Wronged (Book 1)

by Sylvia McDaniel

  Chapter Two

  Marian picked up her skirts in one hand as she climbed the steps to the office of Drew Soulier, her husband’s attorney. At the top of the steps, she put her hand to her belly to quell the butterflies rioting in her stomach. Shouldn’t a wife know the details of her hus­band’s estate? Would she have known if she were about to become penniless?

  So far, government code seemed easier to uncover than the family financial secrets. A thorough search through Jean’s desk revealed only that the man organized nothing and kept no detailed records of the family income at home.

  The thought of experiencing another painful truth regarding her husband this week would send her screaming into the street.

  “Mrs. Cuvier!” someone yelled.

  Marian turned at the sound of her name to see a man she didn’t recognize running down the street toward her, shouting her name.

  “Mrs. Cuvier, wait! I want to ask you a few questions!”

  She stood, bewildered, on the steps of the attorney’s office, unable to move, staring as the man ran closer and closer. The smell of sandalwood tickled her nose and a sense of being surrounded pervaded her.

  “I think it would be a good idea if we went inside before that reporter reaches us,” The deep masculine voice came from behind her, and penetrated the fog that seemed to have enshrouded her these last few days.

  She turned slightly and glanced up into eyes the color of royalty, a deeper blue than the wisteria that bloomed in springtime. They were so close and until this moment she never realized how tall Louis Fournet stood.

  Moving her hand from her waist, she gripped her reticule and turned as he opened the door, bowing his dark brown head toward her as he gestured for her to proceed.

  “After you,” he said, a smile widening his face, accentuating the dimple that cleft his chin, adding a touch of masculine ruggedness to his otherwise smooth face.

  “Thank you,” she said, pulling the skirt of her dress to the side as she quickly entered the lawyer’s office.

  Mr. Fournet shut the door firmly behind her and turned the lock. “I’m locking the door, Drew,” he called. “The press knows we’re here.”

  “Quick thinking, Louis,” Drew Soulier replied, approaching Marian, his walk smooth, his face serious. Dark and regal, the man looked like a sober lawyer, except for the twinkle in his green eyes. “Mrs. Cuvier, how are you?”

  “I’m fine, Mr. Soulier,” she said, and then glanced about the room. She felt awkward, unsure of what to do.

  A slight cough drew her gaze to the two women who claimed to be Jean’s wives, each one standing stiffly on opposite sides of the room. Though she expected they would be represented at the reading, she had hoped they would send their attorneys, rather than appear themselves.

  They stood awkwardly, not looking at one another, staring off into space. Marian wanted to curse her dead husband for the situation he’d created. Hell wasn’t good enough for one who had hurt her and their children so much.

  Drew saw her looking at the two women and whispered, “I thought it would be wise for them to hear Jean’s last will and testament. But if you’d be more comfortable, I’ll send them away.”

  “No,” she said quickly, trying to cover her resentment. “Let’s all hear Jean’s wishes at the same time,” Marian said, her heart cringing with dread.

  “All right, as you wish,” Drew replied, and turned toward the other women. “Ladies, tea and refreshments are in my office. Please go inside so we can get started.”

  He motioned for them to proceed.

  Marian entered the lawyer’s office and glanced around the dark paneled room. She turned and watched the women as they entered, the tension in the room almost unbearable. The men seemed poised to step between them in the unlikely event a fight should break out.

  Layla entered her eyes down, refusing to look at Marian, while Nicole walked through the door with her head held high, and her eyes red-rimmed as if she’d been crying. Jean’s death appeared to have shocked them and she wondered if they had really cared for her dead husband.

  Drew closed the door enclosing them all together and Nicole nodded her head in Marian’s direction. “Mrs. Cuvier.”

  Marian returned her head bob, and then turned her attention to Layla, who stood with her back straight, her eyes staring at a distant object. She looked so young and fragile.

  “Mrs. C-c—” Layla stumbled over the name.

  “I think it would so much easier if we dropped the formalness and called each other by our given names,” Marian said, glancing at each woman.

  Layla nodded, “Please, I’m going back to my maiden name anyway.”

  “I think that’s wise,” Marian said curtly, trying to remember they were victims, as was she.

  A tense silence greeted her and for a few moments her words seemed to hang suspended in the air. Suddenly she realized they were both looking to her and she felt compelled to speak her mind.

  “This is an extremely awkward situation we find ourselves in. The press is outside just waiting for us to succumb to arguing over whatever crumbs Jean has tossed our way.” She sighed and stared at them. “Ladies, I have no desire to come to blows over a man who deceived me like my ... our dead husband. I only wish to take care of my children and live in peace without them being tarnished by their father’s scandal.”

  She paused and glanced at each woman. “Keep in mind, I shall certainly do what I must to protect my babies.”

  Layla let out a long sigh. “I understand. But Jean lied to me as well.”

  Nicole removed her hat from her carefully coiffed blonde hair and laid the bonnet on a table nearby. “Excuse me: I loved Jean very much. Though I can’t help but wonder why he didn’t tell me the truth.” She took out her handkerchief and dabbed her eyes. “It’s so unfair that he died knowing all the reasons he did this but keeping them from us. Surely there’s an explanation.”

  “I’m sure he could give you one, but why do you care? He lied to all of us. If he were alive, he wouldn’t tell you the truth. He would just invent some new excuse to protect himself,” Marian said, wondering at the woman’s blindness to her husband, a man who hadn’t cared for anyone but himself.

  Nicole shook her head in disagreement, but didn’t dispute Marian’s comments. “But I loved him!”

  “We all did at some time in our life,” Marian said, attempting to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, knowing she’d failed, and feeling like an idiot because of Jean’s betrayal.

  “I hated him,” Layla stated her voice quivering with emotion.

  The room became silent as they all stared at her. She was the one the police suspected. A shiver went through Marian.

  “Ladies, we need to get started,” Drew said standing beside the door ending their impromptu confessions. “Why don’t you all take a seat?”

  The lawyer seated the three women in chairs placed strategically apart, while Louis Fournet stood at the back of the room, his hands across his chest, a lock of deep brown hair falling over his forehead. He gazed at Marian and raised his darkened brows in a questioning way. Marian frowned at him and wondered what his look meant.

  Drew cleared his throat. “Before I read the will, I want to acknowledge some facts and let you all know why I invited Louis Fournet. He is co-owner of Cuvier Shipping and for that reason I requested his presence here today.” He paused, looking at each of them. “I must clarify my position in this difficult situation. If I had known of Jean entering into any legal act of marriage with Nicole or Layla, I would have advised against such an unlawful arrangement. I knew nothing of your supposed marriages.”

  Marian felt a sense of relief that at least Jean’s lawyer had not been involved in his treachery.

  Drew glanced down at the will he held in his hands holding them all in suspense. “According to Louisiana law the only legal marriage the state recognizes is the first one to Marian Cuvier. I’m sorry to say, Nicole, that your marriage and Layla’s are not binding and therefore
unless he names you specifically in the will, you will receive nothing.”

  Both women gazed at Drew, their eyes widening, the shock of the news seeming to stun them.

  “If you had been his mistress and he’d named you in the will, then you would inherit. But as an illegal spouse you receive nothing unless you’re named in the will.”

  He cleared his throat and turned to Layla. “Jean wrote this will four years ago.” He paused and gazed with sympathy at the young woman. “I’m sorry, but the will was written before your marriage.”

  A gasp could be heard. Layla opened her mouth— the words seeming to hang suspended—before she finally said, “I have nothing?” she asked perplexed. “What will I do? Where will I go?”

  She stood, her eyes seeming to glaze over. “You don’t understand! Jean bankrupted my father’s business. My father made him marry me, just so I would be taken care of. Our shipping company had been the family business for over three generations before it was taken over by Cuvier Shipping. I have no means of support I have nothing!”

  Drew swallowed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Layla. Legally, everything belongs to Jean’s estate, including the house and the business.”

  The girl swallowed and glanced around the room, her eyes wide with disbelief. “I have to leave my home?”

  “Yes, it’s in Jean’s name.”

  Her eyes pooled with tears as she tried to absorb this startling revelation.

  “How long before I have to get out of the house?” she asked, visibly trembling.

  “Jean appointed me executor of his will. I’ll give you thirty days to find another residence. Is that all right Marian?” he asked his green eyes dark with worry.

  Marian knew she wasn’t supposed to feel sympathy for the young woman, but she couldn’t help herself. She hated what Jean had done to all of them.

  “Yes, please give her all the time she needs to find another place to live.”

  “Thank you.” Layla stood, her face completely ashen. “I have to leave—I can’t stay—I have to think about what I’m going to do. I need to get out of here.”

  Flinging open the door to Drew’s office, she ran out into the entry way. A sob echoed in the entry hall as she fumbled with the lock and then yanked open the outside door and disappeared as the door slammed.

  “Someone should go after her,” Marian said, her voice sounding stilted to her own ears. “We can’t just let her go like that!”

  Drew stood up and walked to the door. He shouted a young man’s name. The clerk came from the back of the building.

  “Eric, go after that young woman and make sure she makes it back to the hotel safely.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Drew shut his office door again, and returned to the, chair behind his desk.

  Marian shuddered, feeling as though some evil had touched her with the realization of Jean’s deception. “This is dreadful.”

  “What about me?” Nicole asked. “The plantation is in my name.” Her voice broke and a sob escaped. “We never got around to putting his name on the deed.”

  “If it’s in your name, then your home is your own,” Drew said taking a deep breath. “Let’s finish this.”

  He proceeded to read Jean’s last will and testament, as Marian sat waiting expectantly for the moment of revelation. The moment when they found out they were wealthy widows.

  After several minutes Drew paused and looked at Louis. “Regarding Cuvier Shipping—I entrust the running of the business to my partner Louis Fournet until my son, Philip Cuvier, reaches the age of understanding. My son’s guardian, his mother Marian Cuvier, will vote or act in my son’s best interest until he reaches the age of eighteen.”

  Marian glanced at Louis, noticing the tightening of his expression. An unreadable look graced his face, except for one little place above his temple that pulsed with impatience.

  Drew finished reading the will and laid it down on the desk.

  “That’s it?” Nicole asked. “He left me nothing?”

  “I’m sorry, Nicole,” Drew said, the office silent.

  She looked stunned. “But . . . but, I was married to him. I loved him. We were...” She jumped up and before anyone could reach her, she crumpled to the floor in a dead faint.

  Marian rushed to her side, where Louis joined her. “Get some smelling salts!”

  The woman moaned. “No ammonia! I’m all right Just give me a moment to clear my head. I must have stood up too quickly.”

  Nicole moved, trying to sit up, but Louis touched her shoulder. “Lie back and give yourself a few more minutes.”

  She looked up at Marian. “He left me nothing? I didn’t dream that part, did I?”

  Marian glanced away and swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat. She felt awful for feeling relieved that the bulk of the estate had been left to her and her children. “No, you didn’t.”

  Finally Nicole rose and dusted off her skirt. She glanced around the room and sighed. “I’m going back to the hotel. I can’t believe he did this to me. That bastard left me nothing.”

  “I’m sorry,” Marian whispered.

  Nicole sighed. She started to leave and then turned to Marian. “Mrs. Cuvier, this must be extremely difficult for you.”

  Marian nodded. “No more than it’s been for you.”

  “I must be going. Goodbye.” The woman walked out of Drew’s office, her head held high, her back straight. When she opened the door to the outside world, the sound of a crowd intruded. Drew went to the window and glanced out at the crowd of reporters who surrounded the front steps vying for attention.

  As the door closed, Marian breathed a sigh of relief. She turned and found both men gazing at her, their expressions stunned. “What? Why are the two of you gazing at me like I’m some kind of ogre?”

  “Close the door and take a seat, Mrs. Cuvier.” Drew’s voice was serious, so intense that a shiver ran up her spine. He returned to his desk.

  She swallowed, suddenly quite nervous.

  “What I didn’t tell the women while they were here is that while you are not broke, running three households has certainly put a drain on your personal finances and even hurt Cuvier Shipping,” Drew informed her.

  “Are you trying to tell me that I have no money? How bad is the situation?” she asked.

  Drew stood and walked around the room, his hands in his pockets. “You still have money, but you must be careful until either Cuvier Shipping recovers, or you remarry.”

  She laughed. “Remarry? You assume too much, Mr. Soulier. I have no intentions of ever remarrying.” Louis gazed at her and she thought she could feel his disapproval and for some reason that irritated her. “Do I need to sell the house? Get rid of the servants? What?”

  “No. I would advise you to be conservative. Maybe consider selling Layla’s house.”

  “Not right away. I just couldn’t do that to her,” Marian said with a grimace. “Give me your definition of conservative.”

  “It means you have enough money to live on, but nothing extra. Nothing extravagant. No redecorating the house or buying another house. You have enough to live at your current expenditure for a couple of years. By then I hope the business will have recovered.”

  “What about the business? How is it doing?” she glanced at Louis Fournet.

  “Last quarter profits were up, but I don’t know how the scandal will affect our customers. We’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

  Marian swallowed, her mind racing with fear. She needed some time to think about her situation, decide what she was going to do. She needed to get away from these two gentlemen and be alone to think.

  “I must go,” Marian said, standing and picking up her hat and firmly fastening it on her head. “The children will be returning and I don’t like to leave them alone with the servants for long.”

  “Fine. We’ll talk more about this later,” he assured her. “But I wanted you to know Jean’s other domiciles took their toll on your finances.”
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br />   “Mr. Soulier, everything about my dead husband has taken its toll on my life in one way or another.” She took a calming breath. “Now, I really must go.”

  She hurried into the front office area, the men trailing behind her. A quick glance out the window confirmed her worst fears. Her carriage sat alongside the curb, surrounded by newspapermen. “Good heavens, isn’t there any other dreadful news breaking in this city? Now what am I going to do?”

  Louis stood beside her, his hands in his pockets, and gazed out the window at Bienville Street. “You’re never going to get out of here through that crowd.”

  She turned and gave him an irritated look. “Thank you, Mr. Fournet, for that brilliant observation. I need to get home to my children.”

  He raised a brow at her and smiled. “I have an idea. Drew, do you have any more sacrificial law clerks?” Drew frowned at him. “I think James is still left in the building. Why?”

  “Let’s send him out to Mrs. Cuvier’s driver and tell the man to pull the carriage around back. My own carriage is sitting across the street. Most of the news hounds should follow Mrs. Cuvier’s carriage and then I’ll take her home.”

  She glanced at him, an awkward smile on her lips. It really was a good idea. She just hoped it worked. ‘‘Thank you.”

  “Now you’re going to have to go through those doors on the far wall, so it appears you’ve gone to the back of the building while we send James out.”

  Marian frowned, but did as they told her. In a few moments she heard her carriage pull around back. Shouting voices could be heard in the distance, following her driver.

  Drew hurried into the back room where they’d placed her. “Hurry up, I think we’ve drawn them to the back.”

  She ran back into the lawyer’s reception area, where Louis stood waiting impatiently for her. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here now, before they realize they’ve been tricked.”

  Louis opened the front door and the three of them stepped outside. The number of newspapermen had dwindled down to a manageable size, and Drew and Louis hurried her out the door, one on each side.

  Marian felt a moment of sheer panic when the reporters turned their greedy gazes on her, seeing their lead story right before their eyes. They began running toward her, like an unruly herd of cattle.

  “Mrs. Cuvier? Mrs. Cuvier? Who killed your husband? Can you tell us anything about the will? Did Jean leave the other women any money?” they shouted at her.

  “Don’t say anything,” Drew said sharply as they all but ran down the steps to the waiting carriage across the street.

  Drew protected her right side, while Louis kept the reporters at bay, shielding her with his big muscular body. A sense of gratitude overwhelmed her as she realized the risk the men had placed themselves in, shielding her.

  When they reached the carriage, Marian was completely winded. Louis handed her up into the vehicle and then climbed in after her. The moment he slammed the door shut, Drew hit the side of the carriage and immediately they pulled away from the curb, just as the other reporters rounded the street corner behind them.

  “Good Lord, please don’t tell me it’s going to be like this until this is resolved. I can’t live this way,” she said glancing out the window at the reporters who ran behind their carriage.

  “No. I think it will become old news in a day or two. At least until whoever killed Jean is brought to trial,” he said, gazing out the window at the reporters.

  “The trial.” Marian shook her head. “How am I going to protect my children from the sensationalism of a trial?”

  “Maybe it would be better to tell them than to keep the information a secret,” he responded.

  She glanced at the handsome man, her new business partner, who sat across from her. “Are you married, Mr. Fournet?”

  “No, I’m a widower,” he replied.

  “Do you have children?”

  The corners of his lips turned up in a smile. “No children. So you can tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about and to quit making suggestions that affect your children.”

  “Thank you, you’ve saved me a great deal of trouble.”

  They rode along the edge of the Garden district, the warm breeze blowing off the Mississippi making the air damp and humid. For the next couple of blocks they sat in silence, Marian trying not to notice the way his shoulders looked broad and firm beneath his suit coat, how clean his hands were, his nails clipped, and the fingers long and strong.

  Clearing her throat, she looked away. What was wrong with her? She’d noticed men before, but previously the barrier of her marriage had stood like a wall defending the fort. That hurdle no longer stood in her way, though it made little difference. She had no use for a man, no matter how handsome he appeared.

  Finally, the carriage pulled up in front of Marian’s home and she breathed a sigh of welcome relief. The morning’s revelations had left her exhausted and she still needed to think about her finances.

  Louis opened the door to the carriage and stepped out to help her alight. His hand gripped her fingers and held her steady as she descended the carriage steps.

  He held onto her hand a little longer than necessary and turned her toward him, before releasing his hold.

  “Mrs. Cuvier, regardless of the fact that I know nothing about children, I’m looking forward to calling on you next week regarding Cuvier Shipping.”

  She paused, staring at him, and tilted her head. “Of course you know nothing of children. Though I do expect you to know my husband’s business. I look forward to speaking with you on a subject you’re well acquainted with, Mr. Fournet.”

  He smiled and stepped back up into the carriage. “I shall be well prepared in that case so as not to disappoint you.”

  A smile spread across his face and then he winked at her, before shutting the door and driving away.

  Marian frowned and watched the carriage pulling away, wondering why he winked. Did he think he was being flirtatious or just trying to lighten the mood? The last time a man flirted with her she had been poised on the brink of motherhood and certainly still serious about her vows of matrimony. He must be trying to lighten the mood, but still there was something about Mr. Fournet that she didn’t quite trust.