by Avery Scott
“I need to use your phone.” At least it wasn’t like the olden days when she would have to wait until they landed before she could start cleaning up the mess.
“I’m afraid we’ve been having trouble with the satellite link.”
Abby didn’t know what was more unbelievable- the fact that they were without communications capabilities, or that her host seemed so calm about it. True, Hudson was her only point of reference, but he would have been frantic without access to his phone for even a minute.
Abby looked at Mr. de Winter skeptically. It almost seemed that he was smiling.
“Where are we going, anyhow?” she blurted. Gabrielle had made a vague mention of “heading East”, but that could mean any place within the plane’s 5500-mile range.
“Oh, uhm!” The old man coughed. “Where are we going?” he said louder than necessary.
There was a beat of silence and then the door that led to the rear compartment slid open.
“Paris,” a male voice announced from the rear of the plane.
Abby would know that voice anywhere.
“Hudson!” she exclaimed, ignoring the “fasten seatbelt” warning and hopping to her feet.
Her boyfriend smiled as he walked forward and gathered her into his arms.
“What are you even doing here? I was going to meet Gabrielle! And then-! The plane-!”
“Well, I promised that I was going to take you back to Paris, didn’t I?”
“Yes, but-!”
“It appears that you were set up, my dear,” Mr. de Winter chimed in.
Hudson turned to give the old man an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder. “Thanks, Uncle Jack!”
“He’s your uncle?”
“Yes, on his mother’s side. Sorry if we startled you, my dear, but it was my nephew’s idea.”
Neither Hudson nor Abby made a reply. They were too caught up in each other.
Abby threw her arms around Hudson’s waist and snuggled tightly against his shoulder. “I can’t believe that you did this to me!” she said, pouting but not really angry.
“Well, I wanted to surprise you…and I’m afraid that I couldn’t resist teasing you. Gabrielle’s in on it, by the way.” He didn’t want her worrying about her sister. “Uncle Jack isn’t really her boss. She’s actually not even in New York.”
“Why the elaborate set up?”
Hudson looked faintly hurt. “Don’t you know what today is?”
“Uhm…Friday?”
“It’s the one-year anniversary of the day we met.”
“I didn’t realize you were sentimental.”
“I’m not! At least, I wasn’t until I met you.” Hudson’s face grew suddenly serious. There was a question in his eyes that Abby couldn’t quite read. He cast a backward glance at his uncle, but the other man merely shrugged.
“Get on with it, then.”
Hudson cleared his throat. The look on his face was uncharacteristically nervous. “I wanted to do this at Musée d’Orsay, but I can’t wait…Abby, would you-?”
“Come on! Do it properly!” Uncle Jack chimed in from the sidelines.
Hudson shot the older man a dirty look.
“Do you mind?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. You’re the one who asked for my help. Show me that my sister raised a gentleman.”
Hudson rolled his eyes. Then, to Abby’s utter disbelief, he sank to one knee.
Her stomach did a funny flip as he spoke again. “Abagail Suzette Levesque…Would you make me the happiest man in the world? Will you marry me?”
She didn’t say anything at first. It was as if she had forgotten how to speak. The enormity of the question and the emotions that it inspired were so huge that she felt flattened beneath them.
“Well?” Hudson’s question was breathless.
“Oh, my. This could end up being a long flight to France,” Mr. de Winter said, rattling his newspaper.
The sarcastic comment managed to snap Abby out of the spell.
“Of course, I will!” she exclaimed. Tears pricked at the edge of her lashes. Hudson slumped in relief.
“Here,” he said, reaching into the breast pocket of his suit jacket and pulling out a red leather box.
Abby gasped again as he opened it to reveal the Empress Josephine ring that had called out to her when they visited the jewelers nearly a year before.
“Oh, it’s too much!”
“Nonsense, woman. Take the ring. Let the other girls be jealous,” Uncle Jack called out.
Hudson dabbed a kiss on the tip of Abby’s nose, seconding his Uncle’s sentiment. Then he lifted Abby’s wrist to slide the ring onto her slender finger.
It was a perfect fit.
“You remembered,” Abigail said in a whisper to keep Uncle Jack from chiming in.
“I wanted you to have it. I want to give you everything you’ve ever wished for. I don’t want you to ever have to worry about anything again. I know you don’t need me. You have an amazing career and can take care of yourself. You can do everything on your own, but I want you to know that you don’t have to. All I want is for you to be happy and to follow your dreams.”
Abby wrapped her arms around Hudson and pulled him to a slow, deep kiss before replying,” You’ve already made them come true.”
“Then I guess we’re going to have to come up with new dreams, soon-to-be Mrs. Abigail Suzette Hudson.” He dabbed a soft kiss to each side of her lips.
“Levesque-Hudson?”
“That sounds like a lot to write on a painting.”
THE END
Author’s Note
Thank you so much for reading The Bad Twin. If you enjoyed it, please check out one of my other works, including:
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Hungry
The Catch (The Catch, Book 1)
The Assignment (The Catch, Book 2)
Too Hot to Handle (The Catch, Book 3)
His First Lady
The Nice List (Coming October 2019)
Oops! I did it again (Coming February 2020)
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My books always end with “Happily Ever After” and each one (including those in a series) can be enjoyed as a stand-alone read (No cliffhangers! Yay!).
My website is www.averyscottwrites.com. The site has free bonus content for all my books, as well as the latest news about what’s coming next. You can sign up for my newsletter (I promise no more than two e-mails per month, usually less) for even more material.
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Before you go, may I beg a favor? Would you consider leaving a review for this book?
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You’re the best!
XOX - Avery