Needing Nicole (The Cantrelle Family Trilogy Book 2) (17 page)

“Why?” she blurted out.

There was a pause, then her uncle said, “I would rather wait until I see you in person before telling you. Do you think you could persuade Mr. Forrester to accompany you to Lafayette? Would you bring him here to see me?”

A dozen questions tumbled through Nicole’s mind, but she didn’t voice them. “Well, I’ll certainly ask him, Uncle Justin, but I’m afraid Jack’s not in New Orleans right now.”

“But he’s coming back, isn’t he?”

“Yes. He just went home to Houston for a few days. I expect him back in New Orleans any time.”

She heard her uncle sigh. Then he said, “Will you call me after you’ve had a chance to talk to him? Let me know what he says?”

“But Uncle Justin, what should I tell him? Do you know something about Elise Arnold?”

“Yes, it’s possible I know something.”

“Then I’m sure Jack will agree to make the trip to Lafayette.”

“Good.” He sounded relieved. “And,
chere
... ”

“Yes?”

“When you call...” He hesitated. “Please, I must ask you. Don’t say anything to your aunt about our conversation or your reason for calling. This matter will be just between us, okay?”

Nicole’s uneasiness grew. “All right, Uncle Justin, if that’s what you want, but won’t she wonder why I’m coming to Lafayette?”

Silence.

“Uncle Justin?”

“I don’t want her to know the real reason you’re coming,
chere.
I was hoping you’d just act as if this young man was a friend you wanted us to meet. Could you do that,
chere?
When we’ve had a chance to talk, you’ll understand why.”

“Yes, Uncle Justin,” she said slowly, “I suppose I could do that.”

Jack called at nine forty-five, barely giving Nicole time to digest her uncle’s disturbing request. When she heard his voice, her heart leaped with pleasure.

“I’m back,” he said without preamble.

“I’m glad,” she answered honestly.

His voice dropped a notch. “Did you miss me?”

Her pulse accelerated. “Yes.”

“I missed you, too.”

Nicole closed her eyes. Suddenly she wanted to see him, to touch him. To have him kiss her. To make love with him. Couldn’t he feel her need through the phone wire? She took a deep, shaky breath. “So,” she said lightly. “How did things go in Houston?”

“Very well. I had to do some fast talking, but my boss finally agreed to let me take extended leave. I won’t be expected to report for my next assignment until the first of January.”

Excitement fired Nicole’s belly. Almost five weeks! Unreasoning hope cascaded through her. Maybe... her mind refused to think past that point.

“So how have
you
been?” he asked.

“Busy. Missing Aimee.” She had no intention of telling him how much she’d missed him, how she’d been on pins and needles waiting for him to return. It was bad enough he knew as much as he did about her feelings. “And guess what? I have some news for you.” She told him about her uncle’s call.

“Nicole...” Excitement rippled through his voice. “Maybe we’re finally going to have a breakthrough.”

We’re.
He’d included her in his statement. She smiled, pleasure warming her.

“When can we go?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve been thinking. I have a lot of vacation time accumulated. Why don’t I take Friday off, and we can drive up to Lafayette Friday morning?”

Friday morning dawned bright and clear with a little nip in the air. A perfect day, Nicole decided. She looked through her wardrobe carefully. She wanted to look her best. She wanted to dazzle Jack. She wanted him to take one look at her and decide she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. She wanted him to want her as much as she wanted him.

And she didn’t want him to leave her again.

She finally settled on her black-and-white tweed skirt, a white long-sleeved blouse, black leather vest and her black boots. She added some chunky black-and-silver jewelry and studied herself in the mirror.

She looked pretty good, she thought, grinning at her reflection. She couldn’t wait to see him.

But when he arrived at eight o’clock on the dot, she had a panic attack, and stood frozen for several minutes before she calmed down enough to open the door. The minute she saw him, the panic evaporated, and anticipation skidded through her.

He looked wonderful, but then, he always looked wonderful to her. He wore a yellow sweater with baggy, charcoal cotton pants, and he gave her a big grin, blue eyes shining. “Ready?”

“Yes.” All her worries, all her doubts, all her fears— vanished. The only important thing was that Jack was here. They were going to be together for a couple of days. Nicole didn’t know what was going to happen, either on this trip, or in the future, but right now, she didn’t care. Tomorrow she might decide being with Jack, loving him, was too big a risk, and she’d opt for playing it safe once more.

But today she was going to enjoy every minute.

“Tell me about your uncle,” Jack said, when they were about twenty miles outside of Lafayette.

“Well, you already know he used to practice law...”

Wednesday night when she’d told him about her uncle’s call, she’d reluctantly admitted that Justin Cantrelle was a retired lawyer. Jack had immediately wanted to know why she hadn’t put his name on the list she’d given him, and she’d had to explain that she’d never thought there was a chance her uncle knew anything so she’d purposely left both his name and her two cousins’ names off the list.

“Tell me how he fits into the family,” Jack prompted.

“He’s my father’s youngest brother. My father is seventy-three, so that makes Uncle Justin sixty-nine, almost seventy. As I told you before, I lived with Uncle Justin and Aunt Lisette while I was carrying Aimee.”

Her voice had grown soft, and Jack slanted a glance at her. Maybe he was finally going to find out something about Aimee’s father.

Voice reflective, she continued. “They were so good to me. Aunt Lisette fussed over me the whole time, and Uncle Justin—he was still working then—he gave me a part-time job in his office. That’s how I got the training to be a legal secretary.”

“Sounds like they really think a lot of you.”

“Well, they don’t have any children of their own, and I know that’s always bothered them. And I’m the youngest of the nieces and nephews. Plus, Uncle Justin and my father have always been especially close. They’re the only two brothers born of my grandfather’s second marriage... Oh, it’s so complicated-sounding when you don’t belong to my family, but my father’s father—my grandfather Cantrelle—was married twice. He had two sons from his first marriage, Claude and Andre, and they’re both well into their eighties now. Then, from his second marriage, there were four children, two boys and two girls.”

“So when you found out you were pregnant with Aimee, you went to live with your uncle and aunt.”

“Yes.”

Jack chose his words carefully. “If you don’t want to talk about this, or if this is none of my business, say so. But going to live with your uncle and aunt, was this something you wanted to do or something your parents wanted you to do?”

“It was a mutual decision. I... Oh, shoot, I might as well tell you. It’s no great secret, it’s just that I’m ashamed of my poor judgment and lack of good sense. Aimee’s father was a salesman. He worked out of Fort Worth, Texas, but he covered Louisiana. I met him because he rented the apartment over the office of my family’s business, and at the time, I was working in that office. His name was Mark Hodges, and he was good-looking, sophisticated, charming—” Suddenly she chuckled. “Rather like you, actually.”

Jack frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be compared to the sorry son-of-a-gun who had run out on her.

“Anyway, he made a big play for me, and I was flattered. All I saw was the surface charm, and I liked the money he spent on me, the places he took me.” She made a sound that was half laugh, half exhalation. “I was extremely easy pickings.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Jack said.

She turned to look at him. “Why not? It’s the truth.” She grimaced. “Norman warned me. He warned me over and over again. So did Neil. But I didn’t listen. I didn’t want to hear what they had to say. Anyway—to make a long story short—Mark was married. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I’m not the sort of woman who goes out with married men.”

“I never thought you were,” Jack said.

She gave him a little half smile. “Thanks. It turns out he had a wife and two little kids in Fort Worth. But I didn’t find all that out until much later. In the meantime, I got pregnant and I told him. I had some rosy idea he’d be happy about the news.” She grunted. “I sure got a rude awakening. He cleared out the very next day. Never said a word, just disappeared. Left the rent money in an envelope in the apartment and took off. Norman’s the one who told me Mark was married.” Her voice trailed off.

Jack clenched his fists. What a bastard!

“Anyway,” she continued after a moment, “I was so devastated and embarrassed and I felt so rotten about letting my family down, and my parents knew how I felt, so even though they really wanted me to be with them, they suggested I go stay in Lafayette.”

Jack felt better. He’d been afraid her parents were ashamed of Nicole, too, but he could see that they’d simply wanted her to be protected and safe from censure—by anyone.

“So I went, and it was a wonderful time for me. I spent a lot of time thinking, and I grew up a lot. I was twenty-six when this all happened, but I wasn’t a very mature twenty-six. I’d been pretty sheltered, and I’d always lived at home. I wasn’t very experienced.”

“We all make mistakes, no matter how old we are.”

Her voice sounded rueful when she answered. “True, but some of us make whoppers.”

“Have you ever tried to get in touch with Aimee’s father?”

Her voice hardened. “No.”

“Seems to me he should be contributing to Aimee’s support.”

“I don’t want anything from him. In fact, if I could pretend he never existed, that’d be fine with me.”

“What’s going to happen when Aimee gets older, when she starts to ask questions about her father?”

Now she sounded uncertain. “I... I don’t know. I’ll tell her the truth, I guess. I don’t really have a choice.”

Jack nodded. The truth was always best. “Well, I’m looking forward to meeting your uncle, since you like him so much.”

On the outskirts of Lafayette, they stopped for lunch. It was nearly one o’clock by the time Nicole called her uncle from the restaurant. Twenty minutes later they pulled into the driveway of an attractive two-story brick colonial in an older section of the city.

A slight man dressed in dark slacks and a burgundy shirt walked outside. As he came closer, Jack could see he was very tanned, and that his hair was completely white. Nicole hugged him and said, “Hello, Uncle Justin. You’re looking well.”

“Hello,
ma chere.”
He held her at arm’s length. “And you, you look very beautiful, as usual.” Then he turned his dark-eyed gaze on Jack.

Jack leaned forward and extended his right hand. “Jack Forrester, Mr. Cantrelle.”

As they shook hands, Justin Cantrelle studied Jack, and Jack could see the intelligence blazing from his eyes. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mr. Forrester.”

“Please, call me Jack.”

Justin Cantrelle permitted himself a small smile and nodded. He turned back to Nicole. Now his smile broadened, and his eyes filled with warmth. “It’s so good to see you again.”

She kissed his cheek. “Yes, I’ve stayed away too long.”

They followed Justin into the house, through the foyer, and off to the left into a large, sunny, living room filled with bright chintzes and glowing antiques. A large yellow Lab came bounding across the room and nearly knocked Nicole over.

“Genevieve, stop that!” Justin said sharply.

Nicole knelt, laughing as the dog lapped at her face. “Hi, Genevieve,” she crooned. “You missed me, didn’t you?”

When the dog was finished with Nicole, she walked over to Jack and began sniffing at his pant legs. He grinned, rubbing her on the back of the head. He liked dogs, especially Labs. That was one of the few things he really regretted about his constant traveling. There was no way he could ever have a pet.

“Where’s Aunt Lisette?” Nicole asked as she sat in a large wing-back chair near the front window.

“Your aunt is at the Center this afternoon,” Justin answered. He turned to Jack. “My wife, she does volunteer work three afternoons a week at the Catholic Youth Center. But she’ll be home later.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now, what can I bring you to drink? Coffee? Iced tea? Or perhaps you’d prefer something stronger.”

“I’d love a glass of iced tea,” Nicole said.

“And you, Mr. Forrester?”

“Coffee, please.”

Minutes later Justin carried in a tray containing a tall glass of iced tea and two cups of coffee. After they were all served, Justin sat facing them. “My brother tells me you are looking for a young woman who looks like Nicole.”

“Yes,” Jack said.

“And her name is Elise Arnold?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a photograph of this young woman?” Jack, who had anticipated this request, pulled the snapshot out of his notebook. He handed it to Justin.

For long moments, Justin Cantrelle studied the photograph. The room was very quiet, with only the ticking mantel clock and the dog’s breathing breaking the silence. Then Justin sighed deeply and handed the photograph back to Jack. Jack carefully tucked it back into the inside flap of the notebook. Justin tented his hands and pursed his lips.

Jack glanced at Nicole. She was watching her uncle intently, her forehead furrowed. He turned back to Justin. “How old is Elise Arnold?” Justin finally asked.

“Twenty-eight.”

Justin nodded. In a quiet, very calm voice, he said, “I am going to tell you something that has remained a secret for a very long time.” His gaze rested on Nicole for a moment, then he turned and stared into space as he spoke.

“Approximately twenty-nine years ago Lisette and I were having some serious problems. We had been married nearly ten years, and we were childless. Lisette was very unhappy, and for nearly a year we were estranged in all the important ways. I didn’t know what to do. I tried in every way I could to show her our lack of success in having a child was not important enough to let it come between us, but she was so devastated and felt like such a failure, she just grew farther and farther away from me.”