Free Second Chance Sister by Linda Kepner

thought she was saving it for her daughter’s wedding?” He watched her examining the envelopes. “A letter from each of them?”
    “Yes. Both marked ‘Personal.’”
    Bat smiled wryly. “And, I’ll bet, both full of advice.”
    “Some of it good,” she agreed. “I’ll read them tonight.”
    “Come.” Louis stood, and reached out a hand. “I’ll take you home.”
    They were silent until they reached the pension. Louis shut off the engine, turned to her, and kissed her passionately. “This has been a good day,” he murmured in her ear. “It lacks only one thing — my wife in my bed. If your brother hadn’t been there, I think you might have stayed. Now we will never know, will we?”
    She laughed quietly and kissed him again. “
Bonne nuit, mon amour
.”
    “
Bonne nuit
.” Another kiss. “Let me get your dress bag from the trunk — although it seems foolish, for in another day, it will come to my house anyway.”
    “Then take it back with you,” she replied. “I had forgotten about it. There’s really nothing there I will need tomorrow.”
    “You are certain?”
    “I am certain.”
    “All right.” He got out of the car, came around, and opened her door. They walked to the front door of the pension.
    Joseph opened the door. “Ah,
bonsoir
, mademoiselle, monsieur. I was just locking up.”
    “I’m here, Joseph.” She turned and kissed Louis one last time, then went inside.
    Joseph smiled as he barred the door. “You look very nice tonight, mam’selle.”
    “
Merci
, Joseph. It has been a long day.
Bonne nuit
.”
    “
Bonne nuit
, mam’selle. Sleep well.”
    “Thank you, the same to you.” She went upstairs to her room, changed into her pajamas, and washed up.
    She got out the letters her parents had sent, and opened Dad’s first.
    “Ma chère Bishou,” he wrote, “Jean-Baptiste has told us a very little about the man you will marry. Of course I am anxious — my little girl! You have taken many dares, but they have all been here in North America. Now I am watching you move to Africa, to a land I am told is as close to paradise on earth as one might find. But these visions might be deceitful — one does not know until one lives it.
    “Oh, mon enfant, it was so good to have you here for so long, taking care of the boys while your brother was in the military. But even then, I thought, perhaps hoped, that someday you would want children of your own. I already know that you will be a good wife and mother, because I have seen you with the boys. You are patient, loving, and kind.
    “Jean-Baptiste has not told me much about Louis, except that he is indeed the Louis Dessant of the Dessant Cigarette family. He is wealthy and well-established. But I seem to recall there was some scandal in that family, so do be careful, ma cherie.
    “My heart breaks to think that I might never see you again, but we live in hope. May God bless you and your good husband. With love, Dad.”
    Maman’s letter was quite different.
    “Chère Bishou, my little girl,” she wrote, “You are young and strong, and not as cynical as your brother Jean-Baptiste, so I worry for you. You willingly go to a man’s bed half a planet away, with no one to aid you if he should be cruel to you. I think Jean-Baptiste will stay long enough to make certain you are all right, but one never knows. If this man Louis is rich, he may also be intemperate and inconsiderate. Every man has only one way to show his love to a woman, he gives his body. Do not mistake love for physical passion! But if you give your soul to him, give also your body. To a man, that means so much more.
    “I send my maman’s lace to you, so that it may continue down through the women of our family. I hope for your greatest happiness. Write us. With love, Maman.”
    Maman certainly has her opinions on sex,
Bishou thought.
It’s lucky I wasn’t there to listen to an entire lecture on the topic — it would have been uncomfortable.
She wondered when the last