Thierry's Angel

17

Angelique closed her eyes as she rested her head on Thierry's shoulder. Thank God this was almost over. She was going to need a very long vacation after tonight. Though the drive wasn't really that long between Mississippi and New Orleans, it had been a long day. Their entire entourage had stopped at a large property owned by Rance outside of Hidden Island right near the Mississippi border. They had met Adam Dubois there, instead of at an airport as originally planned. Angelique had been left alone with her father, as per her request. She informed him of her wedding, of Paul's theft, and attempted abduction, as well the night's festivities. She had explained exactly what she expected of him. He would be at the reception, as would his wife, smiling benignly in love and acceptance. They would present a united front. Afterwards, when she was ready to talk to him, she would let him know. She also made it very clear to keep his wife away from her and out of her life. As contrite as Adam was, Angelique was too tired of dealing with other people's issues.

Now they were all dressed to kill and on their way to the Royal Sonesta Grand Ballroom. Thierry's father and uncle were already there, as were Adam and his wife, Aunt Anne, Solange, Jade, Regina, Katrina, Aubrey, Piers, and Remy. Rance was riding up front of the stretch limo with the chauffeur. The party had been in full swing for about an hour now. It was important that Thierry and Angelique made a grand entrance.

"I forgot to give you your wedding gift." Thierry broke the silence of the ride, handing Angelique a thin shirt size box.

Angelique took the box with slightly quivering hands. "You didn't have to," she began, unable to finish for fear of bawling her eyes out. In the short time they had been together, this man had shown her in so many ways how a man treats the woman he loves. She opened the package to stare at the sheaf of papers. Thierry turned on the overhead light so that she could read them.

"The Angel Foundation? Thierry, what is this?"
As she read further, she couldn't stop a tear or two from escaping. "You set this up for me?"

"Well, you made it clear you were tired of being nothing more than some kind of spokes-model for charities. Every time you started talking about going into business, the conversation always wound up being about some sort of cause rather than a money making endeavor. We don't need any more money, so I thought maybe you'd like to run your own foundation."

He was right. As much as she wanted to do something with her life, she was far more interested in helping others than she was with making more money for the sake of making money.

"Oh my God, is that my beginning budget!?" Angelique started at the seven-figure sum in awe.

"We will of course, hit as many people up as we can tonight." Thierry smiled. "Set it up as an alternative to wedding gifts."

Angelique threw herself into his arms. "Thank you! Thank you so much! This means more to me than..."

Thierry knew exactly how she felt. Setting up the foundation instead of creating some kind of business had been a wise idea. Angelique was a generous, passionate woman. Giving her the opportunity to do good in a way she chose would make her happy and help her use skills she had never been able to utilize before. Her goodness really humbled him. Being married to an actual Angel was going to be an education in itself, and a hell of a lot of fun.

*****

Didier sat behind the desk in the darkened room listening the sounds of his quarry coming closer. She was understandably upset. By now she knew of her sons' little soirée. She was an intelligent woman, she would guess what it meant.

"I don't care where Dr. Tibbett is! I want him here now!"

The door opened, lights blazed, and Lady Rienne stopped dead when she saw who was sitting behind her desk.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded, not moving any closer to the desk.

"Oh, you already know, Arienne." Didier smiled. It was petty to taunt her, but her intense dislike of his presence, coupled with the fact there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it gave him a little rush. He had tried to like the woman. He had tried to work with her, but her hatred of everything he was made that impossible. He didn't blame her for hating his grandfather; she had earned that right, in a way. But he had nothing to do with anything that went on before his birth.

"He married that--"

"Careful," Didier warned, not allowing her to finish the inflammatory statement. "Yes, Thierry and Angelique are married. Their reception is tonight at the Royal Sonesta. You need to get changed so we can be on our way."

"I WILL NOT. . ."

Didier came to his feet and stalked toward the bitter old woman. To her credit, she didn't cringe or back down though she knew she had lost. "You will. Beaumont and Boden will not hesitate to welcome their father back into the fold should Grand-péré decide to come and make a sudden appearance. You don't really want to drag all the family's dirty laundry out into the full light of day, do you?"

Arienne stiffened. Of course she could not have that. Not while she still drew breath. When she was dead and gone they could do what they wanted, but she would not be humiliated like that.

"I will go, but I will not speak and give verbal blessings to this travesty."

Arienneturned on her heel and stalked from the room. Didier had to admire her moxie.He wondered if she would be able to bounce back this quickly after the nextone.