The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) (11 page)

As she stood with Evie and Jerome, staring up at the misty blue peak of Copper Mountain from the green pasturelands below, Bobo galloping them around like a mad mountain hare, an image of Laurent filled her mind.
He continued to keep his emotions closely guarded and was still prone to disappearing into his workshop until the early hours, endlessly carving, chiselling and sanding his reclaimed timber into beautiful objects. Occasionally she caught him brooding and staring sightlessly into the distance, and she sensed that Brooke was never very far from his thoughts. But he was no longer the troubled man she’d been confronted by on her arrival. She and he now had a friendly, supportive relationship that centered on the children, which she really valued. The kids had made huge leaps forward: Evie was still the lively, talkative, precocious child she’s always been, but no longer quite so wilful and wild; Jerome was starting to talk in sentences and had conquered the bathroom, and there was definitely more of the rapport and understanding that he needed from his dad. There was still a little way to go there, though, so she was going to have to keep plugging away with Laurent. But the great improvement overall gave her courage. She
was
making a difference.

The only fly in her ointment was the quiet but ever-nagging ache in her heart, as she kept her feelings for Laurent at bay.
Most of the time she succeeded. But, at odd moments, she found her longing for him overwhelmed her. And it wasn’t just physical attraction anymore; she really, really was coming to like him as a person—his sense of fun, his support of her, his love for his children, his focus and creativity…He was so easy, so great to be around, and she just wanted to drink it in.

She tried to look on the bright side: it meant she was healing after the damaging experience of Tom.

“Bear’s house.” Jerome halted her musings by tugging at her hand.

“Yes, sweetie, that’s the bear’s lair up there,” she confirmed. “C’mon, we’d better head home ourselves.
It’s time for lunch. Wave bye-bye to the bear.”

“Bye, bear,” Jerome called out, and Evie blew a kiss to the mountain.
They started walking back down to Copper Creek, Emma promising that later, after lunch and naps, they would all settle down to watch a DVD of
Jungle Book
and get to meet Mowgli and his bear best friend, Baloo.

“
Ton oeuf. C’est magnifique!
” Pascale clapped her hands with delight at the egg Evie had painted with a pattern of brightly-colored stripes, wiggles and dots.

Easter was only just over a couple of weeks away, and Emma had enlisted Pascale to help her show Evie and Jerome how to take hens’ eggs, make tiny holes in the top and bottom of their shells, blow out the yolks and whites, and decorate them.
Pascale had been delighted to join in and lend her incredible creativity to the process.

“
Mamere!” Jerome proudly displayed his egg to his grandmother, which Emma had worked with him to cover with shiny star stickers.

“
Ooh la la. C’est beau!
” Pascale hugged her little grandson.

“When are we going for hot chocolate? Will it be soon?” Evie bugged Emma with this question for about the hundredth time.
It had been agreed that the children’s reward for behaving at table would be an outing to Copper Mountain Chocolates, where they could order hot chocolate and also pick out an Easter egg each. Emma and Laurent had decided that Rocco’s was probably a step too far right now, though a meal there would follow at some point.

“We’re going tomorrow afternoon; there’s not long to wait now,” Emma reassured her.
Evie still struggled with the concept of time and tended to want everything to happen immediately. Also, it had been unfortunate that they had been supposed to go to Sage’s last week, but Laurent had had to cancel because of a last-minute custom-build commission.

“Good,” Evie pronounced.
“I’m going to have hot chocolate and buy an Easter egg,” she told Pascale self-importantly. “I won lots of marbles.”

The children were behaving beautifully, Emma thought proudly, as they sat with her and Laurent in Copper Mountain Chocolates.
They’d been so excited when she, they and Laurent had piled into the truck to drive to Marietta, and everyone had had a great time singing songs on the journey in. Since coming to Sage’s, Jerome had managed to smear chocolate on his face, but that was all.

Laurent caught her eye over the tops of their heads.
“I’m amazed,” he whispered. “Truly amazed. Three months ago I wouldn’t have thought it possible. Who knew that an English nanny and a jar of marbles could work such wonders?”

Emma laughed.
“They’ve been as good as gold, haven’t they?”

“You’re too modest, Emma Peabody.” Laurent’s eyes crinkled at their corners with approval.
“You are a miracle-worker.”

“Why, thank you, kind sir,” she said with mock graciousness.
“But you need to give yourself a pat on the back too. You’ve been great with them, too.”

Laurent was clearly enjoying their trip. He’d thrown himself into the car concert with enthusiasm, singing at the top of his rather good voice, and it warmed Emma’s heart to see him now sitting with his kids, chatting and joking with them like the great dad that he was.
He was a lovely, lovely man.

“Can we get the Easter eggs?” Evie demanded. “I want an Easter egg.”

“Sure,” Laurent agreed, ruffling up her hair.

“Don’t do that, Daddy!” She pushed his hand away, and palmed her hair back down with her own. “We need to buy an egg for the bear.”

Laurent turned to his daughter. “Why does the bear need an egg, cupcake?”

“Because he’s lonely,” Evie replied without missing a beat.
“He hasn’t got a wife.”

“But the bear’s got all his friends, Evie.
You know that. The beaver, the eagle—“

“The bear’s like you, Daddy,” Evie insisted.
“He hasn’t got a wife and he’s lonely.” She stopped and considered a moment, screwing up her face. “I know. You could marry Emma, Daddy! Then you won’t be lonely anymore,” she finished triumphantly.

There was a silence, then Laurent broke it. “I don’t think Emma wants to marry me.” Though he looked at Emma over the top of
Evie’s head with an expression that said,
Help!
Feeling flustered, she searched for something to say.

However, Evie was on a roll.
“But Emma loves you, and she loves me and Jerome.”

Emma tensed and she felt the heat rising in her face.
Hurriedly she scrambled for a suitable reply for the child. “I do love you all, very much…and it’s a lovely idea. But Daddy and I are fine as we are. We’re…we’re friends!”

Evie thought about this and seem pacified. “Okay. Can we buy the bear an egg?”

“Sure, pumpkin,” Laurent said. “We’ll get that old grizzly an egg.” He looked at Emma and rolled his eyes, and she managed a glimmer of a smile. But, as they got up and the children rushed towards the glass-fronted counter which displayed a mouth-watering array of chocolate eggs, feelings of discomfort and embarrassment washed over her.
Don’t be ridiculous!
she urged herself.
It meant nothing.
Evie just wanted her father to be happy and, with childish logic, had paired her with Laurent.

She felt Laurent’s warm breath on her neck as he leant down and muttered in her ear, “Any more bear talk, and I will personally get a gun and go shoot the damn creature!”

Emma turned to look at him with horror. “Oh, please don’t do that! Evie and Jerome would be inconsolable.” Suddenly, she was very conscious of their close proximity.

“I was just venting my frustration.
I don’t suppose there’s any way we can get the subject changed?”

“I think we just have to let them run with it until they get bored.”

“I’m not sure I can—ahem—
bear
any more bear. And where the hell is this lonely bear, lonely daddy stuff coming from?”

Emma gave him a rueful smile.
How could she tell him that his daughter had picked up on his emotional isolation and was trying to make things right? “I guess she’s just working through the loss of her mum and figuring out the effect it’s having on other people. But she has only her three-year-old’s frame of reference to try and make sense of it.”

She hoped she had been diplomatic, and had got her point across without making him feel bad, that maybe he needed to put the emotional needs of his little girl first, rather than focus on his own discomfort.
But she saw he looked stricken.

“Brooke’s death has had more of an effect on her than we thought.
Oh, God, Emma, this is all my fault. What am I supposed to do? I can’t wave a magic wand and bring her mommy back.”

Emma placed a hand on his arm. “Hey, it’s okay. Your daughter remembers her mother and it’s natural that she looks for a solution for replacing her,” she responded, trying to keep her voice reassuring and steady.

Laurent caught hold of her hand, and Emma felt the strength of his grip. “You’re saying that I need to find a solution…”

She looked into his eyes and saw a tempest of emotions.
She wanted so much to hold him, to soothe him and tell him that it would be all right.

“Want this one!”
Jerome’s excited cry from the other side of the shop cut through the moment.

Both adults turned to where the children were.
Almost without thinking, Emma freed herself from Laurent’s grasp and went over to the counter to admire the children’s choices of eggs. Laurent followed and, without saying anything, paid for their purchases.

Emma could feel Sage
Carrigan’s shrewd eyes upon her. The chocolate shop proprietor gave her a small smile, as though she understood the turmoil Emma was feeling. She also glanced at Laurent, who stood nearby, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Those eggs look yummy. Come on, guys,” Emma chivvied.
“Time to go home.”

Neither Emma nor Laurent spoke to one another during the journey back to Copper Creek.
Jerome fell asleep in his booster seat and Evie filled the silence by happily chattering on about where she was going to leave the egg for the bear. Emma glanced at Laurent from the corner of her eye: he seemed deep in thought. His gaze was fixed firmly on the road ahead, though she could also see how firmly his hands gripped the steering wheel. Now that she had a chance to reflect, she realized that he was a man overwhelmed by the need to do right by his family, because in some way he felt he’d done them wrong. In that moment at the coffee shop, she had become aware of how much responsibility and guilt he felt about his wife’s death. Even if Brooke had died of an unavoidable medical complication…

And she had also to admit that
Evie’s innocent attempts at matchmaking had touched a nerve within her too. She
did
have feelings for Laurent, which she had been trying very hard to hide. Not that she wanted to
marry
him—that would be taking it too far, wouldn’t it?—but there was no doubt he’d got under her skin and if things were different…She halted that train of thought because there was no point in going there. He’d hired her to do a job. She’d let her feelings run away with her.

She tried to calm herself by thinking about Laurent’s reaction again. She could tell he knew in his heart that he had to start moving on and think of his family’s needs, but right now it was still a little more than he could do, because his feelings about Brooke’s death were staying raw.