Emotion welled and Sylvie sniffled. These women were her people, and it didn’t matter that they were in different places. There were some friends who were easy because of commonality. There were some who came in and out of her life. But these two . . . they had been there in elementary school, defending her against bullies. They’d talked her through high school. When she hadn’t had a date for prom, Seraphina had been her dancing partner. When Rene had told her that kissing her had been a mistake, it had been Sera and Hallie she’d called. They’d driven up to New Orleans and spent the night in her tiny dorm room. “I’m glad that you’re in my life.”
Sera reached out for her hand. “You have no idea how much I agree. If we hadn’t had you, Hallie and I would have done some really dumb things. I don’t think high school would have gone well for us without you. You were the reasonable one. But it’s okay to be a little crazy now. It’s okay to take a chance and see where it goes. We’ll be here to catch you if you fall.”
“Are we having one of those ‘the world sucks but thank god we have sisters’ moments?” Hallie was back, a new glass in her hand.
Sylvie held out her other hand. “We are indeed.”
Hallie sighed in obvious relief, sat down, and completed their circle. “Good, because you have been pulling away and I was coming back to promise you that we don’t always have to talk about marriage and babies. I love you and I don’t ever want to make you feel like you don’t fit in. We would be incomplete without you.”
She was not going to cry. Especially not when she was about to take a big old leap. “I feel the same. I love you guys. But I’m going to have to cut this evening short because I need to go accept a man’s proposal.”
Hallie gasped and her hand squeezed. “Are you serious?”
“I am, and I don’t think I should text him. I should probably go over there.” She should do it before she changed her mind. Or he found someone else.
Suddenly she didn’t want him to find someone else.
“Go,” Sera said, releasing her. “But you better be ready to give us everything. All the details.”
She wouldn’t have it any other way.
She hugged her friends and strode for her car.
It was time to take a chance.
* * *
* * *
“You did what?”
Rene looked up from his cards. Remy Guidry was sitting across from him at the poker table, but it was obvious he wasn’t paying attention to his hand. “I asked Sylvie to marry me. I thought I mentioned I was going to do that last week.”
“You mentioned some crazy stuff about trying to quash your cousin’s mischief,” Remy replied. “I thought you were joking.”
“No, he wasn’t.” Quaid Havery knew exactly how serious the situation was. After all, he was Rene’s personal lawyer. They’d spent lots of time strategizing. “We’ve looked for loopholes, but the contracts are all firm. Darois House is technically owned by the company, and the CEO can take possession of it.”
“You can’t buy it?” Armie LaVigne sat next to Remy. He had a healthy stack of chips in front of him. “This place has been your family home since long before you were born.”
“Only because the CEO has been either me or my father or grandfather for the last sixty years.” Hours later and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Sylvie. She’d been genuinely shocked. He’d been so certain he could explain things to her and she would understand. Sylvie was the most logical and careful of his acquaintances.
They made sense.
“Charles won’t accept a buyout,” Quaid replied. “We already tried that.”
His cousin was rapidly becoming the bane of his existence. “He told us we’d had the house for long enough and it was time someone else in the family had a chance at it. I believe he also mentioned he deserved it more since he has three children and a wife.”
Alyson was already planning a full renovation of the manor. She was a ghoulish woman who kept sending his mother requests for information about everything from how wide the windows were to how quickly she could vacate the property.
His mother had been in tears. He’d promised his father he would take care of her and he was failing.
“So this whole hullabaloo is about the fact that you aren’t married? Because that seems rather old-fashioned.” The fifth in this week’s game was Major Blanchard. The deputy had a beer in front of him he’d been nursing all night long. “My dad asks about my dating life all the time, but he never threatens to kick me out of my apartment if I don’t hurry it along. Does your family know it’s the twenty-first century?”