Lulu's Recipe for Cajun Sass - Sandra Hill Page 0,51

worse and worse. “Why was she worried about me?”

Color infused his cheeks as he confessed, “She was afraid that I was going to hurt you.”

“Bingo!” Louise said.

“Not like this. She thought I was going to be one of those love ’em and leave ’em kind of guys, which is clearly wrong since I’m asking you to marry me and come with me.” He tried to take her in his arms once again, pleading, “Louise, I love you. You love me. We can work this out. We’ll find a way.”

She shook her head and stepped back a few steps. “I think you should leave, Justin.”

“No, honey, we need to settle this.”

She shook her head again, and the tears that had been welling in her eyes overflowed. She put a halting hand out to prevent him from getting closer.

There were tears in his eyes, too. “I’ve handled this badly, but please give me a chance to explain this better.”

“All the explaining in the world isn’t going to make any difference. It’s like my mama always said. You can’t undo a burnt pudding.”

“Maybe we both need to step back and think about this. I’ll come back later. Tonight. I promise we’ll find a way to make this work.”

What he really meant was that she would find a way to compromise, Louise suspected. Which wasn’t going to happen.

“No, Justin, don’t come back. It breaks my heart to say this…” her voice cracked with emotion, “…but it’s over. I love you, but I can’t see you anymore.”

“What? Why?” He was totally shocked now, and ignored her attempts to prevent him from taking her into his arms. Holding her tightly against his body, he leaned down to whisper against her ear. “No, Louise, don’t say that. This isn’t the end. It can’t be.”

For a moment, she pressed her face against his chest and relished the feel of his arms. His hands caressed her back in soothing strokes. Then he took her face in his hands and kissed her, hungrily, coaxing, unending, as if desperate to continue the kiss, lest she mention a break-up again.

Which she intended to do.

“Justin, I need you to step away so I can tell you something.”

He gave her another short kiss, then released her. She went to the other side of the kitchen table, just to make sure he kept his distance.

“There’s a reason why this will never be…not our marriage, not a move to Chicago for me, temporary or otherwise.”

“There is no reason I’ll accept, nothing could be that important.”

“Adèle is my daughter,” she said, “Not my niece.”

You always hurt the one you love…

Justin was finally able to talk with Louise on the phone later that night. She’d ignored his previous twelve calls, and he was ninety-nine percent sure that she would not welcome an in-person visit from him, at least for the time being. And forget about studying; his concentration wasn’t worth shit at the moment.

His mother had been worried about how he might hurt Louise. What she hadn’t taken into account was how hurt he would be.

“Louise, please let me talk to you. At the least, let me clarify some things. One, I love you. Period. No question. Two, it doesn’t matter to me if Adèle is your child, or your niece, though I wish you had trusted me enough to tell me before. Third, I love Adèle. I would never do anything to hurt her, and, yes, I realize now how selfish it was for me to even suggest that she be separated from you, even for a short time. Fourth, I will do anything to keep you. Give up the heart surgery specialty. Accept Dr. Clovis’s offer to partner with him in general medicine. Anything.”

There was a silence before she asked, “Are you reading from a script?”

“Yes, dammit! My brain is so screwed up I can’t think straight. I had to put my thoughts on paper or else I would have been babbling like an idiot or begging like a baby.” Both of which he was doing. Dammit!

“Oh, Justin! You have to study for your medical boards. You only have a few days left.”

He took her concern as a good sign. “You do care about me.”

“Of course I care about you. Women aren’t like men. We can’t turn love on and off like a faucet.”

He decided not to argue with her over-generalizations about men, which obviously included him. And besides, she must mean that she still loved him. “Louise, let me come to your cottage so we