Page 1 of Sebastian

CHAPTER ONE

Sebastian Tadzee Vernon watched his mother and father dancing at the annual Mardi Gras ball at Belle Fleur. It was something Mama Irene was passionate about. In fact, Mardi Gras was nearly as big a deal as Christmas or New Year when it came to celebrations by their family.

There were parades, floats on boats, beads, king cake, and so many delicious foods it made your mouth water just thinking about it. Sebastian’s mouth didn’t just water, he got hungry thinking about it. Really hungry.

His best friends were running around the tent with the Stanton quadruplets. They all had crushes on the girls. Even him.

Leif, the son of Magnus and Addie, was madly in love with Ellie. As high school juniors, they already had their lives planned out. College for her, military for him, marriage, kids, the whole thing.

Walker, the son of Bodhi and Vivienne, was head over heels for Magnolia, or Mags as they called her. He’d been in love with her since their freshman year of high school, and she felt the same way.

Maddie and Emelia were a bit more free-spirited. Everyone knew that Maddie had a crush on Forrest, and Sebastian suspected that the feeling was mutual. Never were there two more stubborn people.

For Sebastian, the only woman that existed was Emelia. Em was everything he ever wanted. Beautiful, smart, loving, a great sister and daughter. If he could only work up the nerve to ask her on a date, his life would be much better.

“Staring at her from across the room won’t make her come to you,” smiled Rachel, Emelia’s mother. She was a beautiful, brilliant woman. She’d saved Belle Fleur by discovering something that was eating away at the soil. With her solutions, Matthew was able to expand his land, not lose it.

“I don’t think she likes me,” he said quietly.

“Girls are strange creatures, Sebastian. I should know. I had four of them. Sometimes, they just come right out and tell you they like you, and sometimes, they like to hide it in their pocket, like a little nugget of gold. Emelia is my daughter who doesn’t want the world to know how she’s feeling.”

“You mean she doesn’t want others to know she likes me?” he frowned.

“That’s not what I said,” smiled Rachel. “She’s a private girl. This isn’t a private place. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. She struggles to keep things secret from her sisters. But I know she likes you, Sebastian.”

“How do you know that?” he asked.

“Because the inside of her notebook has SV+ES in little hearts everywhere. That’s how I know,” she smiled.

“It doesn’t bother you that I’m mixed?”

“Mixed? Sebastian, honey, we’re all mixed. I don’t know one person on this property who is one hundred percent of anything. You’re a beautiful mix of your father’s heritage and your mother’s beautiful Athabaskan heritage. You’re stunning, Sebastian.”

“I didn’t think it would bother you, but you never know. Some people at school have made comments.”

“Well, then they’re ignorant. Truly. You know we don’t see anything like that here. Color, background, religion, none of it matters to us.”

His eyes followed Emelia as she left the massive tent, pulling off her Mardi Gras masque as she did.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Rachel nodded, watching as he walked toward the maze. Behind her, Chief wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

“He loves her, doesn’t he?”

“As much as a seventeen-year-old boy can love a girl. Yes. But something tells me this one is forever. He’s a good young man, Chief. We’d be lucky if he ended up as part of our immediate family.”

“Well, we’ll let her make that choice. So far, it seems three of our four have made up their minds already. They’re young, but we’ll give it a chance.” He turned his wife to face him and smiled down at her. “I’m just happy you chose me. Now, what do you say we dance?”

“I’d say I’m the lucky one, and yes. I’ll always dance with you.”

Sebastian followed the cascade of beautiful brown hair as the wind blew through the trees of Belle Fleur. Mardi Gras could be seventy degrees or seven. This year, it was a brisk thirty-eight. He noticed that Emelia wasn’t wearing a jacket and picked up his pace.

“Em! Em, wait up,” he called. She turned, giving him a smile as she wrapped her arms around herself. He took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “You shouldn’t be out here without a coat.”

“I needed to be away from all the chaos,” she smiled.

“Oh. I can leave you,” he said shyly.

“No, Sebastian,” she smiled. “You’re not the chaos. All of that is. I love our families, but sometimes it’s a lot.” He laughed, nodding at her.

---