Page 30 of Belle Amour

“Yes, you saved us from a fate worse than death.” He agreed, looking at his wife in amusement.

“Why?” Mirabelle asked in surprise as she sat next to Bastian, who was in the process of getting the server's attention. “Is everything okay?”

Eleanor laughed dryly and shook her head. “This whole wedding is proving to be more dramatic than a 90s soap opera. You two are extremely lucky you’re not expected to attend allthe completely unnecessary pre-wedding circus acts leading up to the main event.” They were momentarily interrupted by the server coming to take their drink order. Mirabelle and Bastian looked at Eleanor expectantly.

“You have to tell us now.” Mirabelle teased. “You can’t leave us hanging like that.”

Eleanor laughed. “So, as you know, Casey, Carol and Carla are all pregnant. Casey is about seven months along, Carol is five or six, not one hundred percent sure, and Carla is about three months along, and their father’s wife, Nora, who I don’t want to call stepmom because she’s younger than all of them, is ready to pop. This morning, there was a brunch arranged by Mom and Dad in an attempt to build a relationship with Casey and her family because, besides Casey’s mom, who just had surgery and won’t arrive until just before the wedding, everyone with a major role is here.” The server came back with their drinks, and Eleanor took a sip before continuing the story.

“Anyway, so both our families are there, as well as the bridesmaids and groomsmen and Carol and Casey decided to announce that tonight, there would be a joint gender reveal type thing, but not to worry about bringing gifts because it was such short notice, money was fine.” Eleanor rolled her eyes. Mirabelle felt her mouth drop open and could see her disbelief at their audacity mirrored in Bastian’s face.

“Right?” Eleanor shook her head, disgust clear on her face. “It gets better, though.” She looked at Robert. “Better?”

“If you like trailer trash, low-budget drama or reality TV shows, I guess better works.” Robert nodded, a slight smirk on his face, as he sipped his scotch. Mirabelle and Bastian exchanged looks, then nodded eagerly.

“This made Casey’s father, whose name is Keith, and Carla get up in arms because they never included his wife and her. It starts as a small argument, old grievances come up, more people start getting involved, it's getting louder, and people are calling each other names and swearing at one another. In the middle of all this, Keith is arguing with Carol’s husband, Dale, about something, and Dale calls Nora a gold digger, Casey a bridezilla and Carla an attention whore; Daddy Dearest threw a punch and, I kid you not, a full-on brawl broke out, Eddie is sitting next to Mom and Dad, looking like he wants to vanish, Mom and Dad are mortified, we’re just frozen in place, wondering what the hell to do.”

“Nora bursts into tears and leaves the room as fast as being nine months pregnant will allow her, closely followed by Casey, Carol and Carla, all sobbing loudly. At this point, three groomsmen have black eyes, including the best man, Keith, who has a broken nose, and Dale, who has a fat lip and is missing a tooth. The cops show up, but the fight is over; people refuse to press charges, so they leave, and Mom and Dad pay the bill for the brunch buffet and tell Eddie it’s on him to pay for any damages, and we get ready to leave. Then the four women come back in, announce they’ve discussed things, and now there’s a huge get-together tonight.” Eleanor finished and took another sip of her drink.

“Jesus,” Bastian said after a moment of silence. Mirabelle sat back in her chair, speechless. She could only imagine how Victor and Francesca felt after all that and felt terrible for them.

“Thankfully, in the middle of all this, you texted us about the show tonight, and we were able to beg off by saying we had a prior engagement,” Robert said smugly. “When Eleanor showed me your text, I almost danced with joy.”

Eleanor giggled and nodded in agreement. “And I hope you don't mind, but Mother and Father will be joining us. When we told them what the prior engagement was, they got tickets as well and claimed the prior engagement. They should be down shortly; they were getting ready when we left.”

Mirabelle smiled. “Of course, we don’t mind. We were going to meet them for drinks tomorrow night anyway, and I was looking forward to spending time with them.”

Bastian stood up and grabbed a nearby table, realizing what he was doing. Robert got up, and they worked together to move over another table, adjust the chairs already there, and add two more. They had just finished up when Francesca and Victor walked in. Eleanor waved, and they came over to them.

At sixty-eight, Victor was still a handsome man and had only recently started showing his age, slightly more stooped in his shoulders, and while his hair was still mostly a light brown, he was greyer than Mirabelle remembered. Eddie was almost a carbon copy of his father but was dark blonde instead of a brunette. Victor smiled when he saw Mirabelle, his blue eyes sparkling as he hugged her and told her how much he missed her.

Francesca was almost as tall as her husband, with honey-blonde hair that was almost artfully streaked with grey and bright blue eyes. Both were still in great shape, and Mirabelle knew they still used their home gym most mornings and carried themselves with quiet dignity. When Victor released her, Francesca immediately hugged her tightly, murmuring that she looked lovely. Feeling tears threaten, Mirabelle quickly smiled and introduced them to Bastian, who shook both their hands and invited them to have a seat.

“It's wonderful to meet you finally, Bastian. Eleanor didn't quite do you justice when she described you.” Francescasmiled at him warmly, and Mirabelle breathed a silent sigh of relief. She had been worried about the story Eddie had spun to his family and that they would be upset that Bastian went after him so hard.

“Mother! Robert is right here!” Eleanor looked a little embarrassed but was doing her best to play it off as a joke. Robert rolled his eyes and shook his head while Bastian chuckled.

“I did go out of my way to look good this evening; I’m sure her description was accurate based on what she’d seen previously.” He smiled and put his arm around the back of Mirabelle’s chair, and this time, it was Mirabelle who rolled her eyes. The only time he left the house looking less than perfectly dressed and styled was when he went to the gym. “Mirabelle said you were a former model, but I didn’t realize you were the iconic Francesca Wellman. I may have had a bit of a crush on you as a twelve-year-old boy.”

Francesca looked a little flustered as everyone chuckled, and she playful slapped at him. “I finished modelling long before you were born; you shouldn’t tease an old woman.”

Bastian shrugged. “Maybe, but my mom collected fashion magazines, and there wasn’t a lot of reading material in my house.”

“That’s true,” Mirabelle confirmed, smiling at Francesca’s surprise and leaning into Bastian automatically. “She had bankers’ boxes full of them.” She also used to steal them from the library and various waiting rooms, but Mirabelle didn’t feel the need to go into those particular details.

After the chuckles died down and Victor and Francesca ordered their drinks, they caught up with them, explaining they had left Henderson, started their law firm, and finally admittedtheir feelings for one another. They deflected the questions about how and when it happened by saying it took an argument between them for Bastian to finally admit things.

“Although, really, I’m not sure how she didn’t realize it.” Bastian teased her before kissing the side of her head. “I’m not exactly subtle in my affection for her.”

“I missed it because I thought it was just you being you.” Mirabelle protested, feeling her cheeks heat up. “You’ve always behaved that way with me when we were both single.”

“Honestly, I figured it out when you told me about how he was behaving after Eddie proposed,” Eleanor smirked as she took a sip of her drink. “I even asked you if that was the case, and you insisted he just really disliked Eddie.”

“To be fair, I do really dislike Eddie.” Bastian was tracing idle patterns on Mirabelle’s arm, and she saw that he looked utterly unashamed of the fact that he was telling Eddie’s family he didn’t like him. “Our personalities grate on one another.”

“I completely understand.” Robert nodded as he finished his scotch. “I’m polite because he’s my brother-in-law, but I have no interest in getting close to him.”

“Yes, well, it doesn’t seem like he’s interested in being close to any of us.” Francesca’s voice was both sad and resigned. Mirabelle smiled sympathetically, knowing that she was really the only one for whom Eddie had any genuine affection. She was about to say something, but Victor beat her to it and directed the conversation away from his son.

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