St. Amelia's Kiss

by Jamie Conner

  Brandi went back into her office to look at the email again. She had to figure out how anyone at Rousseau had gotten the address to Mrs. Leroux's house. She considered calling Robin on a Sunday but decided it would be better to wait and talk to Quentin first. Maybe somehow he'd seen the pictures of Mrs. Leroux's property before Brandi had deleted them and sent the information to the Development Department to research. If he was the one who'd done that it was going to be a little harder to stop those wheels from turning. Ultimately they couldn't force Mrs. Leroux to sell if she didn't want to but if they were that interested in the property they put a lot of pressure on her before they just gave up.

  Brandi was reading Robin's email for the umpteenth time when she heard her cell phone ringing in the other room. She rushed to her bedroom to grab it, hoping that it was Megan calling just to say… What was it she wanted Megan to say? I forgive you? I know this isn't your fault? I love you?

  That last one made Brandi's stomach nose dive. Yes, that's what she wanted to hear from Megan more than anything else. If she said that they could get through all the rest of this mess. If Brandi just knew that Megan loved her she wouldn't feel so awful right now.

  She picked up the phone, but her face dropped in disappointment when she saw Franco's name flashing across the screen. She let the call go to voicemail. She didn't have the energy to talk to him right now. Plus she knew as soon as he heard her voice he'd be able to tell that something was wrong.

  She dropped the phone into the pocket of her bathrobe and went into the kitchen to see if she could find something to settle her stomach. A few minutes later her phone buzzed several times indicating that she'd received a text message. Brandi tried to keep herself from hoping that the message was from Megan as she pulled the phone out of her pocket.

  When she hit the text icon a message from Franco appeared.

  In case you two are still in bed I just wanted you to see how gorgeous you look in a vertical position.

  Brandi scrolled down and her eyes filled with tears as she looked at half a dozen pictures of she and Megan at Saturday night's gala. They were laughing and smiling and Megan looked absolutely stunning in her dress.

  One of the photos was taken as Brandi was receiving her plaque for Woman of the Year. The photographer had been standing next to Megan and caught her in a close up with Brandi in the background. Megan was applauding and her eyes were filled with pride. Brandi tapped the screen to close the picture. It made her sick to think she might never see that look on Megan's face again.

  There wasn't anything in her kitchen cabinet that was going to get rid of the sick feeling she had in her stomach so she just went into her bedroom, pulled the covers over her head and forced herself to go to sleep.

  ***

  Monday morning Brandi arrived at work even earlier than usual hoping to talk to Quentin before things got too busy in the office. She sat at her desk trying to focus on work, but every other minute she was glancing at her phone as she waited for Cara to call letting Brandi know that Quentin had arrived. It was almost 10 am before the call finally came.

  "Good morning, Brandi," Quentin greeted cheerfully as she walked into his office. "What can I do for you?"

  Brandi sat down in the chair in front of his desk trying to decide on the best way to ask the question she had to ask.

  "You know that report I sent you with the list of St. Amelia properties in it?" she asked.

  "Yeah," Quentin replied. "I sent the list up to development to check out, but to be honest with you Brandi, I'm not sure that any of those properties are going to be quite what we're looking for."

  "Well, that's just it, Quentin. I got an email from Robin saying that one of the properties was looking very promising."

  Quentin just stared at her as if he didn't get her point.

  "The thing is, the property that she referenced wasn't one of the ones I put in my report."

  "That doesn't make sense Brandi. I haven't sent anyone else out to look around in that area yet so how would development get an address that you didn't report on? Were you familiar with the property in question?"

  Brandi took a deep breath. "Yes. I was. I actually looked at it the same week I looked at the other's, but I didn't include it in my report."

  "And why not?" Quentin asked glancing over his glasses. "I mean if Robin is already raving about it there must be something about the property that's pretty special."

  An image of the spectacular view from Megan's cottage flashed through Brandi's mind.

  "It is a great piece of land, but the owner isn't interested in selling."

  Quentin laughed out loud like Brandi had told a joke. "Since when has an uninterested property owner stopped you from making a deal?"

  Brandi just looked down at the floor. She was still feeling some pangs of guilt about the real estate deals she'd made in her past.

  "Look, let's just call Robin and get to the bottom of this." Quentin hit the call button on his desk phone. "Cara, can you please call Robin in Development and ask her to come to my office. Tell her to bring the St. Amelia file."

  A few minutes later Robin came breezing through Quentin's door.

  "Well, hello there Woman of the Year!" Robin said cheerfully and then took a seat. "So, what can I do for the two of you?"

  "Robin, we're trying to solve a little mystery. The St. Amelia property you emailed Brandi about wasn't one I submitted to your department and we're trying to track down who did."

  "Oh, sorry about that Brandi. I was planning to send you an email this morning. Turns out Victor was the one who submitted that address to us. I'd just assumed it came from you because I knew you'd visited Cote d' Azur lately.

  When Brandi heard Victor's name her blood began to boil. There was no way he'd found Mrs. Leroux's property on his own. He must have somehow accessed Brandi's cloud account before she'd deleted the photos of the property. Then it dawned on her. Hadn't Cara told her a few weeks ago that Victor was hitting on one of the new IT contractors. Technically that wasn't breaking the company's employee fraternization policy since the woman was only a contractor, but hacking into another employee's files was definitely a problem.

  "Quentin, I think I know how this happen," Brandi said and then explained her theory.

  Quentin nodded but didn't say anything. He was too distracted flipping through the pages of the file Robin brought with her.

  Finally, he looked up at the two of them. "Well, I'm going to have a little chat with Victor — and the head of HR. If he did do what you're suggesting Brandi that kind of behavior won't be tolerated."

  Brandi exhaled a sigh of relief.

  "But, as for this property," Quentin continued. "This little plot of land is too good to pass up. I think we're going to have to send someone in to chat with the owner."

  "But you can't do that!" Brandi said before she could stop herself.

  Quentin's normal smile vanished.

  "Actually, you won't have to do any of that," Robin interrupted. "If you flip a few more pages you'll see what I mean."

  Quentin turned a few pages in the folder and then scanned the documents in front of him.

  "Well, isn't this our lucky day!" he said with a smile.

  Brandi just looked at him waiting for an explanation.

  "It turns out the owner of this property is deceased."

  Brandi's heart jumped. That couldn't be right. Megan just left Paris with Mrs. Leroux yesterday. If something had happened to her while they were traveling Megan certainly would have called her — wouldn't she?

  "It says here," Quentin continued. "That Rachel Durand purchased the property in 2002. Ms. Durand died last year and thus far our crack researchers in the Development Department…" He paused and smiled at Robin. "… Haven't found any records of Ms. Durand having any heirs."

  Quentin was beaming. Robin was smiling because of Quentin's complement about her department. Brandi just felt ill.

  "Brandi I'm going to overlook whatever your reasoning was for
not submitting this property in your first report. If Victor did steal these notes from your files I'll get to the bottom of that. But you should know, this little discovery here might have sealed a promotion for you next year."

  Brandi somehow managed to thank Quentin and then stumble back to her office. What was she supposed to do now? If she just kept her mouth shut this might result in the big career boost she'd been working so hard for. If Rachel didn't have any heirs Rousseau could force the court governing St. Amelia to do an estate sale and Mrs. Leroux wouldn't have any say in the matter. Of course, she'd be devastated and Megan would be furious — and hurt.

  It only took Brandi a moment to weigh her options. There was no way she could let this happen — at least not without a fight. A promotion wasn't worth losing the best relationship she'd ever had. She had to do something — even if that something meant she might lose her job.

  Chapter 20

  All Megan could do was sit at her desk — Rachel's desk — and stare out the window. She'd been sitting there for hours and hadn't typed a thing. The ocean view that had been so inspiring just last week now made her feel nothing but sad. She'd promised Brandi that she'd wait until she called before saying anything to Mrs. Leroux about Rousseau Development being interested in her property. It wasn't like she'd be able to explain it to her in her poor French anyway. She'd have to tell Gerard the whole ugly story and let him translate. This was one time when Megan was almost glad she didn't speak French.

  She'd pretended to be sleepy on the train ride from Paris to Nice. Keeping her eyes closed was the best thing anyway — it kept Mrs. Leroux from seeing the tears that threatened to spill down her face.

  Megan looked down at her open laptop. She was only one chapter away from the end of her novel, but she just couldn't finish it. The book was supposed to have a happy ending, but she couldn't write happy words right now. Not when everything in her own world felt so sad. Megan was just about to close her computer and crawl back into bed when she saw someone coming down the path toward the cottage.

  She jumped up from her chair. "Brandi?" she called out as she saw her approaching. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to call…" Megan stopped short when she got a good look at Brandi's face. Her expression didn't read like she had good news.

  "Let's go inside and talk," Brandi said as she took Megan by the hand and lead her inside.

  They sat down on the small sofa against the wall.

  "I have good news and I have bad news — and I have a possible plan," Brandi said as if she was asking which one Megan wanted to hear first.

  Megan's stomach swirled. "Start with the good news, I guess."

  "The good news is that the property in Mrs. Leroux's name is safe," Brandi started. "The bad news is that the land this cottage sits on isn't in Mrs. Leroux's name at all."

  Megan shook her head. "Brandi, I have no idea what you're talking about. Mrs. Leroux's husband built this cottage so the land must be hers."

  "It was hers then. In fact, it was hers until 2010 when she sold it to Rachel Durand. Now, because Rachel is dead there's the possibility that the land might be sold."

  Megan was trying to follow along, but each statement Brandi made was adding more confusion to the story.

  Brandi grabbed Megan's hands and slowly repeated what she'd just said.

  "And what is this plan you have?" Megan said in a voice almost devoid of hope.

  "Well, there's a thing that exists in France called squatter's rights. It's kind of complicated and the regulations have changed somewhat over the past few years, but basically, it means if someone is living in a residence without the owner's permission they can't be evicted without the owner taking them to court."

  "Wait a minute? You mean people can just move into vacant spaces and live there even if they're not paying rent?"

  "Yeah, that's basically it. If they can prove they've been living in the residence for more than 48 hours then the police can't just kick them out on the street. My plan is for you to establish squatter's rights here at the cottage."

  Megan's eyes grew wide. "I… I don't know, Brandi. Are you sure I can do that?"

  "We have to have some things in place to prove that you've been living here, but I think it's doable," Brandi said. "I have the postcard you sent me from this address. If you have any receipts from taxi rides to the house we can track down the drivers and get an affidavit verifying that you were dropped off here, then basically you just have to remain on the premises until a court date is set."

  "But I don't understand. Who's going to try and kick me out if Mrs. Leroux is okay with me being here?"

  Something washed over Brandi's face that Megan couldn't quite read. "My company, that's who. They know Rachel is dead and if they can't find any proof of her having heirs or if the heirs are in the States and don't want the property then Rousseau will push the courts forward to sell the land."

  Megan raked her fingers through her hair. It was all so complicated, but what choice did she have? She had to help Mrs. Leroux save her property. Then Megan realized something.

  "Brandi, does your company know you're here?"

  Brandi let out a long sigh. "No. And if they did they'd fire me sooner than they're eventually going to anyway."

  Suddenly Megan realized the depth of the sacrifice Brandi was making. If she helped Mrs. Leroux save her land she'd be in direct opposition to what her company wants.

  "Brandi, I can't let you…"

  Brandi held her hand up and shook her head. "I've already made my decision, Megan. I need to do this. It's the right thing to do."

  Suddenly all of the tears Megan had been holding back for the past day and a half came flooding to the surface. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Brandi was willing to give up a job she loved just to help Mrs. Leroux.

  "You are an incredible person," Megan whispered as she wrapped her arms around Brandi's neck. "Don't ever tell yourself anything different again."

  ***

  Megan and Brandi went over the plan one more time just so Megan was sure she understood what needed to happen. Now it was time to go tell Mrs. Leroux what was going on.

  As soon as Mrs. Leroux greeted Brandi she started heading for the kitchen to fix some food for her guests. Brandi stopped her and guided her to the dining room table and asked her to sit.

  "I'm going to explain it all in French," she said to Megan. "I want her to hear the whole story from me first since I'm the one to blame for Rousseau snooping around in the first place."

  Megan just nodded.

  Brandi squared her shoulders and began talking to Mrs. Leroux. Megan watched the elderly woman's face morphed from one expression to another — curiosity, confusion, surprise — but strangely never anger.

  Megan thought for a moment that maybe she wasn't understanding what Brandi was saying, but occasionally she'd interrupt Brandi with a question and after Brandi responded she seemed to get it.

  When Brandi finished talking Mrs. Leroux just sat there nodding her head slowly.

  "Mrs. Leroux, are you okay," Megan asked. Her voice was filled with concern.

  The woman just kept nodding and rubbing her chin. Her eyes were cast down toward the floor. Megan couldn't tell what she was thinking and the anticipation was killing her.

  Suddenly Mrs. Leroux got up from her chair and motioned for Megan to follow her. When they got to the hall closet Mrs. Leroux opened the door and pointed to a box tucked away in the corner of the top shelf. Megan was surprised she hadn't noticed the box before. It was sitting on the same shelf where the photo albums with all of Mrs. Leroux's travel photos had been.

  Megan reached up and took the box down and handed it to Mrs. Leroux.

  When they got back to the table Mrs. Leroux opened the box and began shuffling through various envelopes and letters she had inside. Finally, she found what she was looking for and held it out in front of her for a long time.

  "Mrs. Leroux?" Megan asked, concerned that Mrs. Leroux still hadn't sa
id a word.

  Mrs. Leroux sat up straight in her chair, smiled at Megan and handed the piece of paper to Brandi.

  Megan watched Brandi's face as she looked over the document.

  "Oh, my!" she said in surprise. She looked up at Mrs. Leroux. "Cest un Pacte Civil de Soliarite?"

  "Oui," was the only word the elderly woman spoke, but there was a smile on her face and what must have been happy tears in her eyes.

  "What?" Megan asked impatiently. "What is it?"

  Brandi looked up at Megan and her eyes were also filled with tears. "It's a PACS. A pact of civil solidarity. It's a legal document for French citizens who have entered into a civil union."

  Megan just stared at Brandi still confused.

  "Mrs. Leroux and Rachel Durand were a legally registered couple — since 2005 according to this paperwork."

  Megan's eyes flew open wide and waves of understanding crossed her face.

  She got up from where she was sitting and went over to Mrs. Leroux. There were tears in her eyes as she embraced the elderly woman.

  "Brandi this means…" the words seemed to get caught in Megan's throat.

  "This means you were right," Brandi said with a smile. "And it also means whatever property was in Rachel's name when she died automatically belongs to Mrs. Leroux."

  Megan felt a wave of relief wash over her. This meant the property was now safe, but the weight of the other reality pressed down on her heavily as she realized that for the last nine months Mrs. Leroux had been grieving the loss of her partner all alone.

  Tears were starting to pool behind Brandi's eyes too, but Mrs. Leroux's voice interrupted them.

  She must have asked Brandi to translate what she was saying to Megan.

  "There is no need for tears, my darling," Brandi translated. "I lived a wonderful life with the woman I loved. I only wish I'd been courageous enough to live that love more openly," she sighed. "But I was raised in a different time. That's why I get so excited when I see you young people." Mrs. Leroux reached out and took both Megan and Brandi's hand. "You inspire me," she whispered.