Page 31 of Belle Amour

“I have to ask, Bastian.” Victor looked at him appraisingly. “What are your intentions with our Mirabelle?”

“Marriage.” Bastian's answer was quick and confident. “I'm looking forward to putting the ring on her finger andmaking sure the world knows she's mine, and after twenty-one years, I won’t be wasting much time to make that happen.”

“But no engagement ring yet, I see.” Eleanor picked up Mirabelle's left hand and studied it dramatically.

“Well, in his defence, our dating is new. It's only been ten months since... Well, you know, and we've been busy getting our law firm up and running. He didn't want to push me before I was ready.” Mirabelle came to his defence quickly. While she would never do it, she’d had several thoughts about what would happen if they got engaged on the trip and how Casey would react if the word “somehow” got out. Picturing the tantrum brought her a small amount of satisfaction because there were times when she was mourning her marriage that Casey’s smug smile after Mirabelle walked in on her and Eddie on the couch was branded to Mirabelle’s brain.

“I am very curious, dear. How did Eddie tell you he cheated on you?” Francesca’s sudden question interrupted her thoughts, and Mirabelle started. Everyone went quiet and looked at her expectantly, making her tense at being suddenly put on the spot.

“What did he tell you?” Mirabelle said cautiously, wanting to tell her side but needing to know what Eddie told them first.

“That he and Casey shared a kiss one night that led to more, and he realized he made a mistake by marrying you; he should have been with Casey all along,” Eleanor explained quietly. “He said he told you the next morning, and you took it very hard.”

“We didn't believe that version, by the way.” Victor reached across the table and patted her hand gently. “You've always been very level-headed and calm; we were sure if that waswhat happened, you would have just quietly given him a divorce, and that would have been the end of it.”

“And we want to apologize for taking him at his word at first. You distanced yourself from us, and since we didn’t get your side of things, we only had what he told us to go on.” Francesca added, smiling apologetically. “It wasn’t until we heard the rumours - New York gossip is nothing to be trifled with – that we began to really question things. Eddie has stuck to his story, though, and gets upset when we push it.”

“Which made us even more suspicious.” Victor picked up the explanation. “His story has never once deviated from the first time he told it. He tells it word for word, exactly the same, every time.”

“But if he were recalling something that actually happened, his retelling would vary as he remembered or forgot things.” Bastian nodded his understanding. “He’s telling you a story he’s memorized.”

Francesca nodded. “Precisely. So, we’re very curious about what actually happened.”

“That might be how it started.” Mirabelle played with her glass. Part of her didn’t want to out Eddie’s lie. She had a feeling this would be the thing that destroyed any relationship he had with his family, something she knew he desperately craved with them, he was just incapable of seeing it was his actions that drove the wedge between them and constantly blamed them or others. Bastian gently squeezed her shoulder, and she looked up at him.

“It’s on him, Bunny. Tell them. They deserve the truth.” He encouraged her quietly. Mirabelle nodded and took a deep breath. Bastian was right; it was Eddie’s fault, and his actions led to this.

“But that's not how I found out. I got a text from a neighbour last year…” She trailed off as she realized Eddie and Casey were getting married on the one-year anniversary of her walking in on them, and it hardened her resolve. “She told me I needed to come home immediately. I thought Eddie was in court, and something had happened at the house, so I left work, and when I got home, both Eddie’s and Casey’s cars were there.” She cleared her throat. It was still hard to remember; she didn’t think the sounds and Eddie looking into her eyes as he came inside Casey would ever leave her brain, and it still made her nauseous.

“I walked in on them... finishing up on our living room couch. My neighbour watched the whole thing from her living room across the street. She told me it wasn’t the first time they had been to the house together while I was at work, and she had suspicions but no proof until that day. She was out clearing dead plants from her flowerbeds, and our windows were open because I had painted the living room over the weekend, so she heard them pretty clearly.” Mirabelle swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “Casey later admitted that the affair had been going on for a year.”

Mirabelle watched as Francesca and Eleanor instantly looked devastated for her, and Robert and Victor exchanged looks. “I can show you all the proof,” Bastian backed her up immediately. “I have all the files on my laptop in our room, including the report from the financial auditor that shows he spent twenty-five grand on Casey from their emergency funds joint account.”

“We believe her,” Francesca reassured him, reaching out and laying her hand comfortingly on his forearm, patting it gently. “But we do have to confess to ulterior motives for having Mirabelle come to the wedding. Not that we aren't thrilled to see her, of course.” Mirabelle exchanged a confused look withBastian and then looked back at the Sheas, who all looked a little guilty except for Robert, who looked vaguely amused.

“As is the tradition in our family, Eleanor and Eddie have trusts that were set up for them by their grandparents when they were born,” Victor explained. “When they turned eighteen, they began receiving payments from the trust every month with the idea that control goes to them at the discretion of the executor, but usually when they graduate from university or get married, whatever comes first. Eleanor got hers when she graduated from university, but because of various issues Eddie had in university, my father refused to give it to him when he finally passed the bar, not trusting him to drink or smoke it away, then refused to give him control when he married Mirabelle because he disapproved of her. My father passed control of the trust to me last year, and I was going to give it to Eddie, but then you filed for divorce, and the cheating allegations came out, so I decided to hold off.”

“Eddie and Casey have been demanding that Victor turn the trust over to Eddie since he is getting married and about to have a child.” Francesca picked up when her husband took a breath. “But since we felt they weren't being honest about everything, we've been putting it off. We don't approve of the marriage, but we are concerned about the life our grandchild is going to have, and they are threatening to keep the baby away from us if we don't sign the trust over to them. Eddie never complained or wanted the trust until Casey came into the picture, so we told them they were within their rights to keep the child from us, but we wouldn’t set up a trust for a child we had no relationship with.”

“Which shut them up pretty fast,” Eleanor smirked as she finished her drink and set the glass on the table. “They’re stilldemanding the trust, but they aren’t threatening to keep the child from us anymore.”

“We now feel they are just trying to squeeze as much money as they can out of us. Besides paying for the wedding - with an open bar, I might add, which I agreed to because I don’t think we’ll get through the wedding without it – they wanted us to buy them a house, set up college funds for this baby and any future children, outfit the nursery, buy the clothes for the first year, buy toys... It's all gotten ridiculous, and they keep saying they can't do it because you treated him unfairly during the divorce, ruined their careers and took all his savings.” Francesca sat back in her chair, looking devastated. “We agreed to pay for the wedding if he invited you, but Victor actually kicked them out of the house when they listed the rest of their demands and told them not to come back until they could prove they were working again.”

“And from what I've found out, they haven't asked Casey's family for jack.” Eleanor said quietly, handing her mother a tissue. “They even tried to demand that Robert and I pay for the joint baby showers and diaper parties going on this evening because we, and I quote, “Picked the cheapest thing on the wedding registry to buy.” The cheapest thing on the registry was over six hundred dollars!” She looked absolutely enraged by her brother’s audacity. “It’s being returned when I get back to New York. I went out this afternoon and bought them a one-hundred-dollar gift card from a local discount store.”

Bastian snorted into his drink, laughed, and then began to cough. Mirabelle chuckled and smacked him on the back a few times to help him breathe. “I like your pettiness.” He finally managed to get out, between coughs, making everyone laugh. When the laughter died down, Francesca smiled somewhat sadly.

“We think they were hoping you wouldn't show up until the weekend of the wedding, and we would all be so busy that we wouldn't have a chance to talk. I was so thrilled to hear from you and hear that you had flown in a week early with Bastian because I knew he would keep Eddie away from you.”

“Oh.” Mirabelle shook her head, not sure how to respond to everything they had been told. This wasn’t the Eddie she married. That Eddie wouldn’t have dreamed of asking his parents for money the way he was now. When they bought their house together, Victor and Francesca offered them money, but he refused to even consider it. She frowned. Eddie was always so easily persuaded by other people that she could only assume Casey was guiding him.

“Please don't be upset, Mira.” Eleanor’s anxious voice broke through her thoughts as she reached out and took her hand. “We wanted you here; we've missed you terribly.”

“I'm not upset,” Mirabelle reassured her quickly, smiling and squeezing her hand back. “I was trying to figure out what changed because it’s so different from when I was with him.”

“Mira, he’s always been easily influenced by others, you know that.” Victor let out a low scoff, his face full of bitter disappointment. “He only has about two million left in the trust out of ten because of the number of times we've bailed him out of trouble that he had gotten into because someone convinced him to do something or join in on something. Any time we hired a lawyer or paid fees or bail, or sent him to rehab, it came out of the trust. His grandfather wanted to cut him off completely because of the number of times he screwed up, I convinced him that we shouldn’t have to pay for his mistakes, and he agreed to pay for things with the trust money.”

“Okay. We clearly have a lot to talk about, but I think we should put a pin in this for tonight and get to the concert.”Mirabelle stood up, pulling Bastian with her. “I want to just have a good time with you guys and enjoy the tribute to Fleetwood Mac.”

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