by Ella Brooke
May felt herself growing lightheaded. She needed to get out of there. She’d not been careful enough, and this was her own damn fault. When she reached the elevator, May couldn’t make herself go up. Not yet. She needed a moment to think.
For most of her life, May had been the practical one in any group. She wasn’t the oldest of her siblings, but somehow, petite May Grace had become the big sis to all of them. She bailed them out of trouble. She made sure everyone had their lives in order. She was never a mess. But there weren’t many things messier than the situation she’d put herself in. Down a job, connections all down the drain, pregnant. She hadn’t even met any of Louis’s family, nor he hers. Did they even know each other well enough to be doing this together?
May ended up back at her old apartment with Alice and sat on the couch to wait for her while her friend slept in. Alice appeared about an hour later with her hair sticking up at odd angles, yawning widely.
“Oh, hey. Did we have a meeting today?”
“No. I just needed to step out of my life for a moment. God, Allie, I just . . . I’ve screwed up my whole life in one night. How did this even happen?”
Alice came over to sit beside her. “Okay, let’s just back up. Tell me what happened.”
An hour and a couple of spinach-blueberry smoothies (and for Alice, two cups of coffee) later, May had explained everything that had happened, including some of Louis’s story with Sugar, and the conversations May had exchanged with the woman.
“She betrayed us. I mean, I knew she was a decent actress, but she’s flat-out amazing.” May found her eyes wet again and covered her face. “I’m so stupid. Alice, I’ve ruined everything for us. No one is going to want to do business with me after this. Who is going to bother funding our projects after word’s gotten out that I can’t be trusted? That I stole a rising star’s man from her, slutted it up, and am having his baby?”
“C’mon. It isn’t that bad. Kim Kardashian made it to fame and fortune because of that sex tape.”
May sniffed and shook her head. “I just don’t know what to think right now.”
“It wasn’t even your idea. Why did Louis go along with it?” Alice said.
“Because he’s always honest, and when you’re like that, you don’t think about how easily everyone else lies.” May sighed and looked at her phone. She needed to give him a call and tell him what had happened.
Alice bumped her shoulder. “Forget all this. Let’s get you changed into normal people clothes and get some brunch. You need to relax.”
“I’m down a job. Who has the money to go get brunch?”
“Your boyfriend,” Alice pointed out. “I’m gonna go shower. Call him.”
May sighed. She sat there for a while, staring at her phone as though she might be able to gather the words together if she just looked at the picture of the two of them in front of the Cecil Hotel from one of their ghost tours (Who knew L.A. was so damn haunted?). Just as she was inching her thumb toward the call button, the phone came to life with the sounds of “The Aeolian Harp.”
“Hi, babe,” May answered, trying not to sound too unsteady.
“Darling! I didn’t think you’d be able to pick up. Anyway, I’m glad that I got you, because I have something to show you, if you’ve got the time, later.”
“I have plenty of time,” May muttered. It was funny. She hadn’t minded her job, but getting shamed and shut out made her feel more bitter about it than she’d thought she would. “Look, I’m going to send you something. Then we need to meet up and talk, okay? I’m going out to brunch with Alice. You can come, if you want.”
“What are you talking about? You’re not at work?”
“Nope. I got fired.”
“What?”
It was a shock to hear his smooth, charming voice so irate.
“I can’t believe it! I’ll go there right now and—”
“Don’t. Please don’t. We knew I’d have to give up a job eventually. It sucks that it happened this way, but that’s how it is.” May paused. She wasn’t going to be able to pay rent without that job. Alice would have to get a new roommate.
“Text me your address. I’m coming there.”
“I’ll text you the address for the diner, and we’ll meet up. I’m serious, though, I don’t want you yelling at people not responsible for this about my job.”
“I’ll do as I damn well please, especially as they didn’t see fit to speak with me first. I presume your firing had to do with your relationship with me.”
“It did. And . . . It wasn’t professional, but . . . How can I regret it? It’s us. There’s no one else I’d rather break the rules with.”
Louis chuckled. “Regardless, we aren’t staying there one more night. I’ll have our things moved somewhere else.”
“That’s reasonable.” May paused. “Since you’re dying to yell at someone anyway—”
“Oh dear, please do be saying what I think!”
“Bradley Johnson, a man in his forties with dyed black hair, is the guy who delivered the message, and he practically implied I was an escort.”
Louis’s end was quiet for some time, and then: “I’ll see you at brunch, love.”
The next few weeks seemed to fly by. They were in a lovely loft by that evening, and with her days free, May was taking more time to rest and work on finishing up the film’s script and prepare for auditions. She knew that their funding options would be limited, but she did her very best to put that out of her mind. She had her script and her baby and her prince to keep her busy.
That wasn’t to say that she didn’t avoid standing next to tabloid magazines. It was bad enough that there were people who recognized her at Astra’s. After the initial leak, videos of their time at the party with Sugar surfaced and passed around the internet. Anyone who wanted to know what May looked like could find out easily. It was only thanks to how Astra scared everyone shitless that May really felt safe at the bar.
After getting off work one morning, May was looking forward to a long, leisurely sleep on the king-sized foam mattress Louis had ordered for their apartment, but when he picked her up from the bar and she dozed off in the front seat, she woke up to find the hills around them. May blinked in disbelief at the lush surroundings and obscenely large houses.
“Did you get lost?” May asked.
“Hardly. I’ve just got something I want you to see.”
Several more winding roads and they were on a hill overlooking all of Los Angles. May stepped out of the car and smoothed a hand over the black, baby doll top she was wearing to keep the style of Astra’s while accommodating a nearly twelve-week baby bump. In front of them sprawled an enormous house, three stories in total with a loft above the first two regular levels. The first floor had large glass windows all around the building, and as May drew nearer, she was aware that her mouth was hanging open.
But she couldn’t care.
“Come on,” Louis urged.
He took her hand and led her inside the gorgeous house. The red wood was so smooth and beautiful that May kept staring at it. She couldn’t stop staring, between the view from the windows to the large fireplace to the shelves built directly into the walls filled with books and movies. They moved into the kitchen, which was likewise in warm colors, black marble on all the countertops.
May shook her head and leaned against one. “This place is absolutely amazing.”
“Do you like it? Because if you do, we can get started on the paperwork.”
“You’re buying us a house?” May gaped. “What . . . Why?”
“Because I never want you and the baby to be without. May, I know that you feel insecure at times, that you worry what will happen if there’s no ‘us.’ You worry about being able to handle things on your own, you know, if you absolutely had to. So, I’m not buying us a house. It’s for the three of us, of course, but the house will be in your name. I promise, no one will be able to take our happiness away from us.” Louis took both of her hands. “I’m
going to see to it.”
May took a moment trying to digest that.
“I’m not saying I’d ever leave. I told you that I’ll be wherever you and the baby are. I just . . .”
“You just wanted me to feel comfortable with all of this.”
May hugged him tightly and leaned into his warmth. The disruption of her career and dreams wasn’t fair, of course, but she’d gotten so much in the way of love and stability from Louis himself. Could she fault the universe for taking a little back?
Yawning as the dawn broke over the horizon, she turned to look out over the glorious view of the city. Behind her, Louis wrapped his arms around her and rested a hand on her belly.
Chapter Thirteen
Louis
Like most of his grand gestures with May, Louis hadn’t been certain that the move with the house would be the right one. He’d put everything into motion but left the final signatures until May had seen the house. She needed to be able to veto things. She was the practical one, after all, and if there was something about the house that the inspectors had missed or that he hadn’t thought of, she would spot it. He was confident in that much.
Luckily, May had loved it. Her only criticism was that they needed a music room, and Louis had agreed. It was time to get to work again.
May was such an inspiration to him. His funny, smart girl, working away at her dream in spite of her struggles with bad P.R. and her feelings of betrayal. It was so hard for her, Louis understood, because she was so open-hearted herself, to find someone so capable of making a connection with her and smiling to her face, then stabbing her in the back. Louis thought he might never stop being angry about that. But in a way, it simplified things. He didn’t know why he should care about Miranda Dalton and her secrets at all, after what she had done, throwing May under the bus for her own reputation, he was done with her.
Louis understood what it was like for matters to be out of your control. It didn’t excuse that kind of manipulation. But at the end of the day, he had to admit that the moment he and May had begun their relationship. The moment he recognized her in her maid uniform, he was never going to marry Miranda, no matter what she called herself or how she behaved.
Although he spent most of his time when May was off at Astra’s or with Alice and James in his music room preparing pieces he’d promised for their movie, Louis now had a task that was taking precedence over everything. Something he’d been putting off for too long. After May left, taking one of the cars he’d leased now that driving down to the city from the hills was a daily need, Louis set up the monitor in the study on the second floor. He ought to have made this call weeks ago, but, selfishly, he’d just wanted to enjoy things with May for as long as he could.
In a few minutes, he was connected to the meeting room at the royal palace at Critonia. As he’d expected, one of the palace staff greeted him first, and he had to wait. During that time, he spoke to the staffer, asking after what his older brother had been up to.
“Your nephews are off to school now. Prince Adrian made it into a very exclusive school in Vienna,” the young man said. “Your brother is very proud.”
“I’d imagine.” Louis recognized the achievement, but he had to wonder what Marcus and his wife felt, sending their child off to school for the bulk of the year. He couldn’t imagine May being okay with that, and he certainly didn’t think he could manage that himself.
Then again, if they stayed in L.A., there were plenty of private schools to choose from.
Finally, the staffer rose, bowed, and his grandmother came to sit in front of the screen. Her hair was piled up immaculately onto the top of her head as always, with a mass of pins and a few curls on the side. She folded her weathered hands in front of her and offered him a vague smile that demonstrated both affection as well as annoyance that he hadn’t bothered to call home in months.
“So very good to see you,” Mum Bremen said dryly. “To what do we owe the pleasure, my dear?”
“I just wanted to see my beautiful grandmum, of course,” Louis said, grinning.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Mum rolled her eyes. “Fine, then, as you wish. You’ve seen it, such as it is. Business first, and then pleasantries, shall we? Have you and Miranda come to an agreement about your engagement? I’d like to have this settled before they put me in the mausoleum.”
Louis had expected nothing less from her, but he had to maintain a straight face. He nodded seriously. “I’ve no reason to believe that Miranda and I could ever marry at this point. She hasn’t spoken with her family, but she is committed to her career here. And while I could settle here to make that work, I’m comfortable coming back to explicitly explain to her parents why this merger will not work.”
Mum folded her hands and rested her chin on them. “That sounds like quite the story. I don’t suppose they will be very pleased.”
“They ought to be. She’s making good money acting, and eventually, that should reflect well on them. However, she’s still taking new roles and planning long-term for her career. That doesn’t suggest she’s about to take a break.”
“The way you are speaking suggests that you and she are not on speaking terms currently.” Mum sighed. “Very well. There’s no need to come home just to speak with them. However, I would appreciate, personally, if you’d come home for Christmas, at least.”
Louis licked his lips. This was what he’d been more nervous about. His father had been set on the marriage, but he really had no idea how his grandmother, and later, his mother, would feel about him having a child with an American woman they’d never met.
“That may prove to be a problem.”
“You really cannot be serious. It’s too onerous to come back for what might be your grandmother’s last holiday season?”
“I can promise you to come as soon as I can afterward.” Louis pressed his lips together. “And since you suggested that we speak of pleasantries second, I have some good news . . .” He paused, watching her lips beginning to twist. “You see, I’ve met someone out here.”
“And would that have any impact on your decision regarding Miranda?”
“In a way.” Louis sat up straighter and angled his head back. “However, at the end of the day, I’ve never been one to block someone from pursuing what they want. Moreover, my time with May has made me remember what it was like to want something more than making the best of the moment I’m in. Even if things did not work out between us, I would not be marrying Miranda, or Sugar DeLaude, as she likes to be called now. I have other plans.”
He paused for a moment, glancing out the window at the twinkling lights over Los Angeles. “May is the woman I’ve fallen in love with. And she’s pregnant, due in December. For that reason, we won’t be able to travel at that time, but I would love for you to meet them both as soon as they are able.”
If the situation were less serious, Louis might have enjoyed the expression on his grandmother’s face. The woman was an expert of wielding her emotions as a weapon, so to see her momentarily so shocked was a bit of a treat.
“I’m currently calling you from our house. It only seemed proper to provide a stable home for us as we prepare.”
Maybe that was a step too far. Mum rose and walked away from the screen. Louis wondered if he was about to be cut off entirely, which, if he were truthful, made him glad that he’d been proactive about paying for the house and setting up an account for himself and May. He might have to ask Astra for a job.
When his grandmother returned, it was with his mother by his side, and her eyes were wide and disbelieving.
“Mum says that you’ve settled down with some girl. In Los Angeles.”
Louis laughed and began to tell the story in earnest to a pair of baffled women who had given up hope that Louis would ever find his way in the world.
Their first week in the house, May had been shy, having so many unobstructed windows on the ground floor. It had taken Louis some time to convince her that if someone wanted to take pict
ures, they’d have to do so from a helicopter. The benefit of being out in the hills was the privacy. After that, well . . . he had the joy of seeing her walking around the house in her bare feet, or in nothing but a loose tank top and her panties. It was immensely satisfying to see her so relaxed and comfortable after the period of stress directly after she’d lost her job. He never wanted to do anything that diminished her light.
The next night, she padded into the music room where Louis was working on a suspense theme. The light dress she was wearing floated around her like a gauzy cloud, and she held her hands behind her as she made her way over to him, a coy smile on her lips.
“No Astra tonight?” he asked.
“People feel a bit odd about having a pregnant bartender. It kills the bartender’s automatic coolness factor.” She approached the piano and trailed her fingers over it. “So, Astra said she’ll hold my job for me for if I want it back after, and tomorrow I can come in and help with the books and things.”
That morning when he’d told her about his family’s reaction, she had gotten a good laugh at him. His mother and grandmother weren’t thrilled to be inviting a stranger into the family, but Mum Bremen had already guessed that things weren’t going well on the arrangement front, and both of them were predisposed to like May just on the basis that she’d gotten Louis to stay in one place and focus on something. That made her a miracle-worker, Louis supposed. But it had all come naturally. She hadn’t been his therapist or a saint. She’d just been herself.
“So, what do you want to do with my night off?” May asked.
Louis played her a saucy theme that could have come out of a porno, and her smile grew.
“That sounds too classy on a piano!”
Abandoning the keys, Louis stood up and caressed her shoulder. May reached up to him and stroked her fingers over the back of his neck, and he rested a hand on the small of her back. Her belly, which was beginning to swell noticeably, pressed into his abs, and he couldn’t help himself. He nuzzled her forehead and ran a hand down her belly. It was still so amazing to him that they’d manage to create this child. Even more so that they had managed to come together as this little life was tucking in and starting to grow inside her. What would he have done if he hadn’t seen her again after that night?
