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

  “You do? He seems like such a workaholic. I have a hard time imagining him taking a day off to go.”

  Brenda frowned. “We had that problem early in our marriage, but I managed to convince him that taking me to the beach was just as important as working.”

  “How’d you do that?”

  Brenda shrugged. “I made it clear that if he wanted a marriage, I was happy to have one. If he wanted someone who was just going to be there for sex and have babies, then he’d have to find someone else.”

  Michelle grinned. “I’m impressed. He doesn’t seem to be easily swayed.”

  “Oh, he’s not. But he does enjoy sex, and there’s only one place he can get it from.”

  “That’s very true. Unless he wants to pay a whole lot of alimony, that is.”

  “He doesn’t.” Brenda smiled. “He loves his business, and he has built it from the ground up. I’ve never seen anyone who works as hard as Daniel. I’m going to convince him to take time off on occasion to come see you guys now.”

  “It’d probably be easier if we came here to see you. How long is it safe for you to travel?”

  “Oh, I can fly up until the third trimester. I’m healthy. There are no problems with the pregnancy.” Every time Brenda mentioned her pregnancy or the baby she carried, she put a hand to her stomach. Michelle thought the action was adorable.

  “Glad to hear it.” Michelle rested her head on the back of the swing, enjoy the sunshine on her face. She wasn’t much of a sun person, but Massachusetts was a break from the hotter sun of Louisiana. It felt like early spring, not almost summer.

  Brenda glanced at the display on her phone. “We need to get back to the house. It’s supper time.”

  Michelle nodded, standing up. “I can’t believe how tired I am. I may need to go to bed at eight tonight.”

  Brenda threaded her arm through Michelle’s. “No one would be offended if you did.”

  “What are we doing tomorrow?” Michelle asked as they walked toward the house together.

  “Tomorrow is my day to hold babies in the NICU. The hospital always needs extra people. Do you want to join me?”

  Michelle smiled, loving the idea. “Yeah, that sounds awesome. I’d love to.”

  As they walked, Brenda explained how it worked. “The babies they give us are usually babies of mothers addicted to drugs, so they’ve been abandoned. Occasionally, we’ll be given a baby whose mother finds it a hardship to drive into town every day. They all just need love. I tend to sing to them and hold them.”

  “I can do that.” Michelle was surprised at how much she looked forward to it. She’d always loved children, but special education had never been her calling.

  “Good. The hospital will be happy with an extra volunteer, even if it’s only for one day.”

  When they got to the house, Daniel and Seth were just sitting down at the table. “We were getting worried about you two,” Seth said, getting back to his feet.

  Michelle walked to him, kissing him softly. It was the first day they’d spent apart since they’d married. “Did you have a good day?”

  “Mostly. I got what I needed to do done without the boss-man yelling too much.”

  She sat down beside him, taking his hand in hers. “I’m glad you didn’t get yelled at.”

  “Did you get the shopping you needed to do done?” he asked.

  “And then some. Brenda took me to some really nice shops, and I got some good deals.” She’d shopped mostly clearance, but she didn’t tell him that. She didn’t want him to think she needed him to give her money for clothes when she had enough to make it through. Besides, he was going to be doing a lot more travelling for business, and she refused to be a leach on his income.

  “Good! So you won’t need to shop as soon as we get back to Louisiana.”

  She shook her head. “No, I won’t. I have enough clothes to make it through the schoolyear with no problem.” Unless she got pregnant, of course, but they’d deal with that when they had to.

  Seth looked over at Daniel. “So do I get to borrow a car tomorrow and Friday? Or should I go rent one?”

  Daniel seemed to think hard about the answer. “I guess. Just be careful.”

  Seth rolled his eyes. “I’ll be careful. Wreck one car and the man never forgets it.”

  “You wrecked a car with me in it!”

  “But it wasn’t even my fault! Someone pulled out in front of me!”

  “So? You wrecked the car. I thought I was going to die.” Daniel laid the back of his hand against his forehead dramatically.

  “You didn’t even get a scratch!” Seth shook his head at his friend. “Why do I even talk to you?”

  “Glutton for punishment?”

  Michelle and Brenda laughed at the two of them. “I’m not sure why we put up with either of them,” Michelle said to Brenda.

  “I dunno. I put up with Daniel, because he’s the father of my unborn child. Unless I really was abducted by aliens, and if I was, I’m not admitting it.”

  Seth grinned. “Pregnant? That’s awesome!”

  Brenda smiled, her face lit up. “I’m surprised Daniel didn’t tell you.”

  “You told me I couldn’t tell anyone until you told your mother.” Daniel frowned at her.

  “I called her a week ago.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that?” Daniel asked, looking disgusted.

  Brenda shrugged. “You didn’t ask.” She paused for a moment, before turning to Daniel fully, putting her fork down. “Hey Daniel?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I told my parents about the baby, and you’re now free to tell anyone you want.”

  “I’m taking out a skywriter.”

  “Be my guest.” Brenda resumed eating, acting for all the world like taking a skywriter out to announce a pregnancy was normal.

  Seth looked at Michelle. “When you get pregnant I won’t take out a skywriter. I promise. I think that’s tacky.”

  Michelle shrugged. “Well, of course it is. But Daniel doesn’t seem to do anything halfway. I think he secretly likes tacky.”

  “I know he does.” Seth shook his head. “In college, he had fuzzy dice hanging from his rearview mirror. You’d have thought it was the seventies.”

  “So sad.” Michelle shook her head.

  Brenda gave Daniel a pitying look. “I’m so glad your taste is better now. And we all know it is, because you married me.”

  Daniel made a face. “Yeah, but someone else chose you for me. Wait ‘til you see the clothes I’m buying for the baby.”

  “Just don’t buy him any red shirt Star Trek uniforms. He doesn’t need to die!”

  Daniel frowned. “I’ll try. It’s hard, though, because the red shirts say the funniest stuff!”

  “My child will not be your walking talking nerd billboard. Do you hear me, Daniel?”

  Michelle bit her lip to stifle a laugh, and looked at Seth, who was watching her. “Whatever she says to Daniel about dressing babies goes double for you, Seth Henderson.”

  Daniel looked at Michelle. “You’re not already pregnant, are you?”

  Michelle blushed beet red. “No, I’m not. I’m just getting it out of the way for the future.”

  “Fine, fine, fine.” Seth frowned at her. “You know I have impeccable taste in clothes. Look at the hat I wore all around Disney.”

  Daniel looked back and forth between Seth and Michelle. “Wait. Hat? I need to see this hat. Or photographic evidence thereof.”

  Brenda fished out her phone and showed him the text Michelle had sent her earlier that day. “Don’t they both look adorable?”

  Daniel’s grinned spread over his entire face. “Henderson, you’ve got it bad. You posed in front of a Disney castle wearing those ridiculous mouse ears? Why not just let her put a leash around your joystick and lead you around that way?”

  Michelle let out a gasp of surprise before laughing. “Joystick?”

  Seth smiled at Michelle, his lips going to her ear. “I ho
pe Mr. Happy brings you plenty of joy.”

  Michelle shook her head, refusing to join in the conversation. “I think we need to change the subject. Quickly.” She wracked her brain for something to change it to. She was not going to calmly discuss penises at the dinner table. “I got you a hat while we were in Plymouth today.”

  Seth frowned. “A hat?”

  “Yes, but nothing like the hat I got you at Disney. I figure you can wear it to the games we go to.”

  “I’m intrigued and frightened all at once. Will I like this hat?”

  “Oh, of course you will! I wouldn’t buy you anything you wouldn’t like.” Michelle took another bite of her grilled vegetables, a big smile on her face. “You’re going to adore it.”

  Seth looked at Daniel, his eyes round. “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to regret letting her shop with your wife?”

  Daniel shrugged, digging into his own food. “Because you’re not quite as stupid as you look?”

  Michelle looked at Brenda. “Let’s never talk to each other the way they do. They sound like they’re high schoolers trading insults.”

  Brenda nodded. “Dorky high schoolers at that!”

  After dinner, the two men went back to Daniel’s office again. “What do they do back there? They can’t be talking business all that time!” Michelle shook her head in disbelief.

  “Oh, they’re not. They’re playing video games. I guarantee it.”

  “Daniel has a video game console in his office?”

  “It’s the only way he can sneak and play and make me think he’s working. He doesn’t know I know about it, but I do.”

  “When are you going to call him on it?” Michelle asked, a sparkle in her eye.

  “Oh, I’ll wait until the time is just right, and then I’ll say something. He won’t know what hit him.”

  Michelle smiled. “I do like the way you think.”

  “Let’s go for a swim. They’ll join us, I’m sure.”

  That night, Michelle was happy to just hang out in the pool. She and Brenda swam laps for a while, before they sat on the sides of the pool with their feet dangling in the warm water. “I enjoy your pool and hot tub.”

  “You should. They’re awesome.”

  “I just have a swamp, and I can’t swim in it because alligators.”

  “Yeah, alligators scare me even more than bears.”

  “Maybe if you swam in the swamp, you’d feel the need to run a bit more than you do.”

  Brenda shook her head. “Nah. I like not running. I swim for my exercise.”

  “More fun and cooler,” Michelle said with a nod. “I approve.”

  “Your approval is all that matters to me.”

  They heard laughter as the men headed out to join them. Daniel made a clean dive into the pool, and as soon as he did, Seth did a cannonball, landing right in front of him.

  “So rude!” Daniel said when he came up sputtering.

  Brenda and Michelle watched the men as they frolicked in the water, pushing and splashing each other as if their lives depended on it. “They act like little boys. Are they always this way?” Michelle asked.

  “No. Seth is a lot more relaxed since you guys got married. I think he needed to find the right woman for him.”

  Michelle frowned at that. She didn’t know if she was the right woman for anyone. She knew no one would ever love her, so she worried that Seth would realize it and hate her eventually. She hoped not, but how could he not realize how unlovable she was eventually?

  “Should we join them?” Brenda asked after a long pause.

  Michelle shook her head. “I’m not getting in the middle of that nonsense. What if they turn on me?”

  Brenda laughed. “You make a good point, my friend. I have an unborn child to protect.” She put her hands down over her belly as if protecting the child.

  Daniel stopped messing around and rushed to Brenda’s side. “Are you okay? Is something wrong with the baby? What’s happening?”

  Brenda laughed. “The baby is fine, and so is his mama. Go back to acting like a child.”

  “Why did you grab your stomach then? Are you sure the baby’s okay?” The sheer panic in Daniel’s voice brought tears to Michelle’s eyes. Someday she hoped someone would be able to love her that way. She wasn’t holding her breath though.

  “I was just playing around. I told Michelle I couldn’t get in the water with you two because you might hurt the baby.”

  Daniel’s eyes grew wide. “I’ll stop messing around. I promise. We won’t hurt the baby. You can swim.”

  Brenda laughed. “That’s not what I’m saying. We already swam. I’m good. I was just making a joke. I won’t do that again.”

  Daniel frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m absolutely positive. Go play with your friend.” After he’d gone back to swim some more, Brenda looked at Michelle and rolled her eyes. “Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that anyone can love me that much. But he does.”

  Michelle sighed. “I want that someday. I envy you a great deal. And it’s not for your pool, hot tub, or huge house. I don’t even envy you Daniel. I envy the way he loves you. I need that in my life.”

  Brenda smiled, putting her hand on Michelle’s arm. “You get the same from Seth. You just don’t see it yet. I promise you, he feels the same way about you that Daniel does about me.”

  Michelle shook her head, feeling a tear prick her eye. She wished her friend was right with everything inside her, but she knew better.

  Chapter Nine

  On Friday morning, Seth drove Michelle to his mother’s apartment in Boston. It was in a quiet little community. “She’s lived here for about fifteen years,” he told Michelle as they climbed the stairs to the second story apartment.

  Michelle gripped his hand tightly while he knocked on the door, more nervous than she’d been walking down the aisle toward Seth. She took breaths slowly in through her nose and out through her mouth, trying to calm herself. She had no idea what to expect, and that made it so much harder for her.

  When the door was opened, Michelle stared at the tall, smiling woman on the other side. “Seth!” Mrs. Henderson grabbed her son in a hug, holding him against her, before she turned her attention to Michelle. “And you must be Michelle.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Henderson.”

  “Oh, call me Judy. Mrs. Henderson was my mother-in-law.” She opened the door wider, inviting them both inside. “I’m so happy to finally meet you. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it down for the wedding, but it would have been hard to get someone to cover my shift at the last minute.”

  “Seth told me you’re a nurse.”

  Judy nodded. “I’m an oncology nurse at a local hospital. I get to know my patients, because they tend to be in and out of the hospital.”

  “It must be hard when you lose them.” Michelle had lost one student to a car accident in her first year as principal, and she could still feel the grief that had surrounded the entire school. She wasn’t sure if it was worse to lose someone to a long, slow death or one that was completely unexpected.

  “It is. Harder than I can describe. But each one leaves something of himself behind. I wouldn’t trade jobs for anything in the world.” Judy waved Seth and Michelle toward the couch. “Sit down. What do you do, Michelle?”

  “I’m a high school principal in a tiny little town in Louisiana.”

  “I’ve never been to Louisiana. Do you like it there?”

  Michelle shrugged. “It’s all I’ve ever known. I love my students, and my little school. I have a great family that I live very close to. It’s a wonderful place.” She was fully aware of the flaws of her state, and especially of the education system, but she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

  “Is it really as wild as people read about during Mardi Gras?”

  “Yes. I’ve never actually been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, though. My little town has its own parade, on a much smaller and less debauched scale, and I attend e
very year. Usually it’s a couple of my students serving as king and queen of the parade.”

  “Maybe I’ll try to come down for your little town’s parade this year. Would that be all right?” Judy asked Michelle.

  “Oh, yes, ma’am. Of course it would! We have a spare room you could use. I’d love to get to know you better.”

  Judy laughed. “I’m a mother-in-law. Of course you don’t want to know me better.”

  Michelle smiled at that. “But I do. I look forward to you visiting.”

  Seth looked at Michelle. “You said that without looking like you wanted to throw up. I’m really impressed.”

  Judy looked at her son. “Behave yourself. I remember meeting my mother-in-law for the first time, and your sarcasm will only make things worse.” She hovered in the doorway. “Can I get you something to drink? Iced tea? Water? Milk? Pepsi?”

  Michelle smiled. “I’d love some iced tea if you don’t mind.”

  “I only have sweet. Is that a problem?”

  “That’s the only way I like it,” Michelle responded with a smile.

  “Me too, Mom,” Seth said. As soon as his mother left for the kitchen, he took her hand in his. “See, she’s not scary at all.”

  Michelle shook her head. “Not yet.”

  From the other room, Judy called, “When are you two going to start a family? I’m not getting any younger, and I sure want to be young enough to enjoy my grandbabies.”

  He looked at Michelle and made a face. “Now we know. That’s the new thing she’ll nag about,” he said in a loud whisper.

  Michelle elbowed him in the side. “I’d like children right away,” she called back to the kitchen.

  “Oh, good. I’d like half a dozen or so grandkids. I wanted that many children, but unfortunately, I was only able to get pregnant the once. At least I got two for the price of one.” Judy came back into the room carrying two glasses of iced tea, giving one to each. “Seth, move over to the other chair. I want to sit with Michelle.”

  Seth gave his mother a wary look. “Why?” He didn’t trust her at all.