by Kara Lennox
“No. You’ve made mistakes, but who hasn’t? It doesn’t mean I can’t love you. Everyone deserves a second chance, a fresh start.” She looked down at her empty cup. “Celeste was right about this stuff.”
When she looked up, she felt dizzy from the intensity of Luc’s gaze.
“Somewhere in all that,” he said, “did you just say you loved me?”
“I did.”
“You know I love you too, don’t you?”
“N-not until right this moment.” Love. But what did that word mean to Luc?
“I think I was in love with you months ago,” he said, “but since I’ve never been in love before, I didn’t recognize it.”
“Love can be very sneaky.” She reached her hand toward him, only to find he’d done the same to her. They clasped hands, and then somehow they were in each other’s arms, lying in the middle of the bed, kissing as if they’d been lovers separated for years instead of a couple of days.
Pausing for breath, Luc pulled back and looked deeply into Loretta’s eyes, stroking her hair. “I love you,” he said again. “And I love Zara, too.”
“I want you to spend as much time with Zara as you please. I know you’ll be a good influence on her—for however long you choose to stay in Indigo.” She forced herself to say that last part. But she knew she had to accept Luc exactly as he was, not the ideal she wanted him to be.
“However long? How about the next hundred years or so?”
“Luc, don’t tease.”
“I’m dead serious. I’ve never stayed in one place long because I’ve never had a reason to before. But I love this town. I love the people, the way they care so much about each other. I probably won’t be in this house. I think Grand-mère intends to live here and run the place herself. But I’ll find something to do. Maybe I’ll run a swamp tour business.”
Loretta could hardly believe what she was hearing. Luc here in Indigo, forever? She couldn’t bear to think of La Petite Maison without Luc, but Celeste was the owner, and Loretta could understand the other woman’s desire to run it. And whatever business Luc decided to get into, he would make it something wonderful.
Luc jostled her. “You still with me?”
She realized she’d been staring off into space. “No. I’m just speechless.” She sat up and pulled away slightly, trying to gauge his sincerity. “You’ll really stay here?”
He nodded. “And something else. I want to marry you. Now, you don’t have to answer right away—”
“Yes.”
“—because I’ll keep asking. Maybe once a month or so.”
“I said yes.”
“You did?”
She leaned in and kissed him again. “Yes.”
EPILOGUE
LUC HAD NEVER FELT so nervous in his life. Confessing his past sins to Loretta had been easy—like taking off a heavy jacket. But asking Zara how she felt about having a new dad, that was scary.
Loretta had assured him Zara would be wild about the idea. After all, that had been her master plan: to prove to her mother that she needed a father, Luc in particular, to divert her from a life of crime. But when faced with the reality of having a new authority figure, she might balk.
He dressed with care in his best blue chambray shirt and dress slacks. He was going to Loretta’s to have his talk with Zara, then they were all coming back to the B and B for dinner. Vincent and Adele were invited, and of course Celeste and Doc would be there. Luc was going to announce his and Loretta’s engagement.
If everything went according to plan.
He arrived at Loretta’s at six-thirty. She let him in, looking sexier than ever in slinky black pants and a sheer, ruffled blouse with an enticingly low-cut neckline.
She greeted him with a warm kiss. “I have to warn you—” But that was all she got to say. Zara came running full tilt into the bakery, screaming “Luc! Luc, Luc, Luc, you’re here!” And she barreled into him, throwing her arms around his waist and squeezing so tight he worried she might never let go. “Luc, is it true, are you really going to be my daddy?”
Loretta shrugged. “I’m sorry, but she guessed right away and I’m not good at keeping secrets.”
“I can keep secrets, I’m real good at it,” Zara said. “Mama says I can’t tell anyone till you make the ’noucement at dinner tonight.” Finally she released Luc and beamed up at him with the sweetest smile.
“So you’re okay with your mom and me getting married?”
“I can’t wait! Can you do it tomorrow?”
“Not tomorrow, but soon,” Luc promised. “Now, then, I still have something to say to you, young lady.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah, uh-oh. What you did by running away and painting the wall of the opera house was a really bad thing to do. No matter how much you want things to go your way, you can’t be thoughtless and hurtful to people you love. Do you know what I mean when I say the ends don’t justify the means?”
“It means that even though my plan worked, it was still a bad plan and I shouldn’t have done it.”
“Exactly.”
Zara chewed on a thumbnail. “I didn’t know everyone would be so worried. I thought they would just be mad at me.”
“Well, you need to think these things through.”
“I have, and I’m really, really sorry. I cleaned up the paint, and I wrote a letter to Alain and every person who looked for me to say I was sorry. But Mama said that wasn’t enough. She said I can’t play my fiddle at the music festival.”
“Your mama’s a tough cookie. Believe me, I know.”
“Don’t you think it’s unfair?” She blinked her big hazel eyes at Luc, and he had to force himself to firm his resolve.
“I think maybe next time you hatch a plan like the last one, you’ll remember the consequences and think twice.”
Zara’s eyes shone with tears, but if she was hoping to play Luc against Loretta, it wasn’t going to work. She sighed. “Okay.”
“Zara,” Loretta said, “run and put your good black shoes on. We have to leave in a few minutes.”
Zara stamped out dejectedly.
“Did I do okay?” Luc asked.
Loretta smiled. “You did fine. But do you think I’m being too harsh, grounding her from the music festival? She’s been rehearsing for weeks, and she’s so good.”
“Like I said, you’re one tough cookie.”
“Maybe I should think of another punishment.”
They turned as one when they heard a noise coming from the house—soft, at first, then louder. It was Zara’s fiddle, and she was playing the most melancholy song Luc had ever heard.
“Oh, now that’s enough to break my heart,” he said.
“Zara Castille, were you eavesdropping?” Loretta demanded.
The music stopped and Zara peeked around the corner. “Just a little bit, by accident.” She ran back into the bakery, still barefoot, clutching her fiddle. “Oh, Mama, when you told me about Luc, you said everyone deserves a second chance. Don’t you think I do, too? I’ll do anything. I’ll scrub the bakery floor every day, you can cut off my allowance for a year, burn all my Harry Potter cards, but please let me play my song in the festival.”
Luc tried to keep a straight face. Only a stone could fail to respond to the child’s plea, and Loretta was no stone.
“Oh, all right,” she finally said. Zara hugged her and thanked her about ten times. “Now go put your shoes on!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
When they were alone again, Loretta looked at Luc, who was still trying to hide his amusement. “She’s your problem now, too, you know.”
He took her hand. “Everyone should be so lucky to have such a problem.”
DINNER WAS FESTIVE and full of laughter. Luc had baked some chicken breasts and rosemary potatoes, and Doc had contributed a spicy Cajun corn salad. Loretta brought some crescent rolls and Vincent and Adele an apple pie. Celeste selected a couple of bottles of very good wine from the stash she’d brought with her.
As Adele cut the pie, Luc knew it was time to make his announcement. He hoped everyone would be happy—but he wasn’t completely convinced. Now that Vincent and Adele knew he had a criminal record, they might not be too keen to have him as a son-in-law.
He drew in a breath, prepared to ask for everyone’s attention, when Celeste beat him to it.
“Since we’re all gathered here,” she said, “I have an announcement to make.”
Well, talk about stealing his thunder. Luc swallowed, almost grateful for the small reprieve.
“Luc, you have done an incredible job, not only with renovating this old cottage and bringing it back to its former glory, but in establishing the B and B and running it profitably. I confess, I expected you to fail. I was actually looking forward to it. I’m somewhat ashamed of my behavior toward you now that I see it in retrospect. You have proved yourself, more than proved yourself, and I am truly proud to call you my grandson.”
“Thank you, Grand-mère.” Here it comes, he thought. She was thanking him for services rendered, and now she was going to announce that she was taking over the B and B and he was out of a job.
“So I’ve made a decision. Several decisions, actually. I’m going to give you La Petite Maison. As a wedding present.”
Luc’s jaw dropped. He glanced over at Loretta, but she shrugged helplessly. “How did you know we’re getting married?”
“You’re not getting married,” Celeste said imperiously. “I’m getting married. Or rather, Michel and I are. That’s why Michel planned this dinner. Isn’t it?”
“I thought I planned the dinner,” Luc said. “To announce Loretta’s and my engagement.”
Vincent let loose with a hearty laugh. “Sounds like everyone’s getting married!”
Then the rest of what his grandmother had said sank in. “Grand-mère, you really mean it? You want to give me the B and B? Won’t the rest of the family object?”
“Anne and the girls are completely in favor of it. You’re a part of our family. Your father didn’t get a fair shake, and nothing can ever change that, but we all agreed you should have the B and B.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you would be appropriate.”
Luc stepped around the table and wrapped his arms around his grandmother. She was stiff at first, but gradually she relaxed. “Thank you. You know, I was positive you came to Indigo to fire me and take over running the B and B yourself.”
“Good heavens, what an awful idea. I’ve never worked for a living a day in my life. Why would I start at age eighty-five?”
“This calls for a toast,” Doc said, refilling everyone’s wineglasses. “Best wishes to the brides…” He lifted his glass to Loretta, then Celeste.
“And the grooms,” Celeste finished for him, nodding toward Luc and Doc in turn. “Now doesn’t this just prove that anyone, even a cranky old woman, can turn over a new leaf and make a fresh start?”
More toasts followed, along with plenty of hugs and tears. For the first time since he’d left the Hotel Marchand in disgrace, Luc felt a part of something larger than himself—a family, a community. He had real ties now, ties that could never be broken.
“I almost forgot,” Doc said. “Who’s up for a boat ride?”
“A boat ride?” Celeste echoed. “With all the wine we’ve had, who among us would dare pilot the boat?”
“Oh, all right, we don’t have to actually ride in the boat. But we do have to go look at it.”
“Michel, have you lost your mind?”
But Doc wouldn’t be dissuaded, and they all abandoned their pie to troop outside and down the brick walkway. Luc grinned. With everything else that had happened the past couple of days, he’d forgotten this last surprise.
Loretta took his hand. “What’s going on?” she asked. “You look like you know something.”
“You’ll see.”
Luc’s boat, looking spiffy even in the dark, bobbed gently on the water next to the dock. Doc shone his flashlight on the stern, where his surprise became apparent. The Bitchin’ Mama was no more. Now the boat bore the name, Celeste.
“Oh, Michel.” Celeste giggled like a schoolgirl.
“It was all Luc,” Doc said.
“It’s my present to you, Grand-mère,” Luc said. “For giving me the chance to start over. I know it’s not much, but if you hadn’t sent me here, I never would have met Loretta or Zara, and I might never have known what it was to belong somewhere, to be a part of something bigger than myself, and to love someone more than life itself.”
Celeste dabbed at her eyes. “It’s one of the nicest presents I’ve ever received. I’ve always wanted to be immortal.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5711-9
A SECOND CHANCE
Copyright © 2006 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Karen Leabo is acknowledged as the author of this work.
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