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

  Michelle looked over at Brenda as Seth folded himself into the front seat, moving the seat back immediately. "You are rather short."

  "Rather. Oh, well. I can wear heels anytime I want to. That's a plus, right?"

  "I don't have a problem wearing heels. If I thought I was too tall for heels before, one look at Seth told me it would never again be a problem." She shrugged. “Of course, I’ve never felt like I was too tall for heels. I don’t even think I’m average height.”

  Brenda nodded. "That man is tall. Like almost scary tall. It's got to hurt his neck to kiss you."

  Michelle grinned. "It does! He makes me sit down with him." Or lie down, of course, but Brenda didn't need to hear about that. Michelle was sure her new friend was fully aware of what she did with Seth anyway.

  "I'm glad you guys are staying with us. We'll have to go shopping tomorrow." Brenda eyed Michelle. "Do you like to shop?"

  Michelle shrugged. "I'm not a huge shopper, but there are some things I need. I’d like to get new school clothes this summer." She had budgeted a clothing allowance every month since she’d started working, and she’d barely touched it. It would be fun to use that clothing allowance now when she needed it.

  "Perfect. We'll go into Boston tomorrow and do some shopping. And if you want, I can take you to do all the tourist stuff. I used to work at a little gift shop on the ocean walk in Plymouth. Plus there’s loads to see in Boston if you’re interested."

  "Oh, so I could see Plymouth Rock? I guess I didn't realize it was so close to Boston."

  "Yes, it's not far at all. Would you like to go there? You could get something touristy and wear a lobster hat."

  Michelle laughed at the idea. "My students would love to see a picture of me in a lobster hat when they come back to school in the fall."

  Brenda grinned. "I'm sure they would! Do you have that kind of thing in your office?"

  "I do! It's mostly Disney pictures, because I'm a huge Disney fan, but I get pictures wherever I go and put them up around the office. I have students coming in all the time to just say 'hi' and they wander around looking at everything."

  "That's neat. I wish my principal had been that way in high school."

  "Your school was probably too big for that. I only have one-hundred twenty students between four grades."

  Brenda nodded. "Oh yeah. My graduating class was four times that."

  "That's why it's easy for me to know each of my students personally. And they all know me."

  "Sounds like you've got a good life going there, Mrs. Henderson."

  Michelle frowned. "You know, I'm so used to being Miss Strempel, it's going to be weird to have to ask my students to call me something else."

  "I guess you could keep Strempel as your professional name. I can't see Seth getting upset about that."

  "I don't know about that. I can just change my name. It's no big deal."

  "Are you sure? Because it seems like it is."

  "Seth wanted someone just like you. Would you have kept your maiden name?"

  Brenda laughed. "Never. I was happy to change my name, but Seth didn't really want someone just like me."

  "He's told me several times that you were what he was looking for when he went to talk to Dr. Lachele."

  "He just thought I was what he wanted. Seth went to her so she could help him find the right woman for him. You suit him so much better than I ever would." Brenda looked down at her hands for a minute. "I don't know that I would have been able to deal with Seth. I'm happy with Daniel."

  "Is there something I don't know about Seth that I should?" Michelle asked. "You're scaring me a bit here."

  "No, there's nothing wrong with him. He's just...Seth never backs down from anything. Daniel and I mesh really well, but when Seth gets in his head that something should be a certain way, it better be that way. He's really rigid in his thinking sometimes."

  Michelle nodded. "I've noticed that. And he gets the weirdest ideas in his head. Most hard-headed man I've ever met."

  "You know what I mean then."

  "I do. At least, I think I do."

  They pulled up into the driveway then, and Michelle's eyes grew wide. Seth had warned her that Daniel had done very well for himself, and that he was a billionaire, but she was unprepared for the monstrosity of the home in front of them. "Wow."

  Brenda laughed. "Imagine pulling up here for the first time and knowing you were going to live there."

  "I can't!" Michelle had come from a solid middle-class family. They'd always lived in the same small town, always going to the same small church. She'd known few people out of her class. Even Bob's family had nothing on Daniel. "I've never seen anything like it."

  "It's going to be fun having you here! We can swim and hang out in the garden."

  "The yard is so big it has to be called a garden?"

  "Well, of course."

  Both of the women dissolved into giggles, causing Seth to look over his shoulder at them. "What's so funny?"

  Michelle shook her head. "Nothing that would make sense to anyone else."

  At her words, Brenda started laughing even harder, holding her side.

  Daniel shrugged and looked over at Seth. "Women can be really strange."

  "I see that."

  Daniel parked the car and the men went to the back to get the suitcases while Brenda led Michelle inside. "I picked the rose room for you."

  "The rose room? Your rooms have names?"

  Brenda bit her lip, fighting a laugh. "Yes, they do. Don't everyone's?" She climbed the stairs and led her new friend to a room at the back of the long hallway. "This one here. Last room on the right." Pushing open the door, she let Michelle precede her into the room.

  Michelle walked in, looking around her. The bed was huge, and there was a private bathroom off of it. "Looks good to me, I guess."

  "It seemed the perfect place for newlyweds. Way down the hall from us so you have a ton of privacy. No one will bother you."

  "Thank you for letting us stay here. It's so much nicer than a hotel, and I'll have a friend to hang out with," Michelle told Brenda, hugging her spontaneously. "I really do appreciate it."

  "We're so happy to have you. I hope you thought to bring a swim suit, but if you didn't, we can get one while we're shopping tomorrow."

  "Seth told me I'd probably need one, so I brought two."

  "Perfect," Brenda said. "We'll go hang out in the pool after supper."

  On cue, Michelle's stomach rumbled. "I do hope it's soon," she said with a laugh.

  "Oh, it is. Mrs. Brinkley always cooks delicious stuff. And it's always ready at precisely six in the evening. It's five ‘til now."

  "Do I need to dress for dinner? This seems like the kind of place where I should put a ball gown on just to sit at the table."

  "You know, I think Mrs. Brinkley would prefer that, but I'm happy for you to wear jeans and a T-shirt. And you know Daniel won't care. I doubt if he even realizes that you're wearing jeans as it is. He's not one to notice anything any woman wears. Even me."

  “Well, that’s sad.”

  Brenda winked. “He notices some of the things I wear, of course.”

  “Of course.” Michelle laughed. “Seth notices that kind of thing as well.”

  “I’m sure he does!”

  “So Seth tells me that you have another friend who was matched through Matchrimony, and that’s how you heard about it.”

  Brenda nodded, leading the way out of the room and back down the stairs. “A college friend of mine, Michaela, married a pastor and moved to Oklahoma where he has a congregation.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  “She’s really happy. Although, from what I heard, their honeymoon did not go according to plan.” Brenda related the mishaps of the other couple’s honeymoon, setting Michelle off in hysterics again.

  “Oh, that’s awful. Someone should write a book about that!”

  “As long as it’s not a romance novel. I don’t know how a romance writer
could ever delay the sex for that long. Poor Michaela and Jon.”

  “Sounds like it.” Michelle smiled when they entered the dining room and she saw that Daniel and Seth were there waiting for them.

  Michelle sat next to Seth and across from Brenda. Seth was across from Daniel. “The room Brenda put us in is beautiful. Thanks for allowing us to stay here,” she said to Daniel.

  “Happy to have you. Seth is my best friend. I tend to do whatever he wants me to do.”

  Seth let out a bark of laughter. “You don’t expect anyone to believe that, do you?”

  Daniel grinned. “Hey, she doesn’t know me yet. She might believe it!”

  Brenda shook her head. “Daniel doesn’t do anything just to please someone else.”

  The man in question picked up Brenda’s hand, kissing it softly. “Except you.”

  Brenda smiled at him, seeming to get lost in his eyes for a moment. “Except me.”

  Michelle hoped she and Seth were in love the same way Brenda and Daniel were in a few months, but she knew it was a false hope. No one who wasn’t related to her would ever be able to love her unconditionally. She just wasn’t the kind of woman people could love.

  Seth noticed a sad look cross Michelle’s face, and he took her hand, squeezing it under the table. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “Of course. I’m just tired from all the travel.”

  “It has been kind of whirlwind lately. Don’t worry. I don’t have to go anywhere for three weeks after we get home.”

  “That will be nice.” Honestly she didn’t care where they were as long as she could be with him. She sighed. She was already in love with him. How was she going to be able to hide it for the next fifty years or so? She didn’t want him to think that he had to tell her he loved her back, simply because she couldn’t said she loved him. No, she’d be good and hide it from him.

  Chapter Seven

  After dinner, Brenda and Michelle went to their respective rooms to change into their swim suits. Once Michelle was wearing her modest one-piece suit, she pulled a swim suit cover up over her head. She hated parading around feeling like she was mostly naked.

  The men had gone to Daniel's study to talk business, so the ladies were on their own. Michelle enjoyed being with Brenda so she didn't mind.

  The two went out to the pool and swam for a while before sinking into the hot tub. Michelle leaned back in the tub and sighed contentedly. "I needed this."

  Brenda nodded. "I find I need it most nights. Makes me happy to relax."

  "Seems like the perfect ending to a day to me."

  "Tell me about your school. I know you said it's small. I want to know about your students. Do you have favorites?"

  Michelle smiled. "Asking me to pick favorites would be like asking a mother to choose her favorite children. I do have a couple of students that I've grown closer to, but all of them are equal in my eyes." She stared up at the stars for a moment before continuing. "There's a group of students, and I've yet to figure out who they are, who wash my car at least once per month. The football team has put together a rotation to mow my lawn, and they won't let me pay them. There are so many things the kids do for me when I'm not expecting it."

  "Oh, that's so sweet!"

  "Of course, I go above and beyond for them as well, and I'm sure that's why they do it." Michelle briefly explained about the girls' track team she coached. "I ran in college, but just for fitness. I was pudgy when I started my freshman year, and I didn't like it, so I took up running. I never joined a team or anything, I just ran early in the morning before I went to class."

  "I run if there are bears chasing me," Brenda said very seriously.

  "There are bears in this area?" Michelle asked surprised.

  "Nope. And that's why I don't ever run."

  Michelle laughed. "Well, I run. I still run most mornings during the school year, but I run with my track team as well. I go to every single sporting event. That's four nights a week, nine months out of the year. The school district insists that Wednesday nights are kept free for religious activities."

  "I like that rule!"

  "I do too, because it gives me a break! I use Wednesday nights to catch up on the sleep I miss the rest of the week."

  "So why did you talk to Dr. Lachele? When my friend Michaela told me what she'd done, I thought she was nuts, but then I found myself doing the same thing a few months later."

  Michelle frowned, not sure how much of the story Seth would want his friends to know. She wasn't going to lie though. "I was engaged for almost three years. A couple of months ago, my fiancé asked me to meet him for dinner on a Wednesday night. I tried to talk him out of it, but he said it was urgent." She sighed. "He wanted to tell me his mistress was pregnant. He had to marry her to give the baby a name, but he was willing to divorce her once the baby was born so he could marry me."

  "He did not say that to you!" Brenda's voice was filled with shock.

  "Oh, he did. I told him I wanted nothing to do with him." Michelle shook her head. "The worst part of it was that I was in a restaurant in my town where everyone knows me. I couldn't even throw my drink in his face, or stand up and start screaming at him. I had to sit there calmly like I wasn't angry."

  "That's wrong!"

  "I called Dr. Lachele the next day. I didn't see a need to lose all the time and money I'd put into my wedding and reception. Or the honeymoon. So I called Dr. Lachele, and she came and did her tests. My stipulation was that I wanted the wedding on the same day I was supposed to marry Bob."

  Brenda shook her head at that. "Please tell me Seth knows about that. If he doesn't, you have to tell him right away. He'll be so angry if he finds out you hid it from him."

  Michelle sighed. "He found out when I had to give my first name and Bob's last name for my reservations at Disney."

  "No way!"

  "Oh, yeah. And you're right. He wasn't happy. We talked through it, though, and we're good now. He's pretty stubborn and opinionated, but we were able to finally find common ground there."

  "Wow. I'm surprised he's speaking to you even now. He must really want your marriage to work."

  "We both do. He's a good man."

  "Oh, he is, but he's not the most forgiving man I've ever met. I heard that he dated the same girl all through college, and she broke it off to go to Hollywood to be an actress. Daniel said she called him every day for a year to try to get him to forgive her, but he just kept telling her that she'd made her choice. She wanted a career more than she wanted him. So she needed to keep her career."

  "I heard about the girl, but not about her calling after she got there. Wow. I had no clue."

  "Yeah, so I'm impressed he's forgiven you. He doesn't easily."

  Michelle frowned. "I doubt if he would have forgiven so easily if we hadn't already been married. He made us sleep with the Berlin Wall between us on our honeymoon."

  "The Berlin Wall? At Disney?"

  "We made a wall out of pillows in the middle of the bed, and we kept calling it the Berlin wall. I know, it was silly, but it felt unsurmountable for a while."

  "That sounds just like Seth. I'm glad you two got past it. I'm not going to ask how, because I have a feeling I don't want to know."

  Michelle's cheeks flamed. She was glad it was too dark to be seen. "You probably don't."

  "You were right," Seth said loudly from the direction of the house. "They gave up on swimming and are sitting in the hot tub."

  "Yup. I know my wife." Daniel climbed into the tub beside Brenda.

  The men had taken time to change into their swim trunks before joining them. Seth climbed in and slid an arm around Michelle's shoulders. "Are you having fun?"

  Michelle nodded. "I really am. Brenda is a lot of fun to be around."

  "I'm glad. I'll be gone from seven to seven tomorrow to work on Daniel's system, and then Thursday I'll work for my other client. Friday we'll head out to see my mom. You’re going to need someone to entertain you."

  "Is
she expecting us?" Michelle wanted to put off meeting his mother. She was surprised at how scared she was about meeting the other woman. What if her new mother-in-law hated her?

  "She is. You don't need to worry, though. She'll love you."

  “Where is your brother? You said you had a twin brother, right?”

  “Yeah, I do. Slade is in Dallas-Fort Worth. He’s a doctor.”

  "Doesn't it bother her that you moved to Louisiana then?"

  He shook his head. "Her brothers and sisters all live close. She's a nurse and has worked at the same hospital in Boston for twenty-two years. No, it doesn't bother her at all. We haven't had a lot of time to spend together since I went off to college anyway."

  "Well, I'm glad to hear she won't resent me for that."

  Seth laughed at the idea. "Daniel, tell Michelle my mother has never held a grudge in her life!"

  Daniel shook his head. "From what I can see, the woman is perfect. How she ended up with a head-strong opinionated idiot like Seth for a kid, I'll never know. He doesn't deserve her."

  Michelle hid a laugh by coughing. "I don't know if I can live up to that kind of perfection."

  Seth shrugged. "She's going to love you just because you're my wife. No one else can give her grandbabies."

  "Does she want grandbabies?"

  "No idea. She's been on us to marry, though, so I think she does. She believes you should only nag about one thing at a time, so she's been nagging me about marrying, not about babies. I’m sure we’ll find out when we see her, because she’ll move onto the next thing to nag about."

  "Why wasn’t she wasn't at the wedding?"

  He shook his head. "I told her too late, and she realized she wouldn't have any time to spend with me if she came. So she stayed home and told me I needed to bring you to meet her as soon as I could."

  "I'm not going to get out of meeting her this trip, am I?"

  "Nothing short of a hospitalization would keep me from taking you to her. And if you were hospitalized, I'd just make sure you ended up in the hospital she works at, and you'd meet her there instead."

  Michelle looked at Brenda who was watching them closely. "I have a feeling I'm not going to get out of going to meet her."