Your Alluring Love (The Bennett Family 6)

Babette covers the pug’s ears. “Don’t talk about Felicia like that.”

“It’s true though,” I add.

“Letting her walk on her own now and again would help,” Nate continues. “It would be great exercise.”

“But she likes it in my arms, don’t you, darling?”

In response, Felicia licks Babette’s neck.

Nate doesn’t insist on the topic, and after he finishes his chicken, he asks, “Mom, do you need me to fix anything around the house?”

Nate explained that he likes to fix things for her, and she usually has a long to-do list for him when he stops by. I’m to use that time to talk Babette into allowing Nate to help her with the mortgage payments.

His first task is to look at some of the wiring in the kitchen, so he heads inside the house, leaving Babette and me alone on the patio. Well, with Felicia, who is now sniffing Babette’s plate tentatively.

“I’m so happy y

ou two stopped by today,” Babette says, scratching her dog’s head. “I’d hoped Nate would bring you around every time he mentioned you.”

“He’s talked to you about me?”

She nods, beaming brighter. “I was so happy when he said you two were… well, whatever you kids are naming it these days. I was afraid I’d damaged him for good.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

Babette slices me with a glance that seems to say ‘We both know what I’m talking about.’ But I’m genuinely confused.

“Let’s not pretend, Alice. I wasn’t a good mother, just like I wasn’t a good wife to either of my husbands.”

“Babette,” I say in a low voice, clueless as to what to add. I wasn’t expecting this.

“It is what it is. Regrets don’t repair the past, but it’s good to acknowledge the things one has done wrong. It should help not repeating the same mistakes.”

“You shouldn’t blame yourself. It takes two people to make a marriage work.”

“Honey, don’t worry. I blame both my ex-husbands plenty.” She chuckles, but her eyes grow sad. “But no man likes to come home to a hysterical woman. I wasn’t working on my marriage, just driving the people I loved away. Do you think I don’t know that my boy was so often at your parents’ house because he couldn’t stand my shouting?”

It takes a great deal of strength to admit one’s mistakes and faults, and I respect her even more than I did before.

“You’ve changed a lot, Babette. You’re so much calmer now.”

She shrugs, holding her pug even tighter. “My second divorce really put things in perspective for me. Went to therapy too, and it helped a lot, but I was afraid my boy would choose to always have passing liaisons with women because I never painted a pretty picture when it comes to family. Even now I can’t stop bitching about his father.”

I press my lips to hold back a chuckle, wondering if she really thinks ‘kids these days’ use the word ‘liaisons.’ But I also ache for her, this strong woman with so many regrets.

“Babette, you did your best. And really, that’s all any of us can hope to do.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t get to feel guilty about it.”

Oh damn. Here’s my best chance to convince Babette to accept Nate’s help. I can guilt her into doing it. For the record, I was not planning to use this tactic.

I was going to talk her into it the clean way, by using logical arguments, and my own parents as an example. Using people’s guilt against them is a tactic I only resort to when I need to make my brothers pay for something, but this is almost like a sign, really. I have to act on it.

“Nate worries about you.”

Her head snaps up. “He told you about my troubles with the house.”

I nod. “It’s a beautiful house, and Nate earns more than enough. You’d be doing him a huge favor by allowing him to buy it for you.”