Wronged (The Cuvier Widows Book 1) (27 page)

A beautiful, older woman stood on the second
story verandah gazing down at them. Her dark hair was tinged with
gray, her long neck graceful and proud. Marian knew she could only
be Louis’s mother. He took the stairs two at a time and when he
reached her, wrapped his arms around his mother, kissing her
cheek.

“Mon fils.”

“
Mere.
Still the prettiest woman I
know.”

She laughed. “Still my son, the courtier.
It’s good to see you.” She patted him on the cheek. “We miss you.
The summer is upon us and you should leave that dreadful city and
come home where it’s clean.”

“
Mere,
New Orleans no longer has the
outbreaks of yellow fever it once had.”

“Pooh! It’s still not healthy,
mon
fils.
“

She released him. “Introduce me to your
guests.”

Marian slowly made her way up the stairs with
Renee and Philip in tow. They stood quietly waiting, watching with
interest as Louis greeted his mother. Somehow she’d never expected
this big, strong man to care for his mother so much. His affection
to her was a contrast to his usual callous ways with women.

“
Mere,
this is Mrs. Marian Cuvier, my
business partner and friend,” he said smiling at Marian.

“Nice to meet you,” she said shaking her
hand. She pointed to the land that surrounded the house. “Welcome
to Belle Fournet.”

“It’s lovely,” Marian said, in awe of the
land and the house.

“Thank you. And who are these beautiful
children?” his mother asked.

“This is Renee and young Philip, my
children.” Marian said proudly.

“We’re honored to have you. Please come
in.”

In the Creole custom, she took them into the
house through her bedroom, though she defied convention and led
them into the parlor of the big house.

“My husband and other son, Edmond, will join
us soon,” she said. “Please make yourself comfortable.” Renee and
Philip followed them, their eyes wide as they gazed at the rooms.
They sat down in the parlor and a servant brought lemonade, which
they sipped, their throats parched from the summer heat.

“I’ve sent a servant to fetch the men.” She
gazed at Marian. “Louis tells us that you’ve taken over your
husband’s part of the business.”

“Yes, I’ve taken Jean’s place,” Marian said
expecting censure from the older woman.

“Good for you,” Mrs. Fournet said. “Creole
women ran many businesses until the Americans came. Then it
suddenly became
faux pas,
though the Creole women were
excellent at controlling the family finances. Sometimes a woman has
to take control of her own destiny.”

Surprised by the woman’s vote of confidence,
Marian smiled. “Thank you.”

“My son knows my feelings and I’m sure he
must be very helpful in your work.”

Marian tried not to laugh and managed to
suppress her amusement to a grin. She glanced at Louis who looked
sheepish and quickly changed the subject.

“Leon told us that the sugarcane crop is
better than ever.”

“Yes, Edmond has increased the production.
Your father is very pleased with him.” His mother reached over and
touched Louis on the arm. “I must warn you that your father wants
you to return home. Please Louis, listen to him, but do what
pleases you.” She glanced at Marian. “I only want my sons to be
happy.”

“When is he going to give up on me coming
home and working under Edmond,
Mere
?”

She shook her head and gave a slight shrug to
her shoulders. “He’s a typical father. He wants both of his sons
working the family business. He doesn’t realize that one of them is
as strong and stubborn as himself.” She paused and laid her hand on
Louis’s arm. “You must do what your heart tells you to do,
regardless of what your father says.”

Louis leaned forward and kissed his mother’s
cheek. “I don’t want to work under my brother. I want to be in
charge of my own company. He knows that’s why I left.”

“If you had children, you would understand
his thinking better, Louis.”

“I know he means well,
Mere,
but I’m
not going to return to Belle Fournet, unless I’m working with the
family in my own company.

Marian felt like they had forgotten her as
they discussed the family situation as if she were not there.

“But what would you do, Louis? What kind of
company could that be?”

“I have some ideas. When I’m ready to discuss
them, then I’ll let Papa know.” He picked up his mother’s hand.
“Don’t worry,
Mere.
Everything will be all right”

“Your father can be very stubborn,” she said,
and turned her attention to Marian. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Cuvier, for
discussing such things in front of you, but my husband will be here
shortly and well you know how protective a mother feels toward her
children. No matter what their age, that feeling never goes
away.”

“I understand, Mrs. Fournet,” she said,
surprised at the way Louis reacted to his mother. She never thought
of him as a man who would care deeply for his parents, but he
obviously did.

This new revelation about him surprised her.
Jean Cuvier had barely spoken to his mother and when she’d died he
didn’t appear to grieve. But then Jean had hidden so many of his
emotions, she realized.

Heavy footsteps resounded outside the main
room as his father strode into the parlor.

“Louis, you’re home.” His father came
forward, tossing his hat onto the settee.

“Hello, Papa,” Louis said.

“Mrs. Cuvier, it’s nice to see you again. And
who are these monkeys?” he asked glancing at Renee and Philip.

“Hello, Mr. Fournet. These monkeys are my
children, Renee and Philip,” Marian said, thinking how much Louis
looked like his father.

“Ah! I bet you are bored silly sitting here
with these adults. Would you like to go horseback riding?”

“Yes,” Philip cried.

“Will the horse go fast?” Renee asked
timidly.

“No, he’s docile. Come now and I’ll take you
out to the barns.”

The children jumped up, happy to escape the
adult conversation.

Marian followed them. “I just want to make
sure they’re all right.”

“I promised to show you around Belle Fournet
We’ll go for a buggy ride and then come back,” said Louis.

“Lunch should be ready in just over an hour,”
Mrs. Fournet advised. “Have a good time.”

The hour sped by too quickly, with Louis
driving her around the plantation, showing her the sugar mill
process, and how the cane was cut and burned in the fields.

At the appointed hour everyone gathered
around the family table. As they sat down to eat Marian realized
once again just how different Louis seemed around his family. He
appeared relaxed, yet she sensed he was on guard waiting for his
father’s reproach. At the last second, a hurried Edmond joined them
at the table.

“Marian, meet my older brother, Edmond.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Cuvier.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Louis,”
Marian said.

“All good, I hope,” Edmond said glancing at
his younger brother.

“Of course.”

Edmond smiled. “We did have some good times
together.” The man glanced at his brother. “Papa says the crops are
better than ever this year.”

“Yes, the weather has been excellent and so
far the cane is looking very good. We could use another hand to
help get the crop in,” his father hinted.

“You know I will help you any time I can. I
have my own business to run,” Louis told him.

“Papa said that Mrs. Cuvier was helping to
run your shipping business,” Edmond remarked ignoring Marian.

“I am,” she replied before Louis could answer
for her.

“My life is in New Orleans,” Louis said
looking at his brother and his father.

“Your life should be here at Belle Fournet
with your family. You’re my son and you should be here working the
land with your brother,” his father said, his voice rising, taking
advantage of the opening to express his frustration with his
youngest son. Stunned, Marian watched as Louis defended his
decisions.

“When the time comes I will return home and
help with the harvest. But I have my own company in New Orleans,
Papa.”

His father turned to Marian. “I apologize,
Mrs. Cuvier, but this has been a long standing argument between my
son and me. Edmond is my oldest, but I always dreamed both my sons
would work the plantation. But one of them runs away from his
responsibilities to the family.”

“I do not, Papa. I’m just not a planter. I
find no pleasure in watching the cane grow.”

“Who says you’re supposed to get pleasure
from the work? This is the way we earn our living,” his father
insisted.

Marian saw the tightening of Louis’s facial
muscles. She watched his eyes darken with anger and she suddenly
felt sorry for him.

She turned to Mr. Fournet, needing to say
something to help Louis. “Sometimes our children don’t always
follow the dreams we have set out for them.”

He dismissed her comment with a wave of his
hand, but the words suddenly resounded in her head and she wondered
at them. Wasn’t she setting up her own son in exactly the same
situation? Would Philip want to inherit the shipping company or was
there some other profession that he dreamed of, one she knew
nothing of?

“Wise words, Mrs. Cuvier,” Louis’s mother
said, and then turned her steely gaze on her husband. “I think this
discussion should be continued after lunch, Mr. Fournet.”

The older man started to reply, but then
closed his mouth. “As you wish, Mrs. Fournet.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a nod.

Marian glanced across the table at Louis. She
felt like a window had been opened and the reasons for some of his
actions were clearly revealed. Cuvier Shipping was his escape from
working under his father and brother. Without the shipping company
he would have to return to working the plantation, which he clearly
didn’t enjoy.

So why then did he want to sell the business?
What did he want to do if he no longer had the shipping company?
Had she been wrong in assuming he intended to sell Cuvier
Shipping?

L
ouis stood on the
deck of the steamboat next to Marian, waving goodbye to his mother,
a distant figure on the balcony of the house.

“I like your family,” Marian said. “Your
mother especially.”

“
Mere
is the glue that holds us all
together,” he said quietly. “I should apologize for my father and
brother’s behavior at the dinner table today.”

She turned to face him, her head tilted, her
eyes questioning. “Do they often try to encourage you to return
home?”

“Every trip. It’s one of the reasons I don’t
come home very often. My father tries to convince me I should be
home working the plantation like my brother.”

She leaned against the railing of the boat,
glancing down at the muddy waters of the Mississippi.

“Yet, you seem to love them very much.”

“They’re my family. Just because we don’t
agree on my choice of work doesn’t mean I don’t love them,” he said
wondering about her own family.

The wind teased wisps of hair around her face
and he wanted to put his arm around her waist and pull her against
him, shielding her from the breeze. But he resisted; her children
stood close by, but more than anything he didn’t know how she’d
react. The boat hit a whitecap on the water and bounced. She
gripped the railing tighter, but didn’t flinch as she returned her
gaze to him.

“I can see that. My own family experience was
different and Jean was never close to any of his people. It’s odd
to me that though you have conflict with your father, you appear to
care about him.”

“We’re dissimilar, but that doesn’t mean I
don’t love him.” Louis shrugged and turned back to face the water.
Nothing about his life had turned out like he’d planned. And his
father’s disappointment ate like a cancer at him.

“You yourself told my father that children
don’t always follow the dreams parents have for them. What if
Philip wants to be an architect instead of running a shipping
company or what if Renee decides to become a teacher?” he said
pushing away the thoughts of how selling the business would hurt
Marian.

She frowned. “I know. As the words came from
my lips they awoke me to my own prejudices as a parent.”

He gazed out at the flowing river and
wondered how he would be as a father. He still would like to have
children someday, he thought and glanced at the woman beside him.
If he were going to marry her for the business, he needed to get
back to courting her, but somehow the day spent together had
changed things between them. Their friendship and working
relationship seemed more intimate, more personal than just the act
of trying to convince her to marry him for profit

“So what path are you following, Louis? One
moment you want to buy my part of the shipping company and then the
next you want to sell the business? What are you trying to do?”

Her words yanked him from his thoughts,
spiraling alarm, taking him by surprise as he gazed at the woman
standing at his side. She was the only other woman besides his wife
that he had taken to meet his family. What prompted him to take
Marian and her children to see his father in such an intimate
setting? He’d let her see a side of him that very few people ever
saw and now because he’d let her into this part of his life, he’d
given her the ammunition to question his motives. Questions he felt
he owed an answer to, yet feared answering.

“If I were free to do what I wanted, I would
own my own business. But it would be something that I could do to
help my brother and father. That way I would still be involved with
the family business, but I would be in control of my own
destiny.”