“Civil union? I don’t know.”
“It’s not the same as in the States, and you know it. It’s like…marriage lite. Comme, Coca Lite.”
She laughed as he’d hoped she would. PACS would afford them some of the benefits of marriage for the ease and legal convenience, but it wasn’t marriage. And it might make Mandy secure enough, stable enough in the relationship while maintaining some of her independence. It would give him something, without taking away everything from her. It was the perfect solution. If he could get her to agree.
“And how does one go about getting un PACS?”
“A bit like one goes about getting married in this country. File some papers.” He grinned.
“But it’s not a marriage.”
“Non. There doesn’t even have to be a ceremony. We sign the paper; that’s it. No special words. Just some documents. We also go to the tribunale, not even the mayor’s. But it won’t be legal in the US.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “So I could go home and be single? Only married in France…A girl could get used to that.” She waggled her eyebrows. As sarcastic as ever, his Mandy.
He kissed her, ending any discussion for the moment. He poured his love into the kiss. His desperation. She opened to him, and her tongue dueled with his. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her until she broke the kiss.
“I love you.”
“Je t’aime, ma belle.” He wanted to hold her like this forever, on the bench in front of the building where she’d told him she couldn’t get married. But she had friends here, family. And a wedding to cancel. “What are we going to tell Layla? She’s been the crazy wedding lady since we got here. I just can’t imagine disappointing her by letting all her hard work go to waste,” he said.
With a mischievous sparkle in her eye, Mandy said, “I have an idea.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“What do you mean, they didn’t get married?” Layla’s gaze darted from Tyler to his mother and back again as they stood in the living room of the Monet Suite. They both looked like hell.
Tyler ran a hand over his shaved head and shrugged. “Mandy didn’t show up. Well, she did, but she was really late, and then she and Julien were talking in front of the courthouse or the mayor’s office. Whatever it’s called. And he shooed us away. So we came back here. I don’t know what the hell got into her.”
“We better call her friends and tell them to come back. She left me their numbers.” Layla grabbed the note from the desk and handed it to Tyler. “You call. You know them better than I do.”
“I’m going to go check on my granddaughter,” Angela said and walked into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
“What the fuck?” Layla whispered.
“I dunno,” Tyler said. “I have never seen anyone look as heartbroken as Julien did when he finally told the clerk there wasn’t going to be a wedding and left to go find Mandy. He was destroyed. I’m not sure they can come back from that. I’m pretty sure it was worse than when you left me dumbfounded in the courthouse.”
Damn. That was not good. She had to call the concierge and cancel everything before Mandy and Julien got back. She couldn’t imagine how awful it would be if one of the staff members came to Mandy with wedding questions after everything had been called off. But first she needed a little reassurance. And from the look in his dark chocolate-brown eyes, so did Tyler.
“I’m sorry about running away from you. It was stupid to run without giving you a chance to ask questions. Hopefully Mandy will see the error of her ways, just as I did.” Layla wrapped her arms around her fiancé, remembering that horrible day when she’d let Tyler figure out who she really was. When he’d seen she’d lied to him about leaving New York.
She’d been with Tyler almost as long as Mandy had been with Julien now. She couldn’t imagine her life without Tyler. He held her close, and she rested her head on his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat. “Is Mandy going to be okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I hope they can work things out. I think he really loves her.” Tyler stroked his fingers along her back. “I thought she loved him too. But now I’m not so sure. How could she just not show up?”
“I think she’s scared.”
“Maybe. I don’t understand why she didn’t say anything sooner, ya know?”
“Yeah.” Layla took a deep breath and let it out.
“Don’t leave me at the altar, ’kay?”
She laughed. “I certainly don’t plan on it. Let’s call the girls before they go crazy looking for her. I don’t want to be on the phone when she and Julien get back. Whenever that may be. Thankfully we have plenty of bottles for Sophie until they return. She’s a good baby. I hope her parents can work things out. Because if not, she’s liable to be the one who suffers.”
Tyler released her. “Family’s important to Mandy. Whatever happens between her and Julien, she’ll make sure they consider Sophie in everything.”
He pulled out his phone to call Diedre and Addison, and a knock sounded at the door. Layla went to answer it. Probably the florist. They’d had an appointment earlier in the day that had been moved to tonight.
She opened the door and froze.
Julien and Mandy stood before her, holding hands. Their bloodshot eyes told her they’d both been crying, but perhaps some of those tears were happy ones. She didn’t want them to overhear Tyler’s conversation, but she couldn’t not invite them in.
“So…about this wedding on Friday,” Mandy said.
“Yeah, Ty told me. Are you guys all right?”
Mandy nodded and backed up. “Let’s chat.”
Layla followed them into the hall, the door closing behind her and keeping Tyler’s conversation quiet.
“Did you cancel it all yet?” Mandy asked.
“No.”
“So Father Thomas is still coming in tomorrow?” Mandy pressed. There was a sparkle in her eye that made Layla nervous. What was she getting at? Hadn’t she jilted Julien?
“Yes. I haven’t gotten the chance to call him.”
“Well, good. Don’t. Here’s the thing,” Mandy said, her gaze drifting to a quiet but smiling Julien. “We decided it would be stupid to let all your hard work go to waste. I can’t get married; that’s clear. Obviously. But we can’t just let a wedding like this pass us by. So we’ve decided that you should get married.”
“What!”
Layla looked from one to the other. They were serious. She couldn’t believe it. No way. Tyler had just proposed to her. She couldn’t spring this on him.
“They’re right,” Tyler said from behind her. Layla spun around. He dazzled her with one of his smiles, a deep dimple appearing in his right cheek. How could she say no to that? “I mean, why wait? Your mom’s here, and I think she said your dad was coming out Friday, didn’t she? What else do we need?”
Everything. A dress, guests, more time. Her mother was going to flip out. They were just starting to get to know each other again. Layla had barely gotten used to the idea of being engaged to Tyler. Could she really become his wife just that easily?
“It won’t be legal, of course,” Julien said, breaking through her mini freak-out.
“What?”
“It won’t be legal in the US, even with an American priest.”
“So we’d have to do it again after we got home?” Tyler asked.
Julien nodded.
“I can live with that,” Tyler said.
Layla took a deep breath and let her thoughts settle. “Yeah, me too.”
“All right, then. The wedding’s on,” Mandy said, grinning. She looked really happy for a woman who had just stood someone up at the altar.
“What the hell am I going to tell my mother?” Layla asked.
“Why don’t you let me take care of that one? Honest. It’s the least I can do after you’ve put up with me the past few days.”
“You so don’t have to tell me twice,” Layla said.
Married. She wa
s getting married. In Paris. Layla laced her fingers with Tyler’s. What more could a woman want?
* * * *
Julien shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “He’ll understand,” Mandy said from beside him. She was no longer his bride-to-be, but she was still the love of his life. They waited in the lobby for his father, and with each passing moment, Julien’s ire rose.
Dad was late, of course. But Julien’s discomfort was only caused in part by the thought that his father wouldn’t show. The rest was because he feared his dad would never accept that Mandy would stay without marriage. Julien wouldn’t allow those kinds of doubts to plague him anymore.
Sophie rested quietly in her stroller next to Mandy, and Julien gazed down at his little girl. Despite his trepidation, he was excited for Dad to meet his daughter.
“He’s here,” Mandy whispered. She released her hold on Sophie’s stroller and took Julien’s hand, giving him her warmth, her strength, and her support.
His father looked at their joined hands and then at their faces. Julien smiled. “Salut, Papa.”
“Salut, mon fils.” Dad moved closer, leaning in for a quick kiss on either of Julien’s cheeks, and then on Mandy’s. He did not look too kindly at Mandy, and Julien opened his mouth to chastise him, but Mandy squeezed his hand in warning.
His gaze sought hers, and she smiled, then turned toward his dad. “I know this all probably seems really strange to you, Pierre, but I love your son. I just can’t marry him.” She reached out and rested a hand gently on his dad’s shoulder. “I know that after what happened between you and Julien’s mom, our decision makes you nervous, but I love Sophie with all that I have, all that I am. She is my child, and I won’t ever leave her the way Julien’s mom left him. It’s just never gonna happen.”
PIERRE NODDED, AND Mandy felt the tension ease inside her. She begged him with her eyes to accept her, to realize that while he might fear she was just like his ex, she was better than that. She finally believed she was right for Julien, and she wasn’t going to let Pierre or anyone else convince her differently.
“Would you like to meet our little Sophie now?” she asked.
“Oui.”
Mandy released Julien’s hand and turned to the stroller, where Sophie was just waking up. After a midafternoon stroll through Paris, Sophie had dozed off, but she blinked her light brown eyes open and smiled up as Mandy bent to unclip her from the seat. Mandy lifted the growing baby in her arms and presented her to Pierre.
“Ta grande-fille,” she said, handing Sophie to Pierre.
He smiled at Sophie and held her with the care and finesse of a man at ease with children. Sophie grabbed on to his collar, snuggling close and giggling. When the warmth of love lit Pierre’s eyes, Mandy’s heart swelled with joy. Julien wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she held her lover tightly.
Not her husband, but the man she loved and the father of her child. She still couldn’t believe he’d agreed it would be enough for him. But she was delighted all the same.
Pierre whispered gentle French phrases to his granddaughter, and Mandy couldn’t stop herself from saying, “You’re welcome to come visit her anytime you’d like. My family is so far away, and I want her to know she has family besides us.”
Julien snickered. “Yes, you’re always welcome, with a bit of warning, of course.”
“But of course,” Pierre said. “I would not appear unannounced. I will, however, make every effort to come to Paris whenever I can.” Sophie giggled in Pierre’s arms, and he spun her around.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” Julien whispered in her ear. She ignored the shiver of awareness that tingled down her spine as his breath caressed the sensitive flesh of her neck.
“Our little girl has worked her magic again.” It might take Pierre a while to forgive Mandy for standing up his son at the altar, but seeing how happy he was as he doted on Sophie made her think that forgiveness might come sooner rather than later.
For the first time in forever, Mandy felt complete. She was content to be herself around Julien and knew she could rely on him without worrying what it would cost her, without being petrified that she would lose him. She was done living in that kind of fear, and she was going to take their lives together one day at a time and believe that they had forever, even if forever only lasted for the next seventy years.
Epilogue
Angela smiled at Layla through the mirror.
“Are you sure?” her soon-to-be daughter-in-law asked.
“Absolutely. Mandy and I talked about it yesterday. It will make me very happy to see my dress walk down the aisle.”
“Well, Mom, what do you think?” Layla turned her hopeful gaze toward Estelle, and Angela had to bite her tongue. She could see that despite her overall air of disapproval, Estelle loved her daughter. But this was Layla’s wedding day, legal or not, and Angela swore if the woman said one cross word to Layla, she would intervene and give Estelle a piece of her mind.
“You look wonderful. I can’t believe you’re getting married.” Estelle stopped and took a breath. “I never thought I’d see this day.” She blinked away her tears and wrapped her arms around Layla.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“I have a little something for you.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Layla said.
Angela’s approval of Estelle rose with each passing moment. She stepped back as Estelle handed Layla a small box, trying to quell the bud of disappointment in her heart. While she understood her daughter was happy with her decision not to get married, Angela couldn’t help but wish she was helping Mandy get ready for her wedding.
Layla opened the box and pulled out a sapphire-and-pearl-encrusted hairpin. “It’s beautiful.”
“It was Aunt Margaret’s. She would have wanted you to have it. I know how close you were. She understood you in a way I couldn’t when you were a kid. She would have been so proud of you today.”
“Oh, Mom.” Layla hugged her mother close.
“Now stop that crying, young lady. You’ll ruin your makeup.” Estelle’s voice bristled, but Angela was pretty sure it was to cover up a swell of emotion and not to admonish her daughter in earnest. “Besides, I have one more surprise for you.”
Estelle seemed determined to make amends with Layla, through bribery, true, but also through heartfelt words, and it made Angela happy to see Layla accepting her mother’s repentance.
Estelle released her daughter and went to the door, opening it. “You can come in now. We’re all dressed.”
Layla’s dad, Charles, walked in with Eddie. Layla screamed, running across the room and throwing herself into her best friend’s arms. Angela had met the young Latino man on several occasions, and she liked him quite a bit. It was still a little strange to see him out of his Marietta Hotel uniform, but she was delighted he’d flown all the way to Paris for the not so legal wedding. And so was Layla.
He picked Layla up and spun her around.
“You didn’t think you could go and get married without me, now, did you, be-otch?” he said.
Layla laughed as he put her down. “Thank you,” she said to her mom.
“Don’t thank me. It was Tyler’s idea.”
“Yeah, I get to be the best man,” Eddie said, puffing out his chest and looking all important.
He’d become good friends with Ty over the past year, and Angela was happy Eduardo was here with them all to share in this joyous day.
Charles hugged his daughter and leaned down to kiss her forehead. For such a tall, dark man who looked like he could crush rocks with his bare hands, he seemed so gentle with Layla and even Estelle, who looked simply petite beside him. He wore a gray suit to match the wedding colors. His short-cropped dark hair had turned silver at his temples, adding to his sophisticated air. “My little girl, walking down the aisle. I can’t believe it,” he said.
“Well, then, I’ll leave you to it,” Angela said. “I’m going to go pester my son. When you�
��re ready, Eddie, we’re down the hall. Second door on the left.” Confident she could leave Layla in good hands now, Angela ducked out quietly and made her way to the room where Tyler was getting dressed. The wedding was only half an hour away, and there was still quite a bit to be done. She passed the atrium where the ceremony would take place and gasped at the beauty her daughter had created.
Mandy had told her last night she was going to do all the flower arrangements personally, since she wouldn’t be the one walking down the aisle. As Angela took in the stunning layout of yellow and pink roses, lavender, and small buttercups, she knew that Mandy had poured all her love for her new sister-in-law into those flowers.
Mandy and Julien stumbled into view. Angela turned away, but not before Mandy shoved Julien into the wall, kissing him senseless.
She cleared her throat, but neither gave any indication that they heard her. “Don’t you people have a groom to attend to?”
“Oh, God. Sorry, Mom.”
Angela turned back and grinned at them. “You two are really happy, but this is no longer your wedding day. Which means we have work to do. Chop, chop.”
She ushered them down the hall and knocked. Tyler opened the door a second later, looking a little worried and only half-dressed.
“Seriously, kid, you can’t get married naked. Get some clothes on,” she said.
“Mom,” he whined.
Shaking her head, Angela walked into the room and set her small purse on the table. At least she’d still been able to use her mother-of-the-bride dress, though now she was the mother of the groom. Julien grabbed his suit from the back of the door and excused himself to the bathroom. Angela handed her son his black shirt.
“My little babies are all grown up,” she said, fighting back tears as Tyler buttoned his shirt.
“Aw, Mom, don’t start crying already.”
“I can’t help it. It’s been a hell of a week.”
Mandy slung an arm over Angela’s shoulders. “I know, Mom, and I’m sorry about the emotional roller coaster. But look, you got to come to a wedding in Paris. It just isn’t mine.”
Marietta Hotels 2: An Engagement in Paris Page 14