by Lexi Blake
He saw the moment Celeste decided something serious was going on. Her gaze sharpened and he knew it was all about to go wrong.
“I was joking with Angie,” he said, forcing the lie from his mouth.
Unfortunately, he was a terrible liar.
“No, you weren’t, and Angie isn’t joking about anything. She’s gotten caught. You think I don’t know that look, my darling girl?” Celeste said. “What’s going on and what does it have to do with the boy? It’s a boy, right?”
“It’s nothing.” His stomach took a deep dive but he tried to smile. “She was ragging me because it turns out Sera broke up with me last night.”
That got Celeste’s brow rising. “Why would she break up with you?”
He shrugged, trying to play it off. “She decided I wasn’t a good bet.”
“You’re an excellent bet and she knows it,” his aunt countered. “I was with her yesterday. She didn’t show a single sign of breaking up with you.”
“Maybe that’s why she did it.” Angie seemed to find her spark again. She squared off with her mother. “Maybe you scared her away.”
Celeste snorted, a sound she managed to make elegant. “If it was easy to scare that girl away, I would have done it years ago. No, she was perfectly fine when I dropped her off at that old jalopy of hers. She was happy we found a dress we could agree upon. She’s got too much love for glitter, that one. I’m not having everyone at your wedding infected with glitter. Now, what’s this about Luc’s father, and if someone tells me it’s Darth Vader, I’m going to get really angry. Yes, I know about movies, and you weren’t talking about one.”
“She doesn’t think I would be a good dad.” He had to make this right, had to throw his aunt off the scent.
“That’s not what you said. You said Angie knew who Luc’s father is. Is he coming back to make trouble?” Celeste sighed. “Because you’ll have to deal with that.”
“He can’t . . . That’s not the problem,” Angie said with a frustrated huff. “Mom, it’s Sera’s problem, and now that she’s broken up with Harry, we should stay out of it. Why don’t you come out and see the gazebo? Harry finished it and it’s beautiful.”
“No.” Celeste seemed to be thinking the problem through. “I think one of you can tell me what’s going on or I’ll call Seraphina myself. Maybe that’s the best way to do this. Something’s wrong and you two are lying to me. Why would Sera break up with you over Luc?”
The situation was getting out of control. He heard the doorbell ring but ignored it because everything was falling apart. “Aunt Celeste, I need you to let me handle this. It’s my relationship on the line, and it’s a private thing between Sera and I.”
“How old is Sera’s son?” Celeste asked, her face going stony. “When was he born? I want the date.”
The door to the kitchen swung open and Annemarie walked in followed by the one person he didn’t want to see. Seraphina had a garment bag over her arm along with the shopping tote she’d brought in the day before. She looked weary but resolute.
“Mrs. Beaumont,” Annemarie said. “You have a guest.”
Sera seemed startled. She obviously hadn’t expected a crowd. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I was going to drop this off with a note. I didn’t think anyone would be home except Harry.” She turned to Celeste with a long breath. “Mrs. Beaumont, I want to thank you for the kindness you showed me yesterday, but I’ve decided it’s best I don’t attend any of the festivities. I’m going to finish my house and then perhaps we can talk about what a fair price would be. I’m probably leaving Papillon.”
She was leaving? He stepped up. “Sera, we need to talk.”
“No,” Celeste interrupted. “She needs to tell me when her son was born. I want the truth and I want it now. If she doesn’t tell me the truth, I can get legal.”
The bag dropped from Sera’s hand as quickly as the color left her cheeks. She turned his way. “What did you do?”
Lost it all. That’s what he’d done.
chapter fourteen
Sera felt a fine tremor in her hands. Celeste’s face was perfectly blank, but her eyes stared right through her.
“Sera, I’m so sorry,” Harry was saying.
She ignored him. It didn’t matter. She was here and it was everything she’d feared. Since the day she’d realized she was pregnant, she’d known she would have to deal with the Beaumont family one way or another. If Wes had come home, he probably would have used Luc to convince her to marry him, and that would have been a whole other fight. When he’d died, she’d put this off and hoped for the best, but deep down she’d always known she would have to stand alone. Oh, her family would be behind her, but she had to do this on her own. “Luc is my son. I don’t have to tell you a thing about him.”
“Is Luc my grandson?” Celeste’s words came out measured, but Sera had learned that sometimes a snake was perfectly still right before it struck.
“Luc is my son and he has my name. I had him by myself and I’m raising him by myself.”
“Only because his father died,” Celeste said between clenched teeth. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
There was a bit of sympathy for Celeste inside Sera’s heart. She had no idea how she would handle it if anything ever happened to Luc. Devastation. It was what Celeste had to be feeling. The poor woman was a tidal wave of grief and rage, but Sera wasn’t going to let herself drown in it no matter how much sympathy she felt. “I don’t know what would have happened if Wes had lived, but I do know Luc is my son and I get to make the decisions concerning him. Now that Harry has made one of those decisions for me, I suppose we should talk.”
She could be calm and rational.
“It wasn’t Harry’s fault,” Angie said.
He might not have said the words out loud, but Celeste had figured it out because he knew. All this time she and Angie had managed to keep the secret. Harry had known for one day and it was already out.
“We’ll do more than talk,” Celeste commanded, ignoring Angie completely. “You’ll bring that child to me. You’ve had years with him. You took him from me. You stole years of my grandson’s life.”
“And what would you have done if I’d come to you?” Sera asked, surprised at how steady her tone was. The time she’d spent with Celeste had made her understand the woman wasn’t all bad. And Wes had truly loved her.
“I would have done what I’m going to do now. I would have called a lawyer and asserted my rights.” Celeste proved she could revert to her normal, controlling, arrogant self with ease. “You should leave my house now and get ready because I’m coming for you, Seraphina. You need to think seriously about every move you make because I will have private investigators watching you twenty-four-seven.”
Sera felt her stomach clench. She’d known there would be lawyers, but she hadn’t thought about investigators. They would be tracking her, trying to find ways to make her look bad.
“Aunt Celeste.” Harry started to move in front of Sera, as if he could protect her.
He couldn’t. He’d gotten her into this mess, but he was going to find out he couldn’t do a damn thing to get her out.
Celeste simply moved around him. “They’ll watch your every move and document it until I can prove you’re an unfit mother.”
She heard Harry gasp in shock.
Poor Harry. He was going to lose a lot today and she felt for him, but she couldn’t ease his soul now.
“I’m not. I’m a good mother,” she replied, holding her ground. “And I assure you my son loves me. I’m willing to talk about letting you get to know him if you can be reasonable, but if you think I’m giving you control over anything concerning him, you’re insane.”
Celeste’s lips curled into a smile, but it was a hateful thing. “You might be a good mother, but you can’t keep a job. You’re aimless and without means. And how about the people you
surround your son with? Your momma is half crazy and everyone knows she’s practically a criminal. And your younger brother is a menace.”
“Zep is all right,” Harry argued. “He’s actually a pretty good guy. Cal likes him, too. And Delphine is a good grandmother, a good person.”
“She’s not the kind of person who should be influencing my grandson,” Celeste insisted.
“And you wonder why I kept this secret?” Sera shook her head. “I didn’t tell you before because I knew this would happen. I knew you would come after Luc, and I know how Wes felt about his father.”
Celeste pointed her way. “Don’t you tell me a thing about Wes. You don’t know any of us.”
Sera was calmer than Celeste, and that seemed to give her the upper hand. “But I do. I know you far better than you can imagine because I was the one who listened to Wes talk about never being able to please his father. I was Wes’s friend, sometimes his only friend, for years. Most of our childhood. Even after you shipped him off to private school, he would always call me. Wes talked about how scared he was of his dad and how he would smack him every now and then to toughen him up.”
“How dare you say that. That is a vicious lie.”
“Then it’s a lie your son told,” Sera replied.
Celeste raised her hand, but Harry stepped in between them.
“Don’t you dare hit her,” Harry growled. “I don’t even know who you are right now. Sera, I think we should leave.”
Celeste seemed to get control of herself. “Harry, you can’t possibly think of taking her side. Do you understand what she cost this family? She lied to all of us.”
“She didn’t lie to your daughter. Angie knew,” Harry pointed out.
Harry seemed determined to betray every single one of her secrets today. Angie had backed against the wall as though she could hide from the truth.
Celeste turned to her daughter but simply shook her head. “I will deal with that later. Seraphina, get out of my house before I call the sheriff in to haul you out. The next time I see your face will be in court. You broke my Wesley’s heart. I won’t let you break his son.”
“You know what, Celeste, I just realized something. I’m not afraid of you.” It came to her in a great rush. Being around Harry had changed something inside her. He’d gone through so much and had let go of his bitterness. He’d moved on. Yes, he’d proven he couldn’t love her the way she needed him to, but loving him had finally convinced her she wasn’t broken at all. “I’ve been stuck in a moment for years. I hid because I didn’t know myself anymore. Maybe I never did. Maybe I spent my whole life allowing my existence to be defined by relationships. I was a daughter, a sister, a friend. To Wes I was an aspiration, an escape. Then I was a mother and a rumor and a joke. I’m more. I don’t know exactly who that is, but I know one thing. I’m not hiding anymore. You want a fight, I’ll give it to you.”
She turned and started for the door. The funny thing was, it had been Celeste who pointed out that she acted like a mouse. She needed to be a lion now. Her son and her family needed her to be fierce. She had options and Remy was right. She didn’t have to go out quietly.
“Sera, I didn’t know she would react that way.” Harry came through the door behind her, rushing to keep up as she made it to the front of the house.
She rounded on him. At least they were alone now and she could speak freely. “I told you she would.”
He started to reach for her but pulled his hands back. “I should have listened to you. I’m sorry.”
There was nothing she wanted more than to go into his arms and throw the whole situation at him, to beg him to fix things for her. She’d done it all her life, but it was time to stand on her own. “I’m sorry, too. I think we could have been good together.”
He stood in front of her, his shoulders so broad and that face of his beautiful in a way that had more to do with his soul than his appearance. Harry’s goodness was stamped on his face. “We still can be. I choose you. I would always have chosen you.”
His words were sweet, but he was rewriting history. “No, you wouldn’t have. You didn’t. Do you think I could trust you again after this? I even know why you did it. I knew you would do it. I went to Remy’s to plan how I would handle Celeste after you told her. I just thought I would have more time.”
“It was a mistake.”
“And now I’ve got to deal with it. You heard her. She will do everything she promised. She will have private investigators looking for every misstep I can possibly make. Hell, they’ll probably make up a few. I bet she can pay for that. I’ve got to be perfect, and that means no dating. I’m sure she’s already trying to come up with a way to use you to make me look bad.”
“I won’t ever let her do that,” he promised. “In fact, I’ll do something that will prove I’m on your side. Marry me. Let me adopt Luc. She won’t be able to break up a family.”
Here he was again, trying to be Captain America and save the day. He felt bad that he’d put her in this position, and he would do anything to fix it. It wasn’t a feeling that would last forever. “But, Harry, we’re already a family. We don’t need a man to complete us. It would have been nice for Luc to have a dad, but he’s surrounded by love no matter what your aunt says. I think I loved you, but I have to focus on me now. I can’t marry someone out of obligation or guilt. Your family should know that by now.”
It was precisely why she wouldn’t date Wes.
“I love you. That has to mean something.”
It meant everything to her, but she couldn’t trust him. What happened when he decided his aunt was right? And how could she trust that he truly loved her? He was feeling guilty, and that would be powerful to a man like Harry. “I’m sorry. I have to go. I’ve got to find a lawyer.”
And hold her son. It was time to protect her family.
* * *
***
A volcanic rage threatened to boil up from deep inside Celeste.
How dare she. How dare that little tramp keep her grandson from her? How dare she steal that last piece of Wesley.
Wesley. God, what had he been hiding from her?
“Mom?”
Her daughter’s voice broke through the roiling anger. Her daughter. Angela. She remembered holding her and cuddling her close. How she’d looked up at her like she was the most important thing in the world.
Her daughter had known. “Why?”
She couldn’t look at her yet. She had to find some control. It had been a near thing when Sera had stood in front of her, telling her lies. She’d felt the need to strike out, to create a physical manifestation of her rage. She’d wanted to smack that smirk off her face.
Except there hadn’t been a smirk there. Sera had stood up for herself, and if she wasn’t wrong, there had been a hint of pity in her enemy’s gaze.
Yes, that was what she’d truly wanted to erase.
“It’s complicated,” Angie replied quietly.
Now Celeste turned and took in her daughter’s face, how pale it was. Well, it was good she at least felt some guilt at what she’d done. “I don’t care how complicated it was. You lied. You betrayed this family and I want you out.”
Angie’s eyes flared. “What?”
“You heard me.” She didn’t care. It was time to call on the numbness she was so used to. It had been cracking through the ice she’d built up—that was the trouble. She’d found a place where she didn’t have to feel, and that had saved her. Wes’s death had broken it all apart, and she’d only recently begun to come out of it. She’d thought it was safe, but it wasn’t. “You have a fiancé. You can go to him, but you should tell him you won’t get a dime out of me. And you can certainly not expect me to pay for your wedding after what you’ve done.”
The door swung open and Harry strode in.
“How could you do that?” Harry asked. “How could yo
u stand there and tell Sera you’re going to take her son away from her? That was horrible. Do you know what you did to her?”
“She doesn’t care,” Angie said, her voice weary. “She’s got a piece of Wes back. None of the rest of us matter now. You should know that she’s disinherited me, and I’m homeless. I’m sure she’ll move Luc right in and go back to having a child she can worship. Oh, and my wedding’s off.”
“You betrayed me. You betrayed this whole family,” Celeste accused her before turning to her nephew. “And you . . . I brought you in. I treated you like family, and this is what I get?”
He simply shook his head. “If this is the way you treat family, I don’t want any part of it. I always wondered why you never brought us here to meet you. I think my mom thought you were ashamed of us. But I know the truth now. You were ashamed of you. At least you should have been. How proud your own parents must be of you. You got the money, Aunt Celeste, but you damn well sold your soul for it. Angie, I’ll help you pack up what you need. I’m not staying here, either. I wouldn’t want to taint my aunt’s perfect household.”
“Her empty household,” Angie added. “She should know that when Sera needs a character witness, I’ll give it to her. I’ll get on that stand and explain why I think Luc is better off not setting foot in this house.”
“How can you say that? After everything I’ve done for you?” It defied imagination.
Angie’s eyes rolled but there were tears in them. “What have you done, Mom? You were far too busy worrying about Wes to give a damn about the rest of us.”
“Wes needed more than the rest of you. He was sick.” Why couldn’t anyone seem to remember how close they’d come to losing him? Yes, she’d paid more attention to Wesley, but he’d needed her in a way the others didn’t. He’d been so frail. She’d sat by his bedside and prayed to anyone who could hear to save her little boy. Then she’d spent years waiting for it to come back like a shadow she couldn’t outrun. That fear had attached itself to her and darkened everything else.
