Page 1 of The Charmer

Chapter One

Julian

"Uncle Julian, do you still have friends at the candy factory?" my adorable little niece, Bella, asked me. We were all gathered at our parents' and grandparents' mansion in the Garden District. Now that Christmas was over, everyone was preparing for the Carnival celebration culminating in Mardi Gras.

"Of course," I assured Bella.

She scrunched her little face in a frown. Even though she was already eight, I kept forgetting that she wasn't a baby or a toddler anymore. She was closer to being a teenager. I shuddered at the thought.

“I miss their candies.”

Chad, one of my brothers who was sitting two chairs away, spoke to his daughter. "Cricket, you eat plenty of candy."

"But you always say that during the Carnival season I can eat as many as I want."

I was going to make sure she got a delivery of everything she liked, so I leaned into her, whispering conspiratorially, "I've got you. You can count on me, Bella."

She gave me a toothy grin.

I adored this little girl as if she were my own. My brother Chad had been a single dad for many years. His ex-wife had scarcely involved herself in Bella's life, which allowed my niece to spend a lot of time with the family.

"Is everything going according to plan for our float?" Mom asked. She was sitting next to Dad. Grandma Isabeau and Grandpa David were on the other side of the table along with Grandma Celine and Grandpa Felix. Yeah, this was a huge and crazy household. They all lived together and somehow made it work.

Our grandparents were very close and had been for decades even though they'd been rivals at some point in the past. They'd owned competitive businesses and had been dead set against my parents getting together at first, but it all worked out in the end, and the New Orleans conglomerate was stronger than ever because of it.

"There was a hiccup along the way, but my team took care of it," I replied.

"What happened?" Isabeau sat straighter in her chair.

"Is this because of the flooding that happened last month?" Mom asked. "I heard it affected the warehouses."

"That's exactly the issue, but don't worry, I'm on top of it. Everything will be ready in time for the parade."

The parade was an annual tradition, and our families had been involved for generations. The Carnival season was my favorite. It started at Epiphany in January and lasted until Fat Tuesday—Mardi Gras—which marked the end of Lent, the forty-day fasting season between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Basically, it was a big-ass party that went on for weeks, or months, depending when Easter was on any given year. There were numerous parades during this time, some smaller than others. Our own float—the motorized kind—was huge.

"Good," Celine said, putting her hand theatrically on her chest. "I couldn't show my face in town if our sponsored float wasn’t perfect."

"I wouldn't dare show my face in this house if it wasn’t," I assured her with a wink.

I rose to stand, ready to end the evening, "All right, everyone. It was good catching up, but I'm heading to the bar tonight,” I said.

The house was quieter than usual tonight, but after all, it was just me, Chad, and Bella visiting. When all six of my brothers were here, plus Chad's fiancée, it was so loud that we could barely hear one another. But I liked the chaos and spending time with the family.

"Thank you for taking care of everything Carnival related," Isabeau added.

"Sure, my pleasure. You already have so much to deal with, Grandma. I can handle it."

She bristled a little at the word Grandma.

Because my parents had kids young, my grandparents had insisted that they wanted us to call them by their names. They only mellowed when Bella came along and called them Nana or a variation of it. They were still a bit iffy about us grandkids actually calling them grandparents, but I liked to tease them.

After bidding goodbye to everyone, I headed straight to my car. The drive from the Garden District to the French Quarter didn't take long. Fortunately, I had a good parking spot behind the bar, because the city was packed.

I got out of the car and knew we had a full house tonight by the sounds coming from inside. Even with the windows and doors closed, the noise found its way out. But on a typical Saturday night, the French Quarter was always busy. And things were only going to get crazier as the Carnival season approached.

The Orleans Conglomerate was a huge company and was made up of multiple branches: restaurants, bars, bakeries, music venues, you name it. The Broussard and LeBlanc families covered a lot of ground. I was running the bars. Each of my brothers ran different businesses, and even so, we still managed to get involved in plenty of other things, like the float business.

Isabeau acted like I was doing her a big favor, because she and Celine had been responsible for the float before they retired. But it wasn't inconveniencing me at all. I was an expert at delegating, which was the main reason why I'd been able to raise profits and open five more bars. My instincts were sharp, and I always hired people I trusted, which was key. Most times I could leave them to their own devices and rarely needed to follow up. But this float business had been more annoying than I'd anticipated.

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