The Reconstruction of Cyprian

by Michelle Love

  She thinks I’m perfect, I know I’m not. I know I can be hard to deal with at times. I know how I was with those other guys. Sometimes I was cold and distant. At times, I was bitchy. With Cyprian, I’m trying to watch out for those things. I’m really trying with him, more so than I’ve ever tried before with anyone else.

  “Your sister arrived a couple of days ago, Camilla. Her husband had to stay in Cape Town to work,” my father tells me. “Do not bring up his absence as she gets teary-eyed when anyone does. I fear their marriage has hit a rocky patch.”

  My heart freezes. If she’s having a rough time, she tends to make others have one as well. “Is she keeping it together for the kids, though? Not wearing her heart on her sleeve, is she?” I ask, hopefully.

  My brother looks back at me. “She is doing well for who she is.” He looks at Cyprian. “Our oldest sister is a bit much at times. Her passionate personality can be somewhat hard to take. She is much more French than any of us, including our Papa. And your last name is French as well, Cyprian. Tell us how your family is. Is your father a passionate man? Is he married to a French woman?”

  “My father isn’t married,” Cyprian says as he ignores my hand tapping on his leg to let him know to guard his words. “My mother is American and my papa is of French descent but he’s never been abroad. He was born in the states to a family who was third generation immigrants. He has no real connection to that country any longer.”

  “So, your parents are divorced?” my father asks. “Mon conard, has been tight-lipped about your family.”

  I lean over and whisper to Cyprian, “That’s his little nickname for me. It means, my little duck.”

  He leans over and kisses my cheek. “I know. I think it’s cute.”

  I blush as I seem to have forgotten, Cyprian is a very smart man. I seem to forget so much about him and who he is. Perhaps I have a problem getting to really know people. Maybe that’s what had my other relationships going south. I should pay more attention to what he says, I think.

  “So, they are divorced?” Papa asks, again.

  Before Cyprian can answer, I do, “No, they were never married. Can this inquisition end now? I don’t want Cyprian put on the spot about his family. His family is small. He, his father, and his mother makes up the little family who are very busy living their own lives.”

  Cyprian gives my knee a squeeze. “I don’t mind answering your father’s questions.”

  “I mind them asking too many things,” I say and peck his cheek. “Let me guard you a bit. Once we get home, you will be met with more than you will care for.”

  “She’s right,” Carlyle tells him as he looks back at him. “Catarina is one hell of a big sister.”

  Cyprian chuckles. “Is she now. A passionate creature who looks after her younger siblings. What’s not to like about that?”

  “You’ll see,” I say as we pull into the driveway of my parents’ modest home on the outskirts of New Orleans. “For here we are.”

  Why did I decide to bring him home to meet my family…

  Chapter 2

  CYPRIAN

  Teal eyes land on me as we enter the Petit home. Straight black hair frames her plump face, which is beautiful. Her bronze lips part as she looks me up and down. “You must be Cyprian Girard. Just so you know, I have already researched you. You were news, recently. How are you feeling after having your appendix removed?”

  “This is my sister, Catarina,” Cami tells me as she gestures to the bold woman who continues to look me over.

  I reach out for her hand and she places it in mine. I kiss the top of it as she narrows her eyes at me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Catarina. Your sister has told me much about you.”

  “So you will understand when I dig deep into you, Cyprian,” she says, making a chill run through me.

  Camilla has made it clear, I am not to go divulging too much about my past with women. She thinks her family would never allow her to be with me if they knew it all.

  Cami shakes her head. “No, Rina. He is not to be bothered with your incessant curiosity. He’s been through surgery only a couple of weeks ago and I am fiercely protective over him. So, don’t push me.”

  Catarina looks at her younger sister with a smirk on her face. “You will have to leave his side sometime, dear sister.”

  Cami looks at me and winks. “Stay close, Cyprian. Lions await you.”

  I nod and find another woman coming into the room. “And this is the new man in my baby girl’s life. It’s nice to meet you, Cyprian. I am Anashe, but you can call me, Ana.” Cami’s mother has a British accent, as do the majority of people who come from Cape Town, South Africa, I suppose.

  I take her extended hand, delivering a kiss to the top of it as I bow a bit. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ana. I can see where your daughters get their great beauty from.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cami smile. The corner of my other eye catches, Catarina frowning as she says, “Spoken like a true, libertine.”

  Cutting my eyes at her, I respond, “I see you know the moniker of the investment company my father started before my time. You see, he meant it not as the one definition that means a man who behaves sexually immoral. He meant it as the definition that means, free thinker. But you probably know that, if you read up on me and the company I am CEO of.”

  She nods and smiles an eerie smile at me. “Of course, you would say that, Cyprian. You and I have much to discuss when we have a chance to. Perhaps wine on the back porch later will find us chatting about you and your past that’s shaded a bit more than some.”

  I find Cami, pulling at me to go with her somewhere. “Don’t mind her, Cyprian. Come with me, let’s put our things in my old bedroom.” We wheel our luggage down a short hallway. She opens the third door on the left and I find a pink bedroom.

  “Your mother hasn’t changed a thing since you left, has she?” I ask as I go inside with her.

  With a shake of her head, she closes the door behind us. “No, she’s left all of our bedrooms the exact same way we left them. Did my sister intimidate you, Cyprian? I’m sorry about her.”

  “She loves you. I find it sweet. I can handle her, Cami. Don’t worry.” Taking her in my arms, I hold her tight and kiss her long and sweetly. Gazing into her eyes once I’ve set her lips free, I find her to look even sweeter. “Your family is gorgeous. Our children will have great genetics. We’re sure to have us a houseful of pretty kids.”

  She smiles and bats at my arm. “A houseful is a bit too many Especially with the size of your home.”

  “I have room for at least nine kids. You can give me nine, can’t you, baby?” I tease her.

  “Rogue,” she says as she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me more deeply than she’s done since my surgery.

  Her tongue moves over mine as her hands move up into my hair and my hands travel to her rounded bottom. I pull her into me and find my cock springing to life. That can’t happen yet, so I pull my mouth from hers. “Naughty vixen.”

  She smiles and lays her forehead against my chest. “With you, I am.”

  I look at her small bed and see we’ll be sleeping nearly on top of one another. “This next couple of days will have me exercising my self-control, I see. You will lay nearly on top of me.”

  She pulls out of my arms and giggles. “I can make a pallet on the floor if you doubt your ability to control your urges, Cyprian.”

  Pulling her back into my arms, I kiss her again. “No way. I will sleep with you for the rest of my life. Nothing like my self-control will ever get in our way.”

  She runs her hand over my cheek and I see my world in her deep blue eyes. Taking her hand, I hold it to my lips as I gaze at her and think about how lucky I am to have found her in this huge world we live in.

  Is it possible to love someone so completely…

  Chapter 3

  CAMILLA

  The smell of chicken and dumplings fills my nostrils as Cyprian and I go into my mother�
��s kitchen. We find her, stirring a pot as my sister tosses flour coated balls of dough into a huge pot.

  My three-year-old niece, Sadie, and one-year-old nephew, Sax, make their way to me but stop just short as they seem a bit shy about Cyprian. I let his hand go and pick them both up, holding one on each hip.

  “My, my, those kids look good on you, baby,” Cyprian says with a chuckle.

  “First things first, Cyprian,” my sister says.

  “Shush,” my mother reprimands her. “Your sister is twenty-five, plenty old enough to be thinking about children. I’d like a few more grandkids.”

  “I meant they need to be married before any talk of that happens. That’s all I meant by that comment.” My sister looks past me at Cyprian. “Is that in the cards for you?”

  He laughs and sits at the small round table in the kitchen. “I’ll let that be a mystery for a while, Catarina. You are quite the big sister, aren’t you?”

  “I am,” she says as she eyes him. “And you are an enigma, Cyprian.”

  “You don’t trust me to do right by your little sister?” he asks.

  I find their banter annoying and butt in, “It doesn’t matter what she thinks. Mama, can you please tell your eldest to mind her business and her manners?”

  My mother nods as she stirs the pot of boiling deliciousness. “Camilla is right, Catarina. Leave her man be.”

  I put the kids down and sit next to Cyprian who leans over and whispers, “I love being called your man,” He leaves a quick kiss just behind my ear, sending heat through me.

  This celibacy thing while he heals is as close to torture as I’ve ever been. Sleeping with him each night has left me waking to him gloriously naked, while I keep my body wrapping in night clothes, afraid of what would happen if we were both naked.

  He has been a rock of self-control, which I find amazing. The man seems to be transforming right before my eyes. His normal demeanor of raw sexual prowess has nearly disappeared.

  I see him gazing at my niece and nephew who’ve gone back to playing at the little table my mother has made for them in the kitchen. “You remember me telling you the kids’ names, right?” I ask him.

  He nods. “Sadie and Sax, right?”

  “Yes,” my sister says. “My husband had to stay in Cape Town. My mother’s from there. Did Camilla tell you that?”

  “She did. She and I have talked about so much these last two weeks. We now know one another inside and out.” He drapes his arm across my shoulders. “I’m sure your husband, Peter, misses you and his kids very much. He’s the manager of a hotel there, right?”

  “He is. If he misses us, I have no idea. I’ve yet to speak to him since we got here a couple of days ago. He’s not answered my calls,” she says as she looks at the pot instead of us.

  “Are you sure he’s okay,” I ask her as I’d never be okay with anyone not taking my calls after such a long trip.

  “He’s fine. I called the hotel and his assistant told me as much. He just doesn’t want to talk to me is all.” She throws one last dumpling into the pot and walks over to the sink to wash her hands.

  I get up and go to help them by picking up the bowl of flour, tossing out the unused portion and washing the bowl while my mother chastises Catarina. “Not in front of the c-h-i-l-d-r-e-n.”

  “Why did you spell, children, Grandmama?” Sadie asks.

  Cyprian fights himself not to laugh I see, as he holds his mouth shut. Then he gets up and goes to the little table where the kids are playing with a coloring book and colors. “My, my, how smart you are. Can you read, Sadie?” he asks her, diverting her attention.

  My sister looks at me as I smile with his efforts. Her shoulder touches mine as she whispers, “I can see you think he’s hung the moon, little sister. Believe me, men are incapable of keeping up their act of being good. Because it’s just an act. Once they have you trapped, or so they think, in a marriage with children you share, then they go right back to who they were before you came along. So, beware, Camilla.”

  I don’t say a word in response. She’s obviously unhappy with her marriage right now, that’s all. She’s always been happy with her husband. I have no idea what’s happened but I have no doubts she’ll be bending my ear with the details before the night’s over. She’s not one to keep her problems to herself, totally opposite of me.

  I can’t help but watch Cyprian color with the kids as he perches on a tiny chair. Sadie, who was shy, is getting bolder with him as she reads to him from one of her children’s books. He seems impressed and she seems proud of herself.

  Sax is looking at Cyprian from under his thick dark lashes. I can see his curiosity is getting the better of him as Cyprian is talking to his big sister. Before Cyprian realizes what’s happened, Sax has moved off his chair and is leaning on Cyprian’s leg, listening to his sister read and helping Cyprian color his picture.

  Cyprian looks over his shoulder at me and gives me a grin that tells me he’s quite happy. “Looks like you’ve made a couple of new friends,” I say as I wipe my hands on a dish towel and make my way to him.

  He nods and I see pink stain his cheeks. Then I recall how he’s told me he never made any real friends. Thanks to his father promoting school was for learning, not building friendships. Then work started and he told him the same thing. My poor Cyprian was held back from so many things.

  I run my hands over his broad shoulders and stand behind him. Then find my sister looking at us and sighing just before she leaves the kitchen. My mother shakes her head as she turns the stove off and moves the pot to let the contents thicken. “She needs your help, Camilla. She’s not herself and she’s not telling us everything. Could you go see if you can get anything out of her? I’ll entertain your young man if you’d do that for me.”

  I kiss the top of Cyprian’s head and give her a nod then go to find my sister who’s not quite herself. Into the living room I go and find her walking out on the front porch, so I go out there too and see her lighting a cigarette., “What the hell are you doing, Catarina” I ask as I close the door behind me. “Mama and Papa will kill you if they see you doing that. You know that.”

  “I have to do something to ease my stress. You have no idea.” She takes a long drag then I take the thing away from her, toss it on the ground, and stomp on it until it’s out.

  “Killing yourself, slowly, isn’t the answer.” I pull her with me to sit on the rockers on the porch. “Talk to me.”

  Her hands are knotting as she holds them in her lap. “Peter has taken on a mistress and expects me to accept that.”

  “Whoa!” I say then let out a whistle. “Man, I have to tell you, it’s not completely unexpected, with his religion and all. Mama and Papa warned you, it could happen. But you said mistress, not wife. Is there a chance he won’t marry her too?”

  “I suppose he’s testing the waters with her. I hate it. I hate all of it,” she says then I see the tears starting.

  “Look,” I say as I run my hand over her leg to try to comfort her. “Maybe we could talk to him. Maybe we could get him to see reason.”

  Shaking her head, she cries,” He won’t even answer my calls. I begged him to come with me and he told me this would be the perfect opportunity for him to get to be alone with this other woman, who he’s refused to allow me to even meet yet. So, here I am in New Orleans, knowing my husband is having sex with another woman in our bed.”

  My gut turns on itself as I think about how she must feel. “Leave him, Rina. Don’t stay in that kind of a marriage.”

  She shakes her head. “It’s not that easy. He’ll be able to keep the kids away from me if I do that. They are citizens of South Africa, after all.”

  “You’ve dug yourself a real whole. You will have to come to terms with things. You married a man who can take more than one wife at a time. You knew this could happen. So, take that for what it’s worth. You took a risk and lost. Life goes on. It’s just sex, right?” I say, quoting Cyprian.

  “If that’s
all it is then why does it hurt so damn much?” she asks me as she tries to suck it up.

  “I wish I knew.”

  We both turn to see who’s coming outside as the screen squeals on them, we see it’s Cyprian. “Catarina, your son has a diaper that’s in need of your attention. Your mother sent me to tell you that. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news.” She gets up and rushes past him wiping her eyes. He takes her by the arm, stopping her. “You’re crying.”

  She nods and tries to pull away. “It’s nothing.”

  He lets her go and she hurries inside then he comes and sits in her empty chair. “Care to tell me about it?”

  “I most likely shouldn’t but this might be an area you can actually be of help with. You see, her husband practices a religion that allows him to have more than one wife and he’s looking into taking another, as we speak.”

  “Oh,” he says as he looks down then he looks back at me. “She had to know this might happen.”

  “I told her that too but it’s hitting her hard.”

  “When that’s practiced as a religion, it’s more about making more children than anything else, from what I’ve read. So, it’s just sex, really.” He looks at me as if I can understand the concept.

  “She and I come from a family who believes there is not a thing, as just having sex. I have no idea why she married a man who could legally do such a thing as add another wife to his plate. She did, though. Everyone cautioned her but she did it anyway. Peter promised her he’d never do such a thing. Seems he lied.”

  Cyprian nods. “Men lie to get what they want.”

  I stifle a gasp as he speaks so openly with me. “You are also a man.”

  “That I am,” he says then places his hand on my arm. “But I am a man who has spent over half his life having meaningless sex with more women than most. And I have found the one woman who brings out more in me than I knew was inside of this mind and body. I have no want for any other.”