Page 37 of Belle Amour

“Are we ready to golf, gentleman? We have thirty minutes until our tee time, and” Wyatt wiped his mouth and threw his napkin on his plate. “Robert and Bastian will have to change before we get started. I’ve booked us in on my favourite course, the South Course, which is more difficult, but I’m sure they’ll switch us to the North Course if you'd prefer.”

Victor, Bastian, and Robert looked at each other, silently agreeing that the more difficult course sounded like the better pick. “I think the South Course works for us,” Victor smiled.

Wyatt showed Bastian and Robert where the changing rooms were and said he and Victor would get the golf cart andmeet them outside. They found a couple of lockers that were available for guests to use and started to get changed.

“I can't thank you enough for agreeing to go to the bachelor party tomorrow night, Bast. I was not looking forward to it at all.” Robert said as he pulled off his shirt. “Eddie and his friends are… well, for a group of highly educated men in their late thirties, they still act like they're in a frat in university.”

“No problem,” Bastian shrugged and smiled at him. “Although I fully admit that Mira threw me for a loop with her agreement, I have no problem sucking it up for a night. “He changed his top and shook his head. “Eddie was definitely going to ask Victor and Francesca to pay for it.”

“Yeah,” Robert chuckled. “I saw the look on your face. And you're one hundred percent right, he was going to ask.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I don't blame you for what you did in the divorce, not after what he did to Mira, but he's milking the excuse that they can't find a job with another law firm in New York now because Tulk won't give him a good reference.”

“Well, maybe don't steal from your employer.” Bastian snorted out a laugh. “He wouldn't have had half the problems he has if he hadn't used company funds to cover up his affair.”

“That would have been the smart way to do things; smarter would have been to not screw around behind your wife's back.” Robert agreed, laughing with him. “They're definitely relying on the money from the trust, and they're gonna be in for a surprise. You guys grew up in the French Quarter, right?”

“Yeah, on Conti Street. Where did you grow up?” Bastian asked curiously; Robert's light Cajun accent was familiar.

“Just on the other side of Lake Salvador in Galliano.” Robert smiled. “We should do a trip down together sometime, or do you guys bother to go back at all?”

“Yeah, absolutely. We don't go back very often, usually only if someone wants us to go with them. I'm not in contact with my parents and haven't been since we left for New York.” Bastian admitted as they finished changing. “Mira had no contact with her mother until the hurricane, and she was evacuated to North Texas. They reconciled after, but Vivi didn't go back to Louisiana after, so we don't have a reason to.”

Robert nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I don't go back very often either; my family’s property was lost in the hurricane. But we'll have to keep in touch when we get back to New York. Eleanor gets so excited when she knows we're going to see you two; she's missed Mira but didn't want to push if she wanted a clean break from the whole family.”

“And Mira didn't want to reach out because she was afraid you'd all be mad about how we went after Eddie, but she has missed Eleanor, too, so please make sure we get invitations to the opening of her art show; Mira won't want to miss it.” They finished up, put their bags in the locker and locked it all up.

“I'm sure Eleanor has already added her to the list; their love of art brought them together in the first place.” Robert smiled. “And, of course, they weren't mad at her. But, Bast, I gotta tell ya, you should have been there when Eddie said he was leaving Mira for Casey. I've never seen them so angry and loud. Eleanor still isn't really on speaking terms with him, and I know Victor and Francesca seriously discussed disowning him. Which is saying something considering they didn't after the Nazi incident.”

Bastian raised his eyebrow. He had picked up on how much the Sheas loved Mirabelle, but he didn’t know it was tothat extent. “I know Mirabelle considered them more her family than her mother, but I didn’t know they felt the same way.”

Robert nodded. “Oh yeah, they truly do think of Mirabelle as their daughter. My background isn't that much different than yours. I'm not in contact with my parents either, and I pulled myself out of the poor area of Galliano solely because of my art talent. They’re way prouder of me than my actual family. They genuinely admire people who make something from nothing, and having Eddie turn out the way he has despite having the best start possible has been a huge disappointment.”

Bastian held the door open for Robert and waved him through. “Well, now that I know you golf, we need to hang out more, too. I'm always looking for golfing buddies.”

Robert chuckled. “Absolutely, we can send the girls off to an art gallery and hit the links. I'm also happy to travel to golf in the winter, so maybe we need to head down to Louisiana in February, Mardi Gras and Golf.”

“Mardi Gras and Golf. Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter Twenty-Five: Lunch

At the hotel, Mirabelle, Francesca and Eleanor lined up at the front desk, and when Mirabelle pulled out Bastian’s credit card to check in, Francesca smiled at her. “Victor tried to book your room with ours, but Bastian insisted he pay for you two.”

“Yeah, that's not surprising. He's very much about paying his way, and his way has always included me.” Mirabelle smiled; Bastian hated accepting money or having anyone pay for him, even if he was the first one to throw his credit card down to pay for everyone at the table. “He's always been adamant about providing for the people he cares about.”

The front desk clerk, realizing they were all together, rearranged Bastian and Mirabelle's rooms so they were on the same floor next to Eleanor's and Robert’s and across from Francesca and Victor’s room. As they walked to the elevator, Eleanor shook her head, disbelief clear on her face. “I don't understand how you ended up with Eddie when you had Bastian right there.”

“There were a lot of misunderstandings.” Mirabelle chuckled ruefully. “He was afraid of me rejecting him and losing his best friend, and I didn't know he saw me as anything more than a friend.”

“If she hadn't gotten with Eddie, we wouldn't have her.” Francesca pointed out as they got on the elevator and pressed the button for their floor.

“Given that we run in the same art circles, we would have met eventually.” Eleanor linked her arm through Mirabelle's, smiling. “And I would have brought her home.”

“Actually, I never got into art seriously until I met you,” Mirabelle confessed. “I knew what I liked but never paid that much attention beyond “Oh! That's pretty!” before I bought something. Now I know more about what to look for and focus on new and upcoming artists, go to galleries and art shows.”

“Oh.” Eleanor paused, looking surprised but gratified by Mirabelle’s confession. “That's really all because of me?”

“Yeah, you invited me out with you when we first met and I went so we could get to know one another. I really enjoyed it and started doing it on my own.” Mirabelle hesitated. Eddie was still a complex subject for her to talk about. Considering that at the start of her relationship, she felt he was using her to make Casey jealous until she moved away, and thought there was a real good chance he married her to give his family the finger metaphorically, but it blew up in his face when they grew to love her, she doubted that Eddie ever actually loved her.

However, she couldn’t deny that he had put the work into their relationship. Fake or not, he had gotten her to fall for him and marry him despite “having Bastian right there.” “The thing is, Eddie is capable of being better. I'm sure there were red flags I missed, like Casey, which I ignored because of my relationship with Bast, but I compared all the men I dated to Bastian, and Eddie passed the test.” They stepped off the elevator and walked toward their rooms. “The only major arguments Eddie and I had were about Casey and Bastian.”

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