Chapter Forty-Six
A little over three hours later, they were in the air and on their way back to New York. Victor handed out scotch from the bar and held up his glass. “Here's to this horrible chapter being over.” Everyone raised their glasses, said a resounding “Cheers!” and took a sip. Mirabelle immediately gagged and passed it over to Bastian.
“She can't handle the taste of alcohol.” Bastian chuckled at Victor’s questioning look. “It needs to be covered with sweet things.”
“I'm good; I've pretty much given up drinking anyway.” Mirabelle smiled ruefully as Victor laughed and went to make her a new drink. “How did things go with Eddie?”
“We've told him we are officially done being his bank and handed him over his trust. There was quite a tantrum when he saw how much remained,” Francesca said softly.
“He threw a punch at me, so I had him arrested.” Victor passed Mirabelle a ginger ale and took a seat next to his wife. “I don't think he expected his old man to counter him so quickly, but I guess there's still some muscle memory left from my boxing days in university, and I asked him if I should have covered the costs for all his indiscretions over the years. Of course, he said he would sue, but everything was perfectly legal and agreed upon with his grandparents, who started the trust anyway.”
“Where were they? Weren't they supposed to fly on Friday night?” Mirabelle wasn't upset they hadn't shown, just curious about why.
“Mother wasn't feeling up to it,” Victor replied. “They're almost ninety, and while I think spite will keep them going for a while, their doctor decided they shouldn't fly.”
“Too bad,” Eleanor said airily as she smiled.
“Anyway.” Victor rolled his eyes at his daughter. “Zeke said he would bail Eddie out and convince him to get a place together. His parents cut him off following the country club incident, so he knows how to navigate all that.”
“We also let Eddie know that if the baby is his, we would still set up the trust for them, but reminded him he would never have access or control.” Francesca took another sip of her scotch and sighed. “We reiterated that we don't want a relationship with the child unless he can guarantee that neither he nor Casey will use them as a bargaining chip for funds. Either we have a relationship with no financial attachments, or we don't. There's no in-between.”
Eleanor grinned. “Well. I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want to show up Eddie on his special day. But...” She passed her still-full glass of scotch over to her husband. “I've been ordering virgin drinks all week.”
Everyone looked at her, and then understanding crept across Francesca's face. “Eleanor! You're joking!”
Eleanor chuckled and shook her head. “Nope. Fourteen weeks. We were waiting to tell you because of the whole wedding thing.”
“You're having a baby?” Victor's voice cracked. “My baby is having a baby!” He jumped up and pulled her up to hug her.
“That's amazing, Eleanor!” Mirabelle grinned as Francesca joined them in their hug and pulled Robert up.
“Actually, Dad.” Eleanor's smile was smug. “Your baby is having two babies. So, we might have to postpone those pole dancing lessons, Mira.”
“I think so!” Mirabelle laughed.
“Two?” Francesca sat down in disbelief. “Two babies?”
“Yep. We were having a little trouble conceiving due to my age, so we were doing fertility treatments and ended up with two.” Eleanor explained as she sat beside her mother and took her hand.
“I can't believe we never noticed you not getting drunk.” Caroline laughed.
“I was so apprehensive about you getting arrested the night of the scavenger hunt.” Robert chuckled as Bastian, Peter, and Benji all shook his hand.
“There were a lot of very convenient distractions.” Eleanor laughed as the pilot announced they were about to begin their descent and told them to please return to their seats and put their seatbelts on.
Once they were in their seats, Mirabelle looked at Bastian. “How are you doing?”
“Great, Bunny, why?” He smiled and ran his fingers along the curve of her cheek.
“Just with Eleanor announcing her pregnancy. We'll never do that.” She still wondered if there was some part of him that wished he could be a father, but he shrugged and tilted his head at her with a teasing smile.
“So? We get to announce our engagement soon.”
“Soon?”
“Yeah, within the next month or so,” Bastian pulled her into his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders tightly. “And I was thinking we should get married in Hossegor. We haven't surfed there yet.”
“I was thinking of a beach wedding.” Mirabelle smiled. “Plus, it's close enough to Bordeaux that I don't think Francesca will mind too much.”
“Then it's settled. Married on a beach in France.”