Chapter 13

The following day, Alexandre sat beside Josette as they made their way to her family home in a rented cab. He felt void of emotion as they sat in silence. The steamboat had arrived in St. Louis mid-afternoon, and they had just enough time to visit the judge and present the marriage certificate. Their time together was quickly coming to an end.

God had chosen not to intervene.

“We’ve arrived,” Josette said.

Alexandre looked out the cab’s window, unprepared for the grandeur of her childhood home.

Sitting on a little rise above the street, the tall redbrick house towered over the neighboring homes and stood like a gothic sentry.

“This is where you grew up?” The cab stopped in front of the house, and Alexandre’s head fell back as he looked up at the monstrosity.

Josette looked past him out the window, no trace of warmth in her eyes. “I lived most of my childhood at a boarding school and only returned here for a few weeks each summer. My stepmother often went into fits of jealousy when Papa showed me any special attention, so he and I spent a lot of time at the shipping office.”

Alexandre thought of his humble farmhouse in Louisiana. It was a cozy home with nothing ornate or ostentatious about it, but it was full of love and happy memories for him. He wished his wife could say the same.

The butler opened the door, his surprised face quickly masked with indifference. “Miss Josie, your mother will be eager to see you.”

Josette removed her gloves and hat and handed them to the butler. “Tell her I’ll be in the south parlor, Mr. Warren.”

“Very good.” Mr. Warren bowed and closed the door behind them without another word.

Alexandre followed Josette through a magnificent foyer and into a flamboyantly decorated parlor. Gaudy gold drapes hung at the massive windows, and intricately patterned rugs covered the floors. Oversized furniture filled the room to overflowing, yet nothing looked comfortable.

Josette stood in the middle of it all, looking as out of place as he felt. Her eyes met his, and he could see she was bracing herself for a battle.

“Will your brother be at the loading docks?” he asked, hoping to spare her from at least one unpleasant encounter.

Josette shook her head. “He never goes there. No doubt he’s on a steamboat, gambling away Papa’s money.”

She became silent then, so Alexandre did the same.

A clicking noise soon filled Alexandre’s ears, and he sensed Josette stiffen.

“Josie!” The woman who entered the room looked as if she could be Josette’s sister, not stepmother. Luxurious brown hair, with nary a gray streak in sight, was coiled in a large twist at the back of her head. Her smooth skin and slender body were no indications of her age.

But it was her eyes that made Alexandre take a protective step closer to Josette. She looked at him, running her icy blue gaze up and down his frame. An indecent smile tilted her lips, and she lifted a brow.

“Who is this handsome young man, Josie?”

Josette lifted her chin. “This is my husband.”

Her eyes darted to Josette, and she glared. “Husband?”

“Yes, Celeste.”

“Is that where you’ve been these past three weeks? Finding a husband?” She said the word as if it were tainted.

“That’s precisely where I’ve been.”

For a moment, Celeste was speechless—but then her tongue let loose, and she advanced toward Josette. “How dare you leave my home and not tell me where you went! I had to engage the police to help look for you. And where is Ruth?”

“She’s also married.”

Celeste narrowed her eyes, her breath seething out of her mouth. “And what, pray tell, caused this sudden move on your part?”

Josette’s face held no emotion, and Alexandre’s chest tightened at seeing her this way. Gone was the joyful young lady on the steamboat, who had danced with him and strolled under the starlight.

Had her laughter ever filled these rooms?

“I was informed that I would lose everything if I wasn’t married before Stephen turns twenty-one—but you knew that, didn’t you? It’s the reason you worked so hard to turn away the gentlemen who called on me.”

Celeste’s eyes grew wide, and for the first time since they arrived, she lost her bluster. “How dare you accuse me—”

“I’m here to collect my belongings,” Josie said, her spine stiff. “I expect to see Stephen at the office first thing tomorrow morning. I’m now co-owner of LeBlanc Shipping, and I intend to make immediate changes.”

Celeste only stared, her face frozen in shock.

Josette took Alexandre’s arm, and they left the parlor.

Josette was shaking.

“I’m proud of you,” he whispered into her ear.

“I’ve been waiting to stand up to her. Until now, I didn’t have the authority to do it.”

Again, Alexandre understood how important Josette’s inheritance was—not only to continue her father’s legacy but to give her control of her life for the very first time.