Shit. What if something freaky happened, like someone from school saw me and Theo at the OBGYN? Sweat slicked her palms, her heart racing. She wasn’t ready to talk about this at work yet. Hell, she hadn’t even shared the news with her children.
“Are you having an intimate relationship with Theo Brodeur, Marcelle’s father?” he asked her, his chubby cheeks reddening.
She swallowed. “Yes,” she asked. Why deny it now? If he asked, he must have proof.
Heat flooded across her cheeks and neck, but she lifted her chin, unwilling to show shame. Maybe not the most ethical thing, but she didn’t feel ashamed for having an affair with Theo.
“Wow. One of the parents was in Vegas last weekend for a conference, and she said she saw you and him together at some wedding.”
“That’s right.” She crossed her legs and rested her hands on her lap. “Neither of us wanted to break the rules on purpose, but it sort of happened. However, we are no longer together. We never officially were.”
He drummed his fingers on the desk, his gaze darting around the room. “I understand. You put me in a difficult situation, Violet. It’s against our policies for parents and teachers to date.”
“I understand.”
“And someone knows about it. So it’s hard to sweep that under the rug.”
She removed her hands from her lap and clenched the chair arms. Acid spilled into her stomach, spreading through the rest of her. This was it. He’d fire her ass, and she’d have to look for another job while pregnant and without a good recommendation. I guess I couldn’t be further from making the right decisions if I tried, she thought ironically. “Can’t you tell this person who saw us that we are no longer together?”
“Doesn’t work that way. Moms talk, and I doubt I’m the only one who knows by now.”
Great. “What will you do about it?”
“You know, Violet, it’s not easy to find fluent French teachers in Tulip. Though this was a mistake, you have impressed us all with your professionalism, and how you’ve engaged your students.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. Compliments in a tense situation like this weren’t good. The worst is about to come. Apprehension trickled down her spine like a tap with a bad leaking problem. “Thank you. I love working here.” Even though the principal is spineless.
“Therefore, I’d like for you to stay with us. I’ll give you a one month’s suspension without pay, a slap on the wrist.”
Relief loosened her muscles. “Thank you.”
“And I’ll also have a chat with Mr. Theo Brodeur. Given the circumstances, it’ll be better for everyone if he takes his daughter to a different school after the school year is over.”
She raised up, the relief turning into a bigger concern than before. Her blood pounded at the base of her throat. No, no. He couldn’t do that. “That’s not necessary, and it would be unfair to Marcelle. It’s not her fault. I assure you she’s grown a lot in the past few weeks and is on track to meet the expectations.”
“Yes, and I’m sure your influence was paramount to making that happen. But, once you’re out of his life, will Marcelle’s new attitude last? I can’t have a trouble student. I have to show my staff and the parents that I’m the leader.”
“And you have, by showing compassion.” She waved her hands, nervous. “Clark, Marcelle has gotten better at school and with grades. I’ll always be available to help her.”
He rocked his chair back, watching her with intent. A flicker of regret touched his eyes. “Which doesn’t help given you and her father share a past. See how it goes back to a circle?”
“No. This is silly. I can’t let you kick her out—”
“I’m afraid you don’t make that call.”
She squared her shoulders, her spine locked into place. “Then fire me.”
“Have you read what Arthur posted on his website? I can’t wait to get the newspaper,” Alan said, strolling inside Theo’s office after the usual three short knocks.
Theo barely swiveled the chair to acknowledge his presence. “Not yet.”
“What are you waiting for? Changing the menu was the right call,” Alan said, with a self-congratulatory grin, before he pulled out his cell phone and began quoting the critic’s piece about his food experience at Celine.
Theo managed slow nods, but the words went right over his head. He glanced at the wall, his vision blurring at times. For the past week, ever since he’d accompanied her to the doctor, Theo exchanged a few text messages with Violet. He checked in on her, asked if she needed anything and she always gave him quick, non-committal replies.
She’d come to his home twice to tutor Marcelle, but he’d made himself scarce.
A painful void took over his heart, and he had a hard time falling asleep. Or even getting out of bed, for that matter. He’d told her how he felt, and she not only had not reciprocated his feelings, but she confronted him. She didn’t trust him.
Fuck.
He ran his fingers down his face. A woman like her, who had been through hell and back, didn’t need him for shit. He’d been through hell too, but he still needed her in his life. Not having her in his was hell itself.
“Hey,” Alan said, raising his voice. “You’re not listening.”
Theo waved him off. “Sorry. I’ve been—”
Alan put his phone aside and sat in front of Theo. “You still haven’t called her?”
“I’ve texted.”
Alan rolled his eyes. “It’s not the same. Especially after you told her you love her. You need to follow through.”
Theo’s chin dropped to his chest, energy deserting him. “How can I see it through when I told her and she didn’t care?” Telling Alan about what had happened hadn’t been a smart idea. But three days prior, Alan had questioned his mood and why he drank wine in his office at one p.m. and didn’t want to talk to anyone. In a moment of weakness, Theo had confided in Alan.
“Did you tell her or did you make her believe it? Feel it in her bones?”
“I told her, which should have been enough.” Shit, if she told him she loved him and wanted to build a life with him, that would have been enough to give him a drug-like high.
“I bet you weren’t convincing.”
Convincing? Theo snorted. “I’m a man, not an actor.”
“If you want Violet, you better be more than just a man.”
He grabbed a pen from the drawer and clicked it a few times. “You’re lucky you’re good at what you do, otherwise you’d be gone.”
Theo glanced at the office in downtown Tulip. Ever since the previous day, Alan’s words rang in his ears like those annoying pop songs his daughter sang in the car. Maybe he hadn’t been convincing, and Violet needed to be sure. Of course. She had gone through a lot in life, and her approach not to do what was deemed right really meant not making mistakes. Not trying to please people.
He didn’t want her to please him—he wanted her to let him love her and give him a chance.
He crossed the street. When he small talked with Lara in Vegas, he’d learned she was a landscape architect. She owned a successful company that offered lavish landscaping to some of the best residences in the area. Finding her office address hadn’t been hard.
As one of her best friends, Lara must be able to help him.
Alan meant well, but he didn’t know Violet as well as Lara did.
He opened the door and marched into the space. Large pictures of beautiful backyards and gardens filled the walls.
“Can I help you?” a woman in her twenties with purple streaks in her black hair asked.
“I’m looking for Lara Nunes.”
“Oh, sure, she’s in her office. Who should I say—”
“Theo Brodeur. She knows me through Violet.”
“Sure.”
“Send him in.” He heard Lara’s voice from a room in the back.
The woman gestured for him to follow the hallway.
When he opened the door, he found Lara behind a d
esk that he swore was reclaimed furniture. Many awards for environmental causes decorated the walls. “Hi, Lara, thanks for seeing me.”
“Hey. How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. You?”
“Surprised to see you. What brings you here?”
“Violet.”
She smiled. “I’d never have guessed. Have a seat.”
“I can’t. I’m too rattled to sit.”
She leaned against a shelf stacked with books. “Okay.”
“I came because I’ve seen you more than her other friends,” he said, jamming his hand in his jeans. “I need your advice. She says she’s not interested in marriage or commitment right now, but today I called the school to talk about picking Marcelle up early, and the principal happened to pick up the phone.”
“All right.”
“He told me that two days ago, she asked for resignation from her job because someone found out about our affair. I know how much she loved that job,” he said, deciding that the principal probably told me this to create a rift between them. What other reason would he have?
“That’s not the real story. The sleazeball principal was going to kick your daughter out of school, and she said she’d rather quit. He was using the affair as an excuse.”
Theo’s fingers curled into a fist. Anger knotted inside him. He’d kept Marcelle in that school because he didn’t want to continue the cycle of starting and leaving a school, and also because that was the last place in the next few towns where she could learn French. But now, he’d have to talk to his daughter and explain supporting an institution ran by a heartless idiot wasn’t worth it. He’d have to find a new school for her, yet again. “The bastard.”
“Yeah.”
He popped his knuckles, pacing in circles. “Wait. So she did it for Marcelle?”
Lara nodded.
She loves me. His heart hammered foolishly. Whether she knew it or not or would admit to it or not, she loved him. Why else would she have done what she did? Why else would she sacrifice her job while pregnant? “Tell me how to get her back.”
13
Violet smoothed her fingers on her hair before ringing the doorbell at Theo’s house. This was the third time she’d tutored ever since returning from Vegas and breaking up with him. The other times, he’d had some sense to make himself scarce. Marcelle usually opened the door anyway.
If Marcelle continued improving so wonderfully, she wouldn’t need tutoring lessons anymore very soon. The thought added a weight to Violet’s heart. She’d become close to the little girl, and loved spending time with her. She’d have to give it all away.
Though Marcelle would still be in her life, now she was pregnant with her half-sibling. Hopefully, all would go well. She hadn’t talked to Amanda yet, thinking she preferred to wait until farther long in the pregnancy to break the news.
The door was swung open, but instead of Marcelle, Theo stood in front of her, granting her entrance.
“Hi,” he said. Wearing jeans and a black V-neck shirt, he looked good enough to eat. Then eat again.
A hum formed between her legs. “Hi.”
He’d texted her to check on the baby and offer any help she might need. She’d appreciated it, but didn’t say much in response. Not that her fingers hadn’t perused over the phone’s keyboard a few times before she settled on an answer. But if she opened the door to him, if she let him in again, she feared she’d never be able to shut him out again.
She walked through the foyer, but didn’t see Marcelle waiting for her like usual, or standing by the formal dining area. “Is Marcelle upstairs?”
“She’s gone to a friend’s for a few hours.”
“Oh. Okay, then—”
He touched her elbow, and her skin prickled. She did what she shouldn’t have, and regarded his spellbinding gaze. A small smile curled at the corner of his lips, and he placed his hand on the small of her back, ushering her to the living area. “I need to show you something, Violet. Won’t take long.”
She furrowed her brows, unsure, but followed his lead. Curiosity won over her self-preservation. She sat on the couch, and noticed a large screen covering his already monster-sized TV. Hmmm. Her gaze wandered, and she found a modern projector a few feet from the screen. Was he going to start a presentation?
“What’s going on?”
He drew the curtains, blocking the sun and making the atmosphere a bit more dimmed and intimate. Dangerous. Very dangerous. “You’re having my baby. There are things about me you have the right to know.”
God, please don’t let him be a con artist or fugitive felon. That would be the icing on the cake.
He flicked on the projector, and a picture of a sweet, chubby baby with brown eyes and hair showed on screen. “That was me, as a baby.”
She relaxed on the couch. “Cute.”
“My mom said I was a good sleeper and never colicky,” he said.
She turned her face to see him by the projector, and the moment her gaze collided against his, a powerful jolt surged through her. This will be harder than I thought. Co-parenting with Damian was easy, because she didn’t feel anything for him other than friendship. Theo though… would be a different story.
He skipped through a few images, showing his parents and younger sister Anna. “She’ll come to the birth of the baby, if not sooner. You’ll love her.”
“She sounds great.”
“My mom too,” he added.
He stopped at a sepia colored picture of his father, the older version of him—except, his father had stern eyes and a deep frown line on his forehead. “My father is no longer with us, but he’s the reason why I wanted to leave Vonevell so much. Sure, the economy was bad back then, but my father always told me I wouldn’t amount to anything. He was a carpenter, used to taking a very logical approach to life, and didn’t think there’d ever be any money in cooking.”
She drew in a breath. “He was wrong.”
“Yes. When I met Celine, we united our skills and opened restaurants.”
A wave of heat stained her cheeks. “She seemed perfect for you,” she said, hating how bitter she sounded.
“She was. We had the perfect marriage,” he said, looking at the floor. “But I wasn’t perfect. I was broken, and resentful, but somehow didn’t think she’d ever love me if she saw the real me.”
He sat next to her, and she shifted in her place. Suddenly, the L-shaped couch shrank, her throat becoming thick and dry. Her heart knotted, the beats erratic. She contracted her stomach, hoping not to faint from lightheadedness. What the hell was going on with her?
“Celine was a great woman, and I’ll always be grateful for her.” When he held her hand in his, the air was socked from her lungs, and she realized not only her hand trembled, but his as well. “But I couldn’t be myself around her, and without knowing, I always had this wall up.”
Violet gave his hand a light squeeze. “I understand,” she whispered. Hadn’t she experienced similar quiet agony when she’d been married? Damian being a good-looking plastic surgeon. He always quietly required perfection from her, and she could never adapt to his standards.
“Ever since I met you, you challenged me. You helped me, even when I didn’t even know I needed it,” he said, staring deep into her eyes.
She parted her mouth, but no sound came out. The world stopped around them, and her heartbeat echoed in the room. Their fingers intertwined, and she wasn’t sure if she’d made the first move or he had.
Tears brimmed his eyes, but he didn’t look away from her. If anything, he only intensified his stare, his face dipping down, closer to hers. “I love you, Violet. I love you enough to keep learning to be more patient and give you time to develop those feelings for me.”
“You do?” She touched her chest with her free hand, afraid she’d have to call 911. This type of racing in her heart surely wasn’t normal.
“I will follow whatever rules you set for me. I don’t want to lose you, because that would wreck me.” The
muscle in his jaw twitched. “I love you so much, Violet. Give me a chance to show you.”
A warm glow flew through her, and she could no longer resist. “I love you too, Theo.”
“Are you serious?”
“More than I’ve ever been,” she said, her heart pounding in her ears. “Our fathers tried, but they didn’t break us for good… we found each other.”
“And I’m never letting go.”
“Never,” she repeated.
He lowered his lips to hers, claiming her so passionately, he sent the pit of her stomach into a mad swirl. She kissed him back, matching his urgency, and slid on his lap, wrapping her legs around him. Her body was burning, but her heart sang a harmonious, happy melody.
She loved him, and he loved her—and from now on, that was all that mattered…
Epilogue
A year later…
“Is she awake?” Marcelle asked, holding the breakfast tray that the girls had worked on that morning. Theo had helped, but he mostly let them pick the fruits and do the pancakes themselves. Even Trevor managed to pour the freshly squeezed orange juice in the glass and put it on the tray.
“No,” Amanda whispered. “I think baby Leo slept through the night last night.”
Theo scratched his chin. He’d woken with their little Leo a couple of times, but he decided not to set the record straight and let the girls believe their baby brother had gotten better with this nighttime sleeping schedule.
Today would be the first Mother’s Day he’d experience with all the children: Marcelle, Amanda, Trevor and baby Leo under the same roof.
His wife was an amazing woman. Yes, wife. She’d proposed to him a few months after they decided to build a life as a family—and he gave her the space and time she needed. When she suggested they apply for a marriage license and have a quiet ceremony with close friends, he had been nauseatingly happy.
She’d decided to take the year off from work to focus on blending the families together and getting prepared for Leo’s arrival, and he fully supported her. He’d insisted on paying for any remaining medical bills from the time she had a breakdown. If she hadn’t gotten help when she needed, they’d never been able to get together and his life would still be a miserable existence.
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