind of like man-therapy?” Emma suggested.

“Yeah, man-therapy,” Laurent agreed. “You ladies can cry lots, vent to your girlfriends, buy lipstick and shoes, but us guys need practical stuff to do.”

“Like push little balls around with a stick and abuse your bodies?”

“You got it.” He held out the box containing the ring again. “I love you, Emma Peabody. Will you marry me?” He prised the engagement ring from its velvet mounting and, taking her left hand, started to push it onto her third finger.

Eyes shining, Emma splayed her fingers and let the ring come to rest just below her knuckle.
It was a perfect fit. “You really do love me?”

He nodded, and she saw it in his eyes.

“Yes,” she said softly. “Most definitely, yes.”

Laurent’s hands went to her waist and he pulled her close. “I love you,” he whispered again. “And I want you.”

Emma touched his face and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. She felt his hands roam up her body to cup her breasts through her shirt and her nipples puckered and tightened with anticipation.

At that moment, their attention was grabbed by Bobo, who came running back towards them rearing onto his hind legs and barking. Reluctantly they pulled apart to see what the fuss was about.

“Hey, crazy dog, what gives? Looks like he’s spotted something on the mountain,” Laurent commented, turning to survey its slopes.

Emma followed his gaze and spotted a flash of brown moving through the pines. “Oh!
It’s the bear. And he’s got a Mrs Bear!”

Sure enough, far away up Copper Mountain, the bear could be seen ambling through the trees, with a smaller grizzly behind him and, to Emma’s delight, two cubs.

“Hey,” Laurent grinned, “the bear’s not lonely any more. He’s got a lady who loves him and a couple of kids. Evie will be delighted.”

“Just like you, eh?”

“Do you really love me, Emma? After all I’ve put you through?”

She smiled. “There were times when I could have cheerfully killed you. But I guess that proved to me that I do, I most certainly do.
I love you with all my heart.”

On the morning of
Evie’s fourth birthday, Emma and Pascale took the little girl and Jerome into Marietta for hot chocolate and wedding shopping, while Laurent and Robert set about installing the workstation-come-desk that Laurent had made for his daughter and then stocking it with the art supplies that her grandparents and uncle had bought for her. When the shopping party returned home, the grand unveiling would take place. It would come as a complete surprise to Evie, as she had already received some smaller gifts earlier from the family.

Bobo was waiting patiently at the gate when Emma brought the SUV to a halt.
When he saw his buddies, Evie and Jerome, clamber out of the vehicle, he began his usual frenzied dance of welcome, barking and jumping. Emma’s mind was cast back to the cold, snowy day when she had arrived five months earlier and had been met by those three pairs of sad eyes, and a man who hadn’t really wanted her there. How things had changed in a relatively short time. In just over two weeks’ time, she would become Mrs Laurent Fletcher, and mother for real to her two charges. Her family and friends from England would be flying out for the wedding, along with Pascale’s relations from France. They would be joined by Fletcher relatives and friends at the small ceremony and wedding breakfast, which were to be held in town at Bramble House on Bramble Lane, a pretty, intimate venue with lovely gardens. She hugged herself, thinking that she should pinch herself too, as it was all so amazing.

Her heart leapt and filled with love when she caught sight of her husband-to-be, the tall, dark, handsome man in a tattered T-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders and pectorals, and battered jeans that hugged his strong legs, giving her a thumbs-up sign.

“Okay, guys,” she called to Evie and Jerome, who were running about chasing Bobo and laughing at the tops of their voices. “Let’s go inside and see what Daddy and Grandpa have been up to,” and proceeded to chivvy the children towards the house with Pascale’s help.

“If you go look in your bedroom, Evie,” Grandpa Robert told her, “there’s a big surprise waiting for you.”

Evie looked at her grandfather for a moment, and then she raced up the stairs as fast as her legs would carry her. The rest of the family and Linda followed her at a more sedate pace.

They found her in her bedroom clambering onto the chair made to fit the desk and reaching for crayons and a sketchpad.
Soon she was hard at work drawing, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as she concentrated on her artwork.

Jerome had hung back looking a little forlorn and left out, until Laurent had produced a miniature kennel for the wooden dog he’d been given at Easter.
A big smile wreathed the child’s face. “Bobo’s house!” he exclaimed, and showed the kennel to Pierre the knitted rabbit and then to the real Bobo, who sniffed it warily.

Satisfied that the children had enjoyed their surprises, the adults, Jerome plus rabbit and the dog began making their way downstairs. Laurent and Emma stood at the top of 3the steps, only to be stopped by Evie, who came flying out of her room with her drawing.
She threw herself against her father and Emma and pushed the paper into Emma’s hand.

“What’s this?” she asked Evie.

“It’s our family,” Evie said shyly, and Emma squatted down on her haunches to look down at the colorful stick-people in the picture standing under a huge yellow sun, next to a jagged mountain. “That’s
Mamere
and Grandpa,” she volunteered, pointing to two of the figures, “that’s Jerome, that’s Linda…and that’s Bobo.” She indicated a muddy-looking scribbly ball with ears, four legs and a tail. “That’s Mr and Mrs Bear and the baby bears on the mountain.”

“Why, that’s lovely, sweetheart.
Who are these two people here?” Emma moved her finger to a tall figure with small black spikes on his head, and then the woman next to him with yellow hair and a long white dress.

That’s you and Daddy, Mommy. You’re wearing your bride’s dress.”

Emma’s throat thickened as she heard the word, ‘Mommy’, and she had to swallow hard to prevent herself from welling up.

“Thank you for my desk, Mommy and Daddy.
It’s very nice,” Evie said politely.

“You’re welcome, cupcake,” Laurent said and reached out to ruffle her hair, but Evie wasn’t having any of it.
She ran off back to her bedroom to start another masterpiece.