by Olivia Jake
But when Samantha came along, something changed, something clicked. He had spent countless hours trying to figure out what it was. Was it her initial refusal? Was it as simple as that, that he had never been rebuffed before? No, he knew it was much more than that. As he got to know her, that maybe was part of the initial allure, the challenge, but he found that he really, genuinely liked her company. He enjoyed talking with her. He respected her. And then, when their relationship changed, he realized that perhaps it was because of all of those things that what he experienced with her physically was so much better than anything he had ever experienced before.
And then, as their relationship grew, he found that, unlike the women in his past, he never tired of Samantha. In fact, when they weren’t together, he missed her. And then there were their breakups. As painful and upsetting as they were, Laurent realized that if she didn’t mean as much as she did, then he wouldn’t have been feeling what he did.
So it was all of that. But mostly, it was the simple fact that Laurent realized that he loved her more than anything. And falling asleep with her, and waking up next to her, was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Even after everything that happened, he couldn’t imagine life without her. So that’s what changed his mind towards marriage. Correction, that’s what changed his mind towards marriage with Samantha.
It took a long while for Sam to be comfortable with the words, “My husband.” In fact, they felt foreign to her for a long, long time. But whenever she would hear Laurent refer to her as his “wife” the warmth and happiness that one word could produce was overwhelming. And pride. Sam never knew she could feel so much pride being married. If anything, she had always thought of getting married as lacking pride because she always thought people gave up so much of who they were. But she was truly proud. Proud of who he was and who they were together. Proud that he chose her. Proud that she recognized what was important before it was too late. Of course, work was still very important to Sam, it continued to be for both of them. But Sam realized that she couldn’t share sunsets or take walks along the beach or hold hands with her career. She knew that her job couldn’t ever give her mind blowing sex, and yes, even years later, they still had the most amazing sex.
Sam learned that she could be with Laurent without losing herself. Not that everything had been easy. Compromising on where they would live for example. For a while there Sam thought it might just be best to maintain separate residences. That was an interesting discussion. In the beginning, compromise was a challenge, or some other similar euphemism. As a shorthand, Sam had started raising her left hand in a combination of saying “F- you” and “look at this ring, Mister. You have to stay and talk, even when you want to just walk out the door.” So he did, and in the end, he won. Sam admitted that his house was bigger, and all the land was a great treat for Max and Ben to roam and explore. But moving in with someone, and not just that, but moving out of her house, that was a tough one. Sam still kept her house and rented it out. And Laurent teased her that she was still hedging her bets. She maintained that it was simply a smart investment. Real Estate on the Westside, you don’t ever want to sell if you don’t have to…
Being with Laurent continued to change Sam’s life, all of it for the better. They travelled at least once a year to France, and his family got into the routine of coming out to LA during the summers while the kids were on break, so they all got to spend a lot more time with Laurent than ever before since he had left France. And, for the first time in Sam’s life, she became part of a big family. They may not have been blood, but she learned there are some things that are thicker. Like love. In addition to still skyping with Mme Román, little Anabelle and Sam talked regularly. Sam couldn’t believe how much she grew to love that little girl. There was a connection between them from the get-go, and just thinking about her always made Sam smile. Her other nieces and nephews were great too, but Anabelle held a special place in Sam’s heart. She was the flower girl at the wedding and Sam was pretty sure she’d never seen anything so precious or adorable. Of course, Max and Ben were there too, scaring some of the guests. But not brave little Anabelle. When she would visit Sam and Laurent, invariably Sam would find Anabelle curled up with the boys, the three of them passed out on the rug, or, when Laurent wasn’t looking, up on the couch. But even he never had the heart to break up that cuteness when he found them there. He’d pretend that it was just because he didn’t want to interrupt Anabelle’s nap, but Sam could see the way he looked at the three of them there.
And speaking of the wedding, whenever Sam told the story, she would always say that, while she might be a little biased, it was true perfection. They had it at the winery right around harvest. Sam needed time to heal, and Laurent wanted his family to experience a harvest season, so they decided to combine the two. The ceremony itself was a very small, intimate affair. Laurent’s entire family came out and stayed for two weeks. It was two weeks of eating, drinking, dancing, laughing and then scurrying to pick grapes at 3am. Everyone had so much fun together, Sam never knew she could be so lighthearted. Sam, serious, business-minded Sam. But she realized she had just never before found the right group that she could relax with. And, according to them, Laurent was a different person now too, though he feigned ignorance, claiming he had always been light and fun-loving, which always earned him snorts of derision and just out and out laughter. But that was just one more thing that made Sam so happy. To know that they’d helped each other grow.
Sam started teaching English to Anabelle when they came out for the wedding, and continued to do so. They had their own inside joke that whenever she wanted something from her uncle, she should start by saying, “Oncle Laurent, honey…” which immediately made him laugh, and soften him up for whatever it is that she was asking. Not that she ever needed to butter him up. He was pretty much putty in that little girl’s hands. Every time they visited, Sam couldn’t get over how much she’d grown. From who she met in France, to the little flower girl to almost a tween. Sam loved her like she were her own, and for everything else she had Laurent to thank, her relationship with Anabelle was very near the top of the list.
In fact, it didn’t take long for Anabelle to tell her parents and Laurent that she wants to come and work for Sam when she was old enough. She started emailing Sam campaign ideas for random products, and even Laurent had to admit that the girl had a flair for marketing. He just shudders when she says, “I want to be just like Tante Sam when I grow up!”
Mme. Román continued to press for grandchildren, and Laurent assured her that he and Sam continued to try. Sam knew that he hated lying to her, but, in this one instance, she agreed that the truth would be far worse for her to hear. And, they did, um, go through the motions in earnest.
They both also kept trying to get her to move in with them, but she held onto her independence, fiercely. And, as much as Sam knew that it would give peace to Laurent to have his mother closer to him, where he could care for her, Sam understood why Mme. Román clung to what she had. It was hers, it’s what she knew, it was her security. And, at the end of the day, she was happy there. She had her routine and a place to call her own, something she would remind Sam and Laurent of that most of her ageing friends didn’t. Perhaps it was the simple pride she took in the fact that she lived on her own, albeit still with Marie’s care, and Sam knew just how hard it would be, after all those years, to give that up. Because after that, then what? It would be like an admission that life, as Mme. Román knew it, were over, and if she were to move to LA with Sam and Laurent, it would be to come to die.
Sam’s relationship with Mme. Román grew to talking about all kinds of things, not just romance novels, giving Sam the mother figure she never really had. Rarely would a conversation go by that Sam wasn’t chastised for not eating enough or for working too hard. Instead of being annoyed by it, Sam continued to be charmed by the love and care behind the words.
Sam went public with the story about her attack. She gave an intervie
w to Vanity Fair for the national story, but she also gave an interview to Le Monde. Much as she hated the spotlight, she wanted to make sure that if George were indeed hiding somewhere in France, that she would do what she could to make sure he would have to hide for a long, long time. She at least wanted to prevent him from ever getting a high profile job again and hopefully get his picture out there, as well as the pictures of what he did to her, so as to warn any women who were unfortunate enough to run into him.
After the story, she negotiated with TimeCap to be paid out the remainder of their 3-year retainer. The executives were only too happy to do that to avoid a lawsuit. Little did they know that Sam and Laurent agreed to get that deal done, to ensure that she would receive her payout, before he leveled his charges against them. Before the case went to trial, when TimeCap’s lawyers saw the amount of evidence Laurent’s team had against them, they settled out of court, bankrupting them, and, because they didn’t have the technology they were so desperate to steal, they had nothing to offer consumers. Not long after the bankruptcy, they closed their doors for good.
Laurent also filed criminal, and then civil lawsuits against the employees who broke their NDAs and shared privileged information. The cases were so clear cut that they all served time, white collar time, but they went to jail none-the-less. And Laurent made a point of decimating any personal wealth they had amassed so that when they got out, they would come back to nothing but their smeared reputations. Laurent certainly didn’t need the money from the lawsuits, so, as a way of making a statement, he donated all of it to a local rape crisis center.
Sam continued with her self-defense lessons, though through the years Craig would tell her that there wasn’t much else he could teach her. But she liked brushing up on her skills, being ready. She never wanted to be vulnerable or feel helpless again.
So, for a girl who never believed in prince charming or in fairytales, Sam would say that she’s living proof that they just might exist. Not that she ever needed saving. Her story might not read like it does from a children’s book. In fact, as far as Sam knew, she was pretty sure that the Brothers Grimm never wrote about riding crops and spankings, or headstrong and controlling princes and princesses, but she would, albeit reluctantly, admit that happily ever after does exist. She’s living proof.
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Follow Alex Marché’s story in Broken Rules
For more novels by Olivia Jake, visit www.OliviaJakeAuthor.com
Table of Contents
Copyright ©2013 Olivia JakeAll Rights ReservedTABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 1CHAPTER 2
TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 1CHAPTER 2CHAPTER 3CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
EPILOGUE