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

  She shrugged. “That’s how it’ll have to be. I’m sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry. I’ll be wrapped up in my career as well.”

  “I do think I want to travel with you this summer.” She couldn’t believe it, but she already dreaded the time they’d have to spend apart once school started. She’d always been happy for a break from Bob.

  He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I’d like that a lot. We’ll stay with Daniel and Brenda while we’re there.”

  “Daniel was your best man, right?”

  “Yeah. He’s a good man. You’ll like him.” He shrugged. “He hit it really big with the business he started in college. You won’t believe his house.”

  “A huge mansion?”

  “Pretty much! I think Brenda is a bit overwhelmed by it still.”

  “I can imagine. She seems really sweet. Does she work?”

  “She did customer service for a financial firm before they married, but now she just does volunteer work. She hated her job, and there’s really no reason for her to work full time.”

  Michelle nodded. “If I hated my job, and you could support me, I wouldn’t keep working either. But I love what I do. I hope you don’t come to resent my job.”

  “What do you think you’ll do after children start coming?”

  She shrugged. “I’ll probably put them in daycare or hire a nanny. I think I’d prefer a nanny if I could afford it.”

  “I’m sure we’ll be able to manage that.” Seth wasn’t ready to talk about money much yet. He made good money, but relocating and starting a new business was hard. By the time children came around, he was certain they’d be well enough off to hire a nanny though. “When do you want to start trying for a baby?”

  “Last night would be ideal,” she said, not meeting his eyes. Had he thought she was on birth control?

  Seth blinked a couple of times before nodding. “That’s fine, I guess.”

  “I want two or three. I have never wanted to have an only child, and I’m already thirty-two. If I have a hard time getting pregnant, we won’t have a lot of time for more.”

  He nodded, understanding her reasoning. “All right. We try right away then.” Not that it was a hardship. He’d enjoy making the babies a great deal, and he’d always known he wanted children.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re thanking me for doing something I want to do. I mean, I’ve always liked kids and figured I’d have them someday, and really, it’s no hardship to try to make them with you.”

  She blushed at that. “You really have trouble behaving, don’t you?”

  He shrugged. “It’s just the two of us. No one to hear. I can say anything I want with my wife, as long as I’m not mean or rude, right?”

  She nodded. “I guess so. Just don’t make me blush all the time in public.”

  “I’ll do my best. I may have a problem with that, though.”

  “What kind of problem?”

  “I like to see you blush so much that I’m going to want to make it happen everywhere we go.”

  She shook her head at him. “How much do you need to do to pack for the trip?”

  “I have no idea. There’s never been any time in my life for a Disney vacation. What do I need?”

  She did her best not to gape at him. With as much as she loved Disney she felt sorry for anyone who had never gone. “Mostly just shorts and T-shirts are fine. Take some comfortable shoes. A couple pairs of jeans and nicer shirts for dinners.”

  “We won’t just eat dinner in the parks?”

  “Sometimes, but there are nicer places to eat as well. I have reservations for lunch and dinner set up for the whole time we’re there. I hope you don’t mind that, but some of the restaurants are almost impossible to get into. I love going to Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom for dinner. I like to have my picture taken with the Beast.”

  “Do I get my picture taken with Belle then? Fair’s fair.”

  “We can go hunt down Belle if you want, but Beast is in the castle. Do you want to do the princess breakfast at Epcot? ‘Cuz that’s the easiest way to see Belle.”

  “Princess breakfast? I guess we could do that if you need to see the princesses.”

  “I don’t. But if you want your picture with Belle, that’s the easiest way to do it.”

  He sighed. “I guess I can skip a picture with Belle then. I don’t know that I want to have breakfast with a bunch of screaming four-year-olds so I can get my picture with princesses.”

  She grinned. “I promise we won’t be the only couple our age there without kids. You’re going to love it!”

  “Where are we staying?”

  “I made reservations at the Wilderness Lodge on Disney property. It’s a rustic place, and the restaurant there is really fun. I hear you need to ask for ketchup.”

  “Ketchup?” What was she getting him into?

  “Yup. We’re having dinner there tonight. You’ll see.”

  He shook his head. At least she knew what Disney would be like, because he really had no clue at all.

  Chapter Four

  Once they’d landed at Disney, they took a private car to the Wilderness Lodge, instead of taking the free shuttle, which had been Michelle’s initial plan. She didn’t think Seth would appreciate the lack of leg room on the shuttle, though, so she opted for the more expensive option. For most men the leg room would have been uncomfortable. It would have been so much worse for her new husband. Seth wouldn’t have had anywhere to put his long legs, though, and she was certain it would have been excruciatingly painful, trying to fold his legs up like a pretzel.

  When they arrived at Wilderness Lodge and were welcomed home by the young lady stationed at the front, Michelle and Seth walked to the desk. She gave her name, and when the reservation didn’t come up, she realized immediately what was wrong. “It’s probably under Michelle Cooper.”

  Seth looked at her with surprise at the name, but didn’t ask anything. Once they had their Magic Bands, they walked toward the elevator, following the little map they’d been given.

  “Why was the reservation under Michelle Cooper?” he asked. “I thought your maiden name was Strempel.”

  She sighed. “It was.” She knew she’d have to tell him, and it was obviously time. She didn’t want to hide anything from him. She just wished she’d found the right opportunity to tell him before, because now it looked like she was being secretive. “I was engaged up until two months ago to a lawyer out of Baton Rouge. His name is Bob Cooper.”

  “What happened?”

  The elevator stopped on the second floor, and they walked toward their room. Once she’d opened the door, and they had their suitcases inside, she walked to the couch and patted the spot beside her. “He asked me to meet him for dinner on a Wednesday night in March, which was unusual. The district has made it so there are no sports games on Wednesday so the kids can go to church. Anyway, I met him at the only restaurant in Malloy.”

  “Okay…”

  “He had something he needed to talk to me about. I assumed he was adding more people to the guest list again, but that’s not what he needed at all. After we’d ordered, he told me his mistress is pregnant, and his parents were going to cut him off if he didn’t marry her. He came from one of the wealthiest families in the state, and he wasn’t willing to give up his inheritance.” She shook her head. “He told me he’d just stay married to her for long enough to give the baby a name, and then he’d divorce her and marry me.”

  Seth blinked a couple of times. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Nope. I told him that I wouldn’t have him. I asked more questions, of course, and found out he’d been sleeping with her for over five years. He said I couldn’t expect him to stay celibate just because I wanted to be a virgin when I married.”

  Seth shook his head. “That’s crazy.”

  “What’s crazy is I was in my town, in a restaurant where some of my former students work, and I couldn’t throw my tea in his face and
scream at him. I had to stay calm. I gave him his ring back, and I haven’t seen him since. I called Dr. Lachele the next day.”

  He frowned. “So that’s why you wanted to be married on that specific day? You already had the wedding planned?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t see the need to lose all that money and all the time that had gone into wedding planning just because he was an idiot. So I married you on the day I was supposed to marry him. I know it probably wasn’t the best way to handle things, but I couldn’t see spending all that time all over again. I’ve been planning this wedding for three years!”

  “I wish you’d told me.”

  “When? I met you at the altar! Was I supposed to tell you at our wedding reception? Or maybe while we made love? Or while we were eating breakfast in bed this morning? Oh, I know, I should have told you while we were on the plane flying toward our honeymoon.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know when, but you should have told me. Getting here and finding out I’m just a replacement husband is not the way I’d have liked to handle things.”

  Michelle sighed, taking his hand in hers. “If the situation had been more normal, I would have told you much sooner. It was just a strange way to meet and marry.”

  “I can understand that, but it still puts me in a very awkward position.”

  “Only if you want to let it.”

  “I feel like I’m filling in for him. Like you still care for him, and you only married me so you had someone to take his place.” He shook his head. “I hate knowing that everyone you know went to a wedding expecting a different groom.”

  “That’s not true at all. I had told everyone there was a change of groom. Honestly, I don’t know that I would have been able to go through with the wedding even if he hadn’t been cheating on me. I didn’t feel anything for him. Not sexually. I thought he was a decent man, and he’s the only guy I’ve ever dated, but there was really nothing there. If I’d dated you instead of him, it would have been hard to wait until I was married. With him, it was just the easiest way to put him off.”

  “I need to think about it.” He didn’t know why he was so bothered by the fact that everything had been planned for another man, but he was.

  She sighed, looked down at her hands in her lap. “I never meant to make you feel bad.”

  “I know you didn’t. I just think you should have told me right away instead of making me wait. That wasn’t a good way for me to find out.”

  “Tell me how to make it up to you, and I will. I promise.”

  He shrugged. “I’m going to survive. I just need to think about it for a while.” He stood, walking toward the door. “I’m going to go for a quick walk.”

  She frowned, watching him leave. She hadn’t meant to upset him, but she hadn’t felt like she’d found the right time for her to tell him about Bob either. She pulled out her phone, punching in a number.

  “Dr. Lachele.”

  “Hi, it’s Michelle Strempel. I mean Henderson.”

  “Hi, Michelle! How’s the honeymoon?”

  Michelle felt tears prick her eyes at the question. She’d felt like everything was going so well, and then she’d blown it. “Well, I thought it was all good, but Seth is angry with me. I didn’t tell him about my broken engagement, and when we checked into the hotel, I remembered that I’d booked it as Michelle Cooper, which would have been my married name if I’d gone through with my engagement.”

  “Uh oh. Did you apologize?”

  “Of course I did! The timing just never felt right to tell him. ‘Hi, I know we’re married now, but I was engaged to someone else for three years, and this is our honeymoon we planned together.’”

  “Yeah, that wouldn’t have been good. I know where you’re coming from, but you have to see it from his point of view as well. He thought everything was going great, and he gets thrown for a loop at the last minute.”

  Michelle sighed. “I know. What should I do?”

  “You need to find a way to show him that you’re happy to be married to him, and not to Bob. A little sex wouldn’t hurt. A whole lot of groveling might be good.”

  “But I really don’t feel like I did anything wrong!” Michelle protested. “I would have told him when I found the right time.”

  “Well, sometimes being married means that you admit you’re wrong, even when you’re not sure if you are.”

  Michelle sighed. “If he ever comes back, I’ll apologize again. And grovel. I can grovel when I need to.” After hanging up the phone, she walked down to the gift shop on the first floor and bought the matching bride and groom mouse ears she wanted. They had dinner reservations at seven, so she hoped he’d be back before then. She thought about texting him, but realized she didn’t even have the man’s phone number yet. How odd to be married to a man and not have his phone number.

  She unpacked for both of them, putting the clothes away. She’d gotten a suite with a living area and a bedroom which was separate. The bedroom had a king bed.

  When she had everything in the room the way she wanted it, she sat down on the couch with a book and began reading. Her favorite thing about summer vacation was all the frivolous reading she could do. One of her roommates in college had gotten her addicted to romance novels, and she just didn’t have time for them during the school year. It made her crazy not to be able to read whenever she wanted.

  She glanced at the clock and realized it was after six and worried a bit about making their dinner reservations, but she figured she’d go alone if she needed to. At quarter ‘til seven, he wandered back into the room.

  She stood up and approached him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and feeling him stand rigid against her. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I think we just need to take the time to get to know each other better. We jumped into marriage as if it was a normal marriage, and I think we should take it slower than that.”

  Michelle nodded. “All right. If that’s what you want.” It wasn’t what she wanted at all, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. She was in the wrong, after all. “We have dinner reservations at seven.”

  He looked at the clock. “How long will it take to get where we’re going?”

  “Oh, it’s here in the hotel.” She grabbed her purse. “I bought our mouse ears, but we can wait to wear them if you want.”

  He shook his head. “No, that’s something you’ve wanted to do for years. I’ll wear the mouse ears.”

  She smiled, knowing they’d be all right if he was still worried about how she felt about little things like that. She went to get the Disney bag from the table and took out the ears with the tuxedo print and handed them to him. She put on the ears with the veil.

  He grinned at her. He knew he shouldn’t, but she just looked so adorable in the ears. “Those are sweet.” He settled his own on his head, and turned to her. “No matter how upset I am with you, I think we need to present a united front. I don’t want people to realize we’re already having trouble on our honeymoon.”

  She sighed. “That makes sense. I’m sorry I upset you.”

  “I’ll get over it. We’re just going to take our time getting to know each other, even though we’re doing everything backwards.”

  “What do you mean by taking our time getting to know each other?” She closed the door behind them and walked toward the elevator.

  “I figured we’d sleep apart until we know each other better.”

  She blinked a few times. From what she’d heard all men cared about was sex, so why would he keep it from her, when that meant punishing himself? “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it. I think it would be best if we spent the week getting to know everything we can about each other and keeping sex out of it.”

  “All right.” She was truly surprised that he would suggest such a thing, but if it’s what he wanted, she wasn’t going to argue about it. She’d enjoyed sex with him, but it wouldn’t kill her to go without for a
week. Maybe.

  Seth frowned. She’d agreed a bit too readily for his tastes, but really what had he expected? That she’d beg him for sex? “So you won’t mind sleeping on the couch while we’re here?”

  She wrinkled her nose at that. “We’re both adults, and we’re married. Surely we can find a way to share the bed without it causing problems.”

  He really didn’t like that idea. He knew sleeping with her would be too tempting for him. “I think it would be better if you slept on the couch.”

  “Well, that couch doesn’t seem like a comfortable place to sleep, and I think we can share the bed. If you’re that determined, maybe you should sleep on the couch.”

  “There’s no way I’d fit on the couch! You’re shorter than me!”

  “Yes, I am, but I also am not determined that we need separate beds. You choose. We sleep together or you take the couch.” Michelle stepped into the Whispering Canyon restaurant and gave her name. They were led to a table beside the windows which looked out over the impeccably manicured grounds. “There’s a boat launch out there that will take us to Magic Kingdom or we can take the bus.”

  “Taking a boat sounds nice. What parks are you wanting to hit this week?” he asked, taking the change of subject in stride. They’d fight it out later if they needed to.

  “I want to do Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom for sure. I’m fine with going to Hollywood Studios as well, but we only have six full days in the parks, because we fly back to Louisiana on Sunday.”

  Their server came to the table then and explained to them that if they wanted to join in the fun there, they should turn their card to the green side. If they wanted to just observe, they should choose the red. Michelle automatically put it on the green side, because she hoped it would help Seth out of his funk.

  They ordered their drinks and the server came back with them a few moments later. After they’d placed their orders, she looked back at him. “I have reservations at different restaurants throughout the parks and the different resorts. I’ve been researching this trip for over two years.”