Longing in Louisiana (At the Altar Book 8) Read online

“There’s always Skype,” Seth offered helpfully.

  Both women glared at him in unison, saying, “It’s not the same!”

  At their united words, Brenda and Michelle looked at each other and laughed. “We’ll come back soon.” Michelle hugged Brenda one last time before they headed into the airport.

  As they walked away, Seth said, “I guess I should have seen that coming.”

  “What?” Michelle asked.

  “You and Brenda hitting it off like that.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “You both have kind hearts. I’m not surprised you became so close so quickly.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to visit often,” Michelle insisted. “At least every summer.”

  “So every summer we need to go to both Disney World and Boston? Our travel budget is going to be outrageous.”

  “I refuse to worry about that right now.”

  *****

  They attended the church where they’d been married together the following morning, and Michelle enjoyed introducing Seth to her family and friends. “We’ve been invited to Sunday lunch at my parents’ house,” she told him in a whisper. “Do you want to go, or should I make our excuses?”

  “Oh, I don’t mind,” he told her. “Your father probably wants to spend a little time with me to get to know me better. Any man would want to know who was taking his daughter to bed every night.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “I’m sure Daddy thinks I’m still a virgin. We’re going to leave it that way.”

  Seth rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

  The lunch went well, with her father and Seth getting along beautifully. Her mother pulled her aside as they were clearing the table. “He’s a really good man. I think Bob breaking it off was one of the best things that ever happened to you.”

  Michelle smiled at that. “I think so too. He’s been good for me.” What she didn’t say is that he’d given her a new confidence that she’d never expected.

  When they got back home, Michelle started on the laundry from their trip. She knew that Seth was going to set up his office the following day, and she wanted to be able to help him as much as possible.

  After she had the laundry started, she joined him in the living room where he was playing a computer game with his laptop. He put his computer down, and invited her to snuggle beside him. “I think I like being married.”

  Michelle laughed. “I do too. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get used to a stranger touching me so much, but I kind of like it.”

  “You like strangers touching you? Should I be worried?” He frowned at her.

  She made a face at him. “Not at all. You’re not a stranger now, but you were when we married, and it seemed strange. Now it just feels right.” She knew she didn’t have to tell him how much she enjoyed his touch. It was obvious daily.

  He shrugged. “It feels right because there’s love between us now.”

  She blinked a few times in surprise. How did he know she loved him? “How—how did you know I love you? I never said.” She’d tried her hardest to hide it from him, because she hadn’t wanted him to feel uncomfortable.

  “I wasn’t sure of your feelings,” he said, a grin on his face. “I was referring to my own.”

  She pulled away from him at his words, a frown on her face. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that I love you. That’s what I was saying. I wasn’t trying to tell you that you love me.”

  She got to her feet, shaking her head. “I know better. Please don’t ever lie to me again.” She turned toward the front door, needing to be alone for a little while. “I have grocery shopping to do.” She plucked her keys off the hook where she always put them upon entering the house and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

  When Seth followed her outside, she reversed quickly and left him there, staring after her. How dare he pretend he loves me? He has no right!

  Seth stood watching her car drive away, wondering what on earth had just happened. He told his wife that he loved her and she accused him of lying and left? What was wrong with her?

  He walked back into the house and to the bedroom he’d chosen for his office, immediately going to work disassembling the bed. He needed to do something physical to work off his anger, and there was nothing more physical than moving furniture around. Maybe by the time she got back, he’d be a little bit less angry, and he could deal with her calmly and rationally. Maybe.

  *****

  Michelle wanted to throw things. She wanted to have the kind of fit no one had seen from her since she was three and her favorite doll had been decapitated by a mean neighbor boy.

  “Miss Strempel! How’s married life?” A pretty little blond cheerleader named Lauren bounced over to her in the produce aisle, her mother right behind her.

  Michelle smiled sweetly. “It’s good. It’s Mrs. Henderson now.” Even in her anger, she couldn’t ignore the use of her maiden name. She was Seth’s wife, and she’d use his name with pride.

  “Did you go to Disney for your honeymoon?” Lauren asked.

  Michelle nodded, wanting nothing but to get away, but knowing she could never be rude to a student that way. “Yes, I did. Do you want to see a picture of us there?” She took out her phone and flipped through to the selfie of the two of them in their bride and groom mouse ears in front of Cinderella’s Castle before handing the girl her phone.

  Lauren giggled. “Oh, that’s awesome. You look so happy! He must really love you to be willing to wear those mouse ears!”

  Michelle smiled. “He’s a really good man. I’m a lucky woman.” And she realized she believed it. She was very lucky to have been married to such a kind, loving man. So why was she so angry with him?

  “He looks like it. Will he be going to games with you from now on?”

  “Of course. Not all of them, because he travels for business sometimes, but he’ll come when he can. I bought us special hats to wear for the games this year.”

  Lauren smiled at that, knowing her beloved principal would do something fun. “That sounds amazing.” She looked over her shoulder to where her mother was picking out produce. “You’ve met my mom haven’t you?”

  Michelle nodded. “Your mom and I were in school together.” Lauren’s mother had been three years ahead of Michelle in school, and had gotten married within a month of graduation.

  “Really? She never mentioned that!” Lauren turned back to her mother, who was approaching them with her shopping cart. “Why didn’t you tell me you and Miss Strempel—I mean Mrs. Henderson—went to school together?”

  Lauren’s mother frowned. “She was a few years behind me, and we didn’t exactly run in the same circles. I forgot we went to school together at all.”

  “You didn’t run in the same circles?” Lauren asked. “What does that even mean?”

  Michelle smiled. “Your mom was a cheerleader, and she hung out with the popular kids. I was a nerd and spent all my time in the library.” And Lauren’s mother had taken great pains to tease and torment Michelle, something that didn’t happen nearly as often under her watch, because she knew what to watch for.

  “You couldn’t have been a nerd, Mrs. Henderson! You’re the coolest principal ever!”

  “I assure you, I was a nerd.” Michelle smiled at the very idea that she hadn’t been an outcast as a teenager.

  Lauren’s mother smiled. “She was a nerd, but your dad and I did go to school with her. It’s good to see you, Michelle.”

  “You too. I need to hurry and finish shopping, so I can get home. Newlyweds and all.” Michelle didn’t know why, but being able to say she was married made her feel validated. She rushed through the rest of her shopping and headed home. She had a husband to apologize to.

  *****

  Seth finished taking the bed apart and carried the different pieces into the garage. While he worked, he thought about what had happened with Michelle. When she’d first left, he had been angry, wondering what her problem was, bu
t finally it dawned on him. She didn’t think she was worthy of his love.

  It made him sad, and he started to think about some way he could show her he loved her. His first choice would have been waiting for her naked, but Michelle wouldn’t have found that romantic at all. No, she needed some sort of grand gesture, and he would have to figure out exactly how to make it happen.

  A quick call to Brenda helped a little. “Do you know what Michelle’s favorite flower is?” he asked.

  He made a second phone call to a local florist, putting his plan into action. It would have to happen the next day, and he’d have to find some way to get her out of the house… He called her mother, knowing that would take care of things.

  When Michelle arrived home, he acted as if nothing had happened, having her help him carry the dresser from the bedroom out to the garage after she’d put groceries away. “I think that spare room is going to be perfect for what I need.”

  “Oh good. I was hoping it would. I don’t want you to have to waste money on an office when we have plenty of space right here. And then we still have a spare bedroom for guests.” She wasn’t sure why he was acting like she hadn’t been an idiot a couple of hours before, but she was glad. She didn’t want to have to try to explain things to him.

  That night, in his arms, she told him she loved him again, hoping he’d say the words back to her, so she could react appropriately. Instead, he made love to her, making her feel loved, even without the words.

  Her mother called on Monday morning and asked that she meet her for lunch at the restaurant in town. “Mom, I’m a newlywed. I don’t want to leave my husband to have lunch with you.”

  Seth waved a hand at her from the table where he was eating breakfast. “You go. I need to work all day anyway.”

  Michelle frowned. “Seth said to go. I’ll see you there at noon.”

  *****

  As soon as Michelle left the house, Seth sprang into action. He went to the grocery store and picked up the flowers he’d ordered as well as a few other things he’d need to make his romantic gesture complete.

  He was waiting in the living room when he heard her pull up and hurried into the bedroom to wait for her reaction to the surprise.

  Michelle opened the front door and found a trail of yellow tulips leading from the entryway of the house, down the long hallway, and into their bedroom. She grinned, following the beautiful flower path.

  When she reached her bedroom, she gasped with surprise. There were tulips everywhere, making her smile. And on the bed, spelled out in Hershey’s miniatures, was, “I love you, Michelle!”

  She grinned, looking around for Seth. When she spotted him, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, she circled the bed and went to him, leaning forward so her cheek was against his chest. “I love you so much.”

  Seth smiled, his arms going around her. “I love you too. You believe me now, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “I realized I was an idiot for getting so upset with you yesterday, but when you didn’t mention it, I decided to let it go.”

  “What made you realize that I wasn’t lying to you?” he asked, truly curious about her change of heart. Not that he wasn’t thrilled she’d had one. He was simply surprised.

  “I ran into one of my students in the produce section, and she asked if we went to Disney World for our honeymoon. I may have a reputation where the mouse is concerned…” She trailed off, a bit embarrassed about her Disney obsession, but really? Why should she be? Grown women could love rodents as well. Right?

  “Yeah, I’m sure you do! Finish the story!” Seth rubbed his hands up and down her back, thankful that she believed him.

  “So I showed her the picture of us wearing our mouse ears in front of Cinderella’s Castle.” She waited for his reaction, making sure he knew which picture she meant.

  “Oh, yeah. I remember that picture.”

  “Well, she took one look, and her whole face lit up. She said you must love me a lot to be willing to wear those.” She looked up at him, loving the look in his brown eyes. “That’s when I thought maybe you hadn’t been lying after all. I know Bob never would have been caught dead in those silly mouse ears, but you put them on every morning for a week to show you cared. You were telling me you loved me every time you put those silly things on your head.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his chin, barely able to reach it.

  He grinned. “I’m so glad you realized it. I also tell you I love you every time I kiss you.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. “Every time we make love. Every time I ask for your opinion. I do love you, Michelle Strempel.”

  “The name is Henderson. Michelle Henderson.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Even professionally?”

  “Especially professionally. My students need to know I’m yours.”

  “Why didn’t you believe me to start with?” he asked.

  She sighed. “I’ve believed for years that it’s not possible for a man to really love me. Not the kind of love I read about in romance novels at least. Not the kind of love that would make a man spend the rest of his life with just one woman, loving her and no other.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “Because no one ever had, I think. I don’t know. I was just so convinced of it. There’s a line in Cyrano de Bergerac that says, ‘My friend, I have my bitter days, knowing myself to be so ugly, so alone…’ I always felt that way. We read Cyrano in high school, and I felt like it fit me well. Like no one would ever be able to look at me with love. I didn’t have the big nose, but I felt hideous just the same. So I convinced myself that any man showing me any attention wanted something. They wanted a free tutor. They wanted someone to babysit. Something! I think that’s why I went out with Bob. Because I thought I’d never find anyone who cared for me. When he told me he loved me, I never believed him. I thought I should play along though, if I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life alone.”

  He shook his head in amazement. “Do you want to know what my first thought was when I saw you walking down the aisle toward me?”

  “What?”

  “That you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t believe you’d had to resort to a matchmaker. I couldn’t believe you were really going to be mine.” He stroked her cheek with one finger. “Michelle, you’re an incredible, beautiful woman with a heart for people. How on earth could you think you were unlovable?” It broke his heart to realize she didn’t think as much of herself as he did of her.

  She shrugged, looking up into his eyes. “I just always thought that. You’ve convinced me otherwise, though. There’s just something about the way you look at me that makes me feel so loved.”

  “You are. You are the most loved woman on the planet. Please don’t ever forget that.” He held her close, kissing her softly. “I thank God every day for sending you to me. I love you. More than I could ever say.”

  She sighed contentedly, pulling his head down for another kiss. “I love you right back, Seth Henderson. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.”

  “You really don’t have a choice,” he said with a grin. “I’m keeping you.”

  Epilogue

  Dr. Lachele pushed end on the call with Michelle Henderson, thrilled to have brought love into another couple’s world. She didn’t have time to bask in the glory of a good match though.

  She had received a call from a doctor in Northlake, Texas, who needed a bride. But who to match up with him? She picked up his picture and stared at it for a moment. “Who do you need?” she asked him.

  She’d already done his preliminary testing, and she was sure she could place him. Seth’s twin brother, a doctor in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. “I don’t think I’ve found your perfect woman yet, but I will. I promise you, I’ll have you married within the next six months.”

  Slade Henderson would be her next project. She was sure to find him someone perfect!

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