by JA Low
“Do you think they are going to like me?” She asks me nervously, her hand wrapped in mine as we drive to their home.
“I know they will.” She stares out the car window at the passing farms.
“What happens if I get angry at her?”
“Then you get angry. You’re allowed to. She hasn’t been in your life for most of it, you’re allowed to ask questions, you’re allowed to be mad and angry for all the lost years. But I know Eloise and she is wonderful, I think you’re going to love her.” She nods and goes quiet again.
“It’s weird that you know them.”
“Yeah it is,” I chuckle.
“I think fate had some kind of weird plan for us. That it may have been inevitable that we would meet.”
“I think you're right. That you would have found your mother, met her, fallen in love with her. They would probably have thrown a party and invited me, and I know as soon as I’d have stepped into that party and seen you for the first time, that would have been it for me.” She looks up at me and gives me a smile.
“You are very confident, Mr. International Artist.”
“Sorry to break it to you, Ms. International Artist, but have you seen me?” She bursts out laughing. “You would be all up on all this. Plus, once you saw my dick it would have been game over. You would be begging me for another turn. Lucky for you my dick is always ready for beautiful women.” Her eyes narrow at me. “I mean a beautiful woman called Emily, and only Emily.” She nods giving me a playful smile. “What I’m saying is, I would have fallen in love with you the moment I saw you.” She rests her hand against my arm.
“Yeah. I would probably have fallen for you as well.”
“That’s because I’m your favourite artist.” She bursts out laughing.
We arrive at Victor’s home. I can feel the nervous tension coming from Emily, her hand is shaking in mine. Victor and Eloise are already waiting for us at the front door, they both look equally nervous, until Eloise breaks away and comes running toward Emily along the driveway, tears falling down her face. She pulls Emily into her arms.
“My baby girl.” She hugs Emily so tight. Emily is tentative for a couple of moments and then she wraps her arms around her body and hugs her back, tears streaming down her face. Eloise steps back and looks at her. “You are so beautiful.” Emily smiles. “Come, we have much to talk about.” She grabs Emily’s hand and makes her way inside, quickly stopping to introduce her to Victor, then they disappear.
“I think that went well,” Victor says.
“Yeah, surprisingly.”
“Eloise has been a bundle of nerves all day.”
“Same with Emily.”
“Come on in, son.” We follow inside after them.
The day has been going so well, Eloise and Emily catch up on everything that has been going on in their lives. The similarities between them are crazy. The wine relaxes Emily.
“I have to ask; why did you never keep in touch?” Emily questions her.
“Sweetie, is that what you think? I tried. I sent letters, I tried to see you. But your father never let me. Once I left he cut me out, cut you all out of my life. I would secretly try and see you. You all looked so happy, I thought it was best not to interfere anymore. Especially when your brother and sister told me they never wanted to see me again.”
“Wait, what? They never told me.” Emily looks confused.
“I’m not really surprised; they were very close with your father. It was one afternoon; I think you were at a friend’s house. I decided I would take a chance and ignore your father’s wishes and see you all. Your sister answered the door, she wasn't happy at all. She told me to go away, that you were all better off without me, that you were happy. It broke me. I could see the anger and hate in her eyes. I knew the damage was done. It was best for me to leave.” Tears form in Eloise’s eyes. “But I came to your high school graduations, all of you and then your university graduations.”
“You did?” She looks surprised.
“Yeah. Just from afar. We also went to New York to see your debut too.”
“You did what?” Emily’s eyes widen.
“When Louis showed me the photo of the woman he loved, I knew it was my baby. I knew it was you. I couldn’t believe of all the people for you to fall in love with it was him.” Eloise reaches out and squeezes my hand. “The boy that felt like a son to me.” I give her a smile. “When he told us what Yves and Elisabeth had done, I told Victor I wasn’t going to sit back and let these vile humans try and destroy my child.” A single tear falls down Emily’s cheek. “So Victor and I pulled every favour we had owing over the years to put those two away.”
“You did that?” Emily seems shocked.
“Of course, sweetie. I needed to make it all right. No one messes with my family.” Emily smiles.
“We’re sorry that the two of them got away, but at least you’re safe in knowing they won’t be back in France,” Victor adds.
“I had no idea. I thought you hated me. That you never wanted a family.” Emily tells her.
“No, sweetie. I wanted you more than anything.”
“But they all kept you away.” Emily becomes upset. “My own family.”
“Emily, don’t be mad with them. Your brother and sister were just helping your father.”
“I always felt like an outsider in my family. They were always close with Dad, but me, I was more like you than they were and I think I reminded him of you so he was more distant with me.” Eloise holds out her hand to Emily who takes it.
“I am so sorry, sweetie, that I didn’t fight harder. But I thought I was doing the right thing,” Eloise tells her. Emily shakes her head.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come and find you sooner. I kept you alive in my mind by keeping up my French, by doing art. I had to do it all in secret because we were not allowed any of those things growing up. But I had to. I needed to. It was a part of me.” Eloise looks at Emily sadly. “I’m glad I am here now. Hopefully we can now have the relationship we have always wanted.”
“Yes. I would love that.” Eloise smiles through her tears.
“This is a cause for celebration,” Victor announces. “We need champagne and lots of it. Where’s Chef? He needs to cook up something fantastic. I have gained a daughter today and a son.” He claps me on the shoulder making me feel warm. “Two of the hottest artists in the world at the moment.”
39
Louis
Six months later
“Can you believe we have an exhibition at The Centre Georges Pompidou here in Paris?” Emily smiles widely.
“It’s a dream, mon coeur.” This is our first big show together, something we have been working on day and night for months. Each one of us locked away in our studio, lost in our own little world then when we are hungry, we make our way up to the kitchen where Gabriel has a delectable feast for us both. We sit and eat, both splattered in paint, we talk about where we are up to in our paintings, discussing ideas. This is what I have always wanted, what I have now with Emily. The perfect balance between love and art. She’s brought me back to life, taught me to appreciate what I have and to take a moment and enjoy it. And boy do we enjoy those moments. We have moments all over the place. We’ve had moments in the sunflower fields, in the pool, moments all over the house, and I wouldn’t change a thing. All the bullshit we have gone through to get to this point in our lives has made us stronger, has stripped away each of us to the core and shown us what is important in our life. That’s why we named our latest exhibition Love in Colour because that sums us both up, each of us didn't realise how much we both lived in the darkness. That on the outside we both looked like we had it together but really on the inside we were both missing something and we didn’t know it until we found each other.
And now we live life in full colour.
Tonight is a big deal, Emily invited her girlfriends, Daniel is here, as is Victor and Eloise and of course my mother. The moment I introduced her to Emily she f
ell in love. She told me she knew that Emily was the one for me, better suited than Elisabeth ever was. And she was right. What Emily and I have is easy, our love for each other is just there, no need to showboat it, no need to fake it, we are just one with each other. Little does Emily know that tonight is not only going to be a huge show for her but that I have a surprise in stall for her too.
There is a small after party with our nearest and dearest. I hired a boat to cruise along the Seine, to celebrate a successful exhibition. The champagne is flowing and everyone is enjoying themselves. I stand up at the head of the table, everyone stops what they are doing and turns to look at me. The sparkling lights of Paris are lit up behind me, the famous monuments that we pass along the way. This is the moment.
“I just wanted to say a couple of words.” The boat goes quiet. “I wanted to thank you all for making the journey to Paris to celebrate this special night with us, I know Emily and I are so happy that you did.” I see the smiling faces along the table. “Secondly, I would like to thank Emily.” I look down at my gorgeous girlfriend. “I want to thank her for making me fall in love with art again. For pulling me, kicking and screaming, out of the darkness and back into the light, into the real world. I know for a fact that I would not be where I am at this moment in my life and career if it wasn’t for her.” Emily’s bright green eyes well with tears. “Love in Colour was the name of our exhibition and that is what Emily has done to me. She makes all the colours in my life more vibrant, she makes me stop and take the time to appreciate the small things, like the fields of sunflowers or a delicious meal. She’s my right hand woman in love, life and business and I could not see my life without her in it. And so that is why I want to ask her, if she would like to spend the rest of her life with me, taking time to stop and smell the flowers together.” The table is silent as all attention is on Emily. I move and fall to one knee, I pull the red box that has been boring a hole in my jacket all night out and open it for her. Emily’s eyes widen and I know what I have bought is extravagant but it is truly her. The Emerald in the centre that remind me of her eyes, the rubies on the left hand side that remind me of her lips, the yellow diamonds on the right side that remind me of the sunflowers she loves so much. I know it may not be a traditional ring, but it is us. It’s love in colour.
“Yes.” Emily answers. “Yes. Yes. Yes.” She leaps into my arms and we fall onto the wooden floor of the boat. She kisses me, kisses all over my face, our friends and family are all cheering congratulations.
“If you keep pressing yourself against me like this, I don’t know if I am going to be able to control myself, and I’m pretty sure this dinner didn’t include an X-rated show with it.” Emily bursts out laughing as she moves away from me. “Give me your hand.” She holds it out. I pull the ring from its box and place it on her finger. Perfect fit.
“It’s so beautiful.” She looks down at it dreamily. “I love it and I love you.” She reaches over and pulls me into a passionate kiss.
“You ready to spend the rest of your life with me?”
“Well you are my favourite artist.”
The End
Acknowledgments
There are so many people I have to thank for helping me get this book to you today.
My family. With my amazing husband and understanding kids I would not be able to do what I love.
My wonderful Beta girls who are always ready to help me make my words better.
My hardworking editor Trish, who helps me polish those words into the shiny sentences that they are.
Thank you to Rebecca, Robyn and Gillian for catching the bits that I missed.
Robyn for the tireless pimping of authors work. You are a bloody legend.
To Hang Le for designing a beautiful cover.
To my author friends who help me keep going, who listen and get it.
My smuffins I miss you all.
Thank you to my blockies, I am humbled that you want to hang out with me.
And lastly thank you reader for purchasing this book and taking a chance on me. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to do this.
About the Author
JA Low lives in the Australian outback. When she's not writing steamy scenes and admiring hot cowboys, she's tending to her husband and two sons, and dreaming up the next epic romance.
www.jalowbooks.com
[email protected]
Come follow her ….
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jalowbooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jalowbooks
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jalowbooks
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/jalowbooks
Website: www.jalowbooks.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14918059.J_A_Low
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/ja-low
Come join JA Low’s Block
for awesome giveaways, sneak peak at WIP, exclusive content and much more.
www.facebook.com/groups/1682783088643205/
The Dirty Texas Series
Do you like dirty hot rockstars?
Suddenly Dirty - Book 1
Suddenly Together - Book 2
Suddenly Bound - Book 3
Suddenly Trouble - Book 4
Suddenly Broken - Book 5
www.jalowbooks.com
The Bratva Jewels Series
Do you like darker stories?
Sapphire - Book 1 (MMF)
Diamond - Book 2
www.jalowbooks.com
Fate’s Plan
Do you like holiday romances?
A standalone Novella.
www.jalowbooks.com