“Belle Vallee!” He perked up. “The house in Avignon. I saw the way your eyes lit when you looked at the pictures. You can have it. It’s yours.”
Tasha couldn’t take the house, but she did want her child to have it. And she loved the idea of the baby growing up where Andre’s mother had. “I will agree to raise the baby there.” She nodded. “Naturally, you are welcome there anytime. I want you in the baby’s life as much as possible.”
“I still want you to run the company with me.”
“I can’t do that.” She pressed her lips together tightly and shook her head. When she was ready to speak again, she sucked in a breath before saying, “We need to find a way to co-parent for our baby’s sake, but we also need to get on with our lives.”
“I don’t accept that,” he said surely. “I’ll never love anyone but you. I know I have my work cut out for me, but I’ll find a way to make you believe in me again.”
Andre seemed so convinced of his promise that he almost had Tasha believing it. “One thing’s for sure…” She tried to smile. “I refuse to let Cecily Mason come between Juliana and our baby’s birthrights.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ANDRE HEADED INTO THE HOUSE, elated that Tasha was pregnant again. It had been hard for him to contain his joy, but she was hurting and he was the one who’d caused the pain. And sooner or later, he’d find a way to make it up to her. He’d find a way to get her to come back.
He had to have the documents she’d ask for drawn up as soon as possible. It was the only way to ensure that she wasn’t going to walk out. Not now, and if he had anything to say about it, not ever.
As luck would have it, he ran into Claudette. “Andre,” she said. “I thought you and Tasha were leaving?”
Andre led Claudette to the small library a few doors away, guided her inside and closed the door. “I’m glad I found you and not Papa.” He raked his hand over his hair.
Claudette’s eyes darted back and forth. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing that can’t be fixed. But I need your help.”
“Anything,” Claudette said. “Just tell me what’s wrong and how I can help.”
“Well, to make a long story short…Tasha found out.”
“How?”
“Cecily Mason.” Andre rubbed the back of his neck. “She also happens to be Cecily Garceau. If I forfeit the inheritance, she and her brother will have legal claim to it.”
“Oh, just let me get my hands on her!” Claudette drew her hands into closed fists and shook them.
“I fired her, you know,” Andre said without remorse. “She tried to blackmail me. I thought I could get Tasha out of town before Cecily managed to get to her and tell her. I was wrong.”
“Okay…” Claudette said. “What can I do to help?”
“Luckily, Tasha has agreed not to divorce me before the one-year mark.” Andre released his relief in a sigh. “She has a couple of stipulations though. I need to have legal documents drawn up at once.”
“You need my help with that?” Claudette asked, wrinkling her brow.
“No.” Andre let out a chuckle and shook his head. “I just need you to keep Papa away from Tasha. Make sure he leaves her alone.” He cleared his throat. “There’s a small chance that I might find a way to convince her of my sincerity over the next couple of months, but that’ll never happen with Papa’s meddling.”
“Leave your father to me.” She gave Andre an easy nod. “You just concentrate on winning Tasha back.”
“If you have any ideas on that score…” He snorted an ironic laugh.
“You’ll have to find a way to convince her that you didn’t actually marry her for the money.” She sucked in a deep breath and pursed her lips. “How you’ll go about that is something you will have to figure out.”
“Tell me about it.” Andre chuckled and they both moved down the hallway.
“Well…” She patted Andre’s arm. “You’re a smart guy. You’ll figure something out.”
“If only my mother’s uncle hadn’t made Julian and Lecie’s inheritances dependent upon my actions.” He shook his head. “I still wonder why he did that.”
“I still wonder why Lecie was included at all.”
Claudette and Andre parted ways when he headed upstairs to the third floor. She, however, went to find her husband, reckoning that he was in his study. If she found him in there drinking, her wrath wouldn’t be pretty.
She knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for an invitation. Inside, she smelled the sweet scent of his imported cigars. The behavior angered her, but she ignored it. She’d chastise her husband for his bad habits tomorrow. Today she was on a fishing expedition.
“Hello, darling.” Maurice propped his hands on the arms of his chair, preparing to stand.
“Don’t get up.” She waved him off, moved behind the desk and leaned against the edge. “I just wanted to give you a heads-up.” Claudette knew full well how to fish information out of her husband. “We’ve hit a huge stumbling block with Andre and Tasha.”
“Oh…?”
“Yes. It seems that Tasha has found out about the Renault will’s stipulations.”
“How did she react?”
“Not well.” Claudette shrugged. “She’s lost her faith and trust in Andre.”
Maurice’s face went red. “How did this happen?” he huffed.
“Cecily Garceau Mason.” Claudette shook her head. “And don’t even think about retaliating. You’ll never be able to do anything worse than what Tasha has planned for her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Much to Cecily’s chagrin, she’ll be disappointed to learn that Tasha has no plans to leave Andre,” Claudette said. “At least, not before their first anniversary.”
Maurice blew out a sigh. “Good. Good. Then we don’t have to worry about the inheritances.”
“No, we don’t.” Disappointment washed over Claudette. She’d so hoped that her husband would be more worried about Andre’s heart than his wallet. “We just have to worry about Andre losing the only woman he’ll ever love.”
“She’ll change her mind.”
“I’m not so sure,” Claudette said. “Tasha trusted Andre. She had no idea that there was an ulterior motive to his marrying her. It’s a fine line.”