'Oh, God, this is so romantic. Wait until I tell Christopher. You’re my maid of honor,' she said then.
'So?'
The hint wasn’t subtle. 'Will you be my maid of honor?' Michelle paused to shout the news to her parents. Both of them had to take a turn on the phone congratulating Laurant, and by the time Michelle was back, ten more minutes had passed.
'Yes, I’ll be your maid of honor. I’m honored that you asked me. Oh, that reminds me. I called you to tell you your dress is ready. You can pick it up tomorrow. Try it on one more time, okay? I don’t want any screwups on the day of my wedding.'
'All right. Anything else?'
'The picnic,' she said. 'I expect to meet Nick then.'
'What picnic?'
'What do you mean, what picnic? The abbot’s throwing a big thank-you party at the lake for everyone who worked so hard on the renovations.'
'When was this decided?'
'Oh, that’s right. You were out of town. It was in the Sunday bulletin, but you were in Kansas City. Oh, my God, I forgot to ask. The news about Nick turned me into a blithering idiot I suppose. It was so… un-you… that it was all I could think about. I forgot to ask. Is your brother all right?'
'Yes, he’s fine. He got a clean bill of health this time.'
'Then no chemo?'
'No chemo.'
Michelle sounded relieved. 'Thank goodness. Is he back home yet?'
'No, he and a friend are going to drive my car back as soon as the repairs are done. The transmission was slipping.'
'You need to buy a new car.'
'I will, one of these days.'
'When you can afford it, right?'
'Right.'
Laurant suddenly dropped the pen. She hadn’t been paying attention as she scribbled on the pad, but now she saw what she had done. There were hearts all over the paper, broken hearts. She ripped the paper from the pad and began to tear it up.
'Father Tom still doesn’t know all the money’s gone, does he?'
She glanced over her shoulder to see if Nick and the other man were still in the hallway, but they were gone.
Even though she was alone in the room, she still lowered her voice when she answered, 'No, Tommy doesn’t know the money’s gone. You and Christopher are the only ones I’ve told.'
'Heaven help you if Tommy finds out. Put yourself in his place. He assigned his interest in the trust to you when he entered the seminary, thinking that your grandfather’s estate would be secure and that you would be set for life. How is he going to feel when he finds out those slimy lawyers were stealing every cent in the trust by charging exorbitant fees,' Michelle railed. The more she talked about the injustice, the angrier her voice became. 'Millions of dollars in fees,' she reminded Laurant. 'They should rot in jail. What they did to you was criminal.'
'Not to me,' Laurant corrected. 'To my grandfather. They betrayed him, and that’s why I went after them.'
It had taken her a year to find an attorney who was willing to take on one of the largest and most powerful law firms in Paris, and even he had resisted at first, until he looked over her papers and saw what they had done. His position radically changed then. He wanted to put them out of business. The suit was filed the following morning.
'Don’t lose hope. You have to keep fighting to get what’s rightfully yours.' She sighed over the phone. 'Lawyers are scum buckets.'
'Shame on you. You’re marrying a lawyer, remember?'
'He wasn’t a lawyer when I met him.'
'Michelle, pray this is settled soon. I’ve spent almost every dime I have on legal fees and renovating the store. I had to borrow money from the bank too. God only knows how I’m going to pay it back.'
'The lawyers you’re fighting are hoping you’ll give up and go away. Remember what Christopher said? That’s why they keep filing all those motions or whatever to delay the final court hearing, but if you win again this time, they have to pay up.'
'And within ten days,' Laurant said.
'Well, hang in there. You’re close to the finish line now.'
'Yes, I know.'
'Mother’s yelling at me. I have to hang up. The picnic’s at five. Don’t be late.'
'I don’t understand why the abbot scheduled the party so soon. The renovations aren’t finished yet, and I’ll just bet the scaffolding is still in the church.'
'It’s the only time that would work with his busy schedule,' Michelle explained. 'And the abbot promised me the scaffolding would be gone before the wedding. Do you realize, in less than a week I’ll be an old married woman. Oh, hold on, Laurant.'
She heard Michelle shout to her mother that she’d be right down, and then she spoke into the phone again. 'Mother’s becoming a nervous wreck with the preparations.'
'I should let you go.'
'You sound tired.'
'I am,' she admitted.
Laurant’s mind was racing even as she talked to Michelle. Agent Wesson was using the abbot’s cabin as his command center, and no one was supposed to know that he and his men were in Holy Oaks
'Where exactly is the picnic? At the abbot’s cabin?'
'No,' Michelle answered. 'He has some relatives or friends staying there. It’s across the lake. Just follow the traffic.'
'Okay,' she said. 'I’ll talk to you tomorrow.'
'I won’t be here, remember? I’m going to Des Moines to pick up my new brace, so I’ll see you at the picnic.'
'Who’s driving you?'
'Dad,' she answered. 'If this one doesn’t fit, he’s going to raise holy hell. Because of their screwups, I have less than a week to learn how to walk without a limp.'
'If anyone can do it, you can. Want me to do anything for you while you’re away?'
Michelle laughed. 'Yes. Go get some color in your cheeks.'
Chapter 20
Laurant heard Nick coming down the stairs, and when she finished saying good-bye to Michelle and hung up the phone, she saw him leaning against the door frame watching her. His hair was tousled on his forehead, and she was once again struck by how sexy he was.
Maybe Michelle was right. Maybe she should think about putting some color back in her cheeks.
What would he be like in bed? My God, she couldn’t believe she was letting her mind conjure up such thoughts. She quickly pushed the budding fantasies aside. She wasn’t a teenager in the throes of a hormonal rebellion. She was an adult, and there wasn’t anything wrong with being celibate until the right man came along, was there? Nick didn’t fit her requirements. No, he wasn’t the right man. 'Sorry I was on the phone so long.'
'That’s okay. Joe says you’ve got a bunch of messages stored on your machine. Go ahead and listen to them.'
Nick carried her bag upstairs while Laurant replayed the tape. There was only one disturbing message, from Margaret Stamp, the owner of the local bakery. She was calling to tell Laurant that Steve Brenner had upped his
