Chapter Twenty-Five
Zachary
“Grace, I have to say, you win a hundred points,” Beckett said on Saturday, putting an arm around her shoulders, “for facing a LeBlanc-Broussard brunch.”
She laughed, and I had to give it to my brother—he could put anyone at ease.
Grace and I had arrived an hour ago. After the initial introductions, I quickly realized that she was starting to get overwhelmed. And yet my younger brother had made her feel comfortable.
“Well, why not? I’ve heard so much about all of you,” Grace said as she loaded more food onto her plate.
I thought we were going to have an easygoing brunch as usual, but my grandmothers had gone all out. They’d cooked seven different dishes and three desserts. They hadn’t put the sweets on the table yet, but they announced what they were serving beforehand, so we’d all save enough room.
I swatted my brother’s arm. “Take your hands off my woman.”
He started to laugh. There were several other snickers around the table as well.
Fucking hell, I hadn’t meant to sound so serious. It had been a tease, but still, seeing him so close to Grace triggered something inside me.
She cocked her head in my direction, smiling. Her eyes were just as full of joy as they’d been when I took her to that festival. Being with me made her happy.
“Someone’s territorial,” Anthony replied.
“Hell yes,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. The whole table started to laugh.
“But all the LeBlancs are like that,” Georgie commented.
“How would you know?” Beckett asked in fascination.
“Just by observing. Obviously, I don’t have enough information on you two.” She pointed to Anthony and Beckett. “But I think it’s safe to say you’re the same. After all, Julian was territorial even before we were actually together. When...”
She stopped talking, looking at Grace with a quick glance.
“It’s about my brother, isn’t it?” Grace asked, wincing.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up like that. But you know what? I actually owe it to him that this one started to play a knight in shining armor and pretended to be my boyfriend. Gave me a smoking-hot kiss right in front of Kyle.”
“Oh, I bet he was seething. Serves him right.” Then Grace sighed. “On behalf of my brothers, I am sorry for all the ruckus they’ve caused.”
“Oh, nonsense, girl,” Isabeau said. “You do not apologize for the sins of others.”
“I quite agree with that statement.” I pulled Grace closer to me and kissed her shoulder.
“So, I just wanted to say with everyone here,” Celine started, “that I think the match between our perfumes and lotions and your creams is made in heaven, Grace. People are truly enjoying them. We’ve even had some of the neighboring shops ask if we could put them in touch with you so they can carry them too.”
My grandmothers truly were saints. I smiled at them.
“Sure. You can give my email to everyone. I’ll respond personally,” Grace said.
“We’ll do that.”
“And if I don’t reply to them within a few days, they can also call me. Some of my emails do land in spam, especially from unknown senders.”
“We’ll relay the information,” Isabeau said.
I was surprised at the affection in her tone. The two of them clearly had a soft spot for Grace. It made me happy, but I just didn’t expect it. Celine and especially Isabeau were notoriously suspicious of strangers. Winning them over wasn’t very easy, though they’d softened over the years.
But her mentioning emails made me think about Gaston’s again. He hadn’t even replied to my offer. I was of two minds to discuss it with Grace, see if she’d changed her mind about us both going into business together. But there was no point in bringing it up right now. Gaston would eventually answer, and then we could both sit together and have a good talk.
“I’d love to carry your products too,” Georgie said. “They don’t fit with the whole Books I simply took things as they came. Yet now that I was thirty, I’d never even seriously considered taking the next step with a woman, let alone how her name would sound with my last name. I wasn’t going to question things too closely now either. I was happy with Grace. That was all that mattered.
Once we all finished eating, our grandmothers had us move to the sitting area so we could eat dessert.
“Should I come to the kitchen and help?” Grace asked.
“We’re going to need everyone’s help,” Isabeau said. “It’s a lot of plates for the two of us to bring.”
“That’s just going to transform into eating dessert in the kitchen again,” Anthony said.
Isabeau laughed. “I have nothing against that.”
“Then come on, clan. Let’s all move to the kitchen.”
Bella had been pretty quiet the whole day before she suddenly came up to me. She, Grace, and I were at the very back of the group as we headed to the kitchen.
“Uncle Zachary?” she asked, looking at Grace shyly. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Would you like me to give you privacy?” Grace asked her.
Bella hesitated for a brief second before saying, “No. Maybe it’s better to have someone else’s opinion who’s not part of the family too.”
I blinked rapidly. Jesus, she truly sounded like an adult when she spoke like that. Well, at least a teenager, which she was on her way to becoming.
“Do you want to give me your opinion, Grace?” she asked.
“Sure.” Grace sounded completely taken aback.
“Okay. So, I asked Uncle Zachary a while ago if I have to be friends with the popular girls in school even though I don’t really like them and they want me to drop my friends. And he told me that I don’t have to, that I can stick with my friends.”
“Your uncle is right. No one can pressure you into not spending time with your friends.”
“Well, now I have another issue. The mean girls are spreading lies about me behind my back. And I’m not sure what to do.”
Fuck.
“Oh, I do know, actually,” Grace said. “Whenever someone comes up to you with those lies, you just stand your ground and tell them the truth. You don’t even have to tell them who spread the lies. You can just tell them that it’s not true.”
“And that will work?” Bella asked skeptically.
“For some it will. For those that it doesn’t, they’re not worth your time anyway.”
I nodded. “I quite agree with her.”
She grinned. “Thanks, Grace. Thanks, Uncle Zachary. You two are the best. Now I’m going to ask everyone else in the family what their opinion is too.”
“Why?” I inquired.
“So I can see which one is the most popular.”
I started to laugh as Bella darted away, and then Grace said, “Oh God, she’s so adorable. And you’re adorable with her.”
“I love her. We all do. Do you like kids?” I asked. Then I remembered what she’d told me what felt like months ago, that she and her husband had been trying to have children.
“Yes, I do,” she said, beaming from ear to ear. “Growing up, I always dreamed of having a girl and a boy. Or two girls. I always felt a bit like the odd one out having two brothers, you know?”
“I have five, so I don’t even know how to answer that.”
Grace laughed. “I really like your family.”
“Small secret—they like you too. And another piece of advice: don’t say you have a favorite dessert.”
“Why not?” she asked, looking at me strangely.
“Because my grandmothers are testing new recipes, and although they say they want feedback, they actually want praise. To their credit, though, their desserts are very good.”
“Navigating LeBlanc-Broussard politics isn’t for the faint of heart, is it?”
I chuckled. “You’ve got that right.”