***
A week passed and since the dinner with Louis and George Marian had received flowers with a note from George, telling her what a wonderful time he’d had that night. The sight of that bouquet of flowers still bothered Louis and he’d resisted the urge to jump up and throw them out.
Just as Louis predicted that night, George did indeed offer to take Marian home. But Marian had had the good sense to refuse George’s offer, saying Louis and she had come together, which wasn’t a lie.
Somehow she’d fallen asleep in the carriage on the ride home and leaned her head against his shoulder as she slept. The sight of her nestled so trustingly against his shoulder had stayed with him all week and left him feeling oddly warm and protective at the same time.
His imagination had taken the widow home and peeled the clothes from her luscious body and taken her to bed, though his mind knew the fantasy was impossible. Work and pleasure should remain separate if at all possible, he kept reminding himself.
A rapid knock drew Louis’s attention to the doorway of his office. He glanced up to see his father standing there gazing at him with an affectionate expression on his face.
“Father?” Louis said jumping up from his desk to come around and give his father a handshake and a partial hug. “What brings you to town? Everyone all right at home?”
“They’re all fine. I had to come up here to meet with the banker regarding building a new barn for the plantation. I thought I’d drop in and see how you are.”
“I'm well. Have a seat,” Louis said directing his father to a chair on the other side of his desk. “How long are you going to be in town?”
“I’m returning home tomorrow. Just a quick trip. Tonight, I’m having dinner with Daniel Comeaux and thought that you might join us.”
“I think that’s possible.”
“Heard about that nasty business with your partner Jean Cuvier. You’re still involved with the business, I see. Is it all yours now, boy?”
Louis shook his head. “No, Mrs. Cuvier still owns her husband’s part of the business, though I doubt she’ll be involved much longer. Right now she still thinks she can help the business, I hope she comes to her senses soon.”
“Mrs. Cuvier?”
“Yes,” Louis said. “I have to give her credit, she’s not just any woman, Father. She’s learning the business and seems eager to do her part. But I’m hoping she’ll give up this foolish notion soon.”
Louis felt a moment of shock at the realization that he had not only defended Marian, but also spoken highly of her. And his words were true, Marian never shirked her duties and spent hours combing through volumes to learn the answer to a problem she encountered.
His father snorted with disapproval. “Seems to me if she’d paid more attention to her husband, he wouldn’t have married two other women.”
Louis shook his head. “No, it wasn’t that way at all. Jean didn’t know the meaning of the word fidelity.”
There he went again, defending Marian to his father. The image of her in the carriage dressed in all her finery came to mind and he’d remembered thinking on the way home, he understood why George Morgan had pursued Marian. Her unique beauty enticed him more than that a girl of eighteen and though he’d thought her beautiful before that night, she’d outshone all the women he’d ever known.
“Speaking of marriage, remember Emily Fratenburg?”
His father’s question jerked Louis back from his thoughts of the way Marian had looked that night.
“Yes, we were in the same class at school.”
“She’s just come home from Europe. She’s here to stay. And she’s unmarried. Lovely too, from what I hear.”
“That’s nice,” he said uninterested.
“You should come home and maybe we could invite her to dinner,” his father suggested.
“Maybe.”
A moment of silence filled the office and Louis watched his father’s face turn serious. “Louis, Anne has been gone for ten years. It’s time you found yourself another wife and moved back to the plantation.”
For the first time, Louis noticed how his father’s once dark hair had turned silver, making his sixty-five years apparent.
“We’ve talked about this before. It’s not that I don’t want to get married. I just haven’t found anyone that I want to spend the rest of my life with,” he acknowledged.
“You married Anne.”
“Yes, but she died. Since then there’s been no one else whom I want to marry.”
It was true. He would like to get remarried, settle down, and have a few kids. But so far he’d not met any woman who really intrigued him or made him feel compelled to marry.
The image of Marian dancing in his arms, laughing and teasing him came to mind. He felt a stir in his heart at the memory and quickly pushed it away.
His Father took a deep breath and sighed. “I didn’t come here to argue with you. I mainly wanted to make sure that you were well, that this scandal of your partner’s hadn’t hurt your business.”
Louis shrugged, hating to admit this to anyone, including his father, “Business is down some.”
“Did you see the article in this morning’s paper?” his father asked.
“No, I haven’t had time to read the morning paper yet. What did it say?”
“The writer certainly made Jean out to be less than a gentleman. I’d say they all but made him into some kind of miscreant.”
Louis frowned, thinking every piece of bad press hurt his chances for selling the business. “Jean is gone. The business will recover and we’ll make enough to keep it going.”
“Shame,” his father said with a sigh. “I know it’s selfish, but I kind of hoped you would tell me you were coming home to work the plantation with your brother and me. You know your brother wants you to be his partner.”
Louis shook his head. “Neither scandal or marriage is going to bring me back home. I’m thirty-five years old and I want my own business.”
“As your father I want you to come home and be a part of the family operation.” He sighed. “Come see Emily and then maybe you’ll change your mind.”
“Maybe I can get home in the next month and then you can invite Emily over for dinner. I’ll let you know.”
Though Louis knew without hesitation he had no interest in Emily and doubted he would return home anytime soon, yet somehow he felt sorry for his father and tried to appease him.
Marian stuck her head in the doorway. “Louis, have you seen last month’s financial statement?” She put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, excuse me, I didn’t know you had company.”
“It’s all right. Come in and let me introduce you to my father,” Louis said watching with interest as his father rose to meet Marian for the first time.
They shook hands while Louis remembered how it had been to feel Marian in his arms, the buggy ride home, and the way her head fit the curve of his neck, the smell of magnolias that permeated her hair.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Fournet. What brings you into town?”
His father smiled graciously at Marian. “I had some business I needed to handle and I wanted to check on my youngest son here and see what he’s been doing, since he rarely comes home.”
Marian nodded her head.
“Yes, I’m afraid your son doesn’t strike me as the family type. He seems more suited for convincing businessmen they need his services and occasionally acting as a chaperone,” she said, with a mischievous laugh as she winked at Louis.
Louis felt his father’s eye upon him as he watched the exchange between Marian and himself.
“Well, I must run. I hope to see you again soon, sir,” said Marian.
“Thank you,” he said, and observed her walking out the door, her skirts swishing as she departed.
After she left his father turned to face him and raised questioning brows. “Nice and beautiful. A good combination.”
Louis shrugged. “She’s a recent widow, Father.”
“A
nd you’re a widower.”
“What time shall I meet you for dinner?” he asked trying to change the subject.
“Eight o’clock will be fine. About your trip home. Why don’t you bring Mrs. Cuvier just in case Emily is no longer available?”
Louis smiled at his father. “You just don’t give up, do you?”
“Of course not, I’m your father. Only I can give you this kind of abuse.”
Louis smiled at his father, knowing the old man had gotten ideas about Marian.