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Gracious, she could barely wait for the morning to wane so the queasy feeling would subside and she could indulge in more of the amazing food of this region. Everything tasted so good, or perhaps that was her pregnancy hormones on overload. Regardless, she was hungry but didn’t dare try more for a couple more hours yet.
She looked back at Gervais’s grandfather, keeping her eyes off the plate of food. Leon hadn’t gone with them to St. Louis, but Gervais had explained how travel anywhere other than from his homes in New Orleans and Texas left the old man disoriented.
He took his place at the head of the table, just to the left of her, and poured himself a cup of thick black coffee from the silver carafe. “So you’re carrying my first great-grandchild—” He tapped his temple near his gray hair. “Grandchildren. You’re having twins. I remember that. Some days my memory’s not so good, but that’s sticking in my brain and making me happy. A legacy. And if you won’t find it disrespectful of me to say so, I believe it’s going to be a brilliant, good-looking legacy.” He toasted her with his china coffee cup.
“Thank you, sir. No disrespect taken at all. That’s a delightful thing to say, especially the smart part.” She gave him a wink as she picked at her biscuit. Praise of her intelligence was important. Erika had worked hard to be more than a pretty princess. Wanted her worth and merit to be attached to her mind’s tenacity. To realize her dreams of setting up a nurse-practitioner practice of her own someday, one with an entire section devoted to homeopathic medicines and mood-leveling aromatherapy.
“That’s important.” He sipped more of his coffee before digging into his breakfast. “We have a large family empire to pass along, and I want it to go into good hands. I didn’t do so well with my own children. But my grandkids, I’m damn proud of them.”
“Gervais will make a good father.” Of that she had no doubt. He was already so attentive.
“He works too much and takes on too much responsibility to prove he’s not like his old man, but yes, he will take parenthood seriously. He may need some books, though. To study up, since he didn’t have much of a role model. He sure knows what not to do, though.” A laugh rasped from the man’s cracked lips and he finished more of his coffee.
“I believe you played a strong part in bringing up your grandchildren.” She reached for the carafe and offered to refill his cup, even though she wasn’t drinking coffee. She stuck to juice and water these days.
He nodded at her, eyes turning inward as if he was reading something she couldn’t see. “I tried to step in where I could. Didn’t want to bring up spoiled, silver-spoon-entitled brats again.” His focus returned to her. “I like that you went into the military. That speaks well of your parents.”
Her mother and father had pitched an unholy fit over that decision, but she would not need to say as much. “It was an honor to serve my country.”
“Good girl. What do you plan to do now that your studies are on hold?”
Technically, they weren’t. She would be back in university in autumn.
“When I return to school, I will undertake the program to become a nurse-practitioner, even as a single mother.” And she would. No matter how long it took.
“Really? I didn’t expect you to, um—”
“Work for a living? Few do, even after my military service.” Her voice went softer than she would have liked.
“You’ll take good care of my grandson when I’m gone?” His question pierced her tender heart on a morning when her emotions were already close to the surface.
“Sir, you appear quite spry to me.”
“That’s not what I mean and if you’re wanting to be a nurse-practitioner, you probably know that.” He tapped his temple again. “It’s here that I worry about giving out too soon. The doctors aren’t sure how fast. Sometimes I prefer the days I don’t remember talking to those experts.”
“I am so very sorry.” She hadn’t spent a lot of time with Leon Reynaud. But she could tell he was a good man who cared a lot about his family. And the stories Gervais told her only confirmed that.
“Thank you. Meanwhile, I want to get to know you and spend time with you so you can tell my great-grans all about me.” He pointed with his biscuit for emphasis and she couldn’t help but smile.
“That sounds delightful,” she said to Gramps, but her eyes trailed over his head. To Gervais, who strode into the dining hall.
Sexy. That was the only word that pulsed in her mind as she looked at him. Dressed in a blue button-down shirt, he looked powerful.
“Don’t mind me,” he mumbled, smiling at her. “Just grabbing some breakfast before heading to the office. You can go back to telling embarrassing stories about me, Gramps.”
Gramps chuckled. “I was just getting ready to tell my favorite.”
Gervais gave him a faux-injured grin, swiping a muffin and apple from the table.
He stopped next to her. Gave her a hug and a kiss. Not a deep kiss or even lingering. Instead, he gave her one of those familiar kisses. A kiss that spoke of how they’d been together before. That they knew each other’s bodies and taste well. She bit her bottom lip where the taste of him lingered, minty, like his toothpaste.
As he walked away, everything felt...right. Being with him seemed so natural, as if they had been doing this for years. It’d be so easy—too easy—to slide right into this life with him.
And that scared her clean through to her toes.
* * *
It had been a long day at the office, one of the longest since their return from St. Louis. Gervais had tried his best to secure a new technology sponsor for the Hurricanes, a west coast company with deep pockets that was currently expanding their presence in New Orleans. The fit was perfect, but the corporate red tape was nightmarish, and the CEO at the helm hadn’t been as forward thinking as the CFO, whom Gervais had met on another deal the year before. Not everyone understood the tremendous advertising power of connecting with an NFL team, and the CEO of the tech company had been reluctant. Stubborn. It had been a hellish day, but at least the guy hadn’t balked at the deal. Yet.
Gervais had left work midday to talk with some of Gramps’s doctors. They were discussing treatment plans and some of the effects of his new medicines. All he wanted to do was give the best he could to his family.
Family. Gramps. Hurricanes. Jean-Pierre. Work and Reynaud business had swirled in his mind all day. The only thing he wanted to do this evening was see Erika. The thought of her, waiting at home for him, had kept him fighting all day. Besides, he had a gift for her and he couldn’t wait to present it to her.
Walking into her room, he felt better just seeing her. She was sitting on the chaise longue, staring blankly at her suitcase.
Her unzipped suitcase.
That fleeting moment of good feeling vanished. Was she leaving? If he had come home later, would she have already been gone, just like London?
Taking a deep breath, he set aside his gift for her and surveyed the room. The two arrangements of hydrangeas and magnolias were on her dresser alongside an edible bouquet of fruit. He’d had them sent to her today while he was at work. For her to think about their time in St. Louis together.
As he continued to look around the room, he didn’t see any clothes pulled out. So they were all either in the drawers or in her bag.
He hoped they were still in the drawers. Gervais didn’t want her to go. Instead, he wanted her to stay here. With him. Be part of his family.
Tapping the suitcase, he stared at Erika “That’s not full, is it?”
He tried to sound light. Casual. The opposite of his current mental state.
She looked up quickly, her eyes such a startling shade of blue. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”
“You left once before without a word.” He wanted to take her in his arms and coax her into bed for the day, not think about her leaving.
“I promised you I would stay for two weeks and I meant it. After that, though, I have to make a decision.”
He tensed.
“Why? Why the push?”
“I need to move forward with my life at some point.” Chewing her lip, she gestured at the suitcase.
“I’ve asked you to marry me and move in with me, yet still you hold back. Let me help support you while you make a decision, with time if not money, wherever you are.” He would do that for her and more.
She looked at him with a steady, level gaze. “Seriously? Haven’t we had this discussion already? We have time to make these decisions.”
“The sooner we plan, the sooner we can put things into place.”
“Do not rush, damn it. That is not the way I am. My parents learned that when they tried to push me into their way of life, their plans for me.” Her gaze was level, icy.
“So you plan to leave, just not now?”
“I do not know what I am planning.” Her voice came out in a whisper, a slight crack, as well. “I am methodical. I need to think through all of the options and consequences.”
