Her Inconvenient Groom by Niomie Roland

Chapter 25

 

It was late afternoon, two days later, when Chantelle arrived at her home in France with Sienna in tow. As she watched the butler effortlessly collect Sienna’s bags to take upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms, she reflected that her house was certainly getting full.

Full but quiet. There was no sign of her siblings and Samantha, or of Dustin, either. “Anyone home?” she called softly. It was weird, that feeling of disappointment that came over her when she realized that she’d come home after a trip and there was nobody there to greet her.

You come home to an empty house every evening, back in the States, she reminded herself. You’re used to it. What’s the problem?

She heard Sienna squeal and turned to see the younger woman bend over to scoop Minerva into her arms. The huge cat was in a rare, talkative mood, yelping away at Sienna in happy welcome. Good friends reunited.

Sienna hefted the cat onto her shoulder as if it was a toddler, and led the way into the kitchen. “I think we need a drink after that flight.” She glanced at Chantelle’s tummy and laughed. “Well, I need a drink. You can have that God-awful flavored water you’re always raving about.”

Chantelle made her way to the kitchen, with Sienna following behind her, smiling. She handed Sienna a wine bottle and watched as her assistant poured a liberal glass of wine for herself, while she herself unscrewed the cap on a bottle of lemon water and poured it into a glass and took a big sip.

“Why would anyone drink plain, ordinary water?” she countered.

“Because that’s the way God intended?” Sienna retorted with spirit, plopping a floppy Minerva onto her lap.

The butler, having dropped off Sienna’s small bags, appeared in the kitchen, asking in French where he should put the rest of the packages. She pondered for a moment, not having thought that far ahead, and then decided the best place would be in the bedroom nearest her own, as that would most likely be the one she would convert into a nursery.

She grinned to herself as she figured that the man would need to make several trips to get all her bounty inside. Chantelle had spent two days in Paris, getting dragged around the city from baby store to baby store, shopping for items for her “little cabbage” as Naisha kept calling the baby.

To Chantelle, it was insane, buying so much stuff for a tiny person who wouldn’t be putting in an appearance for another six or seven months, and whose sex they didn’t even know yet.

But the trip had been a blast. She loved the fact that Naisha and Jacyn had embraced her so fully that they’d wanted to spend two days in her company, and watched with delight when Jacyn and Sienna, old friends since their youth, launched themselves wholeheartedly into the fun.

She’d even met Shaundra, the wife of one of William and Alex’s business associates, who turned out to be a live wire. After the baby shopping, the girls had insisted on going clubbing. Chantelle had been a bit reticent at first, because she’d never exactly thought of herself as a party girl, but at their insistence, bought a new dress, she’d let her hair down, and actually enjoyed the dancing and gossip.

She’d sat back and listened as the women gushed over their husbands and their babies, the new lives they’d built through passion, love and trust, and struggled to fight back a twinge of jealousy. Their lives were so rich.

The huge chasm between their lives and hers was made even wider by the fact that she had to lie about her own situation, to pretend that she was wildly in love, a newlywed who’d stumbled giddily into a whirlwind marriage to the man of her dreams.

And the only person who knew the truth was Sienna, who loyally supported her as she wove her web of fibs, even gleefully throwing in a few “details” that were so outrageous, only Sienna could have come up with them.

It had been a great weekend.

There was a clatter emanating from the interior of the house, and Chantelle lifted her head expectantly. Dustin appeared, followed by another tall, dark-haired man.

She locked eyes with Dustin, who gave her a wide grin. She surprised herself by grinning back, taken unawares by the ripple of delight that rolled through her at seeing him again.

It’s only been two days, she reminded herself. And, besides, for two nights you got to sleep on your own.

Not that sleeping next to Dustin was that terrible.

Feeling Sienna’s knowing eyes upon her, she squelched down her pleasure and said, as casually as she could, “Hey.”

“Hey, back.” Dustin, on the other hand, didn’t seem to think it was a problem to reveal how pleased he was to see her. “I’m glad you’re back. Did you have a nice trip?”

“Super,” Sienna enthused and winked at him.

“Where are my brothers and Samantha?” she asked, diverting the conversation to a more neutral topic.

“Shopping, I was told.” Dustin folded his arms and leaned against the wall, not taking his eyes off her face.

She really wished he would stop that.

“Hi, Nate,” Sienna said.

As if remembering his manners, he introduced the man standing beside him. The man’s name was Nathanael, and Sienna was quick to inform her that Nathanael was Shaundra’s husband. He was gorgeous, she thought to herself. She could understand why Shaundra looked so happy. She was probably getting some good, good loving on the regular.

Stop that.

So she kept it cool, asking, “What are you guys up to?”

“William and Alex put us in touch. We got together for lunch, and then Nathanael came over for a tattoo.”

Sienna squealed. “Cool! Show it! We wanna see!”

Without hesitation, Nathanael grasped the tail of his t-shirt and peeled it upward over his head, revealing a large, reddened patch across his chest.

Both Chantelle and Sienna leaped to their feet to take a closer look.

“It’s red and raw,” Dustin hedged. “So you won’t see its full glory.”

“Oh, hush,” Sienna enthused. “It’s fantastic!”

Chantelle stared in amazement at the word Shaundra scrolling across the man’s chest in elaborate script, surrounded by finely detailed decorative swirls.

“My wife,” Nathanael announced, as if they hadn’t already figured it out.

Chantelle was aware that both Dustin and Nathanael were staring at her, waiting for her pronouncement. But all she could think was, who the hell got another person’s name tattooed on their body unless they were your kid? What if you broke up?

She thought of her two broken engagements and cringed at the idea of what it would be like if she’d done something that daft. She’d still be walking around with the names of a user and a liar on her body.

Sienna, forever the intuitive one, spoke on her behalf. “She thinks you’re nuts to wear a woman’s name on your body.”

Chantelle gasped and gave Sienna a warning look, but Sienna wasn’t a woman who took kindly to warnings. “She thinks you’ve lost your mind, dude.”

Nathanael laughed. “Maybe, in another time, another place in my life, I’d agree, but I know this to be true. Shaundra is my life and we’ll be together even after we’re old and gray. I will wear her name with pride until the day I die. Everyone will know who all this belongs to.”

Imagine that, Chantelle thought. What must it be like to have someone feel like that about you? To be so insanely in love with you that they were willing to literally have your name written under their skin?

Dustin seemed to read her mind, because he asked, with the merest hint of an edge in her voice, “Do you not believe that it’s possible for someone to be so devoted to you that they would wear your name?”

“I didn’t say that,” she answered defensively.

But he went on, prodding. “Don’t you believe that marriage can be forever? That you can love another person throughout your life?”

She pursed her lips, irritated. Why was he doing this, and in front of someone else? Sienna knew the truth between them, but she could see from the puzzled look Nathanael was throwing back and forth between her and Dustin that this conversation between newlyweds must seem weird to an outsider.

She set down her water bottle carefully and stood. “I said no such thing.” She turned to Nathanael and offered her hand. “I’m so happy for you. Dustin is an excellent artist. You were in good hands.” She tried to find an excuse to leave, but none came to her. She simply said, “please, excuse me,” and walked out of the kitchen.

Just before she got out of earshot she heard Sienna tease Nathanael, “Bet you screamed like a beyotch.”

Nathanael laughed. “For the tattoo? Not too much. For the chest waxing that came before? Cher, I’m surprised you girls didn’t hear my screams while in Paris!”

Chantelle hurried to her room, seeking a safe place to deal with her feelings. Hoping it would be a long while before Dustin came to join her.

No such luck. It seemed that Dustin had made haste to put his equipment away and see Nathanael out, because it wasn’t long before he was upstairs, closing the door to their —no— her room.

“Hey,” he said as he walked in.

She gave him a quick frown, just a tad irritated at losing her solitude. But said, “Hey,” back anyway. She waited for him to challenge her about the argument earlier, but instead, he sat on the bed, patted the mattress next to him and asked about her trip.

A little bemused, she sat as she was told, and gave him a recap of all the excitement, while Dustin listened with a smile hovering about her lips.

“I’m glad you got some time with the girls,” he said. “I think you needed it.”

She bristled. “Is that you harping on how uptight I am again?”

He shook his head and said placatingly, “No, sweetheart. I’m just happy for you. For absolutely no reason. Just happy for you.”

Not a feeling she was used to, she realized. Unconsciously, her hand rose to her belly, and it came home to her how often she perceived herself and her baby as being all on their own.

He spotted the gesture and asked with concern. “You okay?”

She found herself smiling at him. “I’m great.” Impulsively, she heard herself say, “I’ve decided on a name.”

He arched his brows, waiting patiently.

“Kai Clark,” she said. “Whether it’s a boy or a girl.”

He repeated the name as if tasting it in his mouth, and then nodded. “I love it.”

She felt warm pleasure roll through her until she reminded herself that this was her baby, and her choice. The last person’s approval she needed for her baby’s name was—

And then he kissed her. Light and soft, far from the passion and hunger of the time they’d made love. This kiss was sweet and quick. Too quick, because the moment she opened her mouth to allow him access, it was over.

She looked at him, eyes wide in shock as he rose to leave. “What was that for?” she asked, perplexed, praying he couldn’t hear in her voice her deeply buried wish for him to do it again.

He flashed her another smile. “Nothing. Nothing at all. Only because you’re beautiful and because you’re you.”

And there he left her, sitting on the edge of the bed, in wonder.