AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Donny John pointed at the door. “Out.”
Nash scowled, but followed Grayson to the door. When they had gone, Donny John went to the minibar and put some ice in a paper towel and brought it to Deacon. Deacon was still so stunned by Donny John’s revelation that it took him a moment to take it.
“I should’ve known that Mom would never lie to me,” he whispered as he placed the ice pack on his jaw.
“No, she wouldn’t.” Donny John walked to the window and looked out. “She hated hurting people—especially people she loved. It tore her up when we had to tell Michael that we’d fallen in love. Of course it tore me up as well. The first woman my brother ever brought home and I had to go and fall in love with her.” He shook his head. “At first Mikey just laughed as if I was playing some kind of joke on him. But when your mother and I didn’t join in, he got this look in his eyes that I can’t even describe. It was like I’d given him a right hook when he wasn’t expecting it.” He paused. “And I guess that’s exactly what I did.”
“That didn’t give him the right to steal Mom’s dream,” Deacon said.
Donny John turned. “And why not? We had stolen his. Your mother thought that it was only fair.”
Deacon got to his feet. “But it wasn’t fair! Not Michael taking her dream. And not her dying. None of it was fair, Dad.”
Donny walked over and pulled Deacon into his arms. It had been a long time since his father had given him a hug. “You’re right. Life isn’t fair. But we can’t spend our lives trying to make things even. That’s what Michael did, and he died a lonely man. Your mother never once looked back, and she died with a smile on her face, surrounded by the ones she loved.”
Unable to bear the pain, Deacon had pushed that memory from his mind. But his father was right. His mother had died with a smile, surrounded by her family. “So she never regretted it?” he asked around the lump that had formed in his throat. “She never regretted letting her dream go for Louisiana and a bunch of unappreciative boys?”
Donny John pulled back. “I worried about that every time a French Kiss fashion show came on television.” He smiled, and his eyes brimmed with tears. “And as if reading my mind, your mother would always pull me close and whisper, ‘You and my boys are worth much more to me than a bunch of panties.’”
Moments passed before Deacon could speak. “So you think that’s why Michael left the company to us? It was a way of repaying Mom for taking her idea?”
“I think that was some of it. That, and I think he still loved her.” He stared at the picture of Michael and Olivia with tears in his eyes. “You once asked me about the purple flowers that showed up on your mother’s grave every week. I told you that I didn’t know. But there was only one person who would want forget-me-nots placed on her grave.”
“Uncle Michael?”
He nodded. “I caught one of the groundkeepers putting them on. He said that someone had paid to have the flowers put there each week. Since Michael’s death they haven’t been there.”
Suddenly too tired to stand, Deacon fell back in the chair and pressed the ice on his chin. His father gave him the time he needed to digest what he’d just learned by walking back over to the windows. But after a few minutes, he spoke. “So what happened to Olivia?”
“She realized that French Kiss wasn’t her dream.”
There was a long pause. “Is it yours?”
It was a good question. A week ago he would’ve said yes. But that was before Paris. Before he’d started to dream about something else…someone else.
“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully.
His father glanced at the window. “Can you fish in those waters?”
Deacon smiled, then flinched when pain shot through his jaw. “Yes.”
Donny John rubbed his hands together. “Well, what say we grab your brothers and some fishing poles and see what we can catch?”
There was nothing Deacon wanted to do more. Fishing had always cleared his head. Unfortunately, he still had some business to take care of. He glanced at his watch.
“We’ll have to do that later, Dad. Right now I have a meeting I need to attend.” He swiveled in the chair. “Did you know that Francesca loved Michael?”
“I wouldn’t say love. That woman is like a spider. She doesn’t love as much as feed on men. She got it in her head she wanted to snare Michael, and when he wasn’t interested, she got spiteful. Why? What does she have to do with the meeting?”
“Francesca claims her son is Michael’s.”
Donny John tipped back his head and laughed. “Well, she can claim anything she likes—and Michael might’ve had sex with her. But I know for a fact that she didn’t have his child.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because Michael was sterile.”
