Bare devotion, p.17
Bare Devotion, page 17
Henry nodded. “Point taken. And really, I’m so happy for you and Poppy.”
“Thanks.” Brandon’s grin slipped. “Have you heard anything from Jena?”
“Nothing. She’s supposed to be back from her reserve active duty this month, isn’t she?”
“That’s what she said before she left.” Brandon’s face looked troubled. “But Mom and Dad mentioned at the reception that they were concerned. You know how they are. They never come out and say they’re worried.”
Henry snorted. “Because only people who don’t have everything completely under control worry. It would make their obsession with perfect appearances moot.”
Brandon shook his head. “I’m not kidding here. They said she usually checks in more often. And she used to with me, too. I just figured she was busy with whatever exercise she’s doing down there.”
“She checked in with me more during her last active duty tour, too.” He remembered laughing at her silly photos of her in the middle of God-knew-where. “Do we know exactly where she is in South America?” Henry listened with half attention as the other part of him was occupied with visions of last night with Sonja. How her naked skin felt against his, again. It was like he was a high school kid who’d just lost his virginity. He wanted more.
“...Asunción.” Brandon looked at him. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
“Yeah—wait. Paraguay? Jena’s in Paraguay?” His parents hadn’t mentioned it to him, but they’d been busy making the amends of a lifetime. At least the start, anyhow.
“That’s the last I heard. She sent a short text right before the wedding, let me look.” As Brandon scrolled through his texts, Henry tried to find out if he was losing his mind.
“You make any more headway on getting your money back?” Brandon’s CFO and former best friend, Jeb, had absconded with a cool fifteen million one month ago, leaving Jeb’s shipbuilding business in the lurch. “Any leads on new contracts?”
“As a matter of fact, no and yes. No, no sign of Jeb since a private investigator I hired traced him to Asunción, where he disappeared. And as I’m sitting here, I’m wondering why I haven’t put more than coincidence on Jena being in the same place Jeb took my money to.”
Henry’s hackles rose. His younger sister was precious to both of them, and the thought of her meeting with trouble made him sick. His breakfast sank in his stomach like a lead weight. “They, they haven’t been together, ever, have they?”
“Other than when she tried to get him to take her to prom? No. Besides, Jeb’s like a brother, or he was, at one point.” Brandon dismissed the concept.
“Jeb was like a brother to you, but not as much to me and Jena. He was our friend because he was your friend.” He thought he’d detected sparks between his sister and Jeb on more than one occasion but chalked it up to none of his business.
“So what, you’re saying they ran away together or something?”
“Or something. Did you report this to the police?”
“Yes. And the FBI. People far bigger than us are on it.” Brandon drummed his fingers on the table. “And if Jena was in big trouble the Navy would have reached out to Mom and Dad, right?”
“Yeah. Hopefully.” Henry felt sad for his brother. “You’re certain you won’t ever get your money back?”
“Yes.” Brandon leaned back in the booth and stuck a toothpick in his mouth. “That’s gone. I’m starting over. And it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to with anyone else but Poppy.”
“Have you been talking to Mom and Dad any?”
“More than the nothing we said to one another for the better part of ten years?” Brandon looked at him with complete incredulity. “No, not really. I suppose I’ll need to think about Poppy getting to meet them for more than the brief introduction they had at your wedding.” He grimaced, aware of the pain it caused Henry that the wedding hadn’t happened. “Sorry, bro.”
“No worries.” And to his surprise, he wasn’t as torn up about it as he might have been even a few days ago. He and Sonja were on a new road, one that he was curious about but not dreading. “It sounds like Mom and Dad are really worried about Jena. Maybe we should be, too.”
“I’d give it another week or so. She shows up, we’ll ask her the hard questions then.”
“Like who does she really work for?”
“You’ve wondered, too, eh?” Brandon’s eyes sparkled in conspiracy. “It is odd how she has a regular day job here in the States but then disappears for longer than a month at times. I thought the reserves meant you drilled on weekends and did two weeks active per year.”
Henry laughed at him. “Yeah, back in the stone ages when we went to college and our friends took NROTC scholarships. I think it’s all dependent upon the needs of the Navy these days, right?”
“Yup. That reminds me. No, I didn’t get the San Sofia contract, but yes on the second part of your question. I landed a job that entails several contracts when I put a bid in for the San Sofia drug interdiction boats.” Brandon had spiffed himself up with the help of Sonja’s best friend Poppy and pitched his business to the foreign island nation’s naval representatives. Something definitely out of his comfort zone.
“I never told you in person, but I’m so damned proud of you, bro. You could have curled up into a ball over Jeb’s shit, and instead you pulled it together and went after a big fish.”
Brandon smiled. “It’s the Boudreaux way, right?”
“I won’t deny there’s something in our blood that keeps us forging ahead.” Would it be enough to keep him going as long as it took to work things out with Sonja? Wait—was that the feeling that had been dogging him this past month?
Holy hell, he wanted to make it work with her again.
Could he win Sonja back?
“Henry?” Brandon had missed nothing. Fuck, it was like he wore his heart on his face around his brother.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let her get away again. Do whatever it takes. Maybe you’re not going to ever get married, formally. Is it that important?”
“I can’t even go there.” It was too much to think they’d work it out to the point of being a full couple again, wasn’t it?
Brandon laughed, the deep belly laugh Henry associated with their childhood shenanigans. “Henry, dude, you’re already ‘there.’”
Henry let his brother finish laughing before he stood up. Brandon followed. “Let me know if you hear anything more about Jena.”
“Will do.”
They did the bro hug, patting each other on the back.
Henry knew he’d be thinking about Brandon’s observations for the rest of the day.
* * * *
Sonja looked with trepidation at the piles of papers on her desk. It was everything she’d been able to put together from talking to Henry and her own account of how she’d first met Deidre—at the wedding—and how she hadn’t invited her. Neither had Henry.
But Mr. and Mrs. Boudreaux had, and Judge Perkins wasn’t going to accept Sonja’s reasoning that Deidre had manipulated her way into their nuptials. So far her testimony read as though she and Henry had invited the woman and her illness into their lives.
Unless...
Sonja went out to the reception area. Henry was nowhere in sight, at brunch with his brother if memory served her right. Alesia was gone, probably an early lunch since they weren’t seeing any clients until later in the afternoon. Sonja knew what she had to do.
Later that afternoon she headed for Baton Rouge. Two hours from New Orleans, the Boudreauxs’ home and Hudson’s nearby law office was only a little more than an hour from where Sonja and Henry had built the house. So at least her drive back to the cottage wouldn’t be as long. The two-hour drive to the Boudreauxs’ was the perfect amount of time to clear her head and make sure her motives were correct. Plus she needed to gird her loins, literally. She wasn’t showing up as only the bride who’d jilted their son. She was the mother of their future grandchild, whether or not they knew it yet.
It was almost six in the evening when she pulled up to the large contemporary home in the exclusive subdivision. She’d thought ahead and found the code for the keypad where Henry kept all of his computer passwords—taped on the bottom of his watchcase. Henry loved watches like she loved bags, and she’d enjoyed giving him one for Christmas this past year that she noted he was still wearing. As if he wanted something from her close to him, even after the awfulness of their un-wedding.
She parked her car on the circular driveway, under an oversize crepe myrtle before the main entryway. The element of surprise was all she had, and knowledge from Henry that his parents dined at precisely six thirty every evening, thirty minutes after his father arrived home. Unless they were at one of their favorite restaurants, where they’d treated her and Henry to nice, stilted meals.
Hopefully they were dining in tonight and she’d catch Henry’s mother alone for the first few minutes. If she could convince Gloria to sign the affidavit that she’d been the one to send the invitation to Deidre, then it seemed likely Hudson would do the same. They did everything in step, those two.
The doorbell chimed like an antique gong deep in the house, and she held her breath. Light footsteps, the shape of his mother’s head at the side beveled windows. Sonja bit her lip. Gloria recognized her because she visibly jerked, even through the distorted glass.
As the door swung open Sonja was greeted with shiny wooden floors, warm light spilling from the great family room beyond, and the stony glare of Henry’s mother. Henry and his brother Brandon had inherited her brilliant blue eyes but unlike her sons’, her eyes were brittle and detached.
“Sonja.” Gloria peered past Sonja, looking for someone else. “Did you come alone?”
“I did. I wanted to speak to you and Hudson for a few minutes. May I come in?”
“Of course! Please.” Gloria stood to the side and opened the front door wide. Maybe all that Henry had told her was true—she’d never seen Gloria appear this open, this welcoming.
Sonja walked into the grand foyer, contemporary but with decorative flairs that were in standing with the historical charm she associated with an older home. The kind of home that hadn’t been able to survive Katrina. This modern edifice was stormproof not just in build but location, over two hours away from the initial strike zone of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Hudson is due home at any minute. We have dinner plans, and we’d love to have you join us.” Gloria’s smile was genuine. So Henry had gotten it right. There had been some kind of epiphany in the Boudreaux home.
“No, no, thank you. I have to get back to New Orleans as soon as we’re finished.”
“Is everything okay? I mean, besides the wedding.” Gloria’s face crumpled. “Shit. I’m making another mess of things. Sonja, I don’t know if you’ve spoken to Henry, but Hudson and I are so very sorry for the way we’ve treated you. How can you ever forgive us?”
“Gloria.” Where to begin? And clearly Henry hadn’t told them they were sharing the cottage again. No matter. “That’s past. I appreciate your seeing things the way they really are, though.” There was nothing else to say. Their past bigotry wasn’t hers to forgive.
“I’m not here about why I jilted Henry, Gloria.” That was between her and Henry. “I’m here to ask you if you sent a wedding invitation to Deidre.”
“Why, yes I did. After I ran into her and her mother at the Christmas Tea in NOLA last year, they asked me to keep in touch. Deidre was still married at the time, I even sent the invitation to both her and her husband. I didn’t know until the rehearsal dinner that she’s divorced. Why, is Deidre what made you run, Sonja? I can assure you that Henry never looked at any other woman the way he looks at you!”
Too much too late. Where was Gloria’s support of their relationship six, twelve months ago? In the racist shit pile, was where.
“Why I’m really here is to obtain a statement from you and Hudson that you were the ones to invite Deidre to the wedding. She was never on our guest list. I never received an RSVP from her, either.” As much as it was tempting to have a soul-baring conversation with Gloria, all Sonja needed was her and Hudson’s signatures.
“A statement?” Gloria visibly blanched. “I need to wait to speak to my husband. Is Deidre in some kind of trouble?”
Sonja wasn’t sure what to tell Gloria. Even after the bitch on wheels she’d been to Sonja when it came to Henry, the woman seemed truly repentant. And in emotional distress.
“Have you heard any more from Jena?”
Gloria’s eyes welled up. “No. Not a thing. It’s some kind of secret job she has, down in South America. We won’t hear anything until she walks through this door again.”
“What do we have here? Sonja!” The thunderous timbre of Hudson Boudreaux’s voice, the same as Henry’s but mellowed with age, made Sonja jump.
She turned to see him stride through the open front door. He stopped a couple of feet shy of where Sonja stood, her legs braced against what she expected to be a predictable dressing down from her boss.
“Hi, Hudson. I’m sorry to barge in. Gloria told me you’ve planned a nice evening out, so I’ll be brief. I’m working on a motion to dismiss, and I need your signature on an affidavit I’ve prepared.” She filled Hudson in, lawyer-to-lawyer. He remained silent, listening intently. As Sonja spoke, Hudson held his arm up, and Gloria sidled up next to him.
Hudson looked at Gloria. “You sent the invitation? You didn’t mention it when we saw her. I assumed she was on Henry and Sonja’s list.”
Gloria fidgeted with her earring. “Henry gave us extras for that reason, Hudson. To invite anyone we felt was overlooked.”
His glance remained on Gloria a minute too long, and Sonja’s insides shook. Holy shit, Gloria had gone behind Hudson’s back, as well. It wasn’t only her and Henry who needed to have some truthful dialogue.
“This is a rough situation. Did you tell Sonja about us—about how we’ve been feeling?”
Gloria nodded. “I did.”
Hudson looked at Sonja. “I am sorry for any pain I ever caused you and Henry, Sonja. You must know that I hold your legal expertise in the highest regard. But that’s not enough. I acted in a most inappropriate way when I found out you and Henry were an item.”
“Hold it, Hudson.” Before Sonja could reply, Gloria stepped out from under his arm. “I was the one who sent the invitation. And my motive was wrong—I wanted Henry to see what he was giving up by marrying you.” Tears overspilled and tracked down her well-kept porcelain skin. “I’ve made a horrible mistake.”
Hudson cleared his throat. “We both have. Can I offer you a drink? I sure need one.”
“I’m sorry, but I really do have to get back.” And alcohol was off-limits until their grandchild arrived, but she wasn’t about to share that with them. That was something for her and Henry to do, later. Or just Henry, depending on how well they worked things out.
Sonja sucked in a breath and purposely kept her hand from moving over her abdomen in the protective move she’d caught herself doing since suspecting she was pregnant. “I know that you have no reason to trust me as far as Henry goes. I ran out on the wedding, that’s on me. But I’m here as your employee and someone who cares about Henry. I have every hope that this will be dismissed and not reflect poorly on the firm.” Other than the awful news coverage Deidre was engaged in obtaining.
“I agree with you, Sonja. This will blow over.” Hudson looked around. “Pen?”
Sonja handed him hers, and when he finished, he handed the document to Gloria, who signed next to his signature. Once Sonja had the folder back in her grasp, she let out a long sigh. “Thank you both.”
“Judge Perkins has it, then.” Hudson had his arm back around Gloria.
“Yes. She will, as soon as I file. Thank you for your time. And, thank you for, for your honesty. For what it’s worth, the reason Henry and I didn’t get married is on us. You really had nothing to do with it.”
The Boudreauxs exchanged a look that she couldn’t translate.
Chapter 16
“Hey, boo, thanks for meeting me.” She looked at the country café’s menu, remembering the last time she’d had a meal here. With Henry, only a couple of weeks ago. They’d covered a lot of ground since then.
Poppy waved her hand in the air as if fending off flies. “Stop it. I’ll meet you whenever you want.”
Sonja had called Poppy from the road, unable to drive straight home to Henry. She needed space between the vastly different Boudreauxs. And she was hungry.
“What’ll you have?” The waitress wrote down their orders, after which Sonja looked into Poppy’s amber eyes and laughed.
“We still pick the same thing.”
“Yes.” Poppy sipped her iced tea. “I’ve been here for a while now, I’m getting used to it being my home, and I still can’t get enough of crawdads.”
“They’re delicious.”
“Remember the first time we had them? Or rather, I had them, when I came down here for spring break senior year?”
Sonja smiled. “Sure do. You thought they were bugs.”
“I did. But they taste like lobster.”
“They’re better than lobster. Especially the heads.”
“Why did you come right back home, Sonja? You were never tempted to stay in New York like I did. I always wondered why.”
“My family’s here, my roots are here.”
Poppy shook her head. “There has to be more. You’ve got all the makings of a city girl.”
“Whoa—I loved New York when we went to school, and yeah, I could see myself getting by in just about any city. But only temporarily. I feel myself most here. And in case you haven’t noticed, New Orleans is a city.”
Poppy rested her chin on her hand. “You’re my hero.”
“Knock it off, boo.” She’d used the Cajun endearment on Poppy since they’d figured out they were best friends freshman year.
“Thanks.” Brandon’s grin slipped. “Have you heard anything from Jena?”
“Nothing. She’s supposed to be back from her reserve active duty this month, isn’t she?”
“That’s what she said before she left.” Brandon’s face looked troubled. “But Mom and Dad mentioned at the reception that they were concerned. You know how they are. They never come out and say they’re worried.”
Henry snorted. “Because only people who don’t have everything completely under control worry. It would make their obsession with perfect appearances moot.”
Brandon shook his head. “I’m not kidding here. They said she usually checks in more often. And she used to with me, too. I just figured she was busy with whatever exercise she’s doing down there.”
“She checked in with me more during her last active duty tour, too.” He remembered laughing at her silly photos of her in the middle of God-knew-where. “Do we know exactly where she is in South America?” Henry listened with half attention as the other part of him was occupied with visions of last night with Sonja. How her naked skin felt against his, again. It was like he was a high school kid who’d just lost his virginity. He wanted more.
“...Asunción.” Brandon looked at him. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
“Yeah—wait. Paraguay? Jena’s in Paraguay?” His parents hadn’t mentioned it to him, but they’d been busy making the amends of a lifetime. At least the start, anyhow.
“That’s the last I heard. She sent a short text right before the wedding, let me look.” As Brandon scrolled through his texts, Henry tried to find out if he was losing his mind.
“You make any more headway on getting your money back?” Brandon’s CFO and former best friend, Jeb, had absconded with a cool fifteen million one month ago, leaving Jeb’s shipbuilding business in the lurch. “Any leads on new contracts?”
“As a matter of fact, no and yes. No, no sign of Jeb since a private investigator I hired traced him to Asunción, where he disappeared. And as I’m sitting here, I’m wondering why I haven’t put more than coincidence on Jena being in the same place Jeb took my money to.”
Henry’s hackles rose. His younger sister was precious to both of them, and the thought of her meeting with trouble made him sick. His breakfast sank in his stomach like a lead weight. “They, they haven’t been together, ever, have they?”
“Other than when she tried to get him to take her to prom? No. Besides, Jeb’s like a brother, or he was, at one point.” Brandon dismissed the concept.
“Jeb was like a brother to you, but not as much to me and Jena. He was our friend because he was your friend.” He thought he’d detected sparks between his sister and Jeb on more than one occasion but chalked it up to none of his business.
“So what, you’re saying they ran away together or something?”
“Or something. Did you report this to the police?”
“Yes. And the FBI. People far bigger than us are on it.” Brandon drummed his fingers on the table. “And if Jena was in big trouble the Navy would have reached out to Mom and Dad, right?”
“Yeah. Hopefully.” Henry felt sad for his brother. “You’re certain you won’t ever get your money back?”
“Yes.” Brandon leaned back in the booth and stuck a toothpick in his mouth. “That’s gone. I’m starting over. And it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to with anyone else but Poppy.”
“Have you been talking to Mom and Dad any?”
“More than the nothing we said to one another for the better part of ten years?” Brandon looked at him with complete incredulity. “No, not really. I suppose I’ll need to think about Poppy getting to meet them for more than the brief introduction they had at your wedding.” He grimaced, aware of the pain it caused Henry that the wedding hadn’t happened. “Sorry, bro.”
“No worries.” And to his surprise, he wasn’t as torn up about it as he might have been even a few days ago. He and Sonja were on a new road, one that he was curious about but not dreading. “It sounds like Mom and Dad are really worried about Jena. Maybe we should be, too.”
“I’d give it another week or so. She shows up, we’ll ask her the hard questions then.”
“Like who does she really work for?”
“You’ve wondered, too, eh?” Brandon’s eyes sparkled in conspiracy. “It is odd how she has a regular day job here in the States but then disappears for longer than a month at times. I thought the reserves meant you drilled on weekends and did two weeks active per year.”
Henry laughed at him. “Yeah, back in the stone ages when we went to college and our friends took NROTC scholarships. I think it’s all dependent upon the needs of the Navy these days, right?”
“Yup. That reminds me. No, I didn’t get the San Sofia contract, but yes on the second part of your question. I landed a job that entails several contracts when I put a bid in for the San Sofia drug interdiction boats.” Brandon had spiffed himself up with the help of Sonja’s best friend Poppy and pitched his business to the foreign island nation’s naval representatives. Something definitely out of his comfort zone.
“I never told you in person, but I’m so damned proud of you, bro. You could have curled up into a ball over Jeb’s shit, and instead you pulled it together and went after a big fish.”
Brandon smiled. “It’s the Boudreaux way, right?”
“I won’t deny there’s something in our blood that keeps us forging ahead.” Would it be enough to keep him going as long as it took to work things out with Sonja? Wait—was that the feeling that had been dogging him this past month?
Holy hell, he wanted to make it work with her again.
Could he win Sonja back?
“Henry?” Brandon had missed nothing. Fuck, it was like he wore his heart on his face around his brother.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let her get away again. Do whatever it takes. Maybe you’re not going to ever get married, formally. Is it that important?”
“I can’t even go there.” It was too much to think they’d work it out to the point of being a full couple again, wasn’t it?
Brandon laughed, the deep belly laugh Henry associated with their childhood shenanigans. “Henry, dude, you’re already ‘there.’”
Henry let his brother finish laughing before he stood up. Brandon followed. “Let me know if you hear anything more about Jena.”
“Will do.”
They did the bro hug, patting each other on the back.
Henry knew he’d be thinking about Brandon’s observations for the rest of the day.
* * * *
Sonja looked with trepidation at the piles of papers on her desk. It was everything she’d been able to put together from talking to Henry and her own account of how she’d first met Deidre—at the wedding—and how she hadn’t invited her. Neither had Henry.
But Mr. and Mrs. Boudreaux had, and Judge Perkins wasn’t going to accept Sonja’s reasoning that Deidre had manipulated her way into their nuptials. So far her testimony read as though she and Henry had invited the woman and her illness into their lives.
Unless...
Sonja went out to the reception area. Henry was nowhere in sight, at brunch with his brother if memory served her right. Alesia was gone, probably an early lunch since they weren’t seeing any clients until later in the afternoon. Sonja knew what she had to do.
Later that afternoon she headed for Baton Rouge. Two hours from New Orleans, the Boudreauxs’ home and Hudson’s nearby law office was only a little more than an hour from where Sonja and Henry had built the house. So at least her drive back to the cottage wouldn’t be as long. The two-hour drive to the Boudreauxs’ was the perfect amount of time to clear her head and make sure her motives were correct. Plus she needed to gird her loins, literally. She wasn’t showing up as only the bride who’d jilted their son. She was the mother of their future grandchild, whether or not they knew it yet.
It was almost six in the evening when she pulled up to the large contemporary home in the exclusive subdivision. She’d thought ahead and found the code for the keypad where Henry kept all of his computer passwords—taped on the bottom of his watchcase. Henry loved watches like she loved bags, and she’d enjoyed giving him one for Christmas this past year that she noted he was still wearing. As if he wanted something from her close to him, even after the awfulness of their un-wedding.
She parked her car on the circular driveway, under an oversize crepe myrtle before the main entryway. The element of surprise was all she had, and knowledge from Henry that his parents dined at precisely six thirty every evening, thirty minutes after his father arrived home. Unless they were at one of their favorite restaurants, where they’d treated her and Henry to nice, stilted meals.
Hopefully they were dining in tonight and she’d catch Henry’s mother alone for the first few minutes. If she could convince Gloria to sign the affidavit that she’d been the one to send the invitation to Deidre, then it seemed likely Hudson would do the same. They did everything in step, those two.
The doorbell chimed like an antique gong deep in the house, and she held her breath. Light footsteps, the shape of his mother’s head at the side beveled windows. Sonja bit her lip. Gloria recognized her because she visibly jerked, even through the distorted glass.
As the door swung open Sonja was greeted with shiny wooden floors, warm light spilling from the great family room beyond, and the stony glare of Henry’s mother. Henry and his brother Brandon had inherited her brilliant blue eyes but unlike her sons’, her eyes were brittle and detached.
“Sonja.” Gloria peered past Sonja, looking for someone else. “Did you come alone?”
“I did. I wanted to speak to you and Hudson for a few minutes. May I come in?”
“Of course! Please.” Gloria stood to the side and opened the front door wide. Maybe all that Henry had told her was true—she’d never seen Gloria appear this open, this welcoming.
Sonja walked into the grand foyer, contemporary but with decorative flairs that were in standing with the historical charm she associated with an older home. The kind of home that hadn’t been able to survive Katrina. This modern edifice was stormproof not just in build but location, over two hours away from the initial strike zone of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Hudson is due home at any minute. We have dinner plans, and we’d love to have you join us.” Gloria’s smile was genuine. So Henry had gotten it right. There had been some kind of epiphany in the Boudreaux home.
“No, no, thank you. I have to get back to New Orleans as soon as we’re finished.”
“Is everything okay? I mean, besides the wedding.” Gloria’s face crumpled. “Shit. I’m making another mess of things. Sonja, I don’t know if you’ve spoken to Henry, but Hudson and I are so very sorry for the way we’ve treated you. How can you ever forgive us?”
“Gloria.” Where to begin? And clearly Henry hadn’t told them they were sharing the cottage again. No matter. “That’s past. I appreciate your seeing things the way they really are, though.” There was nothing else to say. Their past bigotry wasn’t hers to forgive.
“I’m not here about why I jilted Henry, Gloria.” That was between her and Henry. “I’m here to ask you if you sent a wedding invitation to Deidre.”
“Why, yes I did. After I ran into her and her mother at the Christmas Tea in NOLA last year, they asked me to keep in touch. Deidre was still married at the time, I even sent the invitation to both her and her husband. I didn’t know until the rehearsal dinner that she’s divorced. Why, is Deidre what made you run, Sonja? I can assure you that Henry never looked at any other woman the way he looks at you!”
Too much too late. Where was Gloria’s support of their relationship six, twelve months ago? In the racist shit pile, was where.
“Why I’m really here is to obtain a statement from you and Hudson that you were the ones to invite Deidre to the wedding. She was never on our guest list. I never received an RSVP from her, either.” As much as it was tempting to have a soul-baring conversation with Gloria, all Sonja needed was her and Hudson’s signatures.
“A statement?” Gloria visibly blanched. “I need to wait to speak to my husband. Is Deidre in some kind of trouble?”
Sonja wasn’t sure what to tell Gloria. Even after the bitch on wheels she’d been to Sonja when it came to Henry, the woman seemed truly repentant. And in emotional distress.
“Have you heard any more from Jena?”
Gloria’s eyes welled up. “No. Not a thing. It’s some kind of secret job she has, down in South America. We won’t hear anything until she walks through this door again.”
“What do we have here? Sonja!” The thunderous timbre of Hudson Boudreaux’s voice, the same as Henry’s but mellowed with age, made Sonja jump.
She turned to see him stride through the open front door. He stopped a couple of feet shy of where Sonja stood, her legs braced against what she expected to be a predictable dressing down from her boss.
“Hi, Hudson. I’m sorry to barge in. Gloria told me you’ve planned a nice evening out, so I’ll be brief. I’m working on a motion to dismiss, and I need your signature on an affidavit I’ve prepared.” She filled Hudson in, lawyer-to-lawyer. He remained silent, listening intently. As Sonja spoke, Hudson held his arm up, and Gloria sidled up next to him.
Hudson looked at Gloria. “You sent the invitation? You didn’t mention it when we saw her. I assumed she was on Henry and Sonja’s list.”
Gloria fidgeted with her earring. “Henry gave us extras for that reason, Hudson. To invite anyone we felt was overlooked.”
His glance remained on Gloria a minute too long, and Sonja’s insides shook. Holy shit, Gloria had gone behind Hudson’s back, as well. It wasn’t only her and Henry who needed to have some truthful dialogue.
“This is a rough situation. Did you tell Sonja about us—about how we’ve been feeling?”
Gloria nodded. “I did.”
Hudson looked at Sonja. “I am sorry for any pain I ever caused you and Henry, Sonja. You must know that I hold your legal expertise in the highest regard. But that’s not enough. I acted in a most inappropriate way when I found out you and Henry were an item.”
“Hold it, Hudson.” Before Sonja could reply, Gloria stepped out from under his arm. “I was the one who sent the invitation. And my motive was wrong—I wanted Henry to see what he was giving up by marrying you.” Tears overspilled and tracked down her well-kept porcelain skin. “I’ve made a horrible mistake.”
Hudson cleared his throat. “We both have. Can I offer you a drink? I sure need one.”
“I’m sorry, but I really do have to get back.” And alcohol was off-limits until their grandchild arrived, but she wasn’t about to share that with them. That was something for her and Henry to do, later. Or just Henry, depending on how well they worked things out.
Sonja sucked in a breath and purposely kept her hand from moving over her abdomen in the protective move she’d caught herself doing since suspecting she was pregnant. “I know that you have no reason to trust me as far as Henry goes. I ran out on the wedding, that’s on me. But I’m here as your employee and someone who cares about Henry. I have every hope that this will be dismissed and not reflect poorly on the firm.” Other than the awful news coverage Deidre was engaged in obtaining.
“I agree with you, Sonja. This will blow over.” Hudson looked around. “Pen?”
Sonja handed him hers, and when he finished, he handed the document to Gloria, who signed next to his signature. Once Sonja had the folder back in her grasp, she let out a long sigh. “Thank you both.”
“Judge Perkins has it, then.” Hudson had his arm back around Gloria.
“Yes. She will, as soon as I file. Thank you for your time. And, thank you for, for your honesty. For what it’s worth, the reason Henry and I didn’t get married is on us. You really had nothing to do with it.”
The Boudreauxs exchanged a look that she couldn’t translate.
Chapter 16
“Hey, boo, thanks for meeting me.” She looked at the country café’s menu, remembering the last time she’d had a meal here. With Henry, only a couple of weeks ago. They’d covered a lot of ground since then.
Poppy waved her hand in the air as if fending off flies. “Stop it. I’ll meet you whenever you want.”
Sonja had called Poppy from the road, unable to drive straight home to Henry. She needed space between the vastly different Boudreauxs. And she was hungry.
“What’ll you have?” The waitress wrote down their orders, after which Sonja looked into Poppy’s amber eyes and laughed.
“We still pick the same thing.”
“Yes.” Poppy sipped her iced tea. “I’ve been here for a while now, I’m getting used to it being my home, and I still can’t get enough of crawdads.”
“They’re delicious.”
“Remember the first time we had them? Or rather, I had them, when I came down here for spring break senior year?”
Sonja smiled. “Sure do. You thought they were bugs.”
“I did. But they taste like lobster.”
“They’re better than lobster. Especially the heads.”
“Why did you come right back home, Sonja? You were never tempted to stay in New York like I did. I always wondered why.”
“My family’s here, my roots are here.”
Poppy shook her head. “There has to be more. You’ve got all the makings of a city girl.”
“Whoa—I loved New York when we went to school, and yeah, I could see myself getting by in just about any city. But only temporarily. I feel myself most here. And in case you haven’t noticed, New Orleans is a city.”
Poppy rested her chin on her hand. “You’re my hero.”
“Knock it off, boo.” She’d used the Cajun endearment on Poppy since they’d figured out they were best friends freshman year.
