She moved out of my arms and hugged Geneviève tightly, thanking her profusely. The two of them sniffled in each other’s arms for a minute, speaking too quietly for me to hear. Geneviève nodded her head and smiled, showing my mom the earrings she had in.
Mom burst out crying again.
Then so did Geneviève.
“Nice move,little brother. I see you finally took my advice and locked that down?” Lucien said, nudging me in the arm.
“You are really fuckin’ annoying sometimes,” I said, pushing him back.
“Yeah, but I was right.” I let him have that—along with the smug look on his face.
I set my napkin on my lap and peered over at Geneviève talking to Élise. Élise was ogling her ring and discussing china patterns. Then Mom joined in and started talking about wedding venues in Montreal.
Geneviève’s hand found my thigh and squeezed, her nails digging in. “Okay, okay,” I said, removing her hand from my leg, and holding it instead. “Can you guys let us be engaged for five minutes before you scare her off?”
“Pfft, it’s been longer than five minutes, Beau,” Élise said, shaking her head. Of course, everyone here thought our initial engagement had been real. No one knew Geneviève had only been my fiancée for less than forty-eight hours.
“Beauregard, I may have already spoken to Father Fontaine. They had a cancelation in August? Perhaps they would let you in?”
“Let you in? She’s had you two booked there for weeks,” my father boomed from the doorway.
“Oh, Andre,” Mom said, pushing her chair back and running over to him. “You said you wouldn’t make it home until tomorrow.” They kissed quickly and she took his coat from him.
“I could smell the turkey from Ottawa. I had no choice.” He laughed, then hugged my sister.
His eyes found Geneviève. I stood and helped her up. “Dad, I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Geneviève Martin. Geneviève, this is my father, Andre Moreau.”
“Nice to meet you, Monsieur Moreau,” she said, reaching her hand out to shake his.
“Andre, please. I’m sorry I missed you at Thanksgiving, Geneviève. But since my family speaks of no one else, I feel like I already know you.” He laughed, and I didn’t doubt his words. Not one bit.
“I hope it’s all the good things,” she said with a coy smile on her lips. Fuck, she was gorgeous.
“According to my family, you can do no wrong,” he said, pulling her in for hug. “Bienvenue dans la famille.”
Next, he let go of her and stepped over to me. “Congratulations, my son. It seems you found the perfect combination of beauty, brains, and talent. Trust me, you’ll have a long, blissful life together. I know this because I found the same thing, almost four decades ago. Wisest thing I’ve ever done was trap your mother into marrying me.”
“No, I think that was Lucien who trapped you,” Élise said, and everyone laughed.
“Shut it, that wasn’t exactly my fault,” Lucien retorted back.
Even my father laughed at that, then he gave me a huge hug and whispered, “You did well, Son. I’m fuckin’ happy for you. Now, introduce me to my grandsons, will you?”
Later that night,I was holding Geneviève in my arms after I’d made love to her. Mom and Dad had taken over grandparenting duties and the boys were loving them.
“Your dad seems nice,” she said, sighing into my chest.
“Yeah, he is. When he’s around,” I answered back, kissing the top of her head.
She nodded and kissed my chest. “My dad was worse, Beau. At least your dad came home with some regularity.”
“It’s nothing that I want for my kids. I want to be there for them, you know?”
“You are.”
“For four years I wasn’t.”
Geneviève lifted her head. “That wasn’t your fault.”