“Derek?” A delicate knock sounded on the bathroom door. “Are you decent?”
Claire.
“Be right out.” He stepped from the shower, steam lingering in the tiny bathroom as he toweled off and pulled on a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt.
Time to see if he could fix the mess he’d made.
Emerging into the hallway, he trudged to the living room, where Claire sat on the edge of the couch perusing her phone. A gas fire flickered in the stone fireplace across from her, and the wooden accents in the rustic-but-modern cabin gave the place a cozy flare.
At his approach, Claire stood and walked over. “Hello, mon cher.” She kissed both of his cheeks, then pecked his lips.
He shouldn’t have let her do that, not until he’d made his confession.
“Hey.” A squeeze to her waist, and then Derek led her back to the deep-brown couch. “How was your flight?” With her smooth hair and bright red lips, he’d never have known the woman was just on a plane for twelve hours straight.
“Well enough.” She nestled her hand inside his, running her fingers down the lines of his palm. “And how are you? I’m so sorry you’ve had to bear the burden of planning this wedding alone.”
“I’m good.” He shifted, breathed in through his nose. It was now or never. “But—”
“Grand-père, I am sorry to say, will not be able to attend the wedding. He is so disappointed but sends his best wishes for our health and happiness.” Her hand stilled. “I’m sorry I’ve been so unavailable lately. Things have been busier than I thought they’d be at the vineyard.”
As if she should be the one apologizing to him. “I can definitely relate to that.”
She leaned toward the hand-carved wooden coffee table and picked up a green to-go cup from Java’s Village Bean he hadn’t noticed before now. Probably her daily late-afternoon Earl Grey. Claire took a delicate sip before turning her eyes upon him once more. “I realize that in all the rush of planning the wedding, we have not decided what to do after the fact. Which seems to be a bit of an oversight, oui?”
“You mean where we’ll live?”
“That, among other things.” She bit her lip. “Derek, I do not even know if you want children.”
Good thing he didn’t have a drink or he’d have spewed it everywhere. He hooked a hand behind his head and scratched the base of his skull. “Uh, yeah. I don’t know.” Not like he hadn’t thought about that part of marriage, necessarily, but Claire was right—they’d never discussed if they’d keep their relationship strictly business or not. Or what life looked like after the wedding and the inheritance came through. The engagement, everything, had happened so quickly.
Claire’s eyebrows scrunched together as she placed a hand against Derek’s chest. “I like you very much and respect you, Derek. You know this. I am attracted to you, and I would not mind having that sort of relationship. But …” Her eyes searched his. “I need to know what you want.”
“I kissed Ashley.”
The words slipped out before his horrified brain could catch up.
Eyes wide, Claire reared back, dropping her tea to the floor.
Derek rushed to pick it up before it could spill onto the wood floor, setting it upright on the table. Then he folded his hands together, leaning forward in his seat. His hands smelled like bitter oranges. “I’m sorry, Claire. That’s not how I’d intended to tell you that.”
His fiancée’s hand drummed against her lips before she stood and paced to the window. “Why did this happen?”
“I was an idiot. And weak. And I’m sorry.” Should he join her at the window or give her space? Even after knowing Claire for more than a year, he had no clue what she needed from him in this moment. “It only happened once. And I haven’t seen her since.”
Claire remained silent, lips pursed.
He had to fight for this marriage. It was all he had left—and he was not so selfish as to realize that his actions had messed with Claire’s future, her ability to help her family, as well.
Derek rose and approached the window until he stood next to her. “I know our relationship might not be based on a deep romantic love, but it is based on mutual trust, which I’ve broken. I promise if you just give me another chance, I’ll never even look at another woman. You will be my priority, my wife in every way that you want to be.”
“You still love her, don’t you?”
It was his turn to be quiet. What good would it do to tell her the truth? But he couldn’t lie.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Claire laid her head against Derek’s arm as they stared out the window at the rolling foothills. “Derek, there is something I must tell you as well.”
“What’s that?”
“While I was home, Sébastien showed up at my office.”
“Your ex?”
“Oui.” Claire sighed. “He’d heard I was getting married. Told me how sorry he was for leaving me, that it was the biggest mistake of his life. That he still loved me.” The words seemed to get stuck in Claire’s throat. She coughed. “Of course, I told him he was too late, that love could not possibly be reborn after so much heartache.”
See? Claire had been loyal to him. Why hadn’t he done her the same courtesy? “Was it painful to see him?”
“Yes. More than I thought it would be.” She worried her lip. “And now that I see you, loving Ashley still, even after all this time, after all the heartache she brought you, I wonder if maybe I was too hasty in my reply to him. Maybe love is real. Maybe it can last, with a little forgiveness and a lot of grace.”
Stepping back, Claire squeezed Derek’s arm. “Maybe we were both wrong about love.”
He cast his
