Taming Lucinda by Normandie Alleman

Chapter 20

Lucinda

"All right, babe, I think it's time for us to go," Bridger said, relieving Maude of the iPad, getting a good chuckle out of everyone.

"Give them my love," I said as I hugged him goodbye. "And tell me when you two need a night off. I have a whole nursery set up now, so I'm ready!"

"I put the cribs together," Cole chimed in. "So they're solid."

"Soon," Bridger said. "My mom's going home in a couple of weeks."

After our goodbyes to Bridger and Dynassy, we all split up to meet back at my place. There was a time when I wouldn't have trusted everyone to wind up at a second destination, but that was when we were all still avoiding each other. There was still a chance that Leo could escape without talking to me, but I had a good feeling about all this. I'd never seen him look so comfortable in his own skin.

Sometime in the middle of all this turmoil, Leo had grown up.

Chloe was at the house before any of other guests. She'd left before the bubbles and petals to wrap up all the finishing touches on her tapas.

"Do you know if Eduardo is far behind you?" she asked as I walked in. "Try this." She pushed a small plate at me, then looked over to Cole. "You too. How's the seasoning?"

"Are you all right? You seem nervous," I commented. She waited for Cole to take a bite.

"Well?"

"It's really good," he answered.

She arched a brow at me, impatient.

"Could maybe use a bit more salt," I said, dabbing the corner of my mouth. "Is that wine I taste? The meat melts in your mouth."

Chloe muttered something under her breath before doctoring a portion of the plates that were laid out. "Do you know about Eduardo?"

"Um... I didn't see when he left; I'm sorry." I looked over to Cole, but he was just as perplexed as I was. "What's wrong?"

"Chloe! I'm here," Eduardo called from the front door.

Chloe let out a long breath of relief, her shoulders relaxing.

Eduardo hurried over to her side, slipping an arm around her shoulder. He kissed her temple affectionately. "I hurried, but I didn't want to be unnecessarily risky—"

"Good," she said. "We need you to be safe."

"Chloe?"

She looked up from the tapas to meet my gaze. "I've given some more thought to your cookbook suggestion," she said.

"Oh—"

"But I will need a break from filming—"

"Not necessarily," I countered. "We can work the schedules around each other—"

"She's going to need a break from filming," Eduardo insisted. "There's a lot to do to get ready."

"Ready? For what?"

They looked at each other, both sharing the same cautiously optimistic smile, and I didn't have to wonder.

"Oh my gosh! Are you—?"

Chloe beamed. "We just found out last week. We're not telling anyone else for a couple more months, but I wanted to tell you. We have so much to look forward to and be thankful for, and so much of it is because of you."

Eduardo nodded. "Never thought I would get more protective of her..."

"Well, you take it easy," I told her. "If you need to sit or take a break, do it. Okay?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "Not you too!"

The twin hurricanes burst in with cries of "Grandma!" and "Cole!" followed up with leaping hugs.

"Can we go swimming again?" Annabelle asked.

"Can Cole come too?" asked Albert.

"Maybe later," Cole laughed.

"Right now it's Aunt Ivy's wedding!" I said, trying to inject some excitement in it for them.

"Seems like we're going to have to bring the kids down from Fresno more often," Nick said, hands in his pockets.

Eden nodded. "They haven't been able to stop talking about coming back here."

"I don't remember baking cookies with you being nearly so fun," Nick said.

"It's different when you're Grandma," I answered without telling on myself. "And when you have a helpful partner," I added, looking over at Cole with a smile.

Nick nodded, then looked down at our joined hands, pausing there for a moment. If he spotted the ring, he didn't say anything.

"I'm glad you've found someone who makes you happy," he said instead.

"We'll set up another overnight soon," Eden promised, both of them drifting off to socialize as more people started to arrive.

Unlike Dynassy's wedding, Ivy's guest list included more than just family. She and Russ had both invited a number of friends and industry people, and soon the garden was teeming with conversation.

Ivy and Russ would likely be the last to arrive since Ivy had to include a wardrobe change between locations, but I still hadn't seen Leo either.

I was starting to worry that he really had decided to escape while everyone was in transit.

"He'll be here," Cole said, squeezing my hand, reading my mind as usual. "He wouldn't have flown all the way out here from his private island just to leave halfway through."

I didn't want to doubt it out loud. I didn't want to risk jinxing things when this day had been so perfect. It seemed like too much to hope for, but I wanted to keep the streak going.

"What did I tell you?" Cole said, nudging me. I followed his gaze, and there they were: the royal family of Martinovia—my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson.

Honoré looked every bit the princess even in her subdued emerald green dress. There were no frills or fancy hemlines. A princess didn't need froufrou to prove herself, of course. Even the little prince seemed to understand his place in the world.

I hoped his parents did a better job of tempering their expectations than I did.

Everyone was excited to see Leo and meet his family. He had to stop to greet nearly everyone he’d passed, but before too long, he made his way over to me.

My breath caught, and I felt rooted in place. What did I say to him? I was terrified of chasing him away again.

"Leo..."

"Hi, Mom," he answered, a spark of a smile in his eyes.

He really did take after Ray.

"I'm sorry ... for everything," I admitted. "I should've seen sooner that you weren't like me. That I couldn't force you to be something you never wanted... I thought I was giving you the push you needed, but I had some help, realizing how it was really controlling and not at all fair to you. I should have let you be your own person, and—"

"You should have," Leo agreed. "But I should've stood up for myself a lot sooner. And I could've taken things a little better..."

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth about your father," I said, tears gathering. I didn't want to cry—not now at least—but I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it back.

Cole's hand closed around mine and squeezed. It was just the thing I needed to hold strong.

"When did you know?" Leo asked, his voice soft.

"I always suspected," I admitted. "But it wasn't until after... Once someone explained blood types to me, I knew you had to be Ray's. By then you were already in school, already growing up as Ziggy's son, and I didn't think it would help anything to dig up all that old dirt."

"Did he know? I know you didn't know, but..."

"We never talked about it. I thought he suspected—I think we all knew, to be honest—but Ray had his own family, and Ziggy loved you as much as all our other kids. When you started showing musical talent and everyone assumed it was inherited by Ziggy, I didn't say anything. Ziggy was a wonderful performer, but the best songs, the best lyrics always came from Ray. And he hated the spotlight as much as you do. I never should have pushed you into it the way I did. I think—" I cleared my throat, looking away at the party that was milling on around us without any regard for this huge weight we were off-loading.

"I think there was a part of me that wanted to force you to be Ziggy's son so that his legacy would live on, but that wasn't fair to you or to Ray. Ziggy's legacy is alive and well because of the incredible man he was. I didn't need to do what I did. I just wish you could have known Ray. You're so much like him, Leo."

He nodded, looking off the same way I had. That was when I saw how shiny his eyes were. He was sensitive just like Ray too. I'd probably never really know just how hard this all had been for him.

"I've talked to Eden about him," he said. "We actually have got a lot in common, weirdly. She and Nick are going to bring the twins out to the island this summer."

"Really? I want to visit! I can come babysit," I offered.

Leo laughed. "Slow down. I don't think we're quite there yet. Maybe you can come out when we have another baby."

"Is Honoré pregnant?" I asked under my breath.

"Not yet," he answered. "But we're working on it."

"That's so wonderful, Leo. I'm so happy you've found the family you've always wanted," I said, my dam starting to break down. Things were going so well, but the reminder that I was still on probation with them had deflated me a tiny bit.

Another baby, though!

Pretty soon I would have more grandkids than I knew what to do with.

"Yeah," Leo said. "But they've also made me realize how valuable the family I already have is. I never expected I'd miss you, but I have."

"I've missed you too, Leo. We all have. I know you need your privacy, but I hope you won't go away for so long again."

"Ivy has already threatened to invade the island if I try," he laughed.

"And I support her," Honoré added in her musical accent. "Family is good for Leo."

The soft music that had been drifting through the garden suddenly switched to a thumping party beat.

"Looks like the newlyweds have arrived," Leo said, laughing at his wife's confused frown. "Ivy has to make an entrance," he explained.

The rest of the night was a wonderful, magical blur. I spent most of my time with Leo, getting to know Honoré and Fier, their son who was only just starting to learn how to express himself with words. Leo explained that bilingual babies frequently took longer to start talking while they sorted out which words belonged to which language, but it wouldn't slow his development any other way. And being a European prince, speaking four languages before his third birthday would certainly be a boon.

The worst part about the whole night was that it had to end. As the party was winding down, I found Cole helping the waiters pack things up.

"There you are," he said, wrapping his arms around me as I came in for a kiss.

"I'm sorry I didn't spend more time with you tonight."

"Don't be," he said. "You're the mother of the bride, the hostess, and your whole family was together for the first time in a million years. I'm glad you got to spend time with them."

"You're so sweet."

He grinned, his hands sliding down my back, gripping my ass and pulling me tight against him, leaving nothing to the imagination. "I also know that I have the rest of my life to monopolize your time. I can share for one night."

"That's true." I rested my head against his chest, content to stand in one place for a moment if it was with him. Being with him was the only time I felt like I could slow down. The only time I really, truly relaxed. "I thought about telling everyone about the engagement since we had them all in one place, but I didn't want to take away from Ivy's big day. We'll just have to tell them some other time."

"I'm sure you'll find the perfect moment," he said, smiling as he came in for a warm, lingering kiss. It made my toes curl, my blood hot.

It would be a long time before either one of us got any sleep tonight.

If anyone else had said that to me, I'd think it was sarcastic. I'd think they were making a jab about all the times my timing had been abysmal. But not Cole. Cole was always sincere in his belief in me. It took me being rejected by nearly every other person I loved to realize it, but all I needed was one person who always had my back, who would never doubt me.

And with Cole, I'd finally found that.

Everything I'd ever dreamed of and more.

Thank you for reading the Barnes series. If you enjoyed these books, please check out the rest of Normandie’s books, and sign up for her newsletter here to be alerted about new releases.