A Winter's Promise (A Winter's Tale Series Book 2) Read online

  Chapter Eleven

  Nicholas took the seat beside Charlotte as his parents and in- laws rounded the table laughing and engaging in conversation that he had checked out of moments before. Being so close to her put him in a state of euphoria. Her aroma filled him, diverting his thoughts and taking his mind to a place it shouldn’t have gone with their parents being in the same room. Leaning into her, Nicholas inhaled warm ginger and coconut. Without thought he raised his hand to the nap of her neck pulling her closer to him. “Why do you have to smell so damn good?” he whispered into her ear, his lips brazing her earlobe.

  Charlotte’s heart leaped at the feel of his warm hand on her skin. It was the first time he had touched her in nearly a week. Just one touch of his hand and she felt a curious heat forming in between her thighs. Fidgeting in the cherry oak chair, she squeezed her legs together to combat the tingling sensation that had begun to form there. Her action hadn’t gone unnoticed, releasing his hold on her, Nicholas inched his chair closer to the table, a faint smirk on the side of his mouth.

  “Adeline, tell me about yourself?” Muffy requested, beaming at the young girl. “You’re so beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” Adeline answered, her smile innocent. “There isn’t much to tell. I’m a senior in high school . . . just counting down the days until graduation.”

  “And what exactly do you plan on doing after graduation?”

  “Go away to college and play soccer for a Division 1 team,” Adeline answered quickly.

  “You’re a soccer player?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “How long have you played?” Muffy asked, sincerely interested in the young girl.

  “Uhh, thirteen years now. I’ve played since I was four.”

  “That’s many years of dedication to a single sport. Are you any good?” Spencer cut in.

  Manuel laughed. “Any good?” he repeated. “She made Varsity freshman year and has been a starter from the time she played on Club teams until now. She made captain sophomore year and has held that position since then. She’s a star athlete.”

  Spencer raised his glass into the air. “Sounds like you’re going places. Muffy and I should plan a trip to Maryland to make a game during spring season. I played a little back in my day.”

  “Awesome. I’ll give Charli my schedule, and she can pass it on to you,” Adeline offered before taking a sip of her water. Glancing at her sister over the glass, her golden eyes begged for a reprieve from the attention she was receiving. Adeline hated being the center of everyone’s focus, it made her feel uncomfortable.

  Clearing her throat Charlotte turned to face Muffy. “You have to taste my mother’s braided bread. It’s delicious.” Lifting the long plate, she passed it to Nicholas’ mother. “It’s addicting.”

  Nicholas nodded his head in agreement. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted. How unfortunate though that my mother doesn’t eat starch.”

  “Oh,” Charlotte muttered withdrawing the china from Muffy’s direction. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “Nonsense,” Muffy laughed, reaching for the plate and quickly grabbing a piece of bread from it. “I wouldn’t dare turn down home baked bread, especially if it was made by Babet,” she gushed. Biting into the browned dough she raised her right hand to her chest and licked her lips. “Mm. Mm. Mm,” she moaned. “Delicious.”

  Nicholas raised an eyebrow at his mother, amused. It amazed him how the woman could go from one extreme to the next without even a thought. Queen of manipulation, he thought.

  “Muffy, you are a dear,” Babet giggled, the sound caught in her throat as she clasped her hands together in front of her. “I’ve always applauded my cooking skills,” she sighed. “But with all of my children intent on leaving me . . . it seems such a learned craft will go to waste.”

  Charlotte groaned inwardly. And here we go . . .

  “Filling my family with homemade meals has been my souls comfort, but they’re intent on taking away even that. Charlotte’s in New York, my middle daughter moved to Pennsylvania, and now my youngest is adamant about going away to school in the South,” she exhaled loudly. “I’ll be all alone.”

  Muffy shook her head sharing the other woman’s agony. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to cook. I tried for years, but with my husband always having to travel I had to put my wifely duties above all else. Spencer and I were always away, doing what we could to provide for our children from a distance. We provided the best nannies and chefs a household could ask for. Still, it was never enough. And now that my husband finally has the leisure to work from home his children are nowhere to be found. I’ve wanted to learn how to cook for my family for so long, now.” Wiping dry eyes, she whined, “Maybe if I were a better mother my children wouldn’t have left me the way that they have.”

  Drawing his brows together Nicholas downed his glass of wine. His mother was at her peak, thrilled to have an audience whose willingness to listen to her rants was of their own volition, rather than the never ending tantrumatic episodes her family made a point to avoid at any cost.

  “Nonsense!” Babet disagreed. “The greatest mothers are not exempt from the afflictions of having to watch their children walk away from them. Look at me!” she whimpered dramatically, raising her hand to her heart. “I’ve cooked for my children− a hot breakfast every morning, packed their lunches, made sure a hot dinner was ready and on the table when they returned home from school. On weekends I made sure snacks were waiting for them in the refrigerator− fresh cut fruits and vegetables ready to eat at their leisure. Their clothes were washed, folded and put away, their beds made, floors vacuumed, then they grew up and at the first opportunity given they willingly left.”

  “Babet, yours is a sad story to hear. If I would have done all of that and still had my children leave on a whim . . . what a miserable life I would be living today,” Muffy shook her head, a forlorn expression on her face. “A heart- rending story indeed.”

  Charlotte fought the urge to roll her eyes at Muffy’s words, and her mother’s failed attempt at making her feel guilty for leaving Maryland while trying to manipulate Adeline into staying close to home for college. Glancing at her sister from across the table, a small smirk touched her lips. Adeline was engrossed in her meal not in the least fazed by the antics of the two women comparing their woe is me sentiments. Feeling Charlotte’s eyes on her the younger girl looked up meeting her sister’s gaze with a smile. Reading Charlotte’s expression Adeline winked at her, her unspoken answer to Charlotte’s unasked question. Adeline’s luminous hazel eyes were amused under long brown lashes. Yes, she heard their mother’s words, and no she wasn’t fazed by them.

  “Hello! Is anyone home?” called a feminine voice from the front of the house. “Muffy? Spencer?”

  Muffy jumped up from the table. “Oh, my word! Blithe is that you?” she shrieked, with one hand on either side of her face she turned toward the dining room opening.

  “It’s me,” the woman laughed as she rounded the corner, a wide smile on her pale face. “I’ve missed you,” she said, wrapping her arms around the older woman in a warm embrace.

  “And I you,” Muffy declared, taking a step away from her. “You’re so thin,” she professed. “And your hair has gotten so long. It’s a better length for your face. I’ve never really liked short hair on you, it wasn’t very becoming.”

  “You sound like my mother,” Blithe Sullivan laughed un-phased by Muffy’s words. “I’m being so rude, right now. Hello, everyone!” she greeted, looking around Muffy’s slender frame, her baby blue eyes more dazzling than her smile. “Nicholas!” she gushed. “I didn’t know you’d be vacationing here for the New Year.”

  Nodding his head, he raised his water glass to his lips without so much as a glance in the woman’s direction.

  “Blithe,” Muffy cleared her throat. “Meet Charlotte, Nicholas’ fiancé,” she said extending her small hand in Charlotte’s direction, her parents Manuel and Babet Toutant, and her sister,
Adeline.”

  “Oh, wow. Fiancé? I had no idea you were engaged. Congratulations,” Blithe smiled sweetly at Charlotte before moving her gaze to Nicholas. “Nicholas, congratulations.”

  Nicholas looked up for the first time since she had walked into the room. His eyes locking with hers for a moment, he gave a half smile, and then turned his attention back to the plate in front of him. Watching the exchange between the two, Charlotte remained silent not knowing what to make of his taciturn disposition toward the other woman. Maybe he really does have feelings for her, she thought, her heart sinking further into itself.

  “I hope to see you all at my parents’ annual New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night,” Blithe boomed, interrupting her thoughts.

  “Of course, we’ll be there,” Spencer assured her. “It’s an event I look forward to during this time of year. We never miss an opportunity to get together with old friends.”

  “Good. I’m glad. Well, I’ll let you all get back to your meal, and I’ll stop by a little later. Nicholas, when Caleb and Rebecca arrive, maybe we can all catch up?”

  When Nicholas didn’t respond Spencer answered for him. “He would love to. The Elliot and the Sullivan clan together again. It’ll be a treat.”

  Oh, it’ll definitely be something, Nicholas mused, not agreeing to anything.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hand in hand Charlotte and Adeline inched their way down the sand hill that separated the narrow road from the beach, quickening their pace as they reached the bottom. Inhaling deeply, Adeline let out a long breath, lifting her arms to the sky as she stretched. “That had to be the most agonizing lunch party I’ve ever had the experience of sitting through, like I am literally exhausted from it,” she giggled, pulling Charlotte further onto the beach wanting to be close to the water. The waves were strong, hitting the coastline in rapids. Making small glances at her sister, Adeline licked her lips in deep contemplation. “Charli,” she said after a while, disrupting the silence between them. “Can I ask you something, and please don’t take it the wrong way?”

  Stopping abruptly, Charlotte turned to face her younger sister. “Okay?” she agreed, a frown forming above her brows.

  “What’s the deal with you and Nick?”

  “I don’t think that I understand your question . . . the deal─”

  “Are you two arguing, or something? Back in Maryland it seemed like there was a problem . . . I caught Nick sleeping on the floor, and when I asked him why, he totally avoided my question . . . and today he’s been really distant, almost like he’s being careful not to touch you, like he doesn’t want to get too close.”

  Silence.

  “Sorry,” Adeline groaned. “It’s none of my business. Forget that I even said anything.”

  Charlotte regarded her sister carefully. It was apparent that Adeline was genuinely concerned. “Adie,” she said, her voice strained. “Nicholas and I aren’t really engaged. I lied.”

  Adeline gasped. “What? You’re not engaged? But─”

  “He’s my best friend. When mom called and left that message about dad being sick and needing me to come home, Nicholas insisted on making the trip with me. And on the way there he gave me this ring on a whim because I liked it,” Charlotte explained, holding up her left hand where the ring fit perfectly on her finger. “Nothing more. It was a promotional gift that was given to him by the man who took over his Magazine.”

  Adeline blinked rapidly, shocked. “So, the whole story about how he proposed to you on Christmas morning, and everything you’ve told us since you came home has been a lie?” she asked. There was no judgment in her tone, nor was there any anger in her eyes at the realization that she was being lied to.

  “Yes,” Charlotte answered. “It was all a lie.”

  “But why?”

  “Mom assumed that we were engaged when she saw Nicholas, and then the ring on my finger . . . at the time it seemed like a better option than coming home unattached after everything that happened with Marguerite and Todd. I just didn’t want it to look like I hadn’t moved on from what happened, and Nicholas being the sweetheart that he is went along with it. He didn’t know anything about Marguerite and Todd until that trip to Baltimore. I’m assuming mom had to have said something to him about it because─”

  “It was me,” Adeline admitted. “I told him about Marguerite and Todd. You were asleep, and I saw that he had been sleeping on the floor . . . I thought that the two of you were in some sort of lovers’ quarrel, and I asked him to pretend that everything was okay between the two of you while Marguerite and Todd were there. I didn’t want you to be humiliated,” Adeline blurted out in a rush. “And when he didn’t know who either of them were I thought that I should have shut my mouth then, but he looked at me and I became hypnotized by his eyes and like a vortex they sucked the words right out of me!”

  Charlotte laughed then. “Adeline, really,” she said to the teenager remembering only then how many years apart they actually were. “It’s okay, I’m not mad at you. I would have rather it been you who told him than our parents who knew about the affair the entire time.”

  “Still, I’m sorry.”

  “You’re forgiven. Am I?”

  “Of course. I understand why you felt like you had to lie. There’s no need to ask for my forgiveness. But while we’re on the topic of forgiveness . . . Marguerite─”

  “Adeline, not now,” Charlotte warned, though her tone was light. “Everything has its season. Eventually Marguerite and I will have to face one another and hash out what went down between us. When it’s time for that conversation to be had nothing or no one will be able to stop it from happening, but until then I’d like to make peace with it the best way I know how.”

  “How are you making peace with it?”

  “Prayer. By talking to Jesus about it. I don’t know . . . just trying not to think about it helps.”

  Smiling innocently, Adeline asked, “Do you know what I think?”

  Her smile was contagious. “No, what do you think, Adie?” Charlotte asked, grinning back at her.

  “There’s a season for loss, and for love. There’s even a season for birth and death, but forgiveness has no time lapse, it doesn’t come in intervals. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. That’s scripture, Charli. I’m not telling you to forget what Marguerite has done to you, but what if the season of forgiveness that you’re waiting on never comes? What if all you have is now?”

  Combing her fingers through her short hair Charlotte’s eyes drifted to the sand. There was a deep frown on her face as she meditated on her sister’s words. With a wary look in her eyes she shook her head before lifting her dark gaze to Adeline’s golden one once more. “Why are you the wise one, huh? What is it about you that skipped over me and Marguerite?” she laughed, genuinely awed by the young girl.

  “You know I often wonder the same thing?” Adeline giggled, the carefree sound lightening the seriousness of their conversation. “Did mom tell you? Todd wanted to make the trip with us, but Marguerite didn’t want to. I think she was going to give in just for his benefit, but dad told them that they weren’t invited. He wanted you to have peace for the New Year.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. I think Marguerite is trying to give you the space that you need . . . in her own way she’s trying to do right by you.”

  Nicholas stood silently behind them, not intending to listen to their conversation, but after hearing Todd’s name mentioned seemingly unable to turn away. Clearing his throat, he finally made his presence known, his brilliant grey eyes dancing with mischief at the sight of the two women jumping from being startled.

  Charlotte looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. How much did he hear? She wondered. Knotting her brows together she turned her attention back to Adeline who suddenly seemed out of sorts with his being there.

  Adeline’s honey gaze traveled
from Charlotte to Nicholas and then back again. Raising her small hands to her silky black hair she busily tucked wayward strands behind her ears. “Mom is probably staring out of the window signifying,” she laughed uncomfortably. “I should probably go in and keep her company before she drives dad crazy with her assumptions.”

  Charlotte watched as her sister walked away from them in silence not knowing what to say to the man standing beside her. It amazed her how quickly the dynamic of their relationship had changed. Not even two weeks ago they were laughing together and enthralled by one another’s company, yet now there was so many layers between them, so much tension. She didn’t know what to make of it . . . she didn’t know how to fix it.

  “Take a walk with me,” Nicholas said breaking the silence, his voice was barely above a whisper.

  Charlotte nodded her head as she walked beside him, her subconscious screaming at her− imploring that she ask about Blithe, and the obvious friction between them. If she knew even that much perhaps her mind could take a break from the angst that was threatening to suffocate her.

  Her quietness made him uneasy. “So, when are you going to ask me?”

  Charlotte frowned, feigning ignorance. “Ask you what?”

  A wide smile brightened Nicholas’ face. “Oh, you don’t know?” he demanded, laughter wrapped around his words.

  “No, what are you talking about?”

  Nicholas stopped then. Grabbing Charlotte by her forearm, he pulled her to him, his hunted silver eyes observing her curiously. “Why do you lie so much?” It was an honest question, one that he seriously wanted to know the answer to.

  “I don’t─”

  “You’re about to tell another one right now,” he acknowledged, faint laughter on his lips. “Blithe Sullivan’s father and my father are best friends and have been since Prep School. They graduated from the same University, belong to the same Country Club . . . they even bought vacation homes two doors down from one another here in the Hamptons,” he chuckled. “More importantly than any of that, they do business together . . . they make money off of one another, and in their world that makes for a beautiful friendship,” he explained. “A few years ago, my father came to me with a proposition, no, more of a demand really, insisting that I propose to Blithe for the sake of our family and for the business. He was convinced that a union between the two of us would ensure the solidity of the two families both personally and professionally.”