by Shirley Jump
“Me?” The word escaped her in a whisper.
He nodded. “I’m going to include Alexandre and Amelie’s story in the book, but…” He took her hands in his. “I’d like this version—our version—to end differently.”
“Differently?”
“I want to see Amelie’s descendant get a happy ending. I think my family has had enough tragedy.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, then tipped back the lid to reveal a perfect round diamond. “Will you marry me, Marjolaine Savoy?”
“Marry you…now?” She looked at the ring, twinkling in the light. It was meant for her. Paul was meant for her. Maybe a happy ending was possible after all.
“Soon. When I got the book deal, I decided to take a leap of faith and quit the magazine.”
“Quit? But you love that job.”
“Used to love it. I found I love someone else much more. I don’t want to risk that by being in Tibet when I could wake up next to you every day instead. I’d like to settle down here where my ancestors lived. In fact, I just bought a property here.”
“But you already own the opera house.”
“I don’t think living in the opera house would be much fun,” he teased. “I bought a piece of the land where the plantation house used to be. There’s an outbuilding still left that someone tried to turn into a house a while ago.”
“But that place has been abandoned for years. It’s in terrible shape.”
“Yep. Probably needs a lot of hard work. Know anyone who likes taking on hopeless causes?”
She grinned, unable to hold back her happiness another moment. He loved her as much as she loved him. “Maybe. Depends on what kind of incentive you’re using for your workers.”
He leaned forward and kissed her, a quick, heated taste of what was to come. Later tonight. Tomorrow. And all the days that followed. “How’s that?”
“It’s a start,” she joked, knowing that she was going to love teasing him. Tempting him. “I warn you, I’m going to expect a heck of a bonus for all my hard work.”
“Trust me, I’ll be giving it to you. Several times over.”
A thrill ran through Marjo. Living with Paul Clermont certainly wouldn’t be boring.
She studied his face, seeing the love there. “You’re really going to move into that old house?”
“No. We’re really going to move into it.” He took the ring out of the box and held it at the end of her ring finger, waiting for her to say the word. “I love you, Marjolaine, and I want to marry you.”
Joy took flight in her heart, carrying her past the fears that she had let hold her back for so long. Too long. “I love you, too,” she said, then took in a deep breath and slid her finger into the ring. Changing her life no longer seemed so scary, not with Paul beside her. It fit as if it had been made for her.
Maybe it had.
“There’s one condition,” she said, stopping him before he said anything else.
“What’s that?”
“You never, ever put our opera house up for sale.”
“As long as you keep making beautiful music,” he said with a grin. Then he leaned forward, his lips meeting hers, and began a concert that Marjo hoped would last all night.
EPILOGUE
MARJOLAINE CLERMONT stood on the stage, waiting for the curtains to part, the lights to come up. From the sidelines of the completely restored opera house, her most loyal fans watched. Darcy and Gabriel were there, along with her beloved Paul and Amelie, their baby daughter.
Gabriel sent her a thumbs-up, and Amelie called out a “Ga-ga!” before a laughing Paul shushed her.
And then it was time. The heavy curtains parted and Marjo stepped forward into the spotlight, a spotlight she had grown used to in the year and a half since the first CajunFest. The instruments in the orchestra pit struck the first note, and in a moment she began to sing the songs her mother had played over and over again when Marjo had been a child.
As she sang, she scanned the audience. Only the first row or two were visible beneath the bright lights, but it was enough that she could see Cally holding hands with Billy Paul, who’d swept her off her feet and taken her to Vegas last month, finally corralling the marriage-shy Cally before she could change her mind.
The residents of Indigo were all here, or as many as the opera house could hold. The population of her beloved town was growing, and the sleepy bayou town had a new energy. Even the Robichaux family had come up from New Orleans. Celeste’s daughters and their husbands flanked her and her new husband, Doc Landry.
Marjo sang until she thought her voice might give out, performing the same sets she had been practicing for weeks in a studio in Lafayette, getting ready to cut her first demo tape.
Ever since they’d married, she and Paul had made the travel part of their lives work, with a little ingenuity and a lot of laughs when they took Amelie along. Marjo had found she loved traveling, seeing parts of the world she’d never dreamed of visiting.
Paul’s book, complete with Gabriel’s pictures, had been a huge hit at this year’s CajunFest. Gabriel had looked so proud as he’d autographed copies beside Paul.
The rebuilt funeral home was thriving. Marjo had lured Henry out of retirement long enough to set up the new business and train his son and wife to take over the day-to-day management. Although Gabriel still worked there, he’d also taken a part-time job in a camera shop in New Iberia, which helped him pay for photography classes. He and Darcy were happy, and often came over for dinner with Marjo and Paul.
Beside her husband sat his father, Renault Clermont. He had come down from Canada in January and decided to stay for a while. Paul had worked hard to reach out to his father and get to know the man who had become a stranger to him.
As the last note left Marjo’s throat, the thunder of applause began to grow, the sound so loud it shook the walls of the Indigo Opera House.
Marjo bowed, then, as she straightened, she let her gaze drift up to the balcony seats. For just a second, she thought she saw Amelie and Alexandre sitting there, beaming their approval that their legacy—of love, and of music—had been continued, its tune set to a new melody.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5712-6
THE LEGACY
Copyright © 2006 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Shirley Kawa-Jump is acknowledged as the author of this work.
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