Chapter Eighteen
The sun glinted off the water as the steamboat chugged up the mighty Mississippi River to the dock of the Belle Fournet plantation. No one expected her, but she could see a wagon heading up the road that led to the main house. She’d only brought her damaged heart and she didn’t know if this trip would heal the wounded organ or just deepen the injury.
“I’ll be back in four hours to pick you up,” Captain Paul reminded her.
“Thank you. I’ll be watching for you,” she replied, thinking that four hours was a long time to spend with a man when she wasn’t sure of the outcome. The time span could be not nearly long enough or it could seem like an eternity, but either way, she was here for the next four hours.
As she stepped off the boat, the wagon pulled up to the dock and the same servant as before jumped down to greet her. “Hello, Mrs. Cuvier, I don’t think the big house is expecting you.”
“No, Leon they’re not But I’m here to visit with Mr. Fournet,” she said, as he helped her into the wagon.
The drive to the big house seemed to take forever, and Marian sat, twisting her gloved hands in her lap, sweat trickling down her back from the hot afternoon sun. Part of her wanted the slow horse to hurry, while another part needed more time.
She couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing here. Second thoughts seemed to attack her like a plague, though she remained outwardly calm. Her insides twisted nervously and she kept trying to remember the carefully worded speech she had prepared, but somehow the words deserted her.
Mrs. Fournet, Louis’s mother, stood on the balcony staring down at her. As she disembarked from the wagon, Marian felt like a five-year-old child looking up at the woman.
“Mrs. Cuvier, what a pleasant surprise.”
Marian climbed the stairs. “Mrs. Fournet, how nice to see you. I’m sorry for dropping in unannounced, but I must speak with Louis.”
“I’ve already sent for him from the fields, dear. I thought that might be why you were here.”
Marian felt the sweat seem to multiply as she realized there was no backing out now, and he would soon know she was here and wanted to speak with him.
“Come into the house and let me fix you a glass of lemonade. This sun will ruin your pretty skin, so let’s get inside where there’s shade.”
Following the older woman through the door into her bedroom parlor, she motioned for Marian to sit in a nearby chair and though she was ill at ease, she did as the woman asked.
The woman gazed at her curiously.
“My son has been different since he’s been home this time and I’m wondering if maybe the changes I see have something to do with you,” the older woman said.
Marian gazed at his mother, wondering about her words, and then shrugged her shoulders. “It’s hard to say. How has he been different?”
“He seems more serious and settled. Almost like he’s lost his frivolous ways and finally become a man. Though I must confess he’s in his thirties and has been a man for quite some time,” she said, her mouth turning up in a smile. “Some men take longer than others to reach a certain maturity.”
Marian returned her smile. “I don’t know how I could have helped him to mature. For more than a week things have been strained between us and we’ve not spoken.”
She nodded her head. “That explains a lot. You see, several nights ago, my husband came in from outside disturbed by a conversation he’d had with Louis. Seems that Louis told him he had acted in a shameful way trying to obtain his own selfish interest and had instead lost someone he loved.”
“I ... I don’t know what to say,” Marian said.
“My husband and Louis seem closer than ever since then. I’ve often worried that they would never breach the gulf that existed between them. I want to thank you for sending him home,” his mother said. “He appears a stronger man. I think you’re good for him.”
“I didn’t send him home,” Marian said. “He made that decision on his own.”
Just then the back door slammed in the house and she could hear Louis calling, “Mother, where are you?”
“In my room, dear,” she called.
Louis pulled open the door and strode in, his white shirt clinging to him, his hair wet as if he’d dunked his head into water and then run his fingers through his hair. His pants were tucked into boots that had seen better days.
Marian gazed at him, her eyes filling with the sight of him and she thought he’d never looked more handsome than he did at this moment. His blue eyes returned her gaze and he went silent at the sight of her.
“Mrs. Cuvier has come to see you dear,” his mother said. “Maybe you should take her for a walk around the grounds. That would give the two of you some privacy.”
“Marian? Would that be all right with you?” he asked tentatively.
“Yes,” she said breathlessly, feeling like a forty-pound weight sat on her chest. The urge to throw herself into his arms almost overwhelmed her, but she resisted.
She stood and they walked out the door, side by side, wordlessly, down the steps of the big house. When they reached the ground level, they strolled through the trees, away from the house.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” Louis said glancing at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. “I guess you received the papers from Drew.”
“Yes,” she stopped and faced him. “Why did you do it, Louis? Why did you lie to me, and then give me the business? I’m so confused now, I don’t know what to do.”
She watched him reflect on her words, his hand reached out to touch her and then fell to his side. “When I first met you, I thought that Jean had treated you so badly. I couldn’t believe that he had betrayed you for two other women. It was wrong, yet you held your head high. I was amazed at your strength.”
Louis ran his hand through his wet hair. “But you didn’t deserve to be treated that way, and then I acted much the same way by lying to you. I’m not proud of what I’ve done. I felt the need to make it up to you in some way or be just like Jean. And that was the only way I knew how to show you I love you.”
He wrapped his hands around her arms and held on to her. “You see you made me a better man. Working with you has changed me from being such a selfish bastard to a man who wants to be your husband, and Philip and Renee’s father. Unfortunately, I had already set the wheels in motion to sell the business long before I discovered I love you. And then I waited too long to cancel it, once I realized that I wanted you, not the shipping company or even that damned mill.”
She gazed at him, hearing the pain in his voice seeing the tears in his eyes, but she said nothing.
He released her arms. “For the first time in so many years I’d found something that made me happy and I can only blame myself for its destruction.”
“Oh, Louis. I want to believe you, I really do, but I’m so afraid,” she said in a quiet voice. “That’s why I came here today to see if my fears were real, or if they were not.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “Let me love away your fears, Marian. I promise you, that I will never willingly hurt you again. I love you and want you for my wife,” he said, his voice breaking at the end.
She stepped away from him and walked a little way ahead. “Your mother told me you were different this trip, that she saw changes in you that she’d never seen before and she liked them.”
“I came back to find how I’d taken the wrong path as a man. And discovered what I was missing in my life I’d left in New Orleans. I love you, Marian. Even if you never marry me, I’m asking for your forgiveness,” he said moving to walk beside her.
She stopped and faced him, touching him on the sleeve. “Louis, I came to you an empty shell of a woman and you made me flower. You taught me that I was beautiful, I was sensual, and I could do anything I set my mind to. You’ve made me stronger than I’ve ever been in my life and I love you with all my heart. I forgave you long before I came to Belle Fournet. Show me we were meant to be together.”
/> She met him halfway and their lips met in a kiss that seared them together. Finally he broke the kiss. “There’s nothing that we can’t overcome together. I’m sorry for trying to sell the business and I promise to spend the rest of my days being honest with you.”
“What about Cuvier Shipping?” she asked.
“It’s all yours,” he said and kissed her again.
Their lips sealed their love, creating more joy inside Marian than she thought possible. Finally they broke for air, panting, and happy to be in each other’s arms.
“What are you going to do?” she asked breathing hard.
“My father has offered to help me buy the old mill and together we’re going to build it into a profitable business.”
“As long as you include me in your life, then I don’t care what you do,” Marian said, her voice husky, her arms tightly holding onto the man she loved.
“Always, my love. Always,” he said and kissed her once again.
In the distance the sound of a steamboat whistle could be heard, but Marian didn’t care. She’d found her place here in Louis’s arms and together they would make their way back to the house on Josephine Street.
–The End–
The Cuvier Women Series:
Betrayed
Nicole Cuvier went to New Orleans to share the most wonderful news with her husband only to discover him in a hotel room murdered, with two other women claiming to be his wife. It seems there are three Cuvier Widows and one is suspected of murder.
For years, Nicole Cuvier had tried to erase the shame of her illegitimate birth and start the family she longed for with her husband, Jean. As the mistress of Rosewood, she owns one of the largest plantations on the River Road in Louisiana. Now, she's pregnant, unmarried-a widow with a plantation dependent upon the sugar cane crop to survive. She needs a temporary husband. Handsome Maxim Viel, a drifter, comes to her rescue and marries her, but unbeknownst to Nicole, Maxim wants more than a temporary arrangement. He has the power to heal her shattered heart, but could his past be intertwined with Rosewood?
Beguiled
Jean Cuvier forced Layla's father to sell his shipping company and marry his daughter, or so she believed. Until the morning the servants wake her with the news that Jean is dead and she quickly learns she's not the only Mrs. Cuvier. Jean has three widows, but Layla is the only one accused of Jean's murder.
The District Attorney has enough motive and evidence, to send Layla to the gallows. Forced to turn to the man she blames for the sale of her father's shipping company, she must trust Drew Soulier, to save her life. Though Drew's the best attorney in New Orleans, he doubts her innocence. As tensions mount, Drew and Layla face a passion they can't deny. Can Drew save her from hanging?
If you liked the Cuvier Women series you might also like…
A Scarlet Bride
Alexandra Thurston wants revenge. Revenge on the husband who wrongly accused her of infidelity and divorced her, tainting her as a scarlet woman. She vows she will reclaim her good name and never marry again. However, her father wants grandchildren to be heirs to his banking fortune and he' s determined to find her a husband. He has no luck , though, until she finds herself caught in a compromising position with the handsome plantation owner, Connor Manning.
Author Bio
Sylvia McDaniel
Sylvia McDaniel is a best-selling, award-winning author of historical romance and contemporary romance novels. Known for her sweet, funny, family-oriented romances, Sylvia is the author of The Burnett Brides a western historical western series, The Cuvier Widows, a Louisiana historical series, and several short contemporary romances.
Former President of the Dallas Area Romance Authors, a member of the Romance Writers of America®, and a member of Novelists Inc, her novel, A Hero’s Heart was a 1996 Golden Heart Finalist. Several other books have placed or won in the San Antonio Romance Authors Contest, LERA Contest, and she was a Golden Network Finalist.
Married for nearly twenty years to her best friend, they have two dachshunds that are beyond spoiled and a good-looking, grown son who thinks there’s no place like home. She loves gardening, shopping, knitting and football (Cowboys and Bronco’s fan), but not necessarily in that order.
Currently she’s written sixteen novels and is hard at work on number seventeen. Look for her the first Tuesday of every month at the Plotting Princesses blogspot https://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com/.
Be sure to sign up for her newsletter to learn about new releases, contests and every month a new subscriber is entered into a drawing for a free book.
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You can write to Sylvia at P.O. Box 2542, Coppell, TX 75019 or visit her web site
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