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A hush swept over the crowd as they awaited her first words. She waited with breathless anticipation as well. She only hoped the words would come out soon.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“I’m sorry, but marriage is the only way,” said Leo.
Alex hadn’t argued. Not because he thought that what his brother was saying was a fallacy. He knew that if he simply went out there and reconfirmed his engagement to Jan, the press would leave them alone. For a while. But then something else would come up. It always did.
The reason Alex didn’t argue with his brother was that he agreed with Leo’s statement. Marriage was the only way forward that he wanted to move with Jan.
Alex wanted more than a business arrangement with the pie maker. He wanted more than just her partnership in the kitchen. He wanted to be with her in each and every room of their very own house after they closed the restaurant each day. He wanted to make her breakfast every morning. He wanted to take her with him on his culinary adventures.
“A real engagement that leads to a legal marriage is the only way I can see to save your reputation,” said Leo.
“There’s no need for investors,” Esme said, standing beside her husband. “We’ll invest.”
Alex opened his mouth to turn the offer down.
“Alex,” Esme sighed. “That’s what families do. We support each other, especially when it’s our dreams.”
Alex looked to his brother.
Leo put his arm around his wife and nodded. “I believe in you. I want to see you work at your passion, and you’re clearly passionate about this.”
“I am,” said Alex.
“You never wanted any part of the family business. But you are my business. You are my family. I want in on this. If nothing more than to show you that I believe in you.”
Alex took in a deep breath, but his heart was too filled with emotion. He had to blow the air back out. It was an offer he’d never considered. Now that it was on the table, he couldn’t refuse.
He lifted his head and stretched out his hand to his brother. Leo took Alex’s hand and pulled him in for a hug. It had been a long time since Alex had been held by a member of his family. His father was always too distant and aloof. Leo had tried to walk in his father’s footsteps early, but Alex had gotten a few hugs back when he was small. He was now coming to realize Leo’s rare embraces had meant the world to him.
The embrace ended all too quickly. Both brothers fidgeted, not quite meeting the others’ gaze now that there was air between them. Esme rolled her eyes, but she grinned, clearly pleased with the outcome.
“I know you never wanted anything arranged,” Leo said, “but the two of you get on. You have similar interests. And frankly, I don’t think you could do better.”
Leo looked pointedly at Alex letting him know that he didn’t think Alex could do better than Jan. Alex chuckled. He agreed wholeheartedly. There was no one like Jan.
Alex had never felt that feeling before, but he knew what it was. He’d seen it in the eyes of his brother and Esme. He was falling in love with Jan.
Would she laugh when he told her? Maybe she’d knock him over the head with another rolling pin? It didn’t matter. He’d take it. Just as long as she took him.
She’d been silent through the whole exchange. It was quite unlike her. Had she not liked the arrangement that the two men had set out for her? Was she simply biding her time to give him an earful? He turned to her, uncertain of what he would say. But she wasn’t there.
“Where did she go?”
Esme and Leo looked over Alex’s shoulder as though to confirm that Jan was no longer present. Alex did a complete three hundred sixty degree turn about the room. Jan wasn’t hiding in any corners. As he came back around to face Leo and Esme, he saw it.
Tiny sparks of light went off in the distance. The sparks were too
big and frequent to be fireflies. He knew the press was out there, and then he realized what the bursts of light were.
“Oh, no,” he muttered, taking off out of the room.
As he came out the front door, his suspicions were confirmed. Cameras flashed like an American Fourth of July fireworks display. The press stood behind the iron gates of the castle, pawing to get in like zombies looking for warm bodies. There was one solitary warm body making slow steps toward the gate.
Alex rushed to her. It didn’t take him long to overtake her. Jan’s steps were slow and uncertain. Lights flashed in her face. Reporters shouted at her. All the while, Jan resembled an actual deer caught in headlights.
He remembered her reaction the first time the press accosted her, as they made their way down a runway to their plane. They’d been lined up as though on two sides of an aisle as they stared and shouted questions at her. She’d gone catatonic under their scrutiny.
