Frannie and Diana were finishing breakfast when Christopher came down with the suitcase ready for the trip to England. He kissed his wife and the girls and he was about to get into the car and go to the airport, but the loud noise made by a sports car stopped him. Everyone turned in the direction from which all that noise came. Christopher shook his head when he saw his nephew getting down from a black Ferrari, walking all full of himself towards the small group. The girls ran to their uncle who leaned down and hugged them, then he said hi to Marie and Christopher. As usual, he didn't consider Isabelle.
"Uncle Chris, have a good trip, and let me know what can I do to help you from our main office," Shawn said shaking his hand. “I’ll go right now to San Francisco. If you need me, you'll find me there.”
“Very well, son. I will keep you informed about everything,” his uncle said and then he got into the car.
Everyone followed him until the car disappeared on the horizon. Marie hated seeing her husband leave, especially when he had to travel so far away. She hated being away from Christopher, but the technology had always helped them stay in touch. Marie closed her eyes and wished to see her husband and her son again as soon as possible.
“Aunt Marie...”
Shawn's voice brought her back to reality. She turned and smiled at him.
“Yes, dear, what is it?”
Once the car disappeared, the girls ran towards the terrace playing catch. Thinking that Shawn wanted to be left alone with his aunt, Isabelle hurried to join them.
"Marie, I'll go to the girls to see what they're up to," Isabelle said softly. “I had prepared some fun games to play with them today and I would like to start as soon as possible.”
"Definitely I think you should go..." he replied, giving her the cold shoulder.
"Shawn, that’s enough!" Marie warned him and he stopped talking to Isabelle. “Dear girl, wait for me right here, we’ll go to the girls together. I need to stay with them, especially now,” Marie stopped her and then dragged her nephew a few inches away from Isabelle. "What's wrong with you, Shawn?" she asked him in a low voice. “Why are you so cruel with this girl?”
He shrugged his shoulders and put his hands in his pockets.
“Sometimes is getting hard for me to understand you. Whatever... What is it you wanted to tell me?”
“This evening, I want to bring Danielle to ‘Villa Mimosa’. The other day she told me that she really wants to see you again and I invited her to have dinner with us.”
“She wants to see me?!... Come on, Shawn! I don't believe a single word she says,” Marie replied. “It's the coldest woman I've ever seen... Trust me, I've seen a lot in my life. She has only one thing on her mind.”
“Aunt Marie,” Shawn replied, “she is honest about it, about who she really is. She never hides it. I know that she wants me for my money and my name was like this with every woman that crossed my path. I admire her for her bluntness,” Shawn added as he ran his fingers through his blond hair and at that moment, just for a second, Isabelle managed to see the sadness blurring his eyes.
“You're so cynical, sweet boy, you've been like this since that day. I think it’s time to stop. Shawn, at some point, you will have to stop hurting yourself over and over again, you’ll have to stop blaming the world,” Marie murmured. “You were so young and inexperienced at that time... One day of these, you will have to allow this wound to heal. Besides, it's not her death that you can't forgive yourself, it's the fact that she left you before she died.”
Shawn stood there in complete silence. But Isabelle could feel the tension in his body even though she wasn't near him. So, there had been a woman in his life, someone that Shawn had loved… Even if he was so cruel to her, he was able to love someone other than himself. This was breaking news! Frannie and Diana called her and, after apologizing to Marie, Isabelle joined them. Oh, how she wanted to hear more about Shawn's past…
“Do you know that there are women in this world who are not gold diggers like Danielle, women who are able to be with a man regardless of his name and bank account?”
“Really? Like who?” he asked his aunt and he looked disapprovingly in Isabelle's direction. “The new babysitter? The one that hadn’t the courage to speak up, to confront her father? Aunt Marie, she is nothing but a frightened little girl. A harsh man, like me, would destroy her in a moment,” he added this last part more for himself than for her.
But he decided not to stop his speech here. He wanted to let know to her aunt everything he was thinking about 'la petite' Belle, to let his aunt know that Isabelle’s naivety and sweetness were just a mask, that she was a little snake in the grass.
“I'm convinced that her daddy would be extremely pleased to see her married and... don't you think so too?”
“She is a very sweet, beautiful, intelligent girl. You know, Billy isn't as cynical as you are...” she replied in a very abrupt tone. "So many times, he told me that he was seriously thinking of getting married and that Isabelle seems to him the perfect girl."
“Isabelle Baldwin is a weak person; she has no self-esteem and she has courage. She's not right for Billy, she's not right for anyone," he said sharply. “She isn’t able to stand up to that orc she calls father and who is treating her like a doormat. How can she ever stand up to a man? Are you really asking me to admire a woman like that? Yes, Isabelle is very beautiful, I cannot deny it, but she is a coward. Thank you very much, aunt Marie, but I prefer Danielle. At least with her, what I see is what I get.”
Marie stared at him for a long time and then she spoke to him in a soft tone.
"It’s true, Isabelle fears her father very much. But the tone he uses when he talks to his daughter has nothing to do with her fear.”
“And what do you know about it, aunt Marie?”
"I'm a woman, Shawn," she replied looking at Isabelle. “I can sense when things are not right.”
“And you also very good in seeing drama when there isn’t,” he murmured looking at Marie with tenderness. “I adore you, aunt Marie. You're the only woman who has never let me down. Well, I have to go to the office. I’ll bring Danielle here this evening. We'll be here around dinner time,” Shawn added and after he hugged her, he got into his car and disappeared in a second.
Marie followed her nephew's car until he was completely out of sight. He was so different from Billy... She loved her son and her nephew very much, but for some time now, she had seen some disagreements among her boys. Both were excessively stubborn at times, but Billy was always the first who understood when he was wrong and immediately apologized. Instead, Shawn was too hard at times and he was quick on judging people, sometimes without a good reason.
He was attacking Isabelle since the first day she started taking care of her granddaughters. He was so determined on categorizing her as a coward and weak person and Marie felt that for now, she couldn't do much to open his eyes. Marie knew it wasn't Andrew's raising voice that scared his daughter, that there was something else underneath all that. That evening, when he and Isabelle had stopped for dinner, she saw Isabelle completely afraid, but when he wasn’t around when she was here with Frannie and Diana, Isabelle was much more relaxed. Lucy had mentioned something about Andrew's behavior towards his daughter, but now that she was having the girl here every day, Marie promised herself that she would help her open up and accept her help. And once Marie Grayson put her mind to something, there was no one in heaven or on earth that could stop her.
“Now that you're going to stay with Marie at the villa, you’ll have to be very careful!” Andrew told her in a severe tone. He finished drinking his coffee and put the cup on the breakfast tray his daughter had brought him earlier. “Stay always close to her, listen to her, and don't go snooping around too much. Always listen to what she has to say and remember that you are there to work, not to behave like the mistress of the house! You will do exactly what you are doing here, in this house, and even more since the Graysonshouse is so big.”"Yes, Father," she said quickly.“When you won’t be taking care of those little girls, you'll have to help out with cleaning and other chores. You don't have to stop and laze around, that's not why I gave you permission to stay with the Graysons. You were not raised to behave like a damn princess, rem
Isabelle looked at her watch and realized that she would arrive at the villa too early if she continued the journey by car. The girls were never out of bed before nine in the morning. She still had a good half hour to enjoy a little walk, so she asked the driver to stop the car. After a while, Isabelle saw the villa and stopped to admire it. It was not just a gigantic house made of bricks, granite, and marble, but also a house made of love, trust, laughter, sweetness. The bond that Marie had with her husband was strong, sweet, full of love, and respect. All this could be felt since the first second spent inside the Grayson’s house. To have a house like this had always been a dream of hers, but both her mother and her father had never been able to get along very well. Her father, too busy with his job and his company, and her mother, too t
She was completely mute staring at Marie totally perplexed. She can't go to this party… she couldn't go to any party. First of all, she was there to take care of the girls, and besides, she didn't have any kind of dress to attend this party that seemed to be very important. No, she had to come up with some excuse not to accompany Marie. She couldn't go, she had to stay home, with Frannie and Diana.“I can't come with you. Please let me stay here with the girls,” she said in a pleading tone.“And why not, dear girl? It will be a fun evening and I believe you will love it. Erica's daughter is almost your age,” Marie continued her speech helping Diana with the grapefruit. “Maybe you two will become friends...” What could she say to Ma
During dinner, Shawn sat at the table without talking much. He still remained quite unbearable, but at least that evening he had not spoken to her, he had not verbally attacked her… yet. But the night was young, so she kept her fingers crossed. Marie tried very hard to carry on the conversation at the table, but her nephew opened his mouth only to give monosyllabic answers. Shawn finished dinner and asked his aunt to excuse him, after which he retired to the study."Something bad happened in the office," Marie murmured, looking at him as he was closing the door of the study. “He’s always like this when there is something that worries him or when he’s angry. He barely speaks and closes in on himself worse than a hedgehog. I adore him, but sometimes I wish he was more open to me." &nbs
She sat on the edge of the chair opposite Shawn but didn't look up at him. She didn't want to prolong this agony too much.“This afternoon, I felt the strong desire to go on a horse ride and I went to "Silver Spur Ranch". And since the ranch belongs to our family, even if you and your father are living there for several years now, the people who work there are still very loyal to the Grayson family. I talked a little with every one of them, starting with the boys from the stables to the administrator of the ranch, and everyone told me a very interesting story. It’s something that I get a few evenings ago and today I had further confirmation. He stopped and sip some coffee. It had gotten cold and Shawn pushed the cup aside a little testily."I’m not sure what’s ab
Isabelle closed the door to her room, turned on the light, and stood by the bed. Although the day had been long and tiring and ‘the match’ just ended between her and Shawn had left her without strength, Isabelle wasn’t sleepy at all. Since she hadn't had so much time to organize all the things Marie had bought for her, she opened the small closet and started looking at all the clothes lying on her bed. Marie had bought her so many clothes and she checked carefully every little thing. Her fingers touched the wonderful fabric of the dress she was to wear at Friday's party and she felt a tear rolling down her cheek. Isabelle could not believe that a stranger like Marie was acting with her as only a mother should act. Apart from Lucy, nobody had taken so much care of her. Isabelle felt so emotional... She covered her face with her hands and started to cry without making a noise. She didn’t w
“Belle, look! I found uncle Shawn!” the little girl said softly, moving away from him and running towards her. “I wanted to play with him, but also he also told me what you told me earlier: right now, we have to go to sleep.” Isabelle took Frannie's hand without looking at Shawn. She didn't want to hear jokes from his part, she had heard enough for that evening. Isabelle wanted a truce and she would have had it at the cost of raising her voice with him and making him discover her temperament that she kept so well hidden.“Chérie, promets-moi que tu ne le feras plus! (Baby, promise me you won't do it again!)You can never run away like this again!” she said softly, trying to keep calm because she didn’t want to frighten the child, or to offer Shawn the chance to tel
Shawn's lips brushed lightly those of a shocked Isabelle. As he lingered on her lips, Shawn heard her moan. He touched her with his lips. His mouth was soft, firm, terribly patient. That brief contact was to Isabelle like a punch in the stomach. She clung to it, opening her lips and invited him to explore it. No one had ever kissed her like this and never would have imagined it possible. A slow kiss, deep and dreamy. The floor seemed to collapse under her feet as he tasted her upper lip. She didn't want to think about what had happened that night, or what was going to happen tomorrow. She wanted to experience that wonderful present and what was happening between her and Shawn. Isabelle shivered, moaned, and let herself go. Isabelle's scent, her taste... they were irresistible. Shawn thought he could lose himself in her for a moment or a l